News

Industrial Internet: How far is China from being No. 1 in the world?
Published on:2021-8-11 18:40:31

Imagine that in a large factory, if data as small as the temperature change of a screw can be collected and analyzed, it can greatly reduce machine energy consumption, improve product quality, and even avoid major safety accidents. This is only the tip of the iceberg in the application of the industrial Internet. The integration of the Internet and industry will give the industry the "wings" to take off and bring the existing industrial production capacity to a new level.


 At present, the world economy is showing a good momentum of recovery. The United States, Germany and other developed countries have regarded the upgrading of manufacturing as one of the new driving forces of economic development, and a new competition has been launched worldwide, and the Industrial Internet is considered to be The key factor to win this competition. What is the status of China's Industrial Internet in the world? What are its advantages? How far is it from being No. 1 in the world?


  The advantages of manufacturing and the Internet

   The development of the industrial Internet in China has the dual advantages of strong manufacturing comprehensive strength and good Internet foundation. On the one hand, my country's manufacturing industry has a strong comprehensive strength. As early as 2010, my country’s manufacturing industry accounted for 19.8% of the world’s total, ranking first in the world. On the other hand, my country has a number of world-leading communications companies and Internet companies, which have implemented the network protocol from the bottom layer to the top layer application. The comprehensive coverage of the Internet, and in-depth research on big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, etc., provide a technical guarantee for the development of the Industrial Internet. In addition, the total number of college graduates in my country is as high as 7 million each year, and these knowledge groups may become a new "population quality dividend" in the future.


   The accumulation of data is also a major advantage of China's Industrial Internet. The core of the Industrial Internet is the value creation of big data. China's manufacturing sector, the number of equipment, and the number of industrial big data are all among the top.


   Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, believes that China has a huge development advantage in the industrial Internet field. In the past 20 years, China has invested heavily in infrastructure, which is of vital importance to China. Once the infrastructure investment is completed, the productivity of various industries can be improved through services, which will bring more opportunities for enterprises and cultivate more talents.


   According to Wu Aibin, Chairman of Lucky Wisdom Technology Co., Ltd., China’s industrial Internet practice is different from that of Germany and the United States, and its core competitiveness lies in the word “understanding”. He told a reporter from Economic Daily and China Economic Net that the industrial Internet platforms built by multinational companies are all developed based on their own characteristics and industrial foundations, and they are not unified. Industrial Internet companies must understand technology, process, and management, as well as their opponents. Chinese Internet companies must understand the advantages of foreign giants, use their own understanding of the advantages of Chinese companies, and "prescribe the right medicine" for companies, so as to promote the digital, networked, and intelligent process of manufacturing in China.


   More diverse applications

   It is worth mentioning that although foreign countries have stronger capabilities in the construction of smart factories and platform construction, there are more innovations and more diversified business models of China's industrial Internet. For example, in the light industry, Haier is considering personalized customization and supply chain integration; in the iron and steel industry, Baosight Software focuses on the integration of industrial chain collaboration and intelligent production control.


   As Yu Xiaohui, chief engineer of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and secretary general of the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance, said: "Different industries involve different priorities. China's industrial Internet practices are very diversified, and many different development paths will surely come out."


   "my country's industrial Internet platform is currently widely used in many fields such as aerospace, construction machinery, steel and petrochemical, and has formed four application scenarios." said An Xiaopeng, deputy director of the Department of Information and Software Services of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.


   One is the optimization of the production process, including the optimization of manufacturing processes and production processes. For example, the Oriental Guoxin BIOP platform provides Jiuquan Iron and Steel Group with a core smelting process optimization solution through process mechanism models and machine learning. A single blast furnace reduces costs by 24 million yuan per year and improves smelting efficiency by 10%.


   The second is the optimization of enterprise operation and management decisions, including supply chain management, integration of production management and control, etc. For example, through the ProMACE platform, Sinopec Yingke provides Jiujiang Petrochemical with full-process online management and decision-making optimization services such as production planning, scheduling operations, performance analysis, and supply chain integration, which increases its annual efficiency by more than 300 million yuan.


   The third is the optimal allocation and collaboration of production resources, including collaborative design and collaborative manufacturing. For example, after Henan Aerospace Hydraulic and Pneumatic Technology Co., Ltd. applied the Aerospace Cloud Network’s INDICS platform, it realized collaborative R&D and process design with the overall design department and the assembly plant, shortening the R&D cycle by 35%, increasing the resource utilization rate by 30%, and producing The efficiency is increased by 40%.


  Fourth is the management and service optimization of the product life cycle, including product traceability, product remote predictive maintenance, etc. For example, the root cloud platform connected by Root provides Changzhou Dongfeng Agricultural Machinery with services such as equipment working condition monitoring and display, equipment remote control and diagnosis, equipment failure reminder, etc., and establishes a full life cycle service system for equipment.


   my country's industrial Internet development has achieved remarkable results. The breadth and depth of the construction of the three major systems of industrial Internet network, platform, and security have continued to expand, and an industrial ecosystem of multi-party coordination and linkage has gradually formed. The network transformation and upgrading inside and outside the factory is progressing steadily, and the safety assurance capability is continuously improved. A number of typical application platforms have been initially built, laying a good foundation for further development.

  The opportunities outweigh the challenges

   Although my country's industrial Internet is developing well, there are still many issues in the industry that need attention and breakthroughs. "Compared with developed countries, my country's industrial Internet platform construction started late, with a weak foundation and less experience." An Xiaopeng said, on the one hand, industrial control systems, high-end industrial software and other industries have a weak industrial foundation, platform data collection, development tools, and application services. On the other hand, the lack of third-party development groups, the two-way iteration and sound development of the number of industrial APPs and the number of industrial users will take time, and the lack of leading enterprises makes it difficult to form a resource convergence effect.


"my country’s overall industrial technology capabilities are still relatively weak." Yu Xiaohui believes that although my country has the world’s largest industrial system, the world’s largest Internet industry, and the most comprehensive information and communication formats, in reality, the gap in my country’s overall capabilities is small. Small, especially the lack of multinational companies like General Electric and Siemens to lead the industrial ecology, so it is more necessary to gather the power of the industry to jointly promote. In addition, the gap between the underlying technologies such as industrial control software, chips, and operating systems is even greater in my country, and a sense of crisis is needed.


Liu Song, vice president of Alibaba, said that China is still facing two major problems: lack of refined customer orientation and insufficient core competitiveness. At present, industrial enterprises in our general sense lack refined customer operation thinking. And there are big shortcomings in originality. In the field of core competition, China's scientific and technological awareness, professional talent reserves, and key capabilities need to be further improved.


   Even so, the opportunities still outweigh the challenges. Twenty years ago, Wu Aibin was the youngest sales manager of Siemens China. Later, he founded Lucky Wisdom and has been committed to promoting the development of China's industrial Internet. Regarding the prospects of China’s industrial Internet, he said: “Whether my country can fully realize intelligent manufacturing in the future will be largely determined by the industrial Internet. From a global perspective, the development of my country’s industrial Internet is currently in its infancy, and the level of foreign countries is also not high. There is no surpassing much. As long as we have a deep understanding, actively learn from, and make a difference, China is expected to stand together with the United States and Germany to become the world's three poles of the industrial Internet."


Technical support: Wanguang Copyright © AO YUET (HK)ELECTRONICS LIMITED.all rights reserved.