Top 10 predictions for Chinese manufacturing in 2015

Chinese manufacturing took a knock in 2014 with labor shortages, increasing costs, excessive capacity and the weak global economy holding back growth across all sectors.

Global competition is diluting China’s position as the ‘world’s factory’ with emerging players dominating the low-cost sector and high-end manufacturing returning to developed nations. 

Under this pressure, transformation has become the top priority for Chinese manufacturing companies. Through product innovation, lean manufacturing, flexible production and supply chain integration China aims to take back its slice of the global manufacturing industry in 2015. 

In 2015, innovation will remain the driving force for growth in China. Transformation and upgrades are urgently needed, as companies move toward miniaturized, intelligent and specialized manufacturing. With the innovation accelerators such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robots and 3D printing, and 3rd-Platform technologies such as cloud, big data, analytics, social and mobile manufacturing, technology needs to be adopted, and fast, to ensure China remains a global manufacturing player. 

Manufacturing Global highlights ten top trends effecting Chinese manufacturing in 2015 and beyond:

1. Internet will speed up its penetration into the manufacturing industry, and Internet-enabled products will boost into an explosion in 2015.
2. Industrial robots replacing humans will be accelerated in 2015.
3. Cloud computing will safeguard the management of enterprise supply chain.
4. Industry 4.0 will set up the model for traditional manufacturers to build intelligent factories.
5. The development of Internet technology will redefine the job of  the Chief Information Officer.
6. Integration of digital world and real world will continue, posing severe test on the information security of manufacturing companies.
7. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) will bring forth innovations for Chinese manufacturing companies.
8. Chinese manufacturing companies will expedite its steps in overseas market exploration.
9. Servitization of manufacturing industry will become the main trend of manufacturing companies' transformation and upgrading.
10. Miniaturization and specialization will be the new features of manufacturing companies' development.