BEIJING, July 31,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As China has been accelerating a nationwide
industrial upgrade and cultivating new quality productive forces to
support economic recovery, the country is prioritizing smart
manufacturing and technology transformation to drive the automation
and digitalization of traditional industries.
In recent visits to the "lighthouse factories" in East China's
Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, Global Times reporters spoke
to several business leaders and industry insiders who explained why
digitalization is crucial to improve the resilience and security of
China's industrial and supply
chains to ensure its position as the world's intelligent
factory.
As two iconic production workshops selected as "lighthouse
factories" announced by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Chinese
manufacturers Hengtong Alpha and LONGi are at the forefront of
digital, intelligent and green transformation, promoting the
country to gradually move from a major manufacturing country in the
world to a manufacturing powerhouse. Their innovation drive is
focused on smart manufacturing with improved production efficiency
and product quality.
Smart manufacturing
In 2023, the Suzhou-based factory of Hengtong Fiber Optic
Technology Co, was selected as one of the 12 new lighthouse
factories in China, and it is an
optical fiber and electricity fiber manufacturer which is home to a
complete value chain in optical communication, encompassing light
rods, optical fibers, optical cables, and optical networks.
Arriving at Hengtong's intelligent manufacturing factory in
Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, one
feels like stepping into a high-tech sci-fi movie setting.
Futuristic and cutting-edge, the silent workshop is filled with
towering cylindrical tanks, with gantry robots carrying
6-meter-length glass rods, and engineers in white dust-proof suits
focusing on debugging equipment.
According to Liu Zhenhua, the company's general manager, these
cylindrical "white tanks" are deposition equipment, while seemingly
ordinary glass rods are preformed rods used for drawing optical
fibers, known as "light rods," which are the core products of the
factory and determine the key performance of optical fibers. In the
deposition equipment, after meticulous crafting through hundreds of
processes such as silica deposition, high-temperature sintering,
and core rod stretching, a transparent light rod weighing hundreds
of pounds can be drawn into a high-performance optical fiber with a
diameter of only 125 microns, as thin as a strand of hair.
Evolving optical fiber technology and its lower cost has created
revolutionary changes to the lives of our generation, making the
internet more accessible to the public, Liu told the Global Times.
Optical fiber is a crucial component in modern telecommunications
infrastructure. It is like an ultra-thin "information super
highway," making communication limitless.
Recalling his experience of the internet back in his childhood
in the 1980s, Liu said that due to the poor broadband service and
relatively high fees for the lack of advanced fiber-optic
technology, high-speed internet service was considered a luxury for
most people.
Prior to 2010, the US and Japan
were the two dominant players in optical fiber technology,
monopolizing the whole optical fiber industry. Faced with
challenges, the company has invested heavily in research and
development to improve the quality and performance of optical fiber
and it has actively engaged in digital transformation and
intelligent manufacturing so that it can adapt to evolving
production trends.
"Overcoming technological barriers set by the West, we have
successfully developed technologies for producing fiber preform
with independent intellectual property rights. By adopting digital
technologies and intelligent manufacturing, our production
efficiency and product quality have been improved while costs have
been lowered significantly," Liu said.
Empowered by a number of intelligent technologies, the plant,
which produces independently developed high-performance light rods,
has increased its labor productivity by 66 percent. At the same
plant, it only takes one minute to produce a 3,000-meter length of
fiber optic cable, the efficacy can be understood as "racing" at a
speed of 180 kilometers per hour, Liu explained.
The plant has established an intelligent manufacturing system
through the applications of advanced technologies such as
automation, big data, 5G and AI. Many of our digital technologies,
equipment, as well as the software and information platforms are
independently patented, helping reduce unit manufacturing costs by
21 percent. Besides, the unit energy consumption is reduced to 33
percent and the defect rate is decreased by 52 percent, Liu
explained proudly.
At the distance of approximately 60 kilometers, in Jiaxing city
located in the neighboring Zhejiang
Province, where the world's first and only solar module
manufacturing base being recognized as a global lighthouse factory
is located, same intelligent scene is also unfolding.
Led by China's solar energy
giant LONGi Green Energy Technology Co, the manufacturing base has
mastered the production and sale of solar wafers and modules.
Inside the manufacturing base, Global Times reporters saw
several automated assembly lines operating in an efficient and
streamlined manner. Here, a module comes off the production line
every 16 seconds, Shui Mingmin, who is in charge of the Jiaxing
production base, explained.
Each assembly line is equipped with robotic arms and conveyor
belts, which work with a high degree of accuracy and speed
completing each production process. Several digital screens acting
as the factory's eyes, display real-time production data and
monitoring screens, with all information available at a glance.
