AI Deeply Embedded in Manufacturing, Intelligent Agent Acts as "Digital Employee"

On the shop floor of Century Machinery, management staff can now access real-time production progress and critical data simply through voice queries. The system automatically compiles statistics, generates work orders, and efficiently handles various management tasks. According to Li Zhi, Product Division Director of Century Machinery, the industrial intelligent agent delivers more stable quality control while drastically reducing the workload associated with data compilation and work order generation, thereby significantly boosting overall operational efficiency.

Traditional digital systems can only passively store data. In contrast, the industrial intelligent agent actively utilizes data, predicts potential production risks, and breaks down information silos across workshops, processes, warehousing, and quality inspection. It automatically optimizes production scheduling based on data analysis. Xu Fusheng, Implementation Director of the AI Enterprise Application Operating System at Qingdao Kute Smart Technology Co., Ltd., noted that the deployment of industrial intelligent agents can shorten assembly lead times by 10% to 20%, enabling companies to secure more orders and opportunities while delivering tangible economic benefits.

Data Proves Transformation Results, Solving Manufacturing Management Pain Points

As a longstanding leader in the post-press packaging equipment manufacturing sector, with products exported to more than 70 countries, Century Machinery once struggled with issues such as low material readiness rates, uncontrollable delivery schedules, and fragmented internal information systems.

Following the implementation of the industrial intelligent agent platform, the company launched four core systems in its first phase—OMS, APS, MES, and WMS—with immediate and remarkable results:

These figures vividly demonstrate the transformative power of industrial intelligent agents in traditional manufacturing—a shift from "human-led management" to "data-driven intelligent governance" that is no longer a conceptual vision but a tangible productivity revolution.

Policy Support and Industrial Acceleration: A Landmark Year for Industrial AI Agents

Century Machinery's transformation is far from an isolated case. Across China, industrial intelligent agents are evolving from "point solutions" to "full-chain empowerment" in deep application scenarios. Data shows that the proportion of industrial enterprises that have adopted large models and intelligent agents has surged from less than 10% in 2024 to over 47% today.

This accelerated adoption is underpinned by intensive policy support at the national level. At the beginning of 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with seven other ministries, jointly issued the "Special Action Implementation Opinions on 'AI + Manufacturing'", setting a clear target to cultivate 1,000 high-level industrial intelligent agents and 500 typical application scenarios by 2027. Concurrently, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments called for accelerated deployment of industrial intelligent agents in key sectors such as raw materials, equipment manufacturing, consumer goods, and electronics, with plans to facilitate the upgrade of no fewer than 50,000 enterprises to new-generation industrial networks.

From "Answering Questions" to "Taking Action": Intelligent Agents Reshape the Manufacturing Logic

Unlike traditional large models that remain at the level of conversation and suggestion, industrial intelligent agents represent a leap from "help me think" to "get it done for me." Experts point out that intelligent agents possess autonomous capabilities in perception, memory, decision-making, interaction, and execution. They can observe the world, interact with their environment to learn autonomously, evaluate outcomes, correct errors, and continuously optimize performance.

Wei Kai, Director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), stated that intelligent agents are increasingly becoming the primary pathway through which AI translates into tangible productivity. According to industry trends, China's intelligent agent market is projected to grow from RMB 80.4 billion in 2025 to RMB 696.8 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 54%. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that in the first 11 months of 2025 alone, the core AI industry exceeded RMB 1 trillion, demonstrating a clear leading role in industrial development.

Outlook: Making the "Century Model" an Accessible Industry Benchmark

From the enterprise-level practice of Century Machinery, one can see the vast potential of industrial intelligent agents in empowering Chinese manufacturing. At present, manufacturers across multiple sectors—including equipment manufacturing, food processing, and electrical equipment—have begun exploring intelligent agent applications. Preliminary estimates suggest that pilot enterprises connected to such platforms can achieve an average overall production efficiency improvement of over 20%, alongside significant reductions in various management costs.

Industry experts note that the generalizability and scalability of industrial intelligent agents are increasingly functioning as a form of infrastructure, lowering the technical barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt AI. As the synergy between national-level policy design and local pilot implementations continues to deepen, industrial intelligent agents will accelerate their transition from "flagship projects" to "ubiquitous services," enabling more Chinese manufacturing enterprises to embrace the opportunities of intelligent transformation.