Alibaba's secret three-year experiment creates next-generation factory

After helping more than a million brick-and-mortar Chinese retailers modernize their operations, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has now set its sights on a new target: the country's outdated factories. China's largest corporation unveiled in September its first smart factory, a secret experiment that Alibaba has been conducting for three years on the outskirts of its hometown of Hangzhou. The three-story facility known as Xunxi -- translated literally as "fast rhino" -- is the company's attempt at leveraging its consumer data and technologies to help the multi-trillion-dollar manufacturing arena improve efficiency and meet rising consumer expectations. Alibaba's path to smart manufacturing started with garments, a market worth 2.2 trillion yuan ($328 billion) in China last year based on Euromonitor International's estimates. Alibaba has said that one in four clothing purchases in the country was shipped via its e-commerce platforms, granting it access to an ocean of data that it's now deploying to assist domestic garment makers in design and production planning.