East China's Shanghai plans to build more than 100 unmanned factories, production lines and workshops, focusing on new manufacturing methods such as flexible and cloud manufacturing, according to an action plan released by the city on April 8.

An automated workshop of Bao Steel in Shanghai. (Photo/Wenhuibao)

Specifically, Shanghai will build exemplary unmanned factories by harnessing the power of the new generation of information technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, industrial internet, blockchain and big data, so as to boost smart manufacturing.

The city aims to build 10 world-class intelligent manufacturing factories in sectors including chemical engineering and new materials.

By 2021, the value of the intelligent manufacturing equipment sector in the city is expected to exceed 130 billion yuan, one of the highest in the country.

The metropolis will also support the development of system integrators for intelligent manufacturing. It plans to support two such companies' listing on China's science and technology innovation board, and to build 10 world-class system integrators for intelligent manufacturing by 2021.

According to the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the metropolis has preliminarily built 14 national intelligent manufacturing factories and 80 municipal ones, contributing to intelligent transformation of more than 500 large companies.