Born by the river, thriving by the sea. As a key hub for Tianjin's industrial development, the Binhai New Area has inherited over a century of deep industrial heritage in sectors such as shipbuilding and chemicals. In recent years, the traditional scenes of roaring machinery and sounding whistles in manufacturing have been rapidly giving way to new models driven by data and algorithms. Seizing the opportunity, the Binhai New Area has responded proactively to this wave of new-type technological transformation, continuously reshaping the paradigm and substance of its manufacturing sector. In 2024, the Binhai New Area was selected as a pilot city for the new-type technological transformation of manufacturing, becoming one of the first 20 pilot zones nationwide. Focusing on three 100-billion-yuan-level industries—chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, and computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing—the area has supported 20 key projects, leveraging total investment of 7 to 8 billion yuan and driving the coordinated transformation of over 300 enterprises. Behind these figures lies a deep exploration of the questions: how to transform, and what to transform.

As the new-type technological transformation policy deepens in the manufacturing sector, competition in the automotive industry has evolved from a simple contest of price and configuration to a comprehensive test of production efficiency and cost control capabilities. In this wave of innovation, how can vehicle manufacturers break through? The answer from FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. Tianjin Branch (hereafter referred to as the Tianjin Branch) is clear: instead of relying solely on suppliers' turnkey projects, they are seeking efficiency internally and building an ecosystem externally, pursuing a low-cost, lightweight intelligent transformation. "Previously, we were accustomed to purchasing overall solutions from suppliers; now, we have shifted to actively breaking down the technical pathways ourselves—can hardware be procured at lower costs? Can software be developed in-house? By making efforts on both the software and hardware fronts, we have significantly reduced costs," said Han Di, a relevant person in charge at the Tianjin Branch, explaining the underlying logic of the technological transformation.

Walking into the company's painting workshop, a car is slowly moving along a track for inspection. As several camera flashes rapidly fire, the inspection equipment completes a defect detection scan of the car body's surface within a few dozen seconds. This visual intelligent appearance quality defect detection equipment was developed by Fitow (Tianjin) Testing Technology Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Fitow). "Quality inspection is a key part of technological transformation," Han Di noted. Previously, the company used imported inspection equipment from Spain, which was extremely expensive. To reduce costs, the Tianjin Branch partnered with the local enterprise Fitow to find a new path for domestic equipment substitution. The Tianjin Branch provided the application scenario, Tianjin University supplied intellectual resources, and Fitow handled equipment development, resulting in a successful collaboration among industry, academia, and research. "We entered the market at one-third the price of imported equipment and completed technological upgrades," added Wang Liqi, Project Manager at Fitow. "Imported equipment uses traditional algorithms, relying on black-and-white contrast to judge defects. In other words, it only knows the location of defects, not their types. Our equipment uses deep learning-based object detection, with different inspection standards set, enabling classification and identification of issues such as weld slag, shrinkage cavities, and runs."

The changes in the logistics area more vividly demonstrate the outcomes of the Tianjin Branch's new-type technological transformation. Bo Chunqiang, Logistics Planning Supervisor, introduced that the company has introduced 153 AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots) into its dark warehouse, achieving full automation of warehousing, distribution, and empty container return, significantly reducing labor costs. To further lower equipment costs, the company has explored a cooperation model of "equipment leasing plus revenue sharing" with equipment suppliers. This model allows the company to shed the burden of heavy asset depreciation, while enabling suppliers to flexibly deploy equipment nationwide for recycling and reuse. In addition to leveraging upstream and downstream partners, the Tianjin Branch has also repurposed internal existing assets, making this another breakthrough for cost optimization. Jia Jingcun, Logistics Planning Engineer, explained that in the battery automatic replenishment project, by retrofitting retired robots and other idle assets, coupled with independently developed algorithms and self-commissioning, the company invested only 250,000 yuan to replace labor-intensive manual handling. "Purchasing a full set of new equipment would have cost over 700,000 yuan, resulting in substantial savings," he said.

After opening the path to internal efficiency gains, the Tianjin Branch set its sights on a broader industrial ecosystem, extending the momentum of technological transformation to the upstream and downstream supply chain, enabling the coordinated development of more than 50 local suppliers in the vicinity. Furthermore, the company has actively participated in the formulation of industry standards. Han Di explained that the company, using its own factory as a scenario and in collaboration with relevant local government departments, jointly compiled the Tianjin municipal evaluation standard for "zero-waste factories," achieving a transformation in government-enterprise relations from one-way policy implementation to two-way co-construction of standards. According to reports, the Tianjin Branch's technological transformation received 7.978 million yuan in central government financial subsidies, driving self-raised funds of over 1 billion yuan. The impressive results are recorded in detailed data: to date, all key equipment for the new-type technological transformation projects has been procured and installed, with data collection rates for key production equipment reaching 92% and numerical control rates for key processes reaching 92%, demonstrating overall notable effectiveness. In this industry race, the technological transformation logic of the Tianjin Branch proves that cost reduction and efficiency enhancement are not simply about saving money, but about finding better solutions through pathway substitution.

