China’s ‘dark factory’ more than doubles production efficiency for J-20
China has more than doubled the production efficiency of stealth fighter components in a “dark factory”, where autonomous vehicles and AI-driven machinery operate nearly 24 hours a day.
The process once required employees to monitor its round-the-clock operations, but the plant can now produce the “skeleton” of an aircraft in near darkness, according to the official Science and Technology Daily
Dark factories are facilities designed to operate with little to no human intervention, thereby removing the need for lighting, cutting energy consumption and operational costs.
The “lights-out factory” now produces the components for China’s most advanced fighter jets, including the J-20 or “Mighty Dragon”
The fifth-generation J-20 jet designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation was declared combat-ready in 2018. Mass production of the fighters began two years later.
Song Ge, head of the Chengdu factory’s digital manufacturing centre said the plant previously needed two or three employees to work in shifts on the factory floor to keep the machinery operating all day. But now automated vehicles carried materials while high-precision machines carved out components.