Haier's washing machine factory in the Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone is named among the 11th batch of global "lighthouse factories". [Photo/WeChat account: qdgx2019]

Haier's washing machine factory in the Qingdao Area of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone has been named among the 11th batch of global "lighthouse factories", the World Economic Forum announced on Dec 14.

Haier's washing machine factory is the third entity within the Qingdao FTZ to be named. Previously, the Qingdao Haier central air conditioning factory and the Qingdao Haier refrigerator factory made the list in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

Presently, the number of "lighthouse factories" in the zone accounts for three-quarters of the city's and three-fifths of the province's.

The World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network is a community of manufacturers that utilize advanced technologies and show leadership in leveraging fourth industrial revolution technologies. It represents the highest level of global intelligent manufacturing and digitalization. Since the first list was introduced in 2018, 153 have been named global "lighthouse factories". Sixty-two of these factories are in China.

Haier uses cutting-edge technologies such as 5.5G, advanced algorithms and lightweight digital twins. [Photo/WeChat account: qdgx2019]

Haier's washing machine interconnected factory uses cutting-edge technologies such as 5.5G, advanced algorithms and lightweight digital twins. It has 136 fourth industrial revolution (4IR) use cases and achieved a cost reduction of 32 percent and an efficiency improvement of 36 percent. At the same time, it has also realized an optimization of service quality that has led to an 85 percent increase in customer satisfaction rating.

The Qingdao FTZ has in recent years applied 5G plus industrial internet technology and adopted innovative practices to establish a development path from application scenarios to digital production lines.

The Qingdao FTZ was also named a national-level industrial internet pilot demonstration park by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.