Appliance companies speed up the pace of "smart" manufacturing upgrades

While the concept of German Industry 4.0 has become popular around the world, China Manufacturing is also seeking to upgrade and reshape new competitive advantages. Following this year's "two sessions" government work report for the first time clearly put forward the implementation of "Made in China 2025", the "Made in China 2025" reviewed by the State Council executive meeting will also be officially released in the near future. According to reports, the executive meeting of the State Council made it clear that it is necessary to comply with the development trend of “Internet+” and focus on the integration of informatization and industrialization to create an industrial Internet, strengthen industrial infrastructure, improve the technological level and product quality, and promote smart manufacturing. Green manufacturing.

In fact, in the wake of smart waves and home appliance companies seeking "smart turnarounds," many home appliance companies have taken the lead in upgrading the manufacturing process and began the transformation exploration of smart manufacturing. Recently, the reporter specifically visited the “smart manufacturing factories” of home appliance giants such as Midea, Haier and Hisense on this topic.

Automation, intelligent transformation of manufacturing processes

When the reporter visited the entire air-conditioning manufacturing process of the United States recently, he learned that Midea Air-Conditioning has already carried out the transformation and upgrading of automated production and manufacturing at the six production bases in the country. The reporter saw in his factory in Shunde that the handling of compressors, air conditioning packages, performance testing and other technical processes has basically not used manual operations, especially at the ends of air-conditioning indoor and outdoor general assembly lines, packing, packing, and other heavy links. It has long been replaced by robots. After the finished product is finished on the production line, it is also transported directly to the flow plate by the robot hand. Midea's injection molding workshops, sheet metal stamping, and other links can all be run without humans. In addition, robotic remote control automated production lines for production are also available.

Wu Wenxin, president of Midea Home Air Conditioning Division, said that Midea Air-conditioner has started automation upgrade since 2012. Unmanned and automated are part of the lean manufacturing of Midea, but production automation is not simply replacing manual operation with robot, but more Intelligent technology, information technology and automation technology are integrated into a production line, and industrial workers with the characteristics of the Internet era are trained in the manufacturing process. Wu Wenxin also revealed that in the next five years, Midea will also invest 5 billion yuan in automation and upgrade the manufacturing system. "Today is only the beginning, and in five years it is completely different."

At the Haier Washing Machine Internet Factory in Foshan, the reporter saw that the factory used a highly flexible automatic unmanned production line to build the industry's first precision assembly robot community, completely realized the “black light workshop” and adopted iMES full order execution management system. , equipped with more than 200 RFID, more than 4300 sensors, more than 60 device controllers, fully realize the interconnection of equipment and equipment, interconnection of equipment and materials, equipment and people.

In addition, according to Haier, the plant is based on the world's most advanced information system and has also achieved full visualization. Users around the world can see production information in real time through terminals such as PCs and mobile phones, such as when to schedule production, when to go online, and see supplier information of core modules, as well as core quality information such as safety and noise. The production plant is fully transparent.

Not only Midea, Haier, and Hisense also announced the transition to smart manufacturing. According to the introduction of Hisense President Kelon, the Hisense air-conditioner Jiangmen production base that was formally put into production earlier this year introduced a large number of automation equipment and technologies, and has produced 100,000 air conditioners. The reporter saw at its Jiangmen base that industrial robots were used for the transportation of air-conditioned finished products. Each of the six transport lines was equipped with a robotic arm, replacing six maintenance staff on each line. Not only that, but the base also introduced nearly 100 AGVs. Automatic transport trolleys are used to transport materials. Hisense also revealed that it is debugging high-precision manipulators used to install air-conditioning compressors to improve production quality.

Improve efficiency and solve labor problems

In fact, the rising labor costs and difficulties in recruiting in the manufacturing enterprises in the Pearl River Delta have become increasingly prominent, and the smart manufacturing and equipment industry represented by industrial robot applications has entered a period of rapid development. Research shows that Guangdong will become the largest industrial robot market in China. The intelligent transformation of home appliance manufacturing enterprises not only improved the working environment of workers, but also significantly increased the production efficiency, which somewhat eased the impact of rising labor costs and recruitment difficulties on manufacturing companies.

The reporter learned that automated equipment has replaced many labor-intensive and dangerous jobs in traditional manufacturing plants. The reporter learned from Hisense that the robots in its Jiangmen factory replaced many laborious operations such as high noise, heavy oil production, and heavy handling. Wu Shoubao, vice president of manufacturing for Midea Home Air Conditioning Division, also introduced that in the air-conditioning manufacturing plant in the United States, similar labor-intensive tasks such as moving compressors, high-risk types such as stamping, and air-conditioning panel dusting are prone to occupational diseases such as pneumoconiosis. Processes must be automated to improve production. "Automation upgrades are not meant to replace people but to upgrade manufacturing from a human perspective."

In the United States, the efficiency improvement brought about by automated production and manufacturing is quite obvious. As an example, U Shou Bao and Yi Mei’s remote control production line for air-conditioning electronic branch factory “after the completion of automation, the overall cost has dropped by 20%”. According to him, in 2011, when American air-conditioning revenue was about 50 billion yuan, the number of workers was more than 50,000. Last year, the revenue was close to 70 billion, and the number of workers was only 26,000. "It was the most difficult job after the Spring Festival in previous years. With headaches, this problem does not exist this year." The person in charge of Hisense also introduced to reporters that the industrial robots they use can maintain long-term operation and improve production efficiency. Currently 300-400 laborers replaced by Jiangmen factory robots will be used to expand production capacity.

Zhisheng upgrades and develops "custom home appliances"

After home appliance companies upgraded their manufacturing facilities to "innovation," they began to explore the transition from large-scale manufacturing to large-scale customization, using differentiated products to meet the individual needs of users.

Wu Wenxin said that the upgrading of Midea's air-conditioner manufacturing is to achieve automation first and then intelligence, and then information. For example, he said, "In the future, users will choose a white or red panel, and they can immediately place an order to the factory. This is informatization and is the only way for the future."

Haier has taken the lead in trying out customized production. A few days ago, Haier announced that its first batch of washing machines with 500,000 users participating in the creation of the company had officially gone offline. According to Jean Franck, general manager of Haier Europe White, this order comes from channel partners in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other countries. The final solution of the first batch of washing machines was selected by the user from 79 modules. The 2 best combinations.

It is understood that this washing machine has obvious user-customized features, the most differentiated is to extend the application of ABT materials to the intelligent delivery module, to a greater extent to achieve the effect of cleansing, sterilization, and washing machine control screen ratio Larger than before, making the user's operation more convenient. In addition, it also meets the higher requirements for energy conservation and environmental protection in Europe and other regions, and the energy consumption value is 40% more than the highest A+++ standard in Europe.

Insiders pointed out that although "tailor-made" appliances are still not realistic, there are more modular combinations available on the basis of conventional products. Such personalized products will be the main theme of the future market, with the industrial Internet technology. The maturity of custom home appliances is expected to usher in great development.