Pilot projects on smart manufacturing launched two years ago are running smoothly, said Miao Wei, minister of Industry and Information Technology. He also encouraged pioneering smart manufacturers to introduce their technologies to others.

He made the announcement on July 24 at a conference on smart manufacturing in Dongguan, South China’s Guangdong province, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The program will be expanded to a larger range of industries and regions, said Feng Fei, deputy minister of Industry and Information Technology. He hoped that China can reach the top of some of the world’s most competitive high-tech industries through smart manufacturing, 21st Century Business Herald reported.

Since 2015, more than 100 projects have been launched. In 2016, the government will continue the program, spending 5.2 billion yuan to support 133 projects in 25 provinces, said Miao Wei at the conference.

As the key to “Industry 4.0”, smart manufacturing — the integration of information technology and manufacturing — is given much attention by China as well as other countries. Currently, China is making progress in some fields of smart manufacturing such as smart machine tools, industry robots, super computers, big data and cloud computing, according to Xinhua.

For example, a project launched by Mengniu Dairy Group has automated and informationized its industry chain, raising their production efficiency by 20 percent and labor productivity by 6 percent, said Wen Yongping, deputy president of Mengniu Group.

“Successful methods and technologies used in the pilot projects can be introduced to other enterprises,” said Miao Wei.

He added that smart manufacturing is a long-time strategy for China and should be fully supported.