The groundbreaking ceremony for FFT's smart factory is held in Jiading district, Shanghai on Aug 3. The event is attended by government officials and enterprise representatives. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]

FFT, a leading global supplier of innovative, flexible and highly complex manufacturing systems, will invest 5 billion yuan ($720 million) to set up its global headquarters in Jiading, Shanghai, the company announced during a groundbreaking ceremony held on Aug 3.

Located in Jiading's Anting town, the project occupies an area of about 5.73 hectares, and is expected to be completed in 2022.

Wu Jincheng, director of the Shanghai Economic and Informatization Commission, said at the groundbreaking ceremony that Shanghai will give its full support to the construction of FFT’s smart factory in Jiading, and encourage the company to introduce more world-class standards and advanced technologies for automobile manufacturing.

Wu added that the Shanghai government will join hands with the company to foster new advantages in intelligent management and industrial application?scenarios as part of efforts to inject more vitality into the city’s?high-quality?development.

Lu Fangzhou, Party?secretary?of Jiading, said that the district is beefing up efforts to accelerate the development of intelligent manufacturing as it aims to improve its economic structure and foster?new?growth drivers.

With the?rapid?development of advanced?technologies?such as industrial automation and artificial intelligence, manufacturing enterprises across the world have been promoting intelligent?manufacturing and the digital?transformation?of industries.

FFT will help promote Jiading's research and development capabilities in automatic production and smart factory construction.

Founded in 1974 in Germany, FFT is the world's leading global supplier of innovative, flexible and highly complex manufacturing systems. Its customers include major companies such as Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen.

Following more than 40 years of development, FFT has mastered the core technologies of automation, digitization and Industry 4.0 - the ongoing transformation of traditional manufacturing combined with the latest smart technologies.