Venturing into the Nangang Industrial Zone, the paste resin unit area of Tianjin Bohua Chemical Development Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Bohua Development) comes into view: pipe racks crisscrossing and tanks neatly arranged. Paste resin is a niche product, yet it enjoys high market demand, with wide applications in yoga mats, eco-friendly tarpaulins, medical gloves, and coatings for new energy wind turbines. The annual production of 120,000 tons of paste resin project, with an investment of over 1.4 billion yuan, aims to complement and strengthen the industrial chain, consolidating traditional advantages. This project is not only a strategic move by its parent company, Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Group Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Bohua Group), to restore its advantageous products, but also a benchmark for intrinsic safety enhancement in the national paste resin industry. The image shows the paste resin unit of Bohua Development (provided by the interviewee).

"Intrinsic safety means eliminating hazards at the source through process technology, rather than relying on post-hoc protection. We have the technical foundation, an expert team from older chemical plants, and the accumulated advantages of the upstream and downstream industrial chain," said a relevant person in charge at Bohua Development. "In the past, most technological transformation funds were used to purchase equipment for localized upgrades. Leveraging the new-type transformation pilot policy, this time the transformation is a comprehensive, systematic industrial upgrade aligned with market demand and trends." The first priority has been a significant improvement in automation. By introducing a distributed control system and innovations in polymerization processes, the new unit has achieved enclosed continuous feeding and automated online cleaning. "It's like pouring raw materials into a pot, cooking them, and then pouring them out," the person in charge explained. "Previously, for every batch cooked, workers had to open the pot lid, scrub it clean, and then load the materials. Now, the system controls the process, using online cleaning guns for automatic washing and automatic wastewater discharge, reducing manual operations and enhancing production safety. The number of operators has been reduced by 50% compared to the old plant, and by 10% to 30% compared to the industry average." Another priority has been rewriting industry safety rules. Based on reports from authoritative domestic testing institutions and in collaboration with leading industry suppliers, Bohua Development has created the world's first dust explosion protection system for the drying and packaging stages of paste resin. The design of explosion-proof electrical controls, instrumentation, and venting ports has elevated the safety level of the unit to a new height, redefining industry safety standards.

Bohua Group was the first enterprise in China to introduce the seed emulsion method for paste resin production. Now, with the increasing maturity and popularization of the process, technical barriers no longer pose a constraint, and more and more enterprises possess the production capability. Against this backdrop, Bohua Development adjusts its processing formulas according to different customer needs, offering "customization" to continuously enhance product competitiveness and meet diverse market demands.

If the FAW-Volkswagen Tianjin Branch is "renovating and replacing" within an old plant, and Bohua Development is relying on relocation to achieve systematic industrial upgrading, then the Lenovo Tianjin Industrial Park has embedded the concept of new-type technological transformation from the "blueprint" stage. The image shows cars undergoing inspection in the painting workshop of FAW-Volkswagen Tianjin Branch (photo by our reporter Wang Xinyao).

Entering the Lenovo Tianjin Industrial Park, the highly modern and tech-styled park design showcases this established manufacturing enterprise's determination to keep pace with the times. In the rapidly evolving electronics manufacturing market, where standing still means falling behind, how can breakthroughs be achieved by leveraging the momentum of the era? "Previous technological transformations focused on automated upgrades of single points on the production line. This time, we are looking at the end-to-end process, from R&D, production, warehousing, and logistics to overall park intelligent management, connecting and integrating all system data, shifting from 'making products' to 'creating solutions'," explained Li Shaozhen, Strategy Operations Supervisor at Lenovo Group. He noted that the central government financial subsidy received for this new-type technological transformation leveraged nearly 43 times that amount in enterprise investment. After reaching full production capacity, the project is expected to generate an annual output value of 16 billion yuan, reduce end-to-end manufacturing and logistics costs by 10% to 15%, increase production efficiency by 5% to 10%, and improve the yield rate by 15% to 20%.

