The concept of intelligent manufacturing is known to people with the introduction of "Industry 4.0" and "Made in China 2025". If the Internet changes people's consumption mode, then intelligent manufacturing will completely change the production mode and reconstruct the realization mode of the entire value chain. Its impact is 10 times or even 100 times greater than that of the Internet in the consumption field. One is to realize information connection only in the value circulation link, The other is to realize information connection in the process of value creation.

This involves not only the information communication between people, but also the information communication between people and equipment, people and products, equipment and equipment, equipment and products, that is, the so-called information physics (CPS) is integrated to make everything connected.

According to the bill passed by the United States in 2016, the definition of intelligent manufacturing is:

Advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computing, sensing, modeling and networking:

1. Digital analog manufacturing production line, computer controlled manufacturing equipment, monitoring and interaction of production line status, management and optimization of energy consumption and efficiency in the whole production process.

2. Modeling, simulation and optimization of plant energy efficiency.

3. Monitor and optimize the energy-saving performance of buildings.

4. Modeling, simulation and optimization of product energy efficiency and sustainable performance, including the use of digital models and additive manufacturing to enhance product design.

5. Connect manufacturing products to the network to monitor and optimize network performance, including automated network operations.

6. Digital connection of supply chain network.

The American definition overemphasizes the technical level of intelligent manufacturing. If we look at how to create value for customers from the perspective of the whole society and the whole enterprise, I believe that intelligent manufacturing is "to realize the design and connection of the full life cycle of products through advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computing, sensing, modeling and networking". Information, automation, monitoring, computing, sensing, modeling and networking are only technical means, and the ultimate goal is to realize the design and connection of the full life cycle of products.

Imagine that under the support of these advanced technologies, the value chain and business model of products from design to manufacturing delivery and even after-sales service will be redefined.

First of all, we need to study the characteristics of customers' personalized needs, such as the color and size of clothes, car seats, interior upholstery, etc. We need to plan when designing, use modular design to match the characteristics of personalized selection, and CBB shared component structure to achieve Lego toy style personalized selection. To some extent, personalization in its full sense cannot be realized or its cost is very high. Except for 3D printing, it is also subject to materials. Of course, the process of converting these requirements into design has been digitized by the technical means PLM, which can be simulated and tested and transmitted to the customer for confirmation.

Then start planning the production process, and coordinate the information flow and logistics through ERP. The whole supply chain process still needs planning and design, from customer demand management to the implementation of the planning system, and even the selection and layout of suppliers. If there is no reasonable design, information flow and logistics will become increasingly complex in the process of personalized customization, until they collapse.

Even if the Internet of Things can be realized, this cost will be very high, because it is necessary to ensure that materials reach the production line on time and avoid excessive inventory occupying resources. If the logistics design is unreasonable, such as too discrete, long handling distance, route crossing and retrograde, the cost of sensors and transportation will rise linearly. For example, a well-known logistics giant has greatly reduced the waiting time at the red light by designing a reasonable route (for example, all vehicles turn right), thus reducing the logistics cost.

Intelligent manufacturing brings disruptive changes to production mode

The next step is the personalized production process, where the design of the production process is still needed. Like the automatic sorting line for checked baggage when you fly, the high-speed sorting production of 5 meters per second connects the whole production process to achieve continuous and balanced production, rather than intermittent production of each process, which is the work that needs to be done first in lean production. What is more complicated than automatic sorting line is that there is not only one process for product production, usually dozens or even thousands of processes.

If there is no design of lean layout, and the production process is physically connected according to the technological process, the cost of intelligent manufacturing will increase exponentially. Especially in discrete industries such as equipment, household appliances, automobile, machinery, aerospace, electronics, etc., you have to make countless choices from each process to the next. When you connect all processes through lean production, The selection of each process will be reduced to a few single digits, and the cost of sensors, automation and modeling will be greatly reduced.

Finally, the product is produced and delivered to the customer. The customer's product data in the use process is sent back to the manufacturer through the network. The manufacturer uses the big data of these products to analyze the customer's use habits, optimize the product design, and remotely adjust the product parameters to improve the use performance and reduce the use and maintenance costs. This has been achieved on aircraft engines. Through the analysis of big data of aircraft engine industry Internet, GE helped Alitalia, a large European airline that operates 145 aircraft and executes 16000 flights a month, save 15 million dollars in fuel costs a year, transforming from a hardware supplier to a value-added service provider.

Therefore, intelligent manufacturing is not simply the application of advanced technologies such as information, automation, monitoring, computing and sensing. It needs to plan and design in advance, with the goal of realizing the connection of the whole life cycle of products. If there is no planning and design, you will find that these information systems, automation, monitoring, computing, sensing, etc. are independent and can not be integrated to play a role. We often see many enterprises have several to dozens of various IT systems, which have turned into information islands, and data cannot be shared for analysis and decision-making.

The automation investment is very high. As a result, many products are not well standardized, and the utilization rate is low. The investment will not be recovered in 10 years. Not to mention the interconnection between people, products, equipment and data, these production resources are designed separately and never considered as a whole. In this case, no matter how advanced the technology is, it is impossible to realize real intelligent manufacturing.

In the next 20 years, intelligent manufacturing will bring disruptive changes to the production mode. With the decline of the demographic dividend, the manufacturing industry must double its efficiency and halve its costs to support the benign development of the economy. For most Chinese enterprises, re planning the value chain process and business model of R&D - procurement - production - marketing - after-sales through lean thinking can improve efficiency and cost performance by 30-50%, and the rest can be achieved through intelligent manufacturing.