The construction of the Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of Functional Structure and Device in Guangdong Province was approved by Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission and Guangdong Provincial Department of Finance in April 4th 2015, thus increasing the number of provincial engineering labs in South China University of Technology increased to four. Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of Functional Structure and Device in Guangdong Province is committed to becoming the frontier research base and personnel training base, achievement transformation base with the help of the related advantage of School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering in South China University of Technology. And it forms a number of results with independent intellectual property rights and local characteristics in order to achieve or close to the international first-class academic level in a short period.

The director of the laboratory is Professor Tang Yong, which is the director of the Institute of Mechanical Manufacturing and Automation, and the director of the Academic Committee is Professor Xiong Youlun, which is double academician of the Institute of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering. Starting from energy-saving and new energy manufacturing industry , the lab, in cooperation with the industrial area, develops the intelligent manufacturing technology to solve the key problem of advanced equipment intelligent manufacturing technology of energy saving and new energy industry. Aiming at the domestic energy market demand for intelligent manufacturing technology, the lab carries out research on the surface functional structure manufacturing technology, manufacturing process energy saving technology, intelligent control technology, industrial robot automation production technology, intelligent CAD / CAM system integration technology to provide industrial support for the energy and new energy products in the field of product development and intelligent manufacturing. The lab focuses on the manufacturing and application of surface functional structure for energy fields such as petroleum, chemical industry, optoelectronics, photovoltaic, hydrogen, fuel cell and so on. Additionally, the lab focuses on energy-saving technology for key parts manufacturing processes in the field of nuclear energy, intelligent control technology for energy-saving and new energy products manufacturing, automated development of industrial robots development technology, intelligent CAD/CAM system integration technology for digital design. Further, the lab gradually achieves technological breakthroughs in the efficient use of new energy and environmental protection and other key areas, forming the technology and standards with independent intellectual property rights. Finally the lab pushes forward the overall level of Guangdong Province to reach the international advanced ranks and promote the transformation of Guangdong Province, economic and social development.

The long-term development goals of the laboratory is upgrading the overall level of mechanical engineering to the international advanced level, achieving the industrialization of all scientific research about energy-saving and new energy intelligent manufacturing technology, laying good foundation for production research cooperation anddesigning a full set of processes that suitable for industrial production with system-level product development capabilities on the basis of ensuring the products quality, reduce energy-saving emission, improve material utilization and production efficiency as the goal and optimize the manufacturing process parameters of related products to achieve the optimal combination of efficiency and manufacturing costs. Furthermore, to provide public research and testing platform for energy saving and new Energy intelligent manufacturing industry of province. Gradually expand the support and service scope of intelligent manufacturing engineering enterprise and become an important source of independent innovation of energy conservation and new energy industry in the nation. And quickly enhance the province's energy-saving and new energy industry's technical level and become the center of intelligent manufacturing enterprises.