From "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing": How will China's manufacturing under the tuyere change?

With the rapid development of China's economy, the label "Made in China" has been affixed to every corner of Europeans and Americans. However, for China's manufacturing industry, which has always been "big but not strong", the determination to change is far from enough, and only relying on the benefits of policies can only be "castles in the sky." The development of the manufacturing industry must make good use of the "propeller" of information technology.

Of course, moving from a big manufacturing country to a strong manufacturing country is not a matter of "talking on paper". Behind this requires the joint efforts of the government, relevant departments and related enterprises. But as a manufacturing company itself, how to make the manufacturing industry truly "reborn" requires a return to the root cause: production capacity, technology, and process.

In fact, many Chinese manufacturing companies currently have no shortage of production capacity and good production technology, but they do not have the concept of the full life cycle of the product, and they do not pay much attention to why the product is produced, and they do not pay much attention to the feedback after the product is purchased by the user. . They lack informational means to collect, analyze and make decisions on the whole process of product design, manufacturing, circulation, and consumption, and use the results in production.

"Made in China" is facing a big challenge: how to extract value from all manufacturing data? In other words, it is to use IT to upgrade traditional factories to digital factories, so that traditional manufacturing can be closely integrated with emerging information technologies represented by cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things, thereby accelerating the transition from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing."

Transformation outlet: How can the manufacturing industry use "enabling technology" to reverse the destiny of being shuffled?

Lu Zheng, an economist and member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, once summed it up in 12 words. From 1949 to 2049, the development of China's manufacturing industry: "from nothing to something, from less to more, from big to strong", China will undoubtedly Become a "world factory". According to this line of thinking, there are only 32 years left for manufacturing in China, but the good news is that the “enabling technology” that is known as the key to smart manufacturing is gaining momentum.

According to a survey conducted by Forrester IoT Research, the most important IoT enabling technologies considered by manufacturers are arranged as follows: 54% industrial wireless networks, 51% real-time positioning systems, 49% security sensors, 44% barcodes, and 35% passive RFID .

Behind this data also shows that this more innovative and intelligent way to use the Internet of Things is being sought after by manufacturers. And the good news is that more and more "digital factories" have sprung up and expanded rapidly. By continuously improving their ability to track inventory more accurately throughout the supply chain and maximize the efficiency of real-time employee instructions and communication, each link of the manufacturing process is under controllable and visible management to achieve higher Production efficiency, such as:

Self-optimized production: Internet-connected factories and production bases can use the Internet of Things technology to monitor and optimize the production process in real time, automatically adjust to improve quality and enhance efficiency, and reduce waste.

Automated inventory management: The Internet of Things allows companies to have a deeper grasp of the inventory and supply chain status, and track the inventory location and status (including temperature, humidity, damage, etc.). After companies have the ability to monitor products throughout the supply chain, they can increase processing and response time, reduce stock-outs and inventory backlogs, and improve timely production processes.

Tracking and backtracking: IoT sensors can be used to increase the transparency of task completion, provide relevant information to help reduce the transmission time of the workstation, and can also be used in the assembly area to help identify product status, and locate tools, accessories, and raw materials to achieve production The process runs more efficiently than ever.

This is a small part of the "smart" business process line. For many traditional manufacturers, it is a shortcut for enterprises to realize the transformation from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing". Turning the production line into robots is a shortcut. However, to make it work, strong capital capabilities are needed. Moreover, this kind of overnight The practice of "changing shotguns for cannons" is not realistic.

On the other hand, by automating the old production line and using information technology, such as the management system integrating the bottom production line, bar code, RFID, etc., gradually establishing a digital factory is more reliable.

Responding to challenges: From "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", visibility prescribes a good medicine

As a "world factory", China's manufacturing industry is at a critical point of upgrading and transformation. Although there are mature experiences of German Industry 4.0, the American Industrial Internet, and Japan's lean manufacturing as a reference, companies must not blindly "take a gourd and draw a scoop", "China "Manufacturing" must also find a development path that suits them.

But this is by no means a simple proposition. First of all, product innovation requires the use of advanced manufacturing technology (IT technology, automation, robotics, etc.) to improve the process (improve product attractiveness). Secondly, internal optimization must use the lean manufacturing model to adapt the IT environment from R&D, to manufacturing, to post-operation and maintenance, and even flexible business, high-density computing, and full-process data visualization brought about by products (intelligent products).

Faced with the difficulties encountered by China’s manufacturing industry in innovation and change, Zebra Technology has also prescribed a “good medicine” that is suitable for China’s current national conditions, the current characteristics of manufacturing enterprises, and is consistent with the current IT process: from mobile computers and scanners to Dedicated printers, RFID, software and services, and the end-to-end solutions provided by Zebra Technology can be widely used in various production processes in the manufacturing industry.

Just like the "smart production lines" mentioned above, they are actually the best practices of "enabling technology" for industrial wireless networks, real-time positioning systems, security sensors, barcodes, and passive RFID. And, all of this has been achieved through the visibility solution provided by Zebra Technology.

Zebra technology enables manufacturers to make full use of technology and obtain real-time operational visibility and information, thereby helping to streamline work processes, reduce costs, improve warehouse productivity, and manufacture products of superior quality, such as:

Automation and tracking technology: The automation and tracking technology of Banma technology allows manufacturing companies to obtain greater competitive advantages from real-time enterprise asset intelligence, helping companies simplify operations, shorten processes, reduce defect rates, improve work safety, and cut costs. Increase productivity.

Barcode and RFID tag identification components: The barcode and RFID tag identification components and product enterprise-level equipment provided by Zebra Technology can more efficiently operate head-ups and reduce unnecessary actions of workers who constantly "scan and tilt" to verify data. Machines can automatically collect, classify, and analyze data from every device in the infrastructure, helping companies use programs and processes to make them intelligent.

Intelligent drive solutions: Zebra's intelligent drive solutions can help factories adopt human-machine interfaces (HMI) to support the use of real-time production line efficiency reports. Zebra's machine learning expertise helps optimize algorithm-based solutions, detect products that exceed the parameter range, and immediately send alarm messages to the control room and workers' mobile devices.

Under the digital revolution, the manufacturing industry is undergoing a reshuffle. To really polish up the business card of "Made in China", the answer is still a commonplace topic, innovation. How to use the information interaction between equipment to improve production quality, how to use the Internet of Things to improve production efficiency and reduce production risks, these explorations are currently lacking in Chinese manufacturing companies, but they are based on Zebra technology. The tireless and silent dedication of industry solution providers.