Published by ChinaMNC · Zhaoyuan

What Jining's Industrial Push Means for Foreign Founders: A Practical Guide

Jining's first three quarters of 2026 show how a Shandong industrial city is organising its manufacturing base — from robotics and new energy to business services. Here is what foreign founders operating in China can take from the city's approach.

Why Jining Matters to Foreign Founders

For foreign founders considering where to register or expand a manufacturing-related company in China, provincial cities outside the first tier are worth a closer look. Jining, an industrial city in Shandong Province, has set out its approach for the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The city is targeting what it calls a “strong city of new-type industrialisation,” pursuing intelligent, green and integrated development and cultivating an advantage industrial cluster programme known as “232.”

In the first three quarters, the city's value-added industrial output for enterprises above designated size grew 9.3% year on year. That figure, and the machinery behind it, offers a useful map of the local business environment.

A Robotics Example: From Jining to Global Supply Chains

One illustration comes from robotics. On 20 October, Schaeffler's Taicang embodied-intelligence robot digital factory began operations. On its core intelligent assembly line, five wheeled humanoid robots from the Zhuxing H series, made by Rokae, work together on tasks including bin handling, part sorting and picking, press-fitting and screw assembly. The factory describes the result as a closed-loop “robots building robot components” smart manufacturing model. The Zhuxing H uses visual observation to generate subsequent operating actions continuously, rather than relying on fixed trajectories programmed point by point.

Those robots come from Rokae (Shandong) Robot Group Co., Ltd. in Zoucheng, Jining. The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July this year and says it has delivered more than 10,000 sets of orders in the embodied-intelligence field.

What This Signals for Founders

• Jining is home to advanced robotics manufacturing that supplies both domestic and international industrial customers.
• Sector-specific clusters mean suppliers, talent and customers can sit close together.
• A local company listing in Hong Kong shows an exit and financing route is visible from the city.

How the City Organises Its Industrial Chains

Jining has set up a command structure for its industrialisation drive, headed by the city party secretary and mayor as chief commanders. It operates a working mechanism referred to as “1915,” together with cluster task forces and a “chain chief” system in which municipal departments lead coordination. The aim is a work pattern in which chain chiefs manage chains and task forces manage clusters.

The city has mapped 15 landmark industrial chains and 35 key industrial chains, and has prepared three-year industry development action plans with a “one policy per chain” approach. To address mismatches in supply and demand information, it has established four mechanisms covering chain integration, cross-chain integration, five-chain integration and tailored matchmaking. In the first three quarters, value-added industrial output of the 15 landmark chains grew 9.5% year on year.

Industrial Parks and Resource Allocation

Industrial parks are treated as the main platform for clustering. Jining has issued opinions on high-quality development of industrial parks, optimising a “1+15+N” park layout intended to create complementary strengths, coordinated links and differentiated development. A “1+1+N” park policy system channels finance, land, talent and energy resources toward key parks, with priority given to land and energy needs of major park projects.

Practical Takeaway

Founders looking at sites should note that land and energy allocation is tied to park location. Being inside a designated key park can affect access to those resources.

Support for Individual Firms

The city applies a “one enterprise, one policy” approach to 88 “chain leader” enterprises, and four local companies appear on the 2026 China Top 500 Private Enterprises list. It also runs a programme to identify and nurture quality small and medium-sized enterprises, maintaining a tiered cultivation pool with dynamic management. This added 388 enterprises across categories including innovative SMEs, provincial single-champion enterprises, provincial specialised and sophisticated SMEs, and key “little giant” enterprises.

Project Delivery

Project construction is treated as a top-priority task. Jining uses a “leadership responsibility plus task force” mechanism and a “five ones” requirement: one key project, one responsible leader, one task force, one promotion plan and follow-through to the end. In the first three quarters, 1,142 key implementation projects at provincial, municipal and county levels were advanced.

Examples cited include Shandong Times New Energy Battery phases one to three, which are fully in production; the first production line of Jinying Lyocell fibre, now officially in production; Great Wall Heavy Industry's new energy wide-body vehicles, in mass production; and Shandong New Energy Shipbuilding, which has built what is described as the country's first standardised manufacturing base for inland-river new energy vessels.

Smart and Green Upgrading in Practice

Shandong Jiaxiang Kelunpu Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. reported output value of RMB 1.57 billion for January to September, up 323.8% year on year. General Manager Cao Zhuang attributes this to “smart production plus green manufacturing.” In the company's alloy new materials workshop, workers use a joystick to control plate rolling mill thickness and profile dimensions precisely, with error kept within 0.02 mm. Cao says the project introduced advanced six-stand rolling technology, improving comprehensive product performance by 8 to 10 times. The new project raises efficiency by 30% and saves 30% energy, with the company targeting 800,000 tonnes of high-end alloy plate annually.

Jining is advancing a national pilot for digital transformation of SMEs, selecting quality service providers and disbursing more than RMB 32 million in reward and subsidy funds to 160 pilot enterprises. It is also pushing an “AI plus manufacturing” action plan and a green manufacturing upgrade, building a three-tier green manufacturing system spanning national leadership, provincial demonstration and municipal cultivation.

Government Access and Administrative Services

Between 28 August and 18 September, Jining held eight industry-chain-specific entrepreneur symposia covering its 15 landmark chains. City leaders published their WeChat QR codes on site, added entrepreneurs as contacts and discussed problems face to face, with government departments responding on the spot. Separately, 379 city and county officials are assigned to serve all industrial enterprises above designated size. A direct reporting channel handles enterprise requests on talent, education, innovation and funding, with registration, tiered handling, deadlines and closed-loop management.

Administrative approval pain points have been packaged into a “one category of matters” service list, cutting approval time by more than 60%. Each of the 15 landmark chains has a dedicated service list setting out the path from project landing to production, including consultation and complaint routes.

What Founders Should Do

• Identify which of the 15 landmark chains your activity falls under — the dedicated service list is the starting point for approvals.
• Ask about park location early, since land and energy allocation follow park designation.
• Use the direct reporting channel for talent, education, innovation and funding issues.
• Check eligibility for SME digital transformation support and green manufacturing programmes.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.