This year, Chinese manufacturing has seen great progress made in structural adjustment and industrial upgrading.

Manufacturing industries have achieved many results in the course of transition, said Xu Zhaoyuan, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

However, the steel industry requires more efforts to cut excess capacity, and strict standards and fees collection system must be developed to this end, Xu added.

To enhance quality and efficiency, the State Council officially launched a campaign to boost the consumer goods industry in quality and brands, and listed setting up investment funds to promote high-end manufacturing as its main task.

Industrial policy has also seen great changes from political involvement to indirect supporting funds, which helped enterprises operate in a transparent environment, Xu added.

Investment in equipment manufacturing industries has increased rapidly, and the drop in investment in manufacturing as a whole is a normal phenomenon and a good sign for structural upgrading, said Chen Bin, vice-chairman of the China Machinery Industry Federation.

Fruitful results have also been seen in promoting smart, green and service-oriented development of the manufacturing industry. Different types of enterprises should choose different modes of development.

Pushed by technologies, smart manufacturing has continued to grow to higher levels in recent years, and many enterprises have researched and adopted their own results, Chen said.

Traditional manufacturers have been continuing transformation to be more service-oriented, gradually becoming the main support for economic growth. Subordinate machinery industries began carrying out service-oriented production, and formed complete service chains.

China is stepping forward to medium and high manufacturing, but it is a long journey, said Xu Zhaoyuan. “We should develop medium and high manufacturing while stepping up upgrading traditional manufacturing, in a bid to foster a complete manufacturing system,” Xu added.