Shandong's top private enterprise, with 74 years of entrepreneurial history, brings artificial intelligence into its factory in Weifang

Inside the alumina workshop of Weiqiao Venture Group at dawn, machines roar nonstop.

A young inspector is using a smartphone to take photos of equipment and the site. Seconds later, safety hazards pop up on the screen, highlighting areas needing correction. In the past, spotting such details during inspections required seasoned workers with years of experience; now, AI powered by image recognition can automatically identify risks—often better than some new employees at finding issues.

Meanwhile, IT operations staff in the information center are witnessing a quiet transformation.

Just months ago, the team was overwhelmed daily by dozens of calls and hundreds of emails answering trivial questions like “How do I clear my browser cache?” But after launching the “Information Center AI Assistant,” two-thirds of these requests are now correctly handled by AI. The remaining ones are automatically routed, assigned, and tracked—making IT support remarkably smooth and efficient for a 100,000-person large-scale traditional manufacturing group.

This story is far from isolated.

In just the past two months, employees across Weiqiao Venture Group have created over 800 AI assistants on the company’s DingTalk platform: some use it to instantly check electrolytic cell test data, no longer needing to hover by their computers; others use it to automatically detect on-site safety risks and prevent potential losses.

To outsiders, artificial intelligence seems destined for Silicon Valley offices, laboratories filled with PhDs, or Wall Street trading floors. It feels distant from Binzhou, aluminum smelting, and frontline workers without advanced degrees.

Yet in China, the opposite is unfolding.

While some parts of the world still set high barriers for AI adoption through expensive tools, China’s national enterprise service app DingTalk has already given birth to 1.41 million AI applications. A significant portion of them come not from elite engineers but from frontline workers and ordinary business staff.

They may not think they’re creating “high-tech”—they simply want practical solutions to real problems. Yet, with DingTalk’s support, technological change becomes vividly tangible.

In the most grassroots, everyday, and traditional roles—in what people might consider the “most down-to-earth” manufacturing settings—a practice that could reshape the world is quietly emerging.

This contrast is no accident.

The Legend and Transformation of Weiqiao

Among China's private enterprises, Weiqiao Venture Group stands as a legend. Founded in 1951 as a small oil and cotton processing factory in Weiqiao Town, Zouping County, Weifang City, Shandong Province, it has grown into a global leader in both cotton textiles and aluminum industries. Ranked first among Shandong’s private companies, it has made the Fortune Global 500 list for 14 consecutive years.

Now 74 years old, the company is once again embracing innovation—this time ignited by spontaneous exploration from its frontline workforce amid the wave of intelligent transformation. This shift, though seemingly unexpected, is actually a natural progression deeply rooted in Weiqiao’s cultural foundation.

Zhang Bo, chairman of Weiqiao, is the driving force behind this change. He has repeatedly told media that revitalizing traditional manufacturing requires cognitive breakthroughs from leadership—"otherwise employees cannot truly execute changes, especially in private enterprises." As a result, under Zhang Bo’s leadership, the entire group systematically supports grassroots innovation during its digital transformation journey.

Historically, one major pain point in digitizing traditional industries has been the communication gap between technical and operational departments. Programmers understand code but lack insight into industry-specific needs. Frontline staff possess deep domain expertise and hands-on knowledge, yet often have limited formal education and lack the ability to develop smart applications—or even articulate their needs in terms IT teams can understand.

To bridge this gap, Weiqiao established an internal team of several hundred "Digitalization Specialists," mostly selected from experienced frontline employees—business backbone staff, workshop team leaders—who are not only skilled in operations but also interested in technology. After just a few days of training on DingTalk, they gain basic capabilities to build AI applications.

And when DingTalk lowers the barrier to AI application development to today’s level, these pain points naturally begin to dissolve through the wisdom of the people.

For example, Master Ma from the alumina division used AI-powered spreadsheets to create a “Hazard Identification Ledger.” Inspectors simply upload a photo, and AI identifies risk points—even offering corrective suggestions. To date, it has uncovered over 800 safety hazards.

Similarly, Master Sun from the information center developed the “Information Center AI Assistant” mentioned earlier. The initial version took only two days to complete and launch, yet handles two-thirds of all requests automatically, freeing up at least 50% of the technical team’s daily workload.

