AI-powered manufacturing has evolved from an optional strategy to an essential requirement for future growth, according to Wei Wei, general manager of Guangxi Xingwang Zhiyun Technology Co., Ltd. Inside the smart production facility of Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group Co., Ltd., intelligent logistics vehicles and gantry robots handle material delivery and transfer, while robotic arms execute critical tasks such as tightening, gluing, and pressing, enabling seamless coordination between production systems and equipment. Over a thousand types of components are transformed into heavy-duty engines through processing and assembly, with the entire production flow now completed in as little as 12 hours—a reduction of 80% in production lead time compared to before the upgrades. Wei, who developed the AI-powered production system for Yuchai, explained that AI now spans the entire chain covering R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and services, integrating Yuchai's years of manufacturing expertise and production data with digital technologies, fundamentally disrupting traditional low-efficiency workflows. The company plans to establish servers in the Middle East to gradually enhance its overseas service network. Concurrently, it is exporting complete Chinese smart manufacturing solutions to Southeast Asia, with cooperative projects already underway with several Vietnamese enterprises.
At the hot rolling mill of Guangxi Liuzhou Steel Group Co., Ltd.'s Liuzhou base, worker conditions have improved markedly as production shifts from relying on intuition to being driven by data. Yang Jin, shift leader at the rolling workshop, noted that in the past, workers had to conduct inspections in high-temperature, high-noise environments, facing intense physical strain and risks of missed detections, while quality control depended heavily on experienced staff. Today, the centralized control platform enables unified data monitoring, allowing operators to track all critical parameters across the line directly from their consoles, resulting in far more precise production oversight.
Liuzhou, a major industrial hub in southwestern China, leverages its robust automotive and steel sectors to provide diverse industrial application scenarios for the Guangxi Embodied Intelligence Data Collection and Testing Center. The center has established test environments for sorting automotive parts and packaged rice noodle ingredients, and multiple robot models are already undergoing on-site trials at local vehicle manufacturers, where their capabilities are being continuously refined. On August 25, staff at the center in Liuzhou were training embodied intelligence robots to brew coffee.
Liu Kun, chairman of Guangxi Liuzhou Embodied Intelligence Development Co., Ltd., stated that the center builds simulation and testing scenarios grounded in local pillar industries such as automobiles and Liuzhou's signature rice noodle specialty, focusing on developing intelligent robots suited for industrial frontline applications. Moving forward, the company will push robot solutions into enterprise pilot programs and, once the dataset system matures, utilize Liuzhou's geographic advantages to share data collection expertise with ASEAN manufacturers.
Looking at overseas markets, several Guangxi manufacturers are using AI to sharpen their competitive edge. Luo Tongbin, technical director of Guangxi Sanhuan Enterprise Group Co., Ltd., reported that over 75% of the company's products are exported. With AI integration, the company has built a defect database for daily-use ceramics, and its AI quality inspection system processes an average of 20,000 items per day, covering everything from defect detection and intelligent grading to automatic report generation. Furthermore, the company employs AI-powered pattern editing to enable customization of individual pieces, lowering costs while increasing personalization to better meet the diverse needs of overseas clients. These products are now being sold to Southeast Asia, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East.
According to data released by the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, more than 5,000 industrial enterprises above designated size in the region have implemented intelligent transformation and digital upgrades.