Three representative job role changes at Nanjing Steel Group have recently illustrated the practical progress of traditional manufacturing transformation, spanning industrial tourism, smart manufacturing, and producer services.
Post-00s tour guide Wang Chenxin works in the industrial tourism segment, which receives an average of 500 visitors per day, with a single-day record of nearly 1,000 study tour participants. The visitor route includes the 'Concentric Circles' lake area, transformed from a disused pump station, and an ecological wetland park inhabited by peacocks and sika deer. The overhead corridor built to 'use coal without seeing coal, transport materials without seeing materials' is now a scenic feature. Nanjing Steel stated that environmental investments have become assets for sustainable development, not obstacles.
At the smart operations center, a 42-meter-long, 6-meter-wide large screen displays a real-time digital twin of the entire process from raw material intake to finished product shipment. Liu Yonghui, director of the digital application office in the ironmaking division, previously worked on the front line but now remotely manages production at an ironmaking plant 4 kilometers away through the screen. The center serves as a demonstration site for Nanjing Steel's digital and intelligent upgrades.
The organization leading the digital and intelligent upgrades has grown from an initial automation section of around 10 people to a company with over 600 employees. Zhang Lian, a former electrician, has transformed into an expert in producer services. Over the past three years, the company he works for has built industrial brains and planned digital factories for enterprises in more than 10 sectors including energy, shipbuilding, and environmental protection, and has expanded its services to Southeast Asia.
The evolution of the three roles is not isolated. Industrial tourism reflects green transformation, smart operations represent technological innovation, and producer services extend industrial boundaries. Together, they point to a chain-based upgrade of manufacturing from selling products to selling services and scenery, forming a cycle where production empowers services and services feed back into production. These changes align with the smart, green, and integrated direction outlined in the '15th Five-Year Plan' outline.