On 30th October, the first water heater of the Water & Ecology Connected Factory, a major project in Shandong Province, was officially launched in Sino-German Ecopark in Qingdao FTZ, marking the completion and putting into production of the Water & Ecology Connected Factory, a leading enterprise in IoW, and the development of the smart home appliance water manufacturing industry in the area. Wang Li, deputy director of the Administrative Committee of Qingdao Free Trade Zone, executive deputy director of Qingdao Sino-German Ecopark, Yan Wei, director of IoW-based Supply Chain of Haier Group, attended the trial production event and delivered speeches.

It is understood that the Water & Ecology Connected Factory officially started construction in October 2022, with a total project investment of 3 billion yuan, covering an area of 302 mu, with a construction area of 300,000 square metres. The plant has an annual production capacity of 5 million electric water heaters, commercial water purifiers and related products, pulling 5,000 people into employment. As a high-end manufacturing project promoted by new quality productivity, the Water & Ecology Connected Factory has ten global product collaborative research and development centres, with an automation rate of 30% higher than that of traditional factories, achieving energy saving of more than 30%, and has been successfully selected as one of the key project for the replacement of old growth drivers with new ones of major industries in Shandong Province.

With the support of all, the construction of a modern, low-carbon factory with the application of world-leading technology and a significant increase in the overall efficiency of automation and energy saving was completed after two years. As a leading enterprise in the intelligent water treatment industry, the Water & Ecology Connected Factory will become a composite intelligent factory integrating the production of IoW water heater, intelligent manufacturing of commercial drink products and the manufacturing of parts and components of Qingdao Region after it is put into operation. It will be built as a “Green Factory” Benchmark with the highest level of intelligence and digitalisation in the global manufacturing industry. It will also become the world's largest high-end water heater production base, further boosting the development of intelligent home appliance industry in Qingdao Free Trade Zone.

In recent years, Qingdao Free Trade Zone and Sino-German Ecopark have actively implemented the deployment and arrangement of the Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government of Qingdao and the West Coast New Area on expanding and strengthening the advantageous industrial chain headed by smart home appliances. In accordance with the logic of “bringing together leading enterprises, nurturing industry chain, and building ecological network”, we focus on building water intelligence industry. We aim at the whole-house water filtration system, opening a new field of intelligent home appliances. At present, the Water & Ecology Connected Factory project, BWT Germany project (total investment of 65 million USD, commissioned), Diehl Germany project (total investment of 40 million USD), Strauss Israel project (total investment of 200 million USD, under construction), Bantek Japan project (total investment of 28 million USD) and other internationalised water ecology industries are gathering in the FTZ, and there will create the world's largest whole-house water intellectual manufacturing base in the future.