Siemens currently is assisting Guangdong Huaxing Glass Co Ltd, the largest glass container manufacturer in Asia by output volume, in building 15 digital lighthouse pilot factories in China. The partnership aims to upgrade the digitalization level of the glassmaker, enhance its resilience to meet challenges and lay the foundation for its global market structure.

As manufacturing is the backbone of a country's economy, the government pledged early this year efforts to maintain the proportion of the manufacturing industry in GDP, and ensure that the sector can be reliable at critical moments.

The central government introduced a guideline in late March outlining measures to boost manufacturing services and intelligently transform the manufacturing sector. The idea is to improve the quality and efficiency, innovation capacity and resource allocation efficiency of the manufacturing sector by 2025.

Manufacturing services have become a new business form adapted to the digital economy, because accelerating the growth of manufacturing services and promoting digital, networking and intelligent transformation of the sector will sharpen China's manufacturing edge, raise its resilience and provide strong impetus for economic growth, said Zhao Ying, a researcher at the Beijing-based Institute of Industrial Economics, which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Eager to further expand its market presence, Siemens announced last month it will establish its China headquarters for electrical products in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. The new facility will be responsible for Siemens' electrical products business in China as well as worldwide exports to more than 20 countries and regions.