Digital Services Key to Upgrading China's Manufacturing Sector

Digital services are crucial to improving China's manufacturing industry, and data collection is a fundamental link, participants said at the 2026 World of Digitalization Expo in Shanghai that concluded today.

Over 200 exhibitors from China, the US, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Singapore showcased the latest smart manufacturing technologies and ideologies at the second annual event.

"We come with both hardware and software products that are equipped with artificial intelligence," said Bella Huo, an executive with German firm Festo.

"With our solutions, manufacturing companies can be facilitated especially in the precision of production maintenance, improving both efficiency and accuracy," Huo said.

Festo also took part in the expo last year.

Elaine Chen, marketing director at Eplan, a German software solutions company, emphasizes the importance of data quality in smart manufacturing, not just digitization.

"Good data management should be complete, systemic, easily compatible, and they start from the software design," Chen said, adding that the issue is equally important, if not more, for companies that plan going global.

The Shanghai New International Expo Center hosts the three-day expo, which covers R&D, design, production, warehousing, logistics, supply chain, AI-enabled manufacturing, low-carbon development, digital twins, and industrial embodied intelligence.