Previously, aluminum electrolysis workers had to combine “rapid sample” test data with real-time observations of temperature, flame, and voltage. However, accessing these two types of information happened in conflicting environments: one required office computers, the other demanded physical presence on-site.

Frontline workers long wanted a mobile app to access monitoring data anytime, but never found a way—until DingTalk’s AI capabilities emerged. Within three days, Master Cui from Weiqiao’s aluminum subsidiary built a “Smart Data Inquiry Assistant” directly on DingTalk.

Today, this assistant has become the most frequently used system across Weiqiao’s entire electrolysis车间 (workshop), allowing production teams to perform tasks on-site while checking rapid test results on their phones anytime.

In the past, Weiqiao’s entrepreneurship belonged mainly to Zhang Bo and his father. Now, 74 years later, DingTalk has become fertile soil for grassroots innovation, and Zhang Bo has passed on his entrepreneurial spirit to the lowest levels of the organization.

Previously, digital transformation meant high barriers: requiring AI experts, massive investments, and long timelines. Even within Weiqiao’s 100,000-strong workforce, only a few dozen IT engineers could actually build systems.

Now, with intelligent tools like DingTalk’s AI spreadsheets and AI assistants, ordinary employees can easily get started. As Master Sun puts it: “Today, out of our 100,000 employees, at least 80,000 have the capability to solve business problems using AI.”

Even if these innovations aren’t “groundbreaking revolutions,” they represent highly practical “small revolutions.”

In Silicon Valley, AI represents cutting-edge research and investment trends; in a factory in Weifang, China, AI has already become part of workers’ daily toolkit. This is the true value brought by the collaboration between Weiqiao and DingTalk: no longer relying solely on a handful of experts, but empowering the “wisdom of the people” through AI, unleashing immense productivity at the grassroots level—and turning quantitative changes into qualitative leaps.

Technological Equality and Organizational Reinvention

Underlying this change are two fundamentally different philosophies in enterprise software design.

Traditional industrial software systems were mostly top-down integrations—emphasizing structure, centralization, and specialization—with steep learning curves. DingTalk, however, drastically reduces technical barriers, making AI immediately usable and maximizing employee participation.

This shift—from legacy industrial systems to DingTalk—represents a form of “technological democratization.”

Even if current AI cannot match the precision of custom-built systems coded by professional developers for specific menus or functions, when DingTalk’s AI becomes everyone’s “third hand”—an easily accessible intelligent tool for solving real problems—ordinary frontline workers can achieve 60%, even 80% of what dedicated programmers once did alone.

When the broadest base of frontline workers meets the most advanced AI technology, transformative energy multiplies exponentially. Thus, in just two months, over 800 AI assistants emerged at Weiqiao. Each seemingly minor tool reflects a larger truth: AI is no longer confined to labs—it has penetrated the daily operations of China’s most fundamental manufacturing sectors.

Today, Weiqiao’s Information Center AI Assistant, Hazard Identification Ledger, and Smart Data Inquiry Assistant may appear fragmented and scattered, but together they form an emerging framework: data is always accessible, demands are instantly addressed, processes are continuously closed-loop.

This means organizational knowledge and decision-making authority are gradually being decentralized.

When 80,000 people are mobilized, the organizational structure inevitably shifts in reverse: problem identification and resolution become more precise, innovation cycles shorten, efficiency rises, and managers transform from “approval machines” into “ecosystem builders” who nurture innovation.

This transformation may not be obvious today, but logically, it is already irreversible.

According to Ma Fahong, Director of Weiqiao’s Information Center, beyond the 800+ AI assistants, the company has also built over 600 internal knowledge bases. Enterprise-wide AI adoption gives employees a strong sense of involvement and achievement, mobilizes widespread participation in identifying business scenarios, and lays a solid foundation for future AI initiatives.

Building on this, Weiqiao is now analyzing actual usage patterns to identify high-frequency, high-value applications. These will receive focused technical investment for further development and refinement—elevating AI tools from perhaps 50-point solutions to 70, 80, or even 90-point ones. Eventually, these AI assistants could evolve from simple reactive tools into autonomous data partners capable of planning and executing tasks independently.

Once AI becomes deeply embedded in frontline operations—not locked away as a “black box” for a few experts—organizational reinvention is merely a matter of time. Weiqiao may become one of the first manufacturing companies in China pushed forward from the bottom up by AI.

