An air conditioner factory funded by AUX Group is inaugurated in Thailand on Aug 24. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

Ningbo-headquartered AUX Group has ramped up efforts to promote digital transformation in recent years and is seeing strong results.

Zheng Jianjiang, president of AUX group, said that digitalization and intelligentization are crucial for the transformation and upgrading of real economy.

Back in 2017, the company initiated a plan to develop smart manufacturing. It invested 2.39 billion yuan ($356.7 million) to establish a smart factory, which has since begun operations.

Since it opened, the smart factory has seen a growth of 30 percent in production efficiency and a 30 percent drop in delivery time.

The strong growth is partly fueled by the company's mounting innovation capacity.

Aux now accommodates five research and development centers, three state-certified laboratories, and one post-doctoral workstation.

As of September, Aux had obtained more than 5,400 patents and submitted more than 8,900 patent applications, 80 percent of which involved air conditioning units, representing a yearly growth of 50 percent.

In the future, Aux plans to expand investment to promote the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence.

Established in 1986, AUX Group engages in a number of different industries, including home appliances, electrical equipment, medical services, real estate and financial investment.