The special session on AI Equipment Technology and Product Innovation was successfully held on the morning of September 7th as part of the 2026 Lean Digital Innovation Conference and Lean Digital Transformation Innovation Ecosystem Expo. The session ran from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM and was hosted by Yuan Meiyi, a senior moderator from the Aiborui Talent Development Institute.
The event brought together experts and scholars from the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Society, ANYS, Rockwell Automation, Harbin Turbine Company, Hongqi GBIK, and CRSC Equipment Research Institute to explore pathways for technology and product innovation in the AI era. Starting at 8 AM, an AI opening video played on a loop as guests took their seats, while an exhibition area outside the main hall offered demonstrations and networking opportunities for attendees. At 8:30 AM, the session officially commenced.
Zhu Jubin, Dean of the Aiborui Technology Research Institute and General Manager of the R&D Division, delivered the first presentation titled Returning to the Source: The AIPD R&D Management System, offering a systematic explanation of how R&D management frameworks can return to their fundamentals, providing a solid foundation for AI technology implementation.
Zhang Baoxin, Director of the Industrialization Institute at CRSC Equipment Research Institute, and Zhang Lianhe, Aiborui R&D Management Expert, co-presented Improving Design Efficiency for ETO Enterprise Order-Based Projects. Drawing from practical experience with high-end equipment manufacturers handling order-driven projects, they noted that numerous projects, tight timelines, and intense delivery pressure are common pain points. They advocated for a holistic value-chain perspective to boost design efficiency: first, aligning R&D closely with market demand from the source to capture customer needs accurately and do the right things; second, optimizing cross-departmental processes and project management mechanisms with digital tools to enhance collaboration; and third, improving delivery efficiency through modular and lifecycle-oriented design to build sustainable product competitiveness.
Tian Feng, Executive Vice President of ANYS, shared insights in his talk Precision Intelligent R&D: Lean R&D in the AI Era. He argued that the essence of lean R&D in the AI era lies in using AI to transform knowledge utilization. Past R&D digitalization efforts often failed due to the cost-performance paradox, where knowledge codification and model generalization relied heavily on experts' time investments. AI, however, can unlock experts' tacit knowledge by processing enterprise-wide data into intelligent agent swarms and lean applications embedded within R&D workflows. This evolves through five maturity stages—assistance, lean, precision, intelligence, and ecosystem—ultimately achieving AI-driven knowledge-powered smart R&D.
Qian Cheng, a process expert at Harbin Turbine Company, presented Lean Digital Manufacturing Practices for Small-Batch Production: From Source Standardization to Intelligent Process Planning. He detailed the company's approach for single-piece and small-batch manufacturing: first, using lean value stream mapping to identify waste; second, applying the Three Standardizations of drawings to converge improvements into modules and rules; and third, leveraging their proprietary MPM intelligent process planning system to structure process knowledge into verifiable, linked data that can be reused across products and personnel. He emphasized that AI's role is human-machine collaboration, not replacement—machines handle document parsing, table restructuring, and three-tier candidate recommendations, while process engineers retain final approval and feed results back into the rules.
Lin Jing, Assistant President of the Aiborui Group, unveiled the AIPD roadmap, including Talent Development Institute training programs, December events, and three complimentary consulting opportunities. A tea break followed, with the exhibition and consultation areas open for attendees to engage and network.
Lin Binxin, Technical Director at Hongqi GBIK, presented Hongqi GBIK's AI-Driven Integrated Solutions for Discrete Equipment Manufacturing. He introduced the Xinghe Engine, a domestically developed industrial geometric kernel refined over fifteen years. This independently controlled foundational technology replaces reliance on overseas kernels and serves as the bedrock of the entire solution. On top of this sits three industrial AI engines—Hunyuan, Wenling, and Hengjian—covering intelligent design, multiphysics simulation, and full-chain defect interception, respectively. Delivered as a cloud-based SaaS offering, the solution enables discrete equipment manufacturers to complete the entire R&D chain—from design and simulation to quality assurance—directly within a browser.
Han Yunli, Senior Consultant at Aiborui, delivered a presentation on Consulting Practices for Design Cost Management. He asserted that "cost is defined by design, not produced"—product costs are largely determined during the design phase, leaving limited room for savings through production alone. Cost management must therefore shift upstream to the design stage, deeply integrating with R&D processes and cross-departmental collaboration, so that designing for cost builds product competitiveness from the source.
Li Dong, Vice President of Rockwell Automation China and Dean of its Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Research Institute, delivered the closing address: New Quality Productivity in the Full-Stack AI Era: The Cross-Disciplinary Fusion of Mechanisms and Computing Power. He noted that in the full-stack AI era, new quality productivity no longer hinges on single-point technology competition but on a systematic contest of mechanisms, computing power, and ecosystems. Mechanisms form the skeleton, keeping AI truthful; computing power provides the muscle, making mechanisms smarter; and ecosystems act as the circulatory system, enabling closed loops to function. He outlined three pathways to achieve this fusion, bringing AI out of the laboratory and onto the factory floor to create value, guiding enterprises from industry leaders to ecosystem orchestrators.
Following each presentation, interactive Q&A sessions allowed attendees to engage with speakers on the topics discussed. At 11:20 AM, the host announced the successful conclusion of the session and invited all guests to proceed to the conference closing ceremony. The session spanned R&D management frameworks and lean R&D methodologies, real-world cases from high-end equipment manufacturing, AI applications in the manufacturing sector, design cost management, and the fusion of mechanisms with computing power—blending theory with practice and emphasizing both technology and products, injecting fresh momentum into enterprise AI transformation and product innovation.