China’s Dark Factories: Engineering a New Industrial Era
China’s Dark Factories: Engineering a New Industrial Era The concept of a “dark factory” sounds like something out of science fiction, but in China, it is becoming an industrial reality. These facilities are designed to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year —without lights, without breaks, and with minimal human presence. Robots do not require illumination to function; they follow precisely programmed instructions, angles, and actions . When combined with artificial intelligence and 5G-enabled connectivity, these factories are evolving into self-optimizing production systems , capable of outperforming traditional manufacturing facilities in speed, cost, and efficiency. The Core Engineering Behind Dark Factories At the heart of these facilities lies industrial automation . Roughly 90 percent of the tasks are handled by robots: assembly, welding, painting, quality inspection, and even intralogistics (the movement of materials within the factory). Human workers are relegated to s...
