What is Internet plus manufacturing equal to intellectual creation?

In Made in China 2025, "intelligent manufacturing" is an important keyword. According to Made in China 2025, China will go in three steps, and it will take about 10 years to finally rank among the world's manufacturing powers. In this process, we must rely on innovation to promote "intelligent manufacturing", expand the "internet plus" model, and achieve a new breakthrough from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing". So, what exactly is "intelligent manufacturing" and how to truly realize the transformation and upgrading from "Made in China" to "Made in China"? Here two scholars put forward their own views.

Understanding "Intelligent Manufacturing" from Three Dimensions

Wang Xiaoming, Industrial Economic Research Department, the State Council Development Research Center

After the international financial crisis, many countries have a new understanding of the important role of manufacturing industry in promoting trade growth, improving R&D and innovation level, and promoting employment, and have put forward national strategies for manufacturing industry, such as the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing Industry in the United States, the Industry 4.0 Plan in Germany, and the White Paper on Manufacturing Industry in Japan. Manufacturing industry has once again become an important embodiment of national competitiveness. Faced with the strategic initiatives of various countries and the major adjustment of the global manufacturing competition pattern, China has also issued "Made in China 2025", which clearly puts forward that intelligent manufacturing should be the main direction of deep integration of the two industries. So, how to understand "intelligent manufacturing"? We can start from the dimensions of technological innovation, organizational innovation and model innovation.

First, "intelligent manufacturing" is not innate, but the latest form of advanced manufacturing development. As the latest form of advanced manufacturing, "intelligent manufacturing" has been widely responded by many manufacturing professionals, and is becoming a new direction and trend for the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry. However, we should also see that "intelligent manufacturing" is not just a born concept, but the manufacturing industry is gradually formed through long-term evolution and integration according to its internal development logic. It can be said that "intelligent manufacturing" is an advanced manufacturing system that integrates technological innovation, model innovation and organizational innovation with the change of market demand, and it is a synthesis of advanced manufacturing systems and models such as integrated manufacturing, lean production, agile manufacturing, virtual manufacturing and networked manufacturing.

Second, market demand is the fundamental driving force for the development of advanced manufacturing industry. Since the middle of last century, with the increasing prosperity of market economy, consumers' demand for goods has become increasingly diversified and personalized, which requires modern manufacturing industry to have the shortest delivery time, the best product quality, the lowest product price and the best service, thus promoting the development of industrial manufacturing from the initial scale strategy and cost-oriented strategy to the later quality strategy and service strategy. With the improvement of consumers' environmental awareness, environmental protection strategy has become one of the important directions of industrial manufacturing. At present, a single manufacturing development strategy has given way to a comprehensive manufacturing service strategy. Advanced manufacturing system must be able to meet the market and social needs in terms of time, quality, cost, service and environment, so as to obtain the maximum economic and social benefits, which puts forward higher requirements for manufacturing system and provides greater development momentum.

Third, technological progress is a key factor in the development of advanced manufacturing industry. From the long history of manufacturing development, the development process of advanced manufacturing industry is also the process of manufacturing technology progress. Watt invented the steam engine, which opened the first industrial revolution and a new chapter in industrial manufacturing. Since the middle of the last century, the development of science and technology has also entered a rapidly changing era. Electronic information technology and automation technology have developed rapidly. The information technology revolution represented by the Internet has injected new vitality into the manufacturing industry, and there have been technological systems such as computer integrated manufacturing, agile manufacturing and virtual manufacturing. From the appearance of CNC machine tools in 1950s, to the appearance of computer-aided design, computer numerical control and computer-aided manufacturing in 1960s, and then to the appearance of computer integrated manufacturing system in 1970s, the manufacturing industry has developed rapidly along a road of deepening informatization, and has now developed to the stage of virtual manufacturing with the help of computer simulation technology and intelligent manufacturing with the help of artificial intelligence.

Fourth, the innovation of organizational model is the soul of the development of advanced manufacturing industry. Ford invented the assembly line in the United States, subverting the traditional workshop-style production organization model in Europe and greatly improving productivity, which is a typical innovation of manufacturing organization model. 65438+During the industrial social stage from the middle of the 9th century to the middle of the 20th century, the manufacturing system and mode were rigid mass production, and the assembly line and Taylor working system were widely used. In the second half of the 20th century, the diversification of market demand forced industrial manufacturing to evolve in the direction of multi-variety, small batch and shortened production cycle. Rigid manufacturing mode is gradually replaced by flexible manufacturing mode, and the corresponding production organization has evolved from pyramid bureaucratic management to flat and matrix management.

