Two Chinese production sites of iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and smaller rival Wistron Corp (緯創) have been named “global lighthouse” factories by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Hon Hai, known outside of Taiwan as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said that its factory in Chengdu had been chosen by the WEF among 15 factories worldwide on this year’s “global lighthouse” list.
The Chengdu plant is the second Hon Hai factory to be included on the list after its Shenzhen plant was chosen in 2019.
Photo: CNA
The WEF and consulting firm McKinsey & Co in 2018 began the list of “lighthouse” factories chosen for their digital transformation — plants that have adopted the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Since then, only 69 factories have been included on the list.
Hon Hai said that the choice of the Chengdu plant reflected the company’s efforts to boost the factory’s efficiency by 200 percent by adopting mixed reality, AI and IoT technologies at a time when the company was experiencing a rapid growth in its business, but faced a lack of skilled workers.
Mixed reality is the merging of “real” and “virtual” worlds to produce new environments and visualizations.
Hon Hai has been transforming itself from a pure contract manufacturer into a company that is able to integrate its hardware and software capabilities.
The company has been engaging with emerging technologies, such as 5G applications, electric vehicles and digital healthcare, to boost its profit margin in a competitive global market.
Wistron said that its factory in Kunshan that produces AI plus IoT devices had been chosen.
The factory’s inclusion on the WEF list represents a milestone for the firm, Wistron said, as it has been using new technologies to upgrade its facilities and lay a foundation for corporate sustainability.
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