Nordborg, Denmark, 17 February 2019: Danfoss’ compressor factory in Wuqing, China, has made it to the World Economic Forum’s list of 16 of the world’s smartest factories, the company announced in a Press communiqué.

The Forum identifies a smart factory as one that is not only good at adopting smart technologies but also at turning the investment into operational and financial benefits, the communiqué said. The Forum has selected the final 16 from a group of more than 1,000 factories, the communiqué further said. The World Economic Forum published the list of the 16 smart factories on January 10, 2019, prior to its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the communiqué also said. The current list is an update of a previous list published in September 2018, containing an initial nine companies, the communiqué added.

Ruixing Zhang, Senior Director of Operations, Danfoss, said: “Representatives from the World Economic Forum recently audited our site during a full day. We are very proud of the result – that we made it onto this final shortlist. It’s a clear testament to the fact that our digitalisation effort has also paid off in terms of productivity, quality improvements and customer satisfaction. We will continue adding new technology, so we constantly improve in these areas.”

Kim Fausing, President and CEO, Danfoss, said: “In Danfoss, we work with digitalisation on all levels in the organisation. And we invest heavily in this area, to ensure that we are ahead of the curve, and that we meet expectations and demands from our customers. We are very proud to get recognised for this.”

Helena Leurent, Head of the Shaping the Future of Production System Initiative, World Economic Forum, said: “The 16 selected factories are leaders in the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. They create value and resilience through the supply chain, and agility and responsiveness for customers.”

The communiqué said, apart from Danfoss, the group of 16 factories includes facilities of companies such as BMW, Procter & Gamble, Siemens Industrial Automation Products and Schneider Electric.