China's first intelligent factory for the production of offshore gas and oil extraction equipment was put into operation on June 27, marking a breakthrough in pivoting the industry to intellectual manufacturing.

Covering an area of about 575,000 square meters, the factory has three intelligent production centers, seven auxiliary workshops and eight assembly stations.

It has a designed annual production capacity of 84,000 tons and is equipped with a dock able to harbor various large offshore engineering ships, including floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

In addition, the factory is equipped with over 400 sets of intelligent production machines that can increase the overall efficiency by over 20 percent.

"The intelligent factory has over 400 sets of intelligent production equipment, which not only greatly reduce labor input, but also help control the output parameters through intelligent equipment, avoiding potential human errors and ensuring the safety of personnel during production," said Geng Xiaomin, senior technician at CNOOC Tianjin Construction Branch.

The factory was developed by a research team with over 200 engineers along with China's top universities and institutions, applying about 10 latest technologies to fill the void in the field in China, said CNOOC.

"We adopt a large number of advanced technologies such as 5G, industrial big data and artificial intelligence to realize whole-process intelligent manufacturing, from project management and control to workshop construction and factory management," said Wang Huifeng, general manager of CNOOC Tianjin Construction Branch. "Its intelligent operation and management model can be applied in the offshore oil and gas equipment industry."

The smart factory can achieve an annual output value of 4 billion yuan (about $600 million), China Media Group reported.