In recent years, "Industry 4.0", which focuses on intelligent manufacturing, has become a hot topic not only in Germany but also in China. Based on the Internet of Things, cloud computing and other technologies, intelligent manufacturing, which combines mass production with personalized customization, is considered to be the development direction of industrial production in the future.

What are the opportunities for China Germany cooperation in the context of "Industry 4.0"? Industry insiders believe that keeping up with this development trend and achieving intelligent upgrading is the only way for Chinese manufacturing to transform from big to strong. In this process, China has a good industrial foundation and market advantages, and has a large space for cooperation with Germany.

Intelligent upgrading has a foundation

In recent years, Germany has been actively promoting the development of "Industry 4.0", aiming to seize the leading role of a new round of technological revolution, so as to meet the dual challenges of the return of manufacturing industry in other developed countries such as the United States and the rapid catching up of emerging economies such as China in the traditional manufacturing field.

China, which also regards manufacturing as its economic pillar, is also facing a "two-way squeeze": on the one hand, developed countries have been relying on "re industrialization" to reshape the competitive advantage of manufacturing industry; On the other hand, developing countries such as Vietnam and India are attracting labor intensive manufacturing transfer by virtue of low costs.

On May 13, 2015, the audience visited the intelligent industrial production equipment on display. On the same day, the 2015 Beijing International Industrial Intelligence and Automation Exhibition was opened in Beijing Exhibition Hall, with nearly 200 leading automation enterprises from China, Germany, Japan and other countries participating. The exhibition is divided into six special areas: industrial robots, sensor connectors, motion control, machine vision, 3D printing, and the German national exhibition group.

In this context, China proposed to implement the "Made in China 2025" in 2015, in which the integration of the Internet and traditional industrial industries and intelligent manufacturing are the main direction of manufacturing in China from big to strong, which has some similarities with Germany's "Industry 4.0".

Hartmuthrrauen, deputy director general of the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Federation, said that intelligent manufacturing can improve the efficiency of resource use and reduce the consumption of materials and electricity in the production process. As a country with the largest population and a broad manufacturing base in the world, China needs to develop this strategy.

Industry insiders believe that Made in China has a good foundation in industrial development, market volume and other aspects, which is conducive to achieving intelligent upgrading. First of all, China's manufacturing industry has established a complete and independent industrial system. In the field of electronic communication, China has also formed a relatively complete industrial cluster. Chinese enterprises have transformed from traditional equipment providers to system solution providers, and have strong competitiveness in the global electronic information industry.

Secondly, China's huge domestic market provides a huge user base for enterprises' intelligent production. It is the advantage for enterprises to improve production technology according to user needs, which is conducive to adapting to various new business models associated with intelligent production, as well as attracting external resources and finding cooperation opportunities.

In addition, although there is still a big gap between China's manufacturing level and that of developed countries, China has the advantage of backwardness in intelligent upgrading. Kong Hanning, president of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, said that China has incomparable advantages in terms of market size and the possibility of leapfrog development.

China Germany cooperation has opportunities

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her visit to China last October that Germany was willing to connect Germany's "Industry 4.0" with "Made in China 2025". In June this year, Merkel visited China again and co chaired the fourth round of China Germany government consultations with Premier Li Keqiang. In the joint statement issued by the two sides, the two countries reiterated that they would continue to implement the agreements signed in the field of "Industry 4.0", conduct cross topic exchanges on "Industry 4.0", and promote cooperation to produce synergies.

Hubert Rinhard, chairman of the German Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said that Germany and China are both developing intelligent manufacturing and are competitors, but there are also many possibilities and opportunities for cooperation.

Wolfgang Dorst, head of the "Industry 4.0" department of the German Information Technology and Electronic Communication Industry Association, said that Germany alone could not succeed in developing "Industry 4.0". It was necessary to find partners and build a global industrial chain, of which China was an important link.

At present, China and Germany are discussing standardization issues in the field of "Industry 4.0" under the framework of the Sino German Standardization Cooperation Committee. China's leading information and communication enterprises, represented by Huawei, are actively participating in the development of intelligent production solutions in Europe.

At the same time, German enterprises such as Siemens, Bosch Rexroth and Kuka Robotics, which are pushing "Industry 4.0", are also vigorously exploring the market in China, promoting technologies, products and solutions related to intelligent production to meet the needs of Chinese customers.

Oliver Fraser, director of Hanover Information and Communication Exhibition, said that Germany is a global leader in the fields of machinery manufacturing and industrial automation, but information technology is its relative weakness, so it must cooperate with foreign countries. China is the world's largest information product production base and the fastest growing consumer and application market.

Laun, Deputy Director General of the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Federation, said that many German enterprises have been operating in China for many years and have established close ties with Chinese partners. In the process of developing "Industry 4.0", Germany China cooperation is indispensable.

The development of "Industry 4.0" is a long-term process

In recent two years, the popularity of "Industry 4.0" in China has continued to rise. Some insiders remind that the development of "Industry 4.0" is a long-term process, which needs to be steadily promoted in many aspects, such as technology research and development, standardization, network infrastructure construction, data security, and professional training.

On April 16, 2015, in Hanover, Germany, a pair of manipulators "waved their fingers" according to a preset procedure. Hanover Industrial Expo 2015 was officially opened to the public on April 13, with the theme of "integrated industry - joining the network". Under this theme, exhibitors will display cutting-edge products, technologies and solutions in industrial automation and information technology, energy and environmental technology, power transmission and control, industrial products and production processes and services, and product research and development. A survey in 2015 showed that nearly half of German industrial enterprises were worried about the large amount of investment required for the implementation of "Industry 4.0" and the uncertain income prospects. At present, the German government and large enterprises with strong financial resources are the main forces to promote "Industry 4.0", while most German SMEs hold a wait-and-see attitude.

To this end, the German government, representatives of the business community, trade unions and the scientific and technological community formed the "Industry 4.0 Platform" to promote the process of German industrial digitalization by coordinating the standardization, technology research and development, data security, talent training, legal framework and other aspects of "Industry 4.0".

To encourage SMEs to participate in the implementation of "Industry 4.0", the German government is building more than ten "capacity centers" nationwide to organize scientific research and commercial institutions to provide SMEs with advice and support on technology upgrading, business model transformation, etc. In November last year, Germany's "Industry 4.0 Platform" also launched the first "Industry 4.0 Map", introducing more than 200 "Industry 4.0" application examples and test points for small and medium-sized enterprises to carry out application research and development in Germany.

Experts believe that China's development of intelligent manufacturing also needs to strengthen the platform construction, so that the industry, enterprises, scientific research institutes and other parties can widely participate in planning how to specifically implement the roadmap of China's manufacturing intelligence upgrading.