Four smart manufacturing facilities in Ningbo have been recognized on the national stage, securing spots on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) list of 2025 high-level 5G powered factories. According to the Ningbo Municipal Economic and Information Technology Bureau, the selected local pioneers are the Ningbo Steel 5G Factory, BIYI 5G Factory, Deli Group 5G Smart Factory, and Lishi 5G Fully-Connected Factory.

The MIIT list highlights 100 technologically advanced benchmarks across key sectors like raw materials, equipment manufacturing, and consumer goods.

“A 5G factory uses advanced connectivity to let the data drive the decision-making,” said a representative from the municipal bureau. By deeply integrating the industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing, Ningbo’s four newly listed factories have achieved real-time monitoring, intelligent scheduling, and precise control over their production lines—showcasing the city's core competitiveness in smart manufacturing.

The numbers speak for themselves. Across the 100 benchmarked factories nationwide, 5G network coverage exceeds 99%. On average, these smart facilities have seen a 24.7% increase in production capacity, an 18.4% drop in operating costs, and a 20.5% improvement in product quality, driving a greener and more efficient manufacturing sector.

At Ningbo Steel, the traditional imagery of flying sparks and sweltering furnaces has been replaced by operators in clean uniforms managing vast digital dashboards. Previously, the plant relied heavily on manual inspections in hazardous, high-temperature, and dust-heavy environments. Today, a 5G-powered intelligent inspection system utilizes quadruped robots equipped with high-definition thermal imagers and dust detectors to monitor furnace temperatures and equipment health.

Furthermore, by combining 5G, IoT, and industrial vision systems, Ningbo Steel has achieved fully automated, unmanned remote monitoring for its coal stacking and reclaiming operations. This comprehensive tech upgrade has reduced human labor in high-risk positions by over 60%, boosted overall production efficiency by more than 20%, and shortened decision-making time by at least 30%.

Meanwhile, BIYI, a traditional small household appliance manufacturer, overcame its network issues to undergo a complete digital transformation. Through 5G powered data collection, AI-driven inspections, and energy consumption management, materials are now autonomously transported by Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). By establishing a cloud-based, real-time collaborative design platform connecting brands, external designers, and the internal team, BIYI has successfully cut the R&D cycle for products like its air fryers by 20%.

Moving forward, Ningbo will continue to guide and incentivize local enterprises to build 5G factories through targeted technological transformations, further expanding the open innovation of AI in our manufacturing sector, the bureau official added.