On 17 November 2021, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) released the final version of the Guidelines for the Construction of the National Intelligent Manufacturing Standard System (2021 Edition). The majority of the document remains unchanged compared with the call for comments released in July 2021.

The Guidelines were first compiled in 2015 and then revised in 2018 by the General Group of National Intelligent Manufacturing Standardization – which is led by the China Electronic Standardization Institute (CESI). CESI is the core driving force of standardization work within China’s electronic and information technology sector, providing key support to the formulation of relevant policies and regulations. The standardization activities in intelligent manufacturing led by CESI are the counterparts of standardization organizations such as the International IEC/SyC SM (IEC Systems Committee Smart Energy) and the ISO/TMB/SMCC (ISO Technical Management Board Smart Manufacturing Coordination Committee).

The main contents of this revision include:

  • In terms of basic common standards, a “capacity” subsystem was added. It consisted of “capacity evaluation” and “capacity requirements” standards; The “inspection and test” subsystem was also changed from the previous “test items” and “test methods”, to” inspection and test requirements”, ” inspection and test methods” and ” inspection and test technologies”.
  • In terms of intelligent equipment standards, the “identification and sensing” subsystem is divided into “sensors and instruments”, and “cognitive and identification equipment”; “additive manufacturing” is changed to “additive manufacturing equipment”; while “inspection and testing equipment” was added.
  • In terms of intelligent factory standards, the “intelligent logistics” subsystem was changed to “factory intelligent logistics”; while the ” intelligent factory construction” was deleted.
  • The “intelligent supply chain” subsystem was added.
  • In terms of intelligent service standards, “other new modes” were added, and the relevant branches of “operation and maintenance service” and “network collaborative manufacturing” were modified according to the standard system and revision.
  • In terms of intelligent enabling technology standards, two subsystems of “digital twin” and “blockchain” were added; the branch of “artificial intelligence” and “industrial big data” was modified in the light of technology application,
  • In terms of industrial network standards, two new branches: “industrial network integration” and “industrial network resource management” was added.
  • In terms of industry application standards, the ten key areas of the 2018 edition were modified, by including shipping and marine engineering equipment, building materials, petroleum textile, steel, railway, aerospace, automobile, non-ferrous metals, electronic information, power equipment, etc.