Four companies from Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province were recently included in the provincial "future plants" pilot program, according to the Ningbo municipal bureau of economy and information technology.

The four companies were Ningbo Bohui Chemical Technology Co Ltd, Ningbo Fotile Kitchenware Co Ltd, Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Co Ltd, and IKD Co Ltd.

In August last year, Zhejiang rolled out the pilot program to build "plants of the future", which refer to plants that excel in the integration of new-generation information technologies in the advanced manufacturing sector.

A total of 33 companies from across Zhejiang were included in the program this year.

Among them, IKD, a joint-stock enterprise specializing in manufacturing high-precision aluminum die casting products from Ningbo, has built the nation's first plant powered by 5G networks.

Bai Mingrong, deputy general manager of a die-casting workshop at IKD, said that all production equipment has been interconnected by 5G signals, enabling him to check their operation status by smartphone.

The data assembled will also be analyzed and used as the basis for technical upgrading and fine management, according to Zhang Shuai, head of the internet department at IKD.

Fotile is another company from Ningbo that has been included in the program.

The kitchenware manufacturer has built a smart plant, which has helped the company improve production efficiency by 36.8 percent, reduce operational costs by 22.9 percent, and shorten the product development cycle by 30.3 percent.

As a national hub for advanced manufacturing, Ningbo has started earlier than other cities in pursuing smart manufacturing, so the prospects for future plants development in the city is promising, noted a head official from the Ningbo municipal bureau of economy and information technology.