Smart manufacturing stands as one of the key pillars revitalizing the global industrial sector. Fueled by the rapid advancement of 5G, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and other technologies, smart manufacturing has ushered in a promising new dawn.

Statistics show that China’s smart manufacturing market reached 1.515 trillion yuan in 2017, representing a year-on-year growth rate of 22.6%. As enterprises and research institutions deepen technological research and launch more innovative products, the market size was projected to hit 1.9 trillion yuan in 2019.

With successive supportive policies targeting smart manufacturing, China’s manufacturing industry is steadily advancing intelligent transformation and extensively deploying cloud computing, big data, industrial robots and other relevant technologies. Favorable policies constitute a core driving force for China’s manufacturing sector, sustaining steady growth of the smart manufacturing industry and elevating its strategic importance within the country’s overall manufacturing landscape.

Safety Production to Become Top Priority

Digital assets including core industrial data, key technical patents and enterprise user data have evolved into core corporate assets.

As the fundamental guarantee for production, safety has always been the top concern of governments and employees.

After smart manufacturing integrates cutting-edge technologies such as robots and artificial intelligence, human intervention can better control potential accidents. Nevertheless, with the growing number of equipment, effective management of human-machine interaction safety has become a key priority.

In addition, as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) penetrates manufacturing, data breaches targeting IIoT systems occur frequently, making the data security of enterprise equipment, finished products and other assets extremely critical.

At present, China’s data security legal framework and supervision mechanism remain incomplete, which to some extent slows down enterprises’ intelligent upgrading.

In the future, enhancing full-lifecycle data security and boosting enterprises’ trust and willingness to migrate businesses to the cloud will become core decision-making considerations for Chinese enterprises pursuing intelligent transformation.

Further Expansion of the Smart Manufacturing Industry

Smart manufacturing applications have deepened in the automotive and 3C electronics sectors. As enterprises recognize smart manufacturing as a vital pathway to fulfill Made in China 2025, digitalization, networking and intelligence will continuously optimize corporate output value and efficiency, pushing smart manufacturing to further penetrate petrochemical, textile, machinery and other industries.

General-Purpose Technologies to Serve as a Breakthrough for AI+ Manufacturing

With the vigorous development of customized flexible manufacturing and multi-scenario production, general-purpose technologies alone can no longer satisfy production demands. AI empowerment of traditional manufacturing effectively addresses such pain points.

Accumulated big data enables enterprises to rapidly adapt AI to specialized industrial scenarios, truly realizing the transformation from conventional manufacturing to smart manufacturing.

Rise of Digital Twin Technology

The automotive industry faced a downturn in 2018 without the traditional sales boom in September and October. Objectively speaking, vehicle purchase and maintenance costs remain relatively high.

Digital twin technology will become a mainstream choice for enterprises’ digital upgrading and smart factory construction. Automakers can leverage this technology to resolve high-cost issues arising from complicated production workflows and resource waste in the R&D phase by building digital models at lower costs.

Cost reduction is expected to lift automotive sales in the following year. Meanwhile, the introduction of digital twin technology in the 3C industry will also drive industrial growth.

It is projected that by 2020, at least 50% of manufacturers with annual revenue exceeding 1 billion RMB will launch at least one digital twin project for their products or production assets.

Building an Accurate Closed-Loop Big Data System

In recent years, industrial big data has attracted extensive corporate attention. Big data mining unlocks hidden customer value and facilitates enterprises’ transformation in customer demand management, production systems, business models and decision-making mechanisms. It empowers enterprises to grow from scratch, scale up production volume, and finally deliver personalized customized products.

To achieve this transformation, enterprises need to build an accurate closed-loop data chain covering data collection, analysis, conversion and feedback.

More Internet Enterprises to Enter Smart Manufacturing

The integration model of "Internet + Smart Manufacturing" has delivered initial results as internet players step into the industrial sector. Alibaba Cloud has partnered with Siemens to officially tap into the IIoT market, while Baidu Smart Factory and JD Smart Supply Chain are building proprietary smart manufacturing industrial layouts.

Endowed with long-term data accumulation and technological advantages, internet enterprises can provide traditional manufacturers with abundant technical application scenarios and accelerate their intelligent transformation.

User Demand to Guide Corporate Transformation

Industrial development is shifting from product-driven demand to demand-driven production. Smart manufacturing will break the traditional model of cutting costs and raising efficiency solely through production links, and shift toward delivering high-value-added derivative services, elevating added value by supplying both smart products and smart services.

Industry-Specific Industrial Internet Platforms to Pioneer Viable Market-Oriented Business Models

General cross-industry platforms suffer limited depth, mismatched market supply and demand, and weak enterprise cloud migration willingness, failing to form mature commercial operation models.

By contrast, industry-specific industrial Internet platforms feature both targeted professionalism and universal adaptability. Tailored to differentiated demands across smart manufacturing sectors, they are expected to take the lead in exploring feasible market-oriented business models.

Focus on Segmented Tracks of Smart Manufacturing Solutions

China’s smart manufacturing industry started relatively late, with talent development and capital pressure standing as the biggest hurdles for enterprises. Comprehensive full-chain intelligent transformation is mostly affordable only for large conglomerates.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that conduct in-depth research on segmented areas such as smart manufacturing systems stand a good chance of growing into industry unicorns.

High-Value-Added Manufacturing to Become the Optimal Entry Point for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing lacks cost advantages for desktop-level applications and mass production of simple components. However, ultra-high-value-added customized large single products including engine parts, wind turbine blades and submarine propellers will create major opportunities for additive manufacturing in industrial applications starting from 2019.

Source: Informatization and Software Service Network