A workshop of Ningbo Preh Joyson Automotive Electronics Co Ltd. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

Two plants from Ningbo recently made the 2022 list of "future plants" in East China's Zhejiang province, bringing the total number of such enterprises in Ningbo to six.

The two listed plants are owned by Ningbo Preh Joyson Automotive Electronics Co Ltd and Ningbo Bohui Chemical Technology Co Ltd.

Both companies have had outstanding performances in digital upgrading.

For instance, Bohui Chemical has created a digital version of its plant through which it can monitor all facilities and identify glitches in real time.

Due to this innovation, the company's production efficiency has been boosted by 23 percent while operating costs have been reduced by 20 percent. In addition, product lead times have been reduced by 15 percent, and energy efficiency has improved by 15 percent.

In August 2020, Zhejiang launched a campaign to build "future plants", which refer to plants that excel in the integration of new-generation information technologies in the advanced manufacturing sector.

The construction of "future plants" reflects the intensified efforts by Zhejiang to promote the smart transformation of the manufacturing sector following the start of its campaign to embrace automation in 2012.

According to a pilot plan, Zhejiang will begin developing about 10 "future plants" every year starting from 2020.