In the huge injection plant, the plastic raw materials are transformed into air-conditioning parts by the automation of each machine. One manipulator carries the finished products on the conveyor belt to the packing area. The handling robot shuttles and transports all kinds of goods in the factory, while the employees just pack the finished products at the end of the production line.

This is the scene in the Gree Air Conditioning Injection Molding Plant in Zhuhai, southern China. Here, machines and people have been completely separated. Machines that used to require human operation can now complete a series of process operations on their own, while people are only responsible for the final packaging.

"Since last year, through the use of robots and automation transformation, our factory has achieved the goal of reducing staff and increasing efficiency. The number of people has decreased from over 300 to over 100, while the productivity has increased by 20%. Cheng Hailiang, director of the factory, said.

This is part of the ambitious process automation transformation of the air conditioning manufacturer. Not only the injection plant, but also the robots and automated production equipment in other plants are gradually introduced. The company has proposed to achieve 70% automated productivity by 2015.

China's manufacturing industry is undergoing a slow but profound transformation: the massive use of industrial robots.

According to data released last month by the German-based International Federation of Robots, 37,000 industrial robots were sold in China in 2013, nearly three times as many as in 2012. China has not only become the world's largest robot market, but also the fastest growing market.

In Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region, the government has proposed that more than 80% of the manufacturing enterprises in the city should use industrial robots and intelligent equipment by 2020.

In Dongguan, which is known as the "world factory", a sample survey organized by the government shows that 66% of enterprises in the city have invested in the work of "machine replacement" in the past five years, and 92% of enterprises say they will continue to increase their investment or prepare to carry out related work in the next two years.

In recent years, China's labor market has changed, and factories in developed coastal manufacturing areas are generally unsatisfied with workers. On the other hand, manufacturing costs in China have been rising.

Many enterprises regard "machine replacement" as the way to reduce production costs. In Dongguan, where "machine replacement" has been carried out, statistics show that half of the enterprises have saved more than 10% of the production staff and 20% of the enterprises have saved more than 30% of the production staff.

For many small and medium-sized enterprises, the popularization of industrial robots also faces a big challenge: huge investment costs. Wu Xinyu, a researcher at Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has been tracking the development of the robot industry for a long time, said that at present 70% of the robots in China are produced by foreign manufacturers, and the price of robots remains high.

Wu Xinyu said that the use of industrial robots in China is still at an initial stage. In the future, industrial robots will set off a new industrial revolution. The cost of manufacturing in countries with technological advantages will be greatly reduced, while the cost advantage of manufacturing in China may be further reduced. Therefore, it is imperative for China to vigorously develop and apply industrial robots.

"At present, the average density of industrial robots in the world's manufacturing industry is 55 per 10,000 employees, while the density of industrial robots in China is only 21 per 10,000 people, which is much lower than that in developed countries. China is still a relatively backward country in industrial automation in the world. With the advancement of industrial automation, there is still a lot of room for growth in the future industrial robot market. Wu Xinyu said.