Manufacturing is the foundation of the country and the foundation of a strong country.

Since 2018, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company have launched the “Lighthouse Factory” project around the world to find examples of digital transformation in manufacturing.

At present, 90 factories from 22 industries around the world have been selected, of which 31 are “lighthouse factories” located in China. These “lighthouse factories” are widely distributed in consumer goods, automobiles, household appliances, steel 146031-01 products, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, industrial equipment and other fields, and actively explore their own digital paths, showing the huge potential of digital transformation of traditional industries.

What is the Lighthouse Factory? What are the “strengths”? How competitive is China in smart manufacturing? In this regard, our reporter conducted an interview.

“The most advanced factory” in the era of intelligence

A production line is neatly arranged, AGV automatic transport vehicles shuttle back and forth, huge industrial robots lift as if light, a robot arm equipped with visual sensing moves flexibly, assembling precision workpieces… This is the production scene in the Beijing pile machine factory of Sany Heavy Industry.

The widely used Kuka robot in the factory can accurately “control” 146031-01 every production step; 5G-based MES (Production Process Management System) production Kanban records and detects every production link in real time; Before the product leaves the factory, relying on 5G machine vision AI (artificial intelligence), replacing traditional workers to complete product quality inspection… This is Midea Group’s microwave oven factory in Shunde, Guangdong province.

Accompanied by soothing and beautiful music, the robot waved the robot arm, the casting and transfer, automatic milling burrs, automatic plugging and unplugging processes were completed in an orderly manner, and the wheel hub realized the transformation from blank to finished product… This is the No.6 aluminum wheel factory of CITIC Decca Co., Ltd. in Qinhuangdao, Hebei province.

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These factories have a common label – “lighthouse factories”.

“The biggest feature of the ‘lighthouse factory’ is the integration and comprehensive application of intelligent, digital, automation and other technologies, and its evaluation criteria mainly look at whether a large number of new technologies such as automation, industrial Internet, cloud computing, big data, and 5G are used in the fourth industrial revolution.” We will use these new technologies to achieve comprehensive changes in business models, product development models, production models, quality management models and consumer service models, and promote efficiency improvement, energy conservation and emission reduction and business 146031-01 optimization.” Sheng Chaoxun, director of the strategic policy Office of the China Macroeconomic Research Institute, said in an interview with this newspaper.

Sheng Zhaoxun further explained that “Lighthouse factory” covers intelligent manufacturing, digital transformation and other important development directions, is a high-tech content, innovation, high labor productivity, good economic benefits, green and low-carbon development “synonymous”, is a pioneer model of intelligent manufacturing and digital transformation, is the “most advanced factory” in the era of intelligence.

Automation, digitalization, intelligence, a number of experts and industry insiders interviewed by this newspaper talked about these keywords, can be described as the “lighthouse factory” the most significant characteristics. Song Huasheng, a professor at the School of Economics of Zhejiang University, told reporters that improving production efficiency, improving agility, speeding up the speed of goods to market, achieving customization, and enhancing the sustainable 146031-01 development ability of enterprises… The Lighthouse Factory brings many benefits to enterprises.

Data from factories confirm this. After the upgrading of SANY Heavy Industry’s Beijing pile machine factory, the overall production equipment operation rate increased from 60% to nearly 90%, the production cycle was shortened by nearly 80%, and the production efficiency and product quality were greatly improved. Relying on intelligent digitalization to empower the industrial chain, Midea microwave oven Shunde factory order delivery cycle reduced by 56%, channel inventory decreased by 40%, product quality index increased by 15%, internal comprehensive efficiency increased by 28%. With the help of the digitally-enabled flexible manufacturing system, the minimum production batch of CITIC Decca Aluminum Wheel Plant No. 6 has been reduced from 300 pieces to 1 piece, and a production line can simultaneously produce a variety of different styles of wheels, making “thousands of wheels and thousands of samples” possible.