September 23, 2025 | Shanghai
Shanghai STEP Electric, better known as Inovance, marked its 30th anniversary at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2025 with the launch of STEP 2.0, its upgraded strategic framework. Under the theme “Intelligence Beyond Boundaries, Co-Creating the Future”, the company showcased a portfolio of AI-powered robots, industrial control systems, and vertical solutions spanning automotive, semiconductors, 3C electronics, and shipbuilding.
From Products to Ecosystems
STEP 2.0 represents the company’s first major strategic upgrade since Haier Group became a strategic shareholder. Inovance is pivoting from a “product manufacturer” to a “scenario-driven solutions provider,” reflecting a broader shift as China’s manufacturing sector moves from automation to intelligence, and from incremental growth to stock competition.
The company is building on three levers:
- Embodied intelligence deployment across Haier’s 160 global manufacturing sites.
- Supply chain and market synergies leveraging Haier’s global reach.
- IT-OT convergence, integrating hardware, software, and platforms into closed-loop systems.
With full-stack capabilities from control systems to robot bodies and system integration, Inovance aims to infuse large models and embodied AI into its industrial solutions — “turning virtual algorithms into physical empowerment.”
Seven AI-Powered Workstations
At CIIF, Inovance unveiled seven intelligent workstations tailored to industry pain points:
- Shipbuilding: An AI-driven, teach-free welding station with 3D vision and adaptive path planning, achieving 99.9% weld accuracy and boosting efficiency by 30%.
- Automotive: A collaborative robot welding station that cuts programming time in half with drag-and-teach and AI perception, reducing reliance on skilled welders.
- 3C Electronics: The Yunxia high-speed SCARA robot achieves a 0.24s cycle time with ±0.015mm precision, improving throughput in battery stacking and assembly lines.
- Semiconductors: A fully self-developed wafer-handling robot integrates control and drive, reducing size by 30% while delivering sub-micron precision.
- Smart Buildings & Logistics: Next-gen frequency converters and energy systems offer up to 60% energy savings, supporting carbon-reduction goals.
Toward an AI-Driven Manufacturing Paradigm
STEP 2.0 underscores Inovance’s ambition to shift from point solutions to ecosystem empowerment. By embedding AI into robotics and industrial systems, the company is positioning itself as a benchmark in intelligent manufacturing, moving from “catching up” to “leading by demonstration.”
As CEO speeches at the launch emphasized, Inovance aims to redefine industrial intelligence in China: not just building robots, but creating an AI+Robot ecosystem that enhances perception, decision-making, and execution across the manufacturing value chain.
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