Differences between discrete manufacturing enterprises and process manufacturing enterprises in the construction of smart factories

1. Visualize production data, and use big data analysis to make production decisions.

After "Made in China 2025" was put forward, with the rapid integration of informationization and industrialization, information technology has penetrated into all links of the industrial chain of discrete manufacturing enterprises. Barcode, QR code, RFID, industrial sensor, industrial automatic control system, industrial Internet of Things, ERP, CAD/CAM/CAE/CAI and other technologies have been widely used in discrete manufacturing enterprises, especially the new generation of information technologies such as Internet, mobile Internet and Internet of Things. The production line of discrete manufacturing enterprises runs at high speed, and the amount of data generated, collected and processed by production equipment is much larger than that generated by computers and manpower in enterprises, which requires higher real-time data.

At the production site, data will be collected every few seconds, and various forms of analysis can be realized by using these data, including the startup rate of equipment, the operation rate of spindle, the load rate of spindle, the operation rate, the failure rate, the productivity, the comprehensive utilization rate of equipment (OEE), the qualified rate of parts, the mass percentage and so on. First of all, in terms of process improvement of production, using these big data in the production process can analyze the whole production process and understand how each link is implemented. Once a process deviates from the standard process, it will generate an alarm signal, which can find errors or bottlenecks faster and solve problems more easily. Using big data technology, you can also establish a virtual model of product production process to simulate and optimize the production process. When all the data of process and performance can be reconstructed in the system, this transparency will help manufacturing enterprises improve their production processes. For another example, in terms of energy consumption analysis, in the process of equipment production, using sensors to monitor all production processes can find abnormal or peak energy consumption, thus optimizing energy consumption in the production process, and analyzing all processes will greatly reduce energy consumption.

2. The networking of production equipment has realized the "Internet of Things" in the workshop.

The industrial Internet of Things provides a new breakthrough for "Made in China 2025" and Industry 4.0. The Internet of Things refers to the real-time collection of various information such as objects and processes that need to be monitored, connected and interacted through various information sensing devices, and its purpose is to realize the connection between objects and people and between objects and networks, so as to facilitate identification, management and control. In traditional industrial production, M2M (Machine to Machine) communication is adopted to realize the communication between devices, while the Internet of Things realizes the intelligent, interactive and seamless connection among people, devices and systems through object-to-object communication.

In the workshops of discrete manufacturing enterprises, CNC turning, milling, planing, grinding, casting, forging, riveting, welding and machining centers are the main production resources. In the production process, all equipment and workstations are managed in a unified network, so that networking communication can be realized between equipment and computers, and equipment and workstation personnel are closely related. For example, a NC programmer can program on his own computer and upload the processing program to DNC server, and the equipment operator can download the required program through the equipment controller at the production site. After the machining task is completed, the NC program will be sent back to the server through DNC network, which will be compared or archived by the program manager or technologist to manage the whole production process in a networked and retrospective way.

3. The unmanned production site has truly achieved the "unmanned" factory.

"Made in China 2025" has promoted the wide application of intelligent devices such as industrial robots and robotic arms, making it possible for factories to be unmanned. In the production site of discrete manufacturing enterprises, all flexible manufacturing units, such as CNC machining centers, intelligent robots and coordinate measuring instruments, automatically schedule production, and automatically load and unload workpieces, materials and tools, thus realizing unattended and fully automatic production mode (Lights Out MFG). In the case of automatic production of uninterrupted units, the managed production tasks are prioritized and suspended, and the production status in the management unit can be viewed remotely. Once the problems in production are solved, automatic production will be resumed immediately, and the whole production process does not need manual participation, thus truly realizing "unmanned" intelligent production.

"Made in China 2025" has become the most powerful strategic driver to realize the "upgrade" from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. Five directions of smart factory in discrete manufacturing industry are put forward, aiming at breaking organizational boundaries and bringing the whole production site into the management network with the help of advanced global smart factory integration solution (MES-SFC), which is profoundly changing the manufacturing mode, process and even the whole manufacturing structure. This innovative achievement with future competitiveness will strongly promote the transformation and upgrading of the entire manufacturing industry, and also enable discrete manufacturing enterprises to acquire unique new technologies.

4. The transparency of the production process and the "nerve" system of the smart factory.

"Made in China 2025" clearly proposes to promote the intelligence of manufacturing process. By building an intelligent factory, simulation optimization, digital control, real-time monitoring of state information and adaptive control of manufacturing process can be promoted, and then intelligent management and control of the whole process can be realized. In the discrete manufacturing industries such as machinery, automobiles, aviation, ships, light industry, household appliances, electronic information, etc., the core purpose of enterprises to develop intelligent manufacturing is to expand the value space of products, focus on the automation of single equipment and the intelligence of products, and realize value growth on the basis of improving production efficiency and product efficiency. Therefore, the construction mode of its smart factory is to promote the intelligence of production equipment (production line). By introducing all kinds of intelligent equipment to meet the production needs, a workshop-level intelligent production unit based on manufacturing execution system MES is established to improve the ability of precision manufacturing, agile manufacturing and transparent manufacturing.

In the production site of discrete manufacturing enterprises, MES plays a great role in realizing automation, intelligence and digitalization of production process. First of all, MES optimizes the management of the whole production process from ordering to product completion through information transmission, reduces non-value-added activities within the enterprise, effectively guides the production operation process of the factory, and improves the timely delivery ability of the enterprise. Secondly, MES provides the basic information of production activities in the form of two-way interaction between enterprises and supply chain, so that planning, production and resources are closely coordinated, thus ensuring that decision makers and managers at all levels can grasp the changes in the production site in the shortest time, make accurate judgments, and formulate rapid response measures to ensure that the production plan is revised reasonably and quickly, the production process is smooth, and resources are fully and effectively utilized, thus maximizing production efficiency.

5. Paperless production documents to achieve efficient green manufacturing.

Building a green manufacturing system and a green factory to realize clean production, waste recycling and low-carbon energy is one of the important strategies for China Manufacturing to transform from a "manufacturing power" to a "manufacturing power" in 2025. At present, there are many paper documents in discrete manufacturing enterprises, such as process cards, part blueprints, three-dimensional digital models, tool lists, quality documents, numerical control programs and so on. Most of these paper documents are decentralized management, which is not convenient for fast search, centralized sharing and real-time tracking, and it is easy to produce a lot of paper waste and loss. After the paperless management of production documents, workers can quickly query, browse and download the required production information at the production site, and the data generated in the production process can be archived and saved immediately, which greatly reduces the manual transmission and circulation based on paper documents, thus eliminating the loss of documents and data, further improving the production preparation efficiency and production operation efficiency, and realizing green paperless production. Web page link