Xinhua Focus | Sharing Intelligent Manufacturing to Empower "Cluster Economy" Full-Chain Collaboration Accelerates Upgrades

Recently, reporters went deep into the frontline of Hebei’s featured industrial clusters to conduct in-depth field research, focusing on local “shared smart manufacturing” innovation practices and uncovering the core keys to improving quality and efficiency in the industry.

■ “Shared equipment” raises equipment utilization to 90%

In Qinghe County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, annual sales of cashmere account for half of the global market. However, among the many small and medium-sized enterprises within the industrial cluster, the “high barriers” for advanced equipment have become a bottleneck restricting them from achieving high-quality development.

在 the cashmere knitwear production process, advanced equipment such as “on-line forming” intelligent machines and digital dyeing equipment can effectively improve production efficiency. Because small and medium-sized enterprises lack the financial strength to purchase equipment on their own, they can only rely on traditional machines for production, which not only results in low efficiency but also leaves them even facing the situation of missing out on high-end orders due to outdated equipment. Data shows that within the Qinghe cashmere industry cluster, only fewer than 10% of small and medium-sized enterprises have independent advanced production equipment.

To solve this problem, the local area has built the Xinhua · Cixing Cashmere Knitwear Digital Shared Factory and the Xinhua · Sitang (Shitánɡ) Cashmere On-line Forming Research Institute. They centrally procure high-end intelligent equipment, open and share it across enterprises throughout the entire cluster, and raise single-factory equipment utilization from 60% to 90%. The success of the shared model not only invigorates small and medium-sized enterprises, but also propels the local cashmere industry toward high-end, intelligent, and green transformation.

By the end of 2025, the Xinhua · Cixing Cashmere Knitwear Digital Shared Factory had served more than 230 companies within the cluster, with cumulative production of 18 million pieces of various cashmere products, helping companies save more than 800 million yuan in equipment investment costs.

The success of the shared model in Qinghe County not only invigorates small and medium-sized enterprises, but also propels the local cashmere industry toward high-end, intelligent, and green transformation.

■ “Shared smart manufacturing” enables a leapfrog upgrade of the electronic information industry cluster

Shijiazhuang is the core hub for the new generation electronic information industry in Hebei Province. In Luquan District, there is the largest electronic information industry cluster in the province. It brings together leading enterprises such as the 13th Institute and the 54th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group, as well as Hikvision. In 2025, the cluster had 1,226 enterprises. However, small and medium-sized enterprises face challenges such as high investment required for advanced testing equipment and a lack of R&D resources and laboratory scenarios, which constrain the industry’s shift toward high-end and intelligent transformation.

Based on the pain points in industrial development, Shijiazhuang, with Luquan District at its core, relies on leading enterprises and research institutes to build a “shared smart manufacturing” system, creating shared testing platforms, a drone test-flight shared base, and university-enterprise collaborative shared laboratories. This enables resource sharing across the entire chain, including testing, R&D, experiments, and production.

Beyond shared testing, Shijiazhuang also leverages the Shijiazhuang Innovation Research Institute of Hebei University of Technology to build eight shared laboratories, such as a network for unmanned system cluster formation and test-and-control, and network security technologies and defense. Without purchasing expensive experimental equipment, enterprises can share high-end R&D platforms.

Currently, Shijiazhuang’s new generation electronic information industry cluster has formed a multidimensional shared smart manufacturing ecosystem comprising “shared testing + shared R&D + shared experiments + shared production.” This not only helps small and medium-sized enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency, but also drives a leapfrog upgrade of the entire industrial cluster. From going it alone to developing in groups; from resources being scattered to sharing an ecosystem—Shijiazhuang’s new generation electronic information industry cluster is accelerating toward high-end, intelligent, and clustered development with “shared smart manufacturing” as the engine.

■ “Shared processes” improve quality and efficiency in the cable industry

Ningjin County in Hebei Province is the largest overhead wire and cable production base in North China, with more than 2,300 production and supporting enterprises. However, in the Ningjin overhead wire and cable industry cluster, most small and medium-sized enterprises face common development issues such as high thresholds for investing in high-end equipment and unbalanced capacity allocation.

To address this challenge, local leading enterprises take the lead in co-building shared irradiation workshops, localizing the key irradiation processes. Through staggered production scheduling and shared capacity, they help small and medium-sized enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Overall coordination: Li Jie, Li Jialin, Wang Bingdi

Director: Liu Rujuan

Reporter: Yue Wenting, Zou Shangbo

Cinematography: Tian Xiaoli, Wu Kun

Packaging: Xia Yong

Produced by the Xinhua News Agency’s audio and video department