According to Shui, the base has leveraged digital technologies
such as industrial Internet, big data, AI and digital twins, in a
bid to promote intelligent manufacturing process. Meanwhile, the
introduction of domestically-developed diamond-tipped wire saw
cutting technology has boosted the advance of global photovoltaic
(PV) industry and cost reduction, he said.
"Innovation is the core competitiveness of enterprises and the
inexhaustible driving force for their sustainable development. In
the photovoltaic industry, technological innovation ability is
particularly important," according to Zhong Baoshen, chairman of
LONGi. "It is necessary to speed up the digitization of the
company, which are important for the transformation and upgrading
of the photovoltaic manufacturing industry in general," Zhong said,
as quoted by a company's statement released last December.
'Lighthouse factory' powerhouse
China has the most "lighthouse
factories" in the world. As of December, 2023, 11 Chinese companies
had been included in the 11th group of "lighthouse factories" list
released by the WEF. Currently, China is home to 62 "lighthouse factories,"
accounting for 40 percent of the global numbers, ranking first in
the world.
Industry analysts said the addition of more Chinese
manufacturing sites to the Global Lighthouse Network underscores
the steady progress of the Chinese intelligent manufacturing
sector.
According to the WEF's standard, a lighthouse factory must excel
in five operating indicators including operating costs, production
efficiency, maintenance costs, overall costs, and total output.
That means factories and value chains joining the network should
outperform average industry indicators.
In Shui's view, being recognized as the world's first
"lighthouse factory" in the photovoltaic industry is not easy. The
stability and the digitization of China's industrial chains have laid a solid
foundation for the emergence of China's lighthouse factories. Taking the
Jiaxing base as an example, all the raw materials for light sticks,
optical fibers, and optical cables are sourced from nearby
suppliers, Shui noted.
"The expanding applications of smart manufacturing in the real
economy offers ample development opportunities for enterprises,
which enables companies to quickly learn from the successful
experiences of our intelligent factories, facilitating the
widespread adoption of intelligent techniques across the industry,"
Shui said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has emphasized the importance
of the digitalization of the manufacturing sector as an important
path for the development of new quality productive forces.
On May 12, a top-level meeting was
held which adopted an action plan on the digital transformation of
the manufacturing sector. Policymakers highlighted the need to
advance the deep integration of digital technology and the
manufacturing sector to strengthen the standing and international
competitiveness of China's
manufacturing sector and transform the country into a manufacturing
power.
The digital transformation of the manufacturing sector is key to
advancing new industrialization and the building of a modernized
industrial system, the meeting pointed out, calling for effort to
accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies and boost the
application of technological achievements.
While Liu said thanks to the policy supports, many Chinese
enterprises benefit from continuous sci-tech breakthroughs and
innovation that drive industrial upgrading, aiming to improve
production efficiency and achieve high-quality development.
Lighthouse factories represent the pinnacle of global excellence
in smart manufacturing and digitization, Cong Yi, a professor at
the Tianjin University of Finance
and Economics, told the Global Times. To some extent, they also
showcase advanced level of China's
manufacturing industry and provide new ideas for the innovative
development of the global manufacturing industry.
China's manufacturing sector
continues to display great strength and resilience in accommodating
to changes, resisting risks and adjusting production capacity,
experts said.
In recent years, China has
maintained sustainable growth in its manufacturing sector. In 2023,
China's total value-added
industrial production approached 40 trillion
yuan ($5.57 trillion),
accounting for 31.7 percent of its GDP. The scale of its
manufacturing industry has ranked first globally for 14 consecutive
years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology.
The success of the 'lighthouse factory' proves that China's manufacturing industry has the ability
to dominate the global market built on high quality production,
efficiency, and sustainability, rather than relying on dumping
practices, experts said.
Meanwhile, the rapid growth of China's new-energy products exports has made
many countries take notice. Taking the PV industry as an example,
in early April, the EU launched two probes into Chinese solar panel
makers suspected of using government subsidies, according to media
reports.
China's new-energy industry has
gained advantages through innovation and robust market competition,
rather than by relying on government subsidies, Cong said, noting
that the high-quality production capacity that China's new-energy industry continues to
provide will make important contributions to global green
development.
"Looking ahead, it is a crucial moment for digital
transformation of China's
manufacturing industry," Cong noted, adding that amid a new wave of
technological revolution and industrial transformation,
China's manufacturing industry
must keep up with the global trend of industrial transformation,
accelerate its transformation and upgrading.
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SOURCE Global Times