BAODING, China, May 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 16, with the starting pistol fired, the 2021 Great Wall Motor Smart Factory Marathon began at GWM's headquarters located in the Dawangdian Science and Technology Industrial Park of Baoding, China. As the first and only marathon held in a factory in the world, 5,000 marathon enthusiasts worldwide were attracted to participate in the competition.

In the race under the theme of "Free Running", the lane leads to the high-speed loop of Xushui Factory, GWM's smart high-end factory, and to the stamping, welding, and assembly workshops, offering competitors unique experience of running a marathon. The Xushui Factory, with a total investment of over RMB 30 billion, was put into operation in 2017. Innovative information technologies including big data and IoT are widely adopted in the factory. Big but flexible robotic arms and fully automatic smart production lines exemplify GWM's strong industrial technology and manufacturing strength. In terms of quality control, the error-proofing rate of the whole line has reached 100%, and the pass rate for comprehensive quality monitoring has reached 99.79%. The 7DCT transmission produced by Xushui Factory has won many big international honors, such as the "Top 10 Transmissions in the World" and the "Innovation and Development Project Award" at the International Automotive Congress. In addition, GWM also pioneered the deployment of service robots in the competition. The high technologies such as unmanned pilot vehicles, automatic following cargo-carrying robots, smart mobile supply stations, and automobile pacemakers showcased the charm of smart manufacturing of China to the runners.

With the advancement of the globalization strategy, GWM has built smart factories in Russia, Thailand, India, among others and has formed a "12+5" global production system consisting of 12 full-process vehicle production bases and 5 KD factories, bringing the smart technologies of GWM to the world. On top of that, to achieve the goal of transforming into a global mobility technology company, GWM has launched three leading technology platforms, namely "L.E.M.O.N", "TANK", and "COFIS intelligence", covering new power technologies and autonomous driving technologies, and is committed to making automobiles a smart partner for future mobility.

The 2021 Smart Factory Marathon originates from GWM's enterprise spirit of "making progress every day", an attitude highly consistent with the spirit of Marathon. With a history of over thirty years, GWM also runs a marathon in the course of development in which GWM forge ahead with courage and never gives up, fulfilling the spiritual and cultural concepts of being innovative, mentally young, and energetic. In the future, GWM will continuously develop intelligent technologies, serve users throughout the world with an open and innovative attitude, and build more quality products.