“Our commitment to innovation stems from our cultural DNA and sense of mission, and is further driven by the need to differentiate in a competitive market. To break free from industry saturation, differentiated products are key. LEAD has been innovating to meet the unique needs of our customers.”

— Gong Chenyu, Senior Vice President and CFO, LEAD Group

Recently, global management consulting and technology services leader Accenture officially released its New Landscape, New Growth: 2025 Accenture China Enterprise Digital Transformation Index. The report highlights Chinese companies demonstrating exceptional strategic foresight and innovation in digital transformation. Leveraging its technological leadership in new energy intelligent equipment and a digital innovation system spanning the full value chain, Lead Intelligent Equipment (hereafter referred to as LEAD) was successfully selected. The company was featured as an industry transformation exemplar, underscoring its leading position and market recognition in digitalizing the sector.

The following is the original case text.

Founded in 1999, LEAD began as a small workshop with only a handful of workers—no one could have predicted that it would play a pivotal role in today’s global new energy revolution.

Over the past 25 years, LEAD has transformed at remarkable speed into a global industry leader—not only maintaining the top market share in lithium battery equipment for consecutive years, but also ranking among the leaders in photovoltaic, hydrogen, and multiple other new energy intelligent equipment sectors. LEAD’s growth trajectory reflects the rise of China’s new productive forces, while its digital transformation exemplifies the deep integration of innovation, digitalization, and organizational evolution.

Innovation as the Primary Competitive Edge

Wang Yanqing, founder and chairman of LEAD, trained as an engineer, believes that products are the core of a manufacturing enterprise, while R&D is its lifeline. Over the past several years, LEAD has consistently invested over 10% of its revenue into R&D. Even during the cyclical industry downturn in 2024, this investment rose to 14%. The proportion of R&D personnel also increased from 26% in 2023 to 30% in 2024. During the same period, the company and its wholly-owned subsidiaries secured a total of 527 authorized patents. LEAD firmly believes that the deeper the industry downturn, the more essential it is to rely on differentiated product innovation to break free from sectoral stagnation.

Beyond R&D investment, LEAD has developed a comprehensive digital innovation system spanning the entire value chain. At the foundational level, the system empowers the development of new equipment and processes. At the middle layer, technologies such as IoT, big data, and AI are leveraged to create intelligent manufacturing solutions. At the top layer, a technology platform connects seven business divisions—including lithium batteries, photovoltaics, hydrogen energy, and smart logistics—facilitating knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation. This systematic innovation ecosystem continuously fuels LEAD’s breakthroughs and cross-industry capabilities.

Driven by sustained innovation, LEAD’s global market share for new energy intelligent equipment and solutions rose against the trend to 9.1% in 2024, up 3.3 percentage points from 2023.

AI Revolution: From Equipment Supplier to Manufacturing Brain

As AI sweeps through the intelligent manufacturing landscape, innovating AI applications and accelerating smart manufacturing have become another highlight of LEAD’s digital transformation. The company has successfully built a cloud-based IoT platform for intelligent manufacturing, fully integrating multiple business domains. This not only significantly shortens product development cycles but also improves the consistency of new energy equipment performance.

LEAD’s dome-series intelligent platform, LEADACE, leverages smart algorithms to optimize lean management in lithium–ion battery manufacturing, focusing on two critical areas: predictive equipment maintenance and product quality improvement. Over 50 AI application scenarios have already been developed. These applications help customers significantly enhance the operational stability of new energy equipment, reduce product defect rates, and generate greater value potential for LEAD.

Digitalisation Empowering a New Chapter of Global Expansion

LEAD is advancing its globalisation at a remarkable pace.

Since launching its international strategy in 2018, LEAD has achieved a leap forward: overseas revenue now accounts for 24% of the total within just six years. Its business footprint spans more than 20 countries, supported by 18 global subsidiaries and over 60 service outlets. Through strategic acquisitions in Europe, the company has also built a localised network for warehousing, manufacturing, and services.

While expanding internationally, LEAD has been driving digital transformation in parallel. The company has drawn up a clear roadmap for overseas digitalisation, with HR and financial systems already deployed and operational—a first step in its digital journey abroad. As overseas business grows, challenges such as cultural differences, compliance requirements, and supply chain coordination are emerging as potential barriers. To address these, LEAD is planning a global digital platform covering CRM, R&D, and supply chain management.

The Formula for Success

Behind this progress lies rigorous planning and disciplined execution. LEAD’s approach to digital transformation is increasingly seen as a model for the industry. Its financial digitalisation project won the 2024 Dingge Award – Exemplary Case in Financial Transformation, while its LEADACE intelligent platform was recognised as a 2024 Outstanding Innovation Practice. These achievements reflect four core principles that underpin LEAD’s digital journey:

• Alignment with strategy, focus on priorities: With annual digitalisation investment approaching RMB 100 million, LEAD avoids spreading resources thin. It advances projects with the greatest impact on business value, ensuring investments translate into competitive advantage and tangible results.
• Process and organisational change first: Digital transformation is not just about technology but a systemic overhaul. For LEAD, the foundation lies in robust process design, enabling continuous improvements in organisational capability.
• KPI-driven, with clear goals and pathways: Rather than relying on vague slogans like “improving efficiency,” LEAD sets precise KPIs for every project and defines actionable steps. For instance, raising a client’s production yield from 97% to 99% requires breaking down the exact sources of each incremental gain, ensuring accountability and delivery.
• Leadership-driven initiative: Digitalisation is a “top leadership project” requiring sustained executive attention. At LEAD, C-level executives are directly involved: large-scale projects are tracked weekly at the executive level, while medium-scale initiatives are reviewed fortnightly or monthly.

At the historic intersection of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the global energy transition, LEAD is redefining what “Made in China” means—evolving it into “Created in China.” In an era marked by uncertainty, the company continues to sharpen its core competitiveness through innovation. This resilience is what enables Chinese enterprises to weather cycles, and it is also the foundation for LEAD’s rise as a global leader in new energy equipment.