For example, the product development and production of lean production mode of Toyota Company in Japan are based on sales, organizing multi-variety and small batch production according to order contracts, and organizing workers into operation groups in production organization, which not only completes production tasks, but also participates in enterprise management. In order to quickly meet consumers' demands for high-quality and high-performance products and services, some large enterprises in the United States adopt the rapid response organization mode, realize the communication and parallel work among working groups within the enterprise by using the enterprise network, realize the design and manufacturing in different places by using the Internet, and establish the optimal dynamic alliance in time. In the stage of networked manufacturing, some enterprises have developed into platform enterprises, and are connected with a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises through R&D platform, marketing platform and information platform. Flattening has a new connotation, centralized vertical management has been replaced by decentralized cooperation, and producers and consumers are more directly connected.

Fifth, model innovation is the concentrated expression of the evolution of advanced manufacturing industry. The innovation of manufacturing mode mainly focuses on the response to consumer demand. With the great improvement of production efficiency and the great enrichment of products, the market competition of industrial manufactured goods is becoming more and more fierce, and consumers' right to speak is getting bigger and bigger. How to meet the individual needs of consumers better and faster has become an important factor in the innovation of manufacturing model. Concurrent engineering adopted by Boeing, General Electric and other enterprises in the United States emphasizes the concurrent collaborative design and development of products and their related processes, which shortens the product development cycle. The modular production mode implemented by Volkswagen in Germany combines the cost advantage of mass manufacturing with customization to meet the individual needs of consumers, and realizes mass customization production, which greatly speeds up the response time to the needs while meeting the more individual needs of consumers.

In order to better serve consumers, there is a new trend in the manufacturing industry from simple manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing mode. Under the service-oriented manufacturing mode, manufacturing enterprises provide customers with comprehensive solutions in the form of "products+services". For example, British Rolls-Royce Company not only provides customers with traditional maintenance services, but also integrates value-added services to ensure the good use of airline service aircraft.

In a word, advanced manufacturing industry is the general name of manufacturing system that takes customers as the center, constantly responds to changes in market demand, integrates technological innovation, organizational innovation and model innovation, and realizes high-quality, high-efficiency, low-consumption, clean and flexible production, thus obtaining ideal economic and social benefits. And "intelligent manufacturing" is the latest form of intelligent and socialized production through the integration of the Internet of Things and the Internet and three integrations (vertical integration, end-to-end integration and horizontal integration), which integrates the new generation of information technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data, and changes from centralized control to decentralized enhanced control. Understanding "intelligent manufacturing" from three dimensions of technological innovation, organizational innovation and mode innovation is conducive to better grasping the current positioning and future direction of China's manufacturing industry and avoiding the tendency of blind innovation and eager for success.

How to move from "manufacturing" to "intellectual creation"

Wang Xiwen, International Economic and Technical Cooperation Center, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

With the maturity of mobile Internet, Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data technology, a new round of industrial revolution is coming to us. Great changes are taking place in the manufacturing industry. Whether it is the "Industrial Internet" in the United States or the "Industry 4.0" in Germany; Subversion and reconstruction are taking place, whether it is the participant role of manufacturing or the concept, mode or driving force of manufacturing.

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In the last century, mass production mode occupied a dominant position in the global manufacturing field, which greatly promoted the rapid development of the global economy and brought the whole society into a new stage. However, with the development of the world economy and the increasingly fierce market competition, consumers' consumption views and values are becoming more and more diversified and personalized. Subsequently, the uncertainty of market demand became more and more obvious, and the large-scale production mode could not adapt to this changing market environment. Moreover, the rising cost of labor and raw materials has objectively put great pressure on the future manufacturing industry. In addition, the traditional industrial economy driven by energy conversion tools will be difficult to maintain due to the external environment, such as relative shortage of resources, increased environmental pressure, and increased overcapacity. To some extent, the traditional industrial development model has lost its competitiveness.

Since the 20th century, the manufacturing industry has been facing the opportunities and challenges brought by the global industrial structure adjustment. Especially after the international financial crisis in 2008, major developed countries began to re-attach importance to manufacturing in order to find new ways to promote economic growth. Take the United States and Germany as examples. In the new industrial era, the United States launched the strategy of "manufacturing return" and Germany launched the strategy of "Industry 4.0". It can be said that the two countries are competing for strength in the manufacturing industry, but the purpose is to seize the leading position in the future manufacturing industry. With the strong promotion of "manufacturing return" in the United States and the rising cost of domestic labor and land in China, it is difficult for China's manufacturing industry to participate in international competition by relying on the traditional comparative cost advantage. Accelerating the intelligent development of manufacturing industry and cultivating new advantages are important strategic choices to take the initiative and promote industrial transformation and upgrading in the new round of international industrial competition.

Under the complicated background that the international manufacturing competition is intensifying, the traditional comparative advantage no longer exists, and a new round of industrial revolution is brewing, China's manufacturing industry is facing severe challenges and great opportunities. Facing the opportunities and challenges, the only choice is to build a manufacturing power, seize the current rare strategic opportunities, actively respond to the challenges, strengthen overall planning, transform and upgrade from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", and complete the strategic task of China from big to strong.

