The Huaihai Economic Zone, centered on Xuzhou, not only boasts a rich history woven by celebrities such as Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, but also possesses distinct modern industrial forms.

Compared to neighboring economic zones such as the Yangtze River Delta, Jiaodong, and Zhengzhou-Kaifeng, the Huaihai Economic Zone is dominated by energy and manufacturing, with heavy equipment manufacturing being its specialty. This industrial landscape is shaped by historical and natural factors.

As economic growth shifts towards high-quality development, the traditional manufacturing industries in the Huaihai Economic Zone are undergoing a transformation towards smart manufacturing. While promoting the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, this transformation empowers regional economic development with new forms of productivity.

Accelerating the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing in the Huaihai Economic Zone

The Huaihai Economic Zone is an economic cooperation zone spanning Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, and Henan provinces, covering cities such as Xuzhou, Lianyungang, Suqian, Suzhou, Huaibei, Shangqiu, Zaozhuang, Jining, Heze, and Linyi.

As an important hub connecting East China, North China, and Central China, the Huaihai Economic Zone relies on its superior geographical location, abundant natural resources, and convenient transportation conditions to become an essential part of China's economic landscape. In addition to agriculture and logistics, heavy industry is a traditional strength of the Huaihai Economic Zone, especially in industries such as engineering machinery, building materials, and chemicals in the central city of Xuzhou, which are highly competitive.

To vigorously cultivate new forms of productivity, Xuzhou is actively promoting the "intelligent transformation and digital networking" of manufacturing industries, empowering traditional industries with digital technology. At the Huawei Digital China Tour 2024 - Jiangsu Xuzhou Station event held recently, Zheng Weimin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, professor at Tsinghua University, and director of the Institute of High-Performance Computing, also stated that for Xuzhou's traditional manufacturing industries to become high-end, intelligent, and green, they must continuously empower local industries and cultivate new forms of productivity through the integrated use of innovative elements such as artificial intelligence, thereby achieving intensive industrial development.

Zhou Xin, Vice President of Huawei Manufacturing and the Enterprise Business Group, believes that new forms of productivity result from a leap in productivity caused by a new round of technological revolution. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence are accelerating their implementation in core scenarios across various industries. By deeply cultivating "root" technologies, Huawei has built a digital and intelligent architecture based on "scenarios + data + algorithms + computing power," working with customers to jointly promote digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading.

Leading enterprises' digital and intelligent transformation practices

XCMG is a leading enterprise in China's construction machinery industry, with multiple product categories ranking among the top globally in market share. To further enhance market competitiveness, XCMG has established the transformation and upgrading goals of "high-end, intelligent, green, service-oriented, and international" to move towards the mid-to-high end of the value chain with high technological content, high added value, and high reliability.

As early as 2023, XCMG launched the Chairman's "No. 1 Project" for "intelligent transformation and digital networking" to advance the company's digital transformation.

Data is a new element of "new forms of productivity," but data governance is arduous and complex. XCMG has collaborated with Huawei to build a globally unified data governance system and platform. By defining data governance organizations and owners, establishing data architecture control mechanisms, formulating data standards and specifications, inventorying data asset directories, and clarifying data quality responsibilities, they have improved the capabilities of the data governance system, constructed a big data technology platform, optimized technical paths for data collection, cleaning, storage, development, and application, and delivered high-value data intelligence business scenarios such as global operational scheduling dashboards and precision marketing services.

Furthermore, Huawei has assisted XCMG in building a fully connected factory with highly automated production lines, utilizing Huawei's F5G network to enhance production efficiency and equipment debugging efficiency.

Yan Jun, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of XCMG Machinery, stated that from "driverless" to "unmanned mining areas," from AR intelligent service diagnosis to 3D visual manuals, to F5G network acceleration based on optical communication technology, XCMG has won over 130 honors at the ministerial and provincial levels, including being named a pilot enterprise for digital transformation of state-owned enterprises by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, a "Digital Pilot Enterprise" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and a leader in the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Smart Manufacturing Demonstration Factory program. In the future, XCMG will continue to deepen its digital transformation and further integrate advanced manufacturing with new-generation information technologies such as data intelligence.

High-quality development driven by new forms of productivity

Amid industrial upgrading, the Huaihai Economic Zone has been actively promoting the transformation of its economic structure in recent years. While traditional heavy industries move towards smart manufacturing, high-tech industries are also flourishing, driving high-quality regional economic development through the innovation drive of new forms of productivity.

During the Huawei Digital China Tour 2024 - Jiangsu Xuzhou Station event, the Huaihai Economic Zone Digital and Intelligent Collaboration Alliance was announced, aiming to promote regional information circulation through data sharing and drive high-quality development in the Huaihai Economic Zone. The Xuzhou Full-Stack Independent Innovation Cloud and Digital Foundation for New Forms of Productivity were also officially launched, helping Xuzhou further advance towards the smart era and injecting limitless possibilities for urban development towards "intelligence."

Concurrently, the collaboration between XCMG and Huawei continues to deepen. Under the newly signed agreement, the two parties will cooperate on key areas such as data governance and application, R&D digitization, intelligent driving, artificial intelligence, and ICT infrastructure construction. The goal is to accelerate XCMG's intelligent upgrading and quality improvement by integrating the data value chain ecosystem, injecting new momentum into the development of the manufacturing industry.

Huawei's "cloud-network-vehicle" coordinated unmanned mining system will also be integrated into XCMG's "Everest" open-pit mining expert system to form a comprehensive solution for intelligent construction in open-pit mines, helping more mining enterprises achieve intelligent development.

Today, the manufacturing transformation and upgrading in the Huaihai Economic Zone are becoming a core driver for regional economic growth and a vital link in China's pursuit of high-quality economic development. Through the active promotion of leading companies like Huawei and the demonstration effect of leaders like XCMG, digitalization and intelligence are rapidly empowering traditional manufacturing industries, presenting boundless future potential.

This transformation not only enhances the industrial competitiveness of the Huaihai Economic Zone but also provides valuable experience and models for cultivating new forms of productivity nationwide.

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