Shanghai Electric said artificial intelligence (AI) now supports gas-turbine manufacturing and maintenance, linking factory processes with operating data as the company expands its tools across the equipment lifecycle.
The company said its SIMPLE operations and maintenance platform draws on records from more than 60 turbine units, totaling over one million cumulative operating hours. It monitors performance, helps optimize operations and flags potential faults. Design records and operating data are also used to support diagnosis and follow-up work.
Shanghai Electric said specialists can review live video from plant sites and add augmented-reality annotations to maintenance guidance. The company’s 2025 sustainability report described SIMPLE as built on operating data from more than 55 units and 800,000 operating hours. The two disclosures do not provide comparable data cutoffs or definitions for their figures.
On the production line, Shanghai Electric reported blade-blank picking accuracy above 99.99%. Its 3D vision and AI system locates blanks in randomly stacked piles. The line moves parts from loading through machining and inspection to packing, while individual machines can also run separately. The company cited differences in blade sizes, shapes and machining routes as production challenges.
For rotor-weld inspection, the company said a collaborative robot and custom end effector assist checks. Shanghai Electric said the system uses 5G connectivity and returns image-analysis results within seconds. Shanghai Electric did not report how many defects the inspection process detected or prevented.
The company said it plans more testing and refinement in operating projects as it pursues international markets. It named no projects or timetable and did not quantify effects on production, reliability, downtime or maintenance costs.
