(Yicai) Jan. 4 -- Shanghai will further support the construction of smart factories in the city this year, with plans to set up 70 more, according to the director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.

More than 70 percent of the smart factories built this year will reach the demonstration and benchmark levels, Zhang Ying said at the Shanghai Smart Factory Construction Promotion Conference yesterday. The key industries for such plants include autos, high-end equipment, and electronic information manufacturing, Zhang added.

The brain of the smart factory configuration exists at multiple levels, including industries, companies, plants, and terminals, Wu Chunping, deputy director of the SMCEI's intelligent manufacturing promotion department, told Yicai.

The higher the smart factory's configuration level is, the higher its “brain” level is, Wu said. For example, a demonstration smart factory is equipped with an “enterprise-level brain," while a benchmark plant has an "industry-level brain,” he pointed out.

Shanghai has three national benchmark and 19 demonstration smart factories, Zhang noted. Their productivity has climbed 50 percent, operating costs have fallen 30 percent, and energy consumption per unit of added value has dropped 13.8 percent, Zhang said.

The number of robots working in key industries in the city has reached 383 per 10,000 people, placing Shanghai in the top echelon globally, Zhang also noted.

Shanghai is accelerating the deep integration of general artificial intelligence, large language models, and robot technologies, Song Haitao, president of the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and chairman of the General Robot Industry Research Institute, said to Yicai. 

The first batch of cross-scenario general intelligent robots serving the manufacturing sector will likely be applied in small sets by the end of this year, Song noted.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev