Hon Hai subsidiary recognized globally as 'lighthouse factory'

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) A Taoyuan plant run by Ingrasys Technology Inc., a cloud solution subsidiary of Taiwan-based manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., has been named as one of the world's 21 new "lighthouse factories" on the latest list published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The Ingrasys factory in Taoyuan's Lujhu District is the fifth plant affiliated with iPhone assembler Hon Hai to be included in the WEF's Global Lighthouse Network, a community of manufacturing sites and value chains that are leaders in the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.

The others were all Hon Hai plants in China -- in Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan -- but Ingrasys is the first that uses AI applications, which has boosted its production efficiency and thus merited its selection to the WEF 2023 list, Hon Hai said in a statement released Thursday.

Citing the WEF report, Hon Hai said the Ingrasys plant's AI applications have increased its production efficiency by 73 percent, cut its defective ratio by 97 percent, shortened its delivery time by 21 percent, and lowered its unit production costs by 39 percent.

The plant mainly produces AI servers, high-performance computing accelerators, and cloud storage devices, according to Hon Hai.

Ingrasys has adopted comprehensive AI technologies in its digital transformation, including forecasts in production and management, a smart warehousing management system, product quality examination, equipment maintenance, automated assembly, testing of the production and operation process, and product parameter design, according to the statement.

The plant was selected this year among the 21 new "lighthouse factories" on the 2023 list of the WEF, which so far has named 153 such plants around the world, including 62 in China, since the list was first published in 2018.

The term "lighthouse factories" refers to production plants that have adopted 4IR technologies, including AI and the Internet of Things (IoT), in their daily operations.