Region reinvents itself into manufacturing powerhouse

Developing from a city of fish and rice into a big player of industry, Suzhou in Jiangsu province has created a comprehensive and sound modern industrial system over the past few years.

In 2018, Suzhou ranked third on the top 25 industrial powerhouse cities list, which was released by the China Business Network.

To date, the city houses 9,851 industrial enterprises with an annual operating revenue surpassing 200 billion yuan ($28.73 billion). It has formed a modern industrial system that covers a range of sectors such as electronics, chemicals, steel, electrical machinery, equipment manufacturing and textiles.

In 2018, the industrial added value of Suzhou reached 824.04 billion yuan and the output of its industrial companies hit 3.31 trillion yuan, up 6.1 percent year-on-year. Of this, the output value of private industrial firms accounted for 1.12 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5 percent compared to the previous year. The output value of industrial enterprises funded by foreign countries and Chinese regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan reached 2.12 trillion yuan, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

"Compared with the metropolis of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the industrial manufacturing in Suzhou lacks a deep insight into its status and future developing trends," said Wang Shiwen, professor at the School of Business of the Suzhou University of Science and Technology.

There is still room for Suzhou to meet the development aims of future manufacturing in its city layout, elements construction and risk management, Wang said.

Affected by traditional industries, many manufacturers of Suzhou still attach more importance to their speed and mass production at the expense of quality and service, he noted.

These companies need to focus more on self-design as well as research and development, Wang added.

Since 2013, Lexy, a Suzhou-based manufacturer of home appliances, has attempted to buck this trend.

Liu Jianbin, an electrical engineer at Lexy, said, "I have spent seven years developing the intelligent technologies of our company."

Liu and his team have overcome difficulties in the gaps between automotive production and outdated logistics. With these efforts, four of Lexy's electrical machinery plants were granted a national pilot zone status for intelligent manufacturing and three smart pilot workshops of Jiangsu province.

These intelligent factories have set examples and ignited the development of new industrial patterns in Suzhou.

In 2018, the output value of Suzhou's strategic emerging industries reached 1.73 trillion yuan. From January to August in 2019, the amount was 1.15 trillion yuan.

Since May last year, the growth of industrial investment remained at more than 9 percent and investment in the technological transformation for industries increased by 13.3 percent.

The city has seen rapid development in industries including new-generation information technology, biomedicine, application of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

In addition, Suzhou has beefed up efforts to develop the industrial internet of things.

Official statistics showed that six national IIoT companies settled down in Suzhou.

In 2019, Suzhou held a series of international technological summits, discussing topics such as global open-source technologies, industrial ecological innovation applications and computing.

These moves helped Suzhou play a more significant role in the IIoT construction, local officials said.

"We hope that the world's investors will pick Suzhou when they look for investment opportunities in China," said Lan Shaomin, Party secretary of Suzhou.

liangkaiyan@chinadaily.com.cn