The Implications of the Weiqiao Model

Weiqiao’s experience may seem coincidental, but it contains deep inevitability.

Why?

Because it directly addresses core challenges facing Chinese manufacturing: generally low educational attainment among workers, severe shortage of technically skilled personnel, and extremely diverse digitalization needs.

In the past, hiring enough people who both understand business and master digital technologies was nearly impossible—because digitalization itself was still in its infancy, everything required experimentation, and talent supply could never meet demand. As a result, a few dozen IT staff were perpetually overwhelmed by the needs of 100,000 employees.

DingTalk’s AI has reduced the threshold for “understanding technology” to almost zero. Even frontline Weiqiao employees with only high school diplomas can now spontaneously seek AI assistance within their workflows—or even build their own AI tools to solve pressing problems. This technological equality unlocks the transformative potential of 80,000 people.

So Weiqiao is not an exception—it’s a prototype.

China has thousands of traditional manufacturers similar to Weiqiao, facing identical challenges and struggling to break through in transformation. Weiqiao’s story shows them a viable path: leverage platforms like DingTalk to lower AI adoption barriers and mobilize grassroots innovation.

This is Weiqiao’s message to the industry.

It’s not just a corporate turnaround tale—it’s a mirror reflecting Chinese manufacturing. Today it’s Weiqiao; tomorrow it could be any textile mill, aluminum plant, steelworks, or even more traditional workshops.

As Chairman Zhang Bo says, AI won’t disrupt traditional manufacturing—but companies that embrace AI early and boost productivity will likely emerge stronger through economic cycles and win in the new competitive landscape.

Weiqiao itself is already aiming higher.

As one of the world’s largest aluminum and textile manufacturers, Weiqiao is heavily investing in new energy—from lightweight materials for electric vehicles, integrated wind and solar power, to batteries and full-chain electrolytic aluminum. Such a transition requires highly efficient coordination with thousands of upstream and downstream partners.

During interactions with partner companies, Weiqiao’s frontline employees are already thinking about how to better apply AI—to extend its capabilities outward and turn AI assistants into bridges for cross-enterprise communication.

This vision isn’t far-fetched. When an industry leader actively connects ecosystems, the impact is rarely isolated—it often triggers systemic upgrades across the entire supply chain.

Thus, Weiqiao’s current AI experiments are not just internal efficiency gains—they could spark a “chain reaction” in the new energy sector.

This signals something profound: China’s AI will not remain confined to PowerPoint decks at big tech firms, but will reach the deepest layers of industrial chains, enabling millions of ordinary factories and workers to share in the benefits of intelligence.

74 years ago, Weiqiao was a small cotton spinning mill in Zouping, Shandong; today, it’s a global leader in aluminum and textile manufacturing.

Chairman Zhang Bo says revitalizing traditional manufacturing relies not just on machinery and capital, but on managerial mindset breakthroughs. Under his leadership, Weiqiao has not only built the Hongqiao HQCloud industrial internet platform, strengthening its digital foundation, but also, through collaboration with DingTalk, opened a pathway where “everyone in 100,000 can use AI.”

When legacy manufacturing meets new technology, when the most routine jobs embrace cutting-edge tools, the gears of history begin to turn.

Once, only a few dozen IT engineers supported the company’s digitalization; today, 80,000 frontline workers could all be creators and users of AI.

This collective force is precisely what makes China’s private economy unique. It’s not the exclusive domain of a few “high-IQ elites,” but rather the ingenuity of tens of millions of ordinary people finding solutions in everyday work.

This may well be the true answer to Chinese-style AI application: not confined to Silicon Valley labs or stockbroker high-frequency trading systems, but placed directly in the hands of the most basic workshop workers. Chinese-style AI will never be a technological “island,” but a shared new productive force for all. When the门槛 (threshold) of AI drops low enough, the wisdom of the people explodes like sparks igniting a prairie fire, transforming entire industries.

From IT operations to hazard inspections, from lab inquiries to cross-departmental collaboration—every inch of ground, every job role, can be touched by intelligence. When a high school-educated worker in an aluminum smelting车间 can personally create an AI assistant, the world must rethink China. The Weiqiao story is the most powerful response from Chinese manufacturing.

Weiqiao is walking this path—not just for all of China, but possibly for the world to see. And Weiqiao’s present may well be the future of Chinese manufacturing.

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