The shipping industry was listed as a major industry by MIIT

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released a development plan on integrating its industrial sector with information technologies (hereinafter as the “Plan”), specifying key goals and measures in the field for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

 This “Plan” is dedicated to accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing and continuing to the integrate industrial sector with information technologies.

 The “Plan” highlights the cultivation of products, models and business. China supports the combination of manufacturing companies and information technology companies to promote the integrated application of artificial intelligence, 5G, advanced sensing and other technologies. The “Plan” highlights the need to develop new intelligent products, including industrial grade intelligent hardware, intelligent ship, intelligent robots, ICVs, UAV, intelligent wearable devices, smart home products, etc. Scenario-based applications based on products will be developed, the application of smart products in key fields (including transportation, medical care, education, national defense science and technology, health care for the elderly) will be improved, and finally the transformation and upgrading of service-supported industries and upgrading of residents' consumption will be realized.

The “Plan” proposes to promote the digital transformation of the industry and improve the support capabilities of intelligent manufacturing, which means carrying out key technology and integrated applications in the process of design, technology, testing, production and processing. In addition, it also proposes to realize software-based industrial technology and overcome problems with short-board equipment and major technical equipment. Focusing on key equipment fields such as machinery, ships, automobiles, aviation, aerospace, weapons, electronics, and electric power, China will build more digital workshops and smart factories. Digital systems will be built to promote large-scale applications of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) which will realize the predictive maintenance and health management of equipment based on the industrial Internet platform.

In the plan, MIIT specified digital transformation of manufacturing as key goals and listed the shipping industry as a major industry. The Plan pointed out that China will focus on optimizing and improving the quality and benefit of the entire chain of ship design, research and development, production, management and service. Taking network-based cooperative and service extension as the starting point, China devotes to realize the digital transformation from several directions, including collaborative design, intelligent manufacturing, lean management, online financing and product service.