The 24-meter-high automated warehouse presents a sci-fi scene: a 500-meter-long overhead logistics line directly connects the warehouse to the production lines, automatically delivering materials to workstations. "This is the first warehouse in China to achieve co-existence of raw materials and finished products, and the co-existence of bonded and non-bonded materials," Li Shaozhen said. The warehouse operates completely unmanned, with stacker cranes, shuttle carts, robotic arms, and other equipment running 24/7. A digital twin system maps the warehouse's status in real time, allowing backend operators to control every piece of equipment, boosting warehousing efficiency by nearly tenfold. The warehouse also utilizes potential energy recovery technology, saving 260,000 kWh of electricity annually. The park has built two internationally leading SMT (Surface Mount Technology) production lines, with a chip placement speed of 172,000 components per hour, and two automated laptop assembly lines, producing one laptop every nine seconds. Additionally, the park has fully deployed 15 self-developed industrial software systems, including the LeMES manufacturing execution system and the APS advanced planning and scheduling system, achieving a 100% rate for key equipment networking and real-time production data collection. The orderly and efficient operation of this production line is attributed to Lenovo Group's AI-empowered intelligent manufacturing digital transformation 2.0 solution. "We leverage advanced intelligent technologies such as devices, edge computing, cloud, network, and intelligence to build multi-dimensional operations including intelligent supply, intelligent manufacturing, and smart logistics. By integrating methodologies like equipment management and intelligent scheduling, and connecting data across systems, we have created a unique one-stop supply chain solution, implemented across multiple scenarios, building a global intelligent supply chain ecosystem," Li Shaozhen elaborated.

As topics like "large models" and "dragon lobsters" become hot topics on the internet, Lenovo Group has also chosen to enter this trend. Li Shaozhen introduced that the company has proposed AI infrastructure solutions such as "Wanquan Intelligent Computing" and "Dragon Lobster Lake," and is exporting these to upstream and downstream enterprises, providing users with localized large-model training and inference solutions, achieving the transformation from producing products to delivering solutions. The image shows the Lenovo Tianjin Industrial Park (photo by our reporter Wang Xinyao).

Growing from a former saline-alkali tidal flat into the "half" of Tianjin's manufacturing industry, the changes in the Binhai New Area are not just about rising economic output and an expanding industrial map, but also a deep-level transformation of development drivers. This would not be possible without institutional innovation and the precise "watering" of resource factors. "In the process of enterprise development, the most direct and effective help is financial support," said Qi Yiwei, Deputy Director of the Economic Construction Office of the Binhai New Area Finance Bureau. However, "how to provide" funds is a question of scientific management. Traditional government subsidies often follow the model of "enterprises invest first, government rewards later," with funds disbursed after project acceptance. "But in the current fiercely competitive manufacturing environment, where enterprises face pressure on their capital chains, many fail at the hurdle of 'investing first'," Qi Yiwei told reporters. The early investment phase is precisely when enterprises need money the most, and post-hoc rewards often just add "icing on the cake." Therefore, in the allocation of the first batch of 150 million yuan in transformation pilot funds, the Binhai New Area adopted an innovative model: ex-ante guidance. This involves signing project task agreements at the initial stage of project construction and disbursing basic subsidy funds to enterprises to alleviate early-stage financial pressure. This is a boon for enterprises, but does advancing funds pose risks? Qi Yiwei explained that the government does not simply "give and forget." Instead, it has established a follow-up mechanism of regular tracking, scheduling, and on-site visits to promptly understand project progress and coordinate solutions to upstream and downstream challenges during construction.

To ensure the smooth progress of the pilot tasks, the Binhai New Area has innovatively built a service system of "think tank support + platform empowerment + ecosystem collaboration," selecting professional comprehensive management service institutions to provide full-process think tank services and full-lifecycle project management support for the pilot construction. Concurrently, the Binhai New Area has established a public service platform for new-type technological transformation of manufacturing and a digital transformation capability promotion center, focusing on the needs of key industrial chains, introducing leading industry service providers, and jointly building an industry digital transformation solution repository. Since the platform went live, it has achieved full digital management of business processes including project application, process management, service matching, and data statistics, significantly improving service efficiency and management levels. The financial department's support is not limited to funds alone. "Policy guidance can have a very positive guiding and driving effect on the industry, pointing the way for enterprise development," Li Shaozhen told reporters. To increase their chances of receiving government financial support, enterprises pay close attention to policy trends and precisely plan projects that align with them. Han Di deeply feels this. He excitedly told reporters: "After we were selected for the new transformation pilot project, colleagues from branch companies in other cities were envious and came to ask about the 'secret' to being selected. In reality, behind this is the government's recognition, which gave us great encouragement and confidence."

With policy support, technological breakthroughs, and ecosystem co-construction, the new-type technological transformation in the Binhai New Area represents a reshaping of industrial thinking. As policy dividends resonate with the endogenous driving forces of enterprises, a new picture of booming new quality productive forces is set to unfold along the coast of the Bohai Sea.

Source: China Finance News (Reporter: Wang Xinyao) | Editor: Zhang Yuan