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For the future manufacturing industry, developed industrial countries have put forward their own visions. The United States uses the advantages of the Internet to allow the Internet to annex manufacturing; Based on the foundation of manufacturing industry, Germany has internetized the manufacturing industry.

China is in the process of accelerating industrialization, and the manufacturing industry is an important pillar and foundation of the national economy. The executive meeting of the State Council held in March this year emphasized that it is necessary to conform to the development trend of "internet plus", take the deep integration of informationization and industrialization as the main line, focus on developing a new generation of information technology, high-end CNC machine tools and robots, aerospace equipment, marine engineering equipment and high-tech ships, advanced rail transit equipment, energy-saving and new-energy vehicles, power equipment, new materials, biomedicine and high-performance medical equipment, and agricultural machinery and equipment, and strengthen industrial basic capabilities. It can be said that "Internet processing industry" will promote the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry and realize the grand goal of "Made in China 2025".

When we mentioned manufacturing before, we had to mention the smile curve. In the international industrial division of labor system, enterprises in developed countries often occupy the high-end position of R&D, after-sales service and other industrial chains, while manufacturers in developing countries are squeezed into production and manufacturing links in low-profit areas. As far as the global industrial chain is concerned, although "Made in China" is overwhelming, most of the manufacturing in China is in the middle of the "smile curve", and a lot of labor is invested, resulting in poor profits. In the past, people thought that to get rid of the low added value of traditional manufacturing industry, we must extend to both ends of the "smile curve", realize industrial upgrading through high technology, and develop the peripheral service industry of manufacturing industry is the only way. From the industrial level, the link of "research and design" is to develop high-tech industries, while the link of "marketing and service" is to increase the proportion of service industry around manufacturing industry. However, this process will encounter many challenges, and it can not get out of the bottom of the smile curve substantially, nor can it get out of the bottom of the smile curve in a short time.

However, in the era of "Internet processing industry", many problems are changing. The traditional mode of value creation and distribution in manufacturing industry is changing. With the help of Internet platform, enterprises, customers and stakeholders have participated in all aspects of manufacturing, such as value creation, value transmission and value realization. Because "Internet processing industry" is not only "information enjoyment", but also "material enjoyment" will be widely carried out, thus forming a new mode of value creation and sharing, creating a brand-new "enjoyment economy" and promoting mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

(3)

In May this year, Made in China 2025 was released. This plan pays more attention to the medium and long term, mainly focusing on the areas where China's industry needs to be strengthened, and draws a clear road map for China's road to a modern industrial power.

First, emphasize the integration of a new generation of information technology and manufacturing. In recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been committed to promoting the "integration of the two industries", which has had a significant impact on the traditional manufacturing industry through the integration and penetration of information technology. However, with the arrival of a new round of industrial revolution, a new generation of information technologies such as cloud computing, big data and Internet of Things will play an increasingly important role in the future manufacturing industry. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the integration of the new generation of information technology and manufacturing industry on the basis of the integration of "industrialization and modernization" and realize the phased goal of "Made in China 2025".

"Made in China 2025" emphasizes the promotion of intelligent manufacturing as the main direction and promotes the process of intelligent manufacturing. Pilot the construction of smart factories/digital workshops in key areas, accelerate the application of technologies and equipment such as human-computer intelligent interaction, industrial robots, intelligent logistics management and additive manufacturing in the production process, and promote the simulation optimization, digital control, real-time monitoring and adaptive control of the manufacturing process. Accelerate the popularization and application of product life cycle management, customer relationship management and supply chain management system, and promote the integration of key links such as group management and control, design and manufacturing, integration of production, supply and marketing, and connection of business and finance to realize intelligent management and control. This points out the direction for the next step to realize the transformation and upgrading from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing".

Second, the focus has shifted from resource-driven to information-driven. With the development of next-generation information technologies such as mobile Internet, cloud computing and big data, more and more multifunctional and powerful smart devices in factory workshops have been wirelessly connected with the Internet or devices. As a result, the Internet of Things and Service Internet have been derived, which has promoted the integration of the physical world and the information world in the form of network physical system. In other words, cyber-physical systems will make the manufacturing industry realize the interconnection of resources, information, goods, equipment and people, and form intelligent manufacturing.

"Made in China 2025" focuses on intelligent manufacturing. Through interconnection, cloud computing and big data, the new generation of information technology will be combined with the previous information and automation technology, and the production equipment and equipment in the factory will be vertically integrated to connect the whole factory to form a cyber-physical systems, which can cooperate with each other and echo each other from afar. Production mode has changed from resource-driven to information-driven. The information-driven product manufacturing process embodies the value of intelligent manufacturing, that is, it can scientifically arrange production processes, improve productivity, realize personalized customized production, and adjust the use of resources to adopt the most energy-saving way, thus truly realizing the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry.