Midea Unveils Innovative Global Expansion Solution for Factories

Midea Launches Its Overseas Expansion Solution for Factories

On June 9, 2026, Midea Group unveiled its highly anticipated "Agentic Factory Overseas Expansion Solution". This innovative approach marks a pivotal moment in the global ambitions of Chinese enterprises, facilitating easier international operations and expansion. The launch is centered around the company's washing machine factory located in Jingzhou, which proudly became the first in the world to receive the prestigious WRCA certification for Agentic Factories in August 2025.

The new solution features a modular design that is standardized and has been tested in real-world settings. This structured offering encompasses various components, including essential intercultural training for employees and comprehensive traceability for cross-border supply chains. To optimize implementation across global factories, the solution is conveniently divided into 12 quick-replicable modules.

Recent research from Deloitte indicates that a remarkable 55% of Chinese companies aspire to grow through international expansion. However, Midea has pinpointed three significant hurdles that lie ahead: the complexities of long-distance cross-border supply chains, inconsistent quality standards in export markets, and challenges related to managing a multinational workforce due to linguistic, cultural, and labor regulatory differences.

The effectiveness of Midea's new solution has already been validated at their refrigeration facility in Thailand. Through the application of 72 artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and 13 core agents across 25 different scenarios, the factory has successfully reduced order delivery times by an impressive 43%. Moreover, customer complaint rates saw a drop of 32%, and employee training and certification cycles were shortened by over 60%. These achievements showcase the potential for replicating China's intelligent manufacturing capabilities worldwide.

For new staff training, Midea has introduced a multilingual training system that combines AI-generated content with virtual reality (VR), cutting the onboarding period from eight days down to just three. Additionally, the company has rolled out a groundbreaking quality control initiative known as the VOC-to-VOP seven-step solution, which provides instant tracking of customer complaints directly back to the production lines and their root causes.

To ensure supply chain resilience, Midea developed a specialized AI agent that monitors 35 critical nodes in real-time. This innovation has dramatically decreased response times to incidents from 48 hours to under 12, maintaining a remarkable on-time delivery rate of over 96% for raw materials. Furthermore, when paired with the KD logistics solution from Annto, kits' material preparation rates can exceed 99%. Notably, the Thailand plant achieved a 50% reduction in the defect rate of finished products.

Midea's partnerships with technology firms such as Midea Cloud, KUKA, Annto, Hiconics, CLOU Electronics, and Midea Building Technologies have proven pivotal in reducing costs and enhancing production efficiency through automated manufacturing, reusable packaging, and integrated energy-saving solutions.

In conjunction with this expansion initiative, Midea also introduced the "Midea Go-Global Partner Program". According to Simon Zhang, Midea Group's Digital Vice President, this program aims not just to standardize equipment but to leverage Midea's extensive knowledge into actionable guidance and hands-on support for its implementation.

This collaborative model has already demonstrated results. For instance, Wuhan Honghai Technology successfully expanded its capacity in Thailand within only five months with Midea's assistance, from infrastructure development to commencing production, and saw a 1.6x increase in its Thai business in 2025. Additionally, Xiamen Hexing Packaging, a long-term partner of Midea, has transitioned from a national supplier to a global partner by establishing manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia and North America, further securing its place on Midea's strategic partner list established in 2025.