At the sample room of Black Forest Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. located in Xidian Town of Ninghai County, a dazzling array of specialized lighting fixtures is in display, with the currently popular multi-functional turbo-fan lights in the middle.

“Lighting is the most basic function of this product. It can also be used for car dust removal and even assist in starting a fire while camping. It has just been launched in the European, American, and Southeast Asian markets this year, and over 500,000 sets have been sold”, said You Jun, financial manager of the company. On the one-meter-long display shelves, there are more than ten different models of this product alone, each with its own characteristics to meet the needs of different consumers.

“We adjust our products based on customer feedback, and the speed of follow-up orders is very fast. Supermarket customers often conduct small-batch trial sales first, and then quickly place large orders”, said You Jun. Currently, relying on the “small orders first” model, the company is making efforts to fulfill the order of 5,000 sets from European and American customers, and is also setting out to plan for next year’s sales.

The busy scene can also be seen in Ningbo Xiesheng Lighting Industry Co., Ltd. In its workshop, CNC lathes were “carving” aluminum alloy materials into exquisite flashlight shell components; and on the assembly lines, workers were methodically assembling, testing, and packaging products.

“This is a product we developed in collaboration with Chery Automobile. You can break the window by pressing the tail of the flashlight, and there are red and blue warning lights on the side”, said Mao Bin, deputy general manager of the company, when checking the production status. Currently, the average monthly orders for this product are over 10,000 sets.

According to Mao Bin, Xiesheng Lighting launches over 200 new products every year, covering such categories as multi-functional camping lights, medical auxiliary lighting, jade searchlights, and so on.

“Due to such factors as the complex and volatile international trade situation, rising raw material costs, and weak demand from end-user markets, the lighting industry in Ningbo has entered a phase of operating under pressure as a whole. However, a number of high-quality enterprises such as Saierfu Electronics and Ningbo Yaotai Optoelectronics have achieved breakthroughs against the trend and gained impressive results”, said Ren Fengbo, director of the Special Committee of Ningbo Electronic Industry Association.

In addition to innovation in products, the “digital employees” are integrating into the daily operations of an increasing number of enterprises in the industry.

In the back-end system of the 1688 Super Factory showcased by Mao Bin, functions such as automatic title optimization, intelligent recommendation and matching, and one-click price adjustment for promotions are readily available. “The system can complete the operation with just one click. We can also directly compare the product materials, performance, and marketing strategies of top merchants, eliminating the need to put significant efforts in cultivating a complete operation team”, said Mao Bin. The fourth quarter is a crucial period for achieving the annual goals, and the company is gathering efforts to summarize various application scenarios to further save manpower and enhance efficiency.

“Based on further research and investigation, and taking into account the characteristics of local industries, we will refine the “one policy for one industry’ assistance guidance, continuously promote the mutual empowerment of ‘platform + industry’, and facilitate the innovative model and transformation and upgrading of the lighting industry”, said a staff member from the Network Supervision Department of Ningbo Market Supervision Bureau.

According to statistics, as of the end of October this year, the overall scale of Ningbo’s lighting industry had reached 65 billion yuan. “The lighting industry will develop with high-end technology, diversified business formats, coordinated industrial chains, and equal emphasis on domestic and foreign markets. We will strive for policy support to promote the formulation and guidance of relevant standards”, said Ren Fengbo. The lighting industry is green and low-carbon in nature, and with the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and the global environmental protection trend, the “green and low-carbon” attribute is expected to become an important support for high-quality development.