On The Road to Globalization of Intelligent Manufacturing, Technological Innovation Is the Cornerstone

In the manufacturing industry, intelligent manufacturing is the development direction of manufacturing automation, and intelligent manufacturing technology has been applied in many links of the manufacturing industry. The improvement of product performance and the complexity of its mechanism and the diversification of functions promote the implementation of intelligent manufacturing, the amount of design information and process information contained in the product has soared, and the amount of information inside the production line and production equipment has increased, and the amount of information in the manufacturing process and management work will inevitably increase sharply, thus promoting the hot spot and frontier of manufacturing technology development to improve the processing capacity, efficiency and scale of manufacturing information of the manufacturing system, therefore, many enterprises follow the trend of intelligent manufacturing systematically to improve the operation of enterprises.

So, specific to the implementation level of enterprises, how should intelligent manufacturing be promoted? The answer may be to walk out of an intelligent manufacturing road based on the industrial Internet of Things, with data collection and utilization as a means, management innovation as the core, lean and flexible manufacturing as the goal, and integration and collaboration as the direction.

The introduction of advanced management concepts is to improve the integrated, lean and flexible manufacturing capabilities of the whole process. The ultimate purpose of implementing equipment network transformation, improving the automatic data collection rate, deploying industrial software, and carrying out the integration of physical systems and information systems is not only to improve the level of production automation and realize the replacement of machines by machines, but to optimize the production cycle, improve production efficiency, reduce inventory, control cost waste, improve product quality as the core, comprehensively implement advanced management concepts such as lean production, and improve the integration, lean and flexible manufacturing capabilities of the whole process.

Introduce advanced management concepts, including optimizing production planning and scheduling management with the help of APS advanced scheduling model, and solve problems such as extensive management of production organization and insufficient flexibility of production planning in the past; Real-time monitoring of production progress and equipment status using data collected directly from the equipment; Through the calculation and analysis of CPK (process capability index) of the real-time process parameters of the equipment, statistical process control is carried out to control product quality from the source and prevent the generation of non-conforming products; The use of barcode, two-dimensional code, RFID and other technologies to improve the information collection efficiency of raw materials in all links, for production organization, logistics management, cost accounting, etc. to provide accurate data; Based on the data collected in real time, we carry out OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) analysis, more accurate IE (industrial engineering) management, and implement comprehensive production process optimization of the "human-machine material method".

For enterprises, the integration of internal and external resources of enterprises is to achieve integration and collaboration on the value network with the help of advanced technology, so that production can be adjusted according to market demand.

The core of intelligent manufacturing lies in the use of CPS cyber-physical system, the full use of automation, informatization, Internet, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, closely link the equipment, production lines, materials, employees, suppliers and customers of enterprises, comprehensively manage and deepen the application of data as a new production factor, comprehensively promote the digitalization, networking and integration of information in business flow, capital flow and logistics, and continuously improve the automatic collection of the whole process from data to information to knowledge. The level of processing, analysis and utilization, so as to optimize the allocation of enterprise resources, improve management efficiency, enhance enterprise competitiveness, and provide customers with differentiated, end-to-end production and services.

At present, the route of automated, digital, networked and intelligent equipment technology transformation has been generally recognized. For domestic manufacturing enterprises, although the automation and digitalization level of equipment has initially had a certain foundation, most of them are used by single machines, and the equipment data is not collected and utilized.

In the face of this situation, enterprises first need to network transformation, including making full use of the communication interface of digital equipment, installing sensors and controllers on automation equipment, and using wired or wireless network access technology according to local conditions to build an industrial Internet covering the whole process and all kinds of production, testing and logistics equipment, fully collecting a large amount of data and image information generated in the manufacturing process, so as to create conditions for centralized monitoring, remote control and collaborative manufacturing of equipment.

In addition, for logistics management in the production process, it can be considered to use bar code recognition or centralized material supply and automatic measurement to collect real-time usage and inventory data of raw and auxiliary materials and work-in-process, so as to achieve "JIT" accurate supply of materials and real-time cost accounting in the whole process of production in the process of lean production management.

At present, domestic manufacturing enterprises have widely applied financial management software, ERP (enterprise resource management system) and OA (automated office system) have also been promoted and popularized. However, the application of information technology in product and process design, manufacturing, equipment management, warehousing and logistics management, quality management and other aspects has not yet been popularized, and the information flow channel between equipment monitoring and operation layer, production and operation control layer, and enterprise operation decision-making layer has not been fully opened, a large amount of data has not been effectively collected and developed and utilized, information transmission is not timely, on-site management mainly relies on the experience of management personnel, and the management level is far from reaching the degree of digitalization, scientific and refinement.

In this regard, enterprises need to develop and deploy DCS (distributed control system), SCADA (data acquisition and monitoring control system), APC (advanced control system) and other industrial control systems at the monitoring operation layer on the basis of equipment networking transformation; Develop and deploy MES (Manufacturing Execution System), APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling System), EM (Equipment Management System), CAD/CAE/CAPP (Computer-aided Design/Engineering/Process Planning), PLM/PDM (Product Life Cycle/Product Data Management), LIMS (Quality Management System), WMS (Warehouse Management System) and other information systems at the production and operation level; Deploy ERP, SCM (Supply Chain Management), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and other systems at the management decision-making level. And through data interface, middleware, data bus, ESB (enterprise service bus), etc. to achieve integration from the device layer to the decision layer, eliminate information islands, ensure the full processing and utilization of enterprise big data, so as to build a digital factory.

Intelligent manufacturing is the deep integration of informatization and industrialization, which is not only the introduction and innovation of advanced IT, OT and other technologies, but also the innovation of enterprise management and model innovation. Looking back at the transformation and upgrading of domestic manufacturing enterprises in the past 30 years of reform and opening up, it should be said that automation and information construction have developed rapidly, but from the perspective of global market competition, there are still problems such as insufficient high-end production capacity, overcapacity in the middle end, and weakening the competitive advantage of low-end production capacity, and simply emphasizing technology and ignoring management may be one of the reasons. Therefore, intelligent manufacturing should be based on technological innovation and management innovation as the core.

Overall, intelligent manufacturing technology has become an objective trend in the development of the world's manufacturing industry, and intelligent manufacturing is not only a single advanced equipment and technology, but a transformation of a new model. Intelligent manufacturing is an efficient and flexible production mode, effective integration of industrial chain, enterprises should be based on their own strategic planning and layout, combined with industry characteristics and their own current situation, overall consideration of software and hardware, technology and management, informatization and industrialization and other means, steadily promote their own intelligent manufacturing construction, and gradually improve their comprehensive competitiveness.