Our reporter Tan Zhijuan reports from Beijing.
Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced the latest list of "lighthouse factories", adding 21 manufacturing "lighthouse factories". These new factories come from China, German, Indian, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey and the United States, and 12 of them are located in China, accounting for more than half.
In the industry’s view, "Lighthouse Factory" is called "the most advanced factory in the world" and represents the top intelligent manufacturing capability in the industrial field. "Lighthouse Factory" is to realize the full automation and accuracy of the production process by means of digitalization, networking and intelligence, and using advanced artificial intelligence large model technology.
According to the data, since 2018, WEF has published 11 batches of global "lighthouse factories" with a total of 153, including 62 "lighthouse factories" in China, which is the country with the largest number of "lighthouse factories" in the world.
In this regard, Liu Chen, a researcher at China Bank Research Institute, told the reporter of China Business News: "The digitalization of domestic manufacturing industry is accelerating, and the’ lighthouse factory’ covers industries and regions and continues to expand."
In Liu Chen’s view, "In the era of Industry 4.0, the manufacturing industry is accelerating towards high-end, intelligent and green, and new quality productivity is constantly cultivated and developed. The’ Lighthouse Factory’ comprehensively adopts new technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, such as industrial Internet, cloud computing, big data, 5G and digital twinning, and promotes all-round changes in product research and development, production process, quality control management, business model and after-sales service, which has become an important example of high-quality development of manufacturing industry. "
WEF also said that with the rapid development of technology, the escalation of geopolitical tensions and the acceleration of climate change, the weak links in the global supply chain have been exposed, and these enterprises hope to use advanced technologies and innovative methods to improve production efficiency and sustainable management.
Jiangsu has the largest number of "lighthouse factories"
Liu Chen introduced that, first of all, from the perspective of industry distribution, at present, domestic "lighthouse factories" are widely distributed in electronic manufacturing, household appliances, consumer goods, automobiles and other fields, involving traditional manufacturing and emerging industries. At the same time, with the continuous expansion of industry segmentation, the new direction of future development of manufacturing industry is constantly emerging.
In this regard, Liu Chen cited, for example, Longji Green Energy Jiaxing Factory became the first "lighthouse factory" in the global photovoltaic industry, and developed and implemented more than 30 digital use cases, which solved the problem of efficiency improvement in the photovoltaic industry under super-large scale.
Secondly, in terms of regional distribution, domestic "lighthouse factories" are distributed in 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), among which Jiangsu is the province with the largest number of "lighthouse factories", totaling 12, and Guangdong ranks second with 7.
Liu Chen pointed out that on the whole, "lighthouse factories" are still mainly concentrated in areas with high economic level and strong manufacturing base, and the pattern of "strong in the east and weak in the west" is more obvious. However, in this new list, China Resources Building Materials Technology in Guangxi and Johnson & Johnson Xi ‘an Factory in Shaanxi have become the first local "lighthouse factories", which indicates that the digital transformation of the industry is actively promoted and the high-end technology of foreign-funded enterprises is driven, which is expected to promote the accelerated development of relatively backward areas.
Finally, from the perspective of factory scale, Lighthouse Factory covers most large-scale manufacturing factories and value chains, and large, medium and small-scale enterprises can accelerate their breakthroughs through Industry 4.0 technology and realize high-end intelligence.
Leading the new trend of digital transformation of manufacturing industry to form continuously.
"As the representative of the highest level of intelligence and digitalization in the global manufacturing field,’ Lighthouse Factory’ leads the new trend of digital transformation of manufacturing industry." Liu Chen told reporters.
In Liu Chen’s view, the first is to accelerate the sustained release of new manufacturing capacity. "Lighthouse Factory" combines advanced digital tools with flexible production system, and realizes product quality improvement, production efficiency improvement, innovation mode change, and the toughness of industrial chain supply chain through the application of new technologies such as digital shift performance management system, automatic feeding system, machine vision-driven production cycle and line change optimization system, and digital twins combined with intelligent analysis.
According to McKinsey data, the productivity of "Lighthouse Factory" has increased by more than 2.5 times on average, the profit rate has increased by 8%-13%, and the operating indicators have increased by 50%-60%.
The second is to speed up the construction of an end-to-end user-oriented model. Of the five new "end-to-end lighthouses", three were selected in China.
According to reports, the "end-to-end lighthouse factory" refers to the realization of end-to-end digitalization and intelligence in the supply chain, products and services, connecting user needs with the entire intelligent manufacturing system, allowing users to participate in product design, research and development, manufacturing, logistics and distribution, iterative upgrading and other links, with "user-driven" as the core driving force for enterprises to provide product solutions.
The third is to accelerate the formation of a sustainable enterprise production model. In 2021, WEF added the selection of "Lighthouse for Sustainable Development", and screened out outstanding exemplary enterprises that can achieve efficient energy utilization and ecological sustainability. Through the intelligent energy management and control system to provide accurate real-time energy consumption optimization scheme, the energy consumption of "lighthouse factories" in various fields in China has generally decreased significantly. This time, two factories in China have been selected as "sustainable lighthouses" to achieve a good balance between business development and energy conservation and emission reduction.
Kiva Allgood, head of WEF Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chain Center, also said, "The global lighthouse network has proved the powerful power of digital transformation with practical actions. As pioneers, lighthouse enterprises are bringing unprecedented influence to global development. They use their huge community network to strategically explore and innovate, and create a new era of transformational change and lasting change while building a sustainable future. "
The Central Economic Work Conference held from December 11th to 12th pointed out that scientific and technological innovation should lead the construction of modern industrial system. We must vigorously promote new industrialization, develop the digital economy, and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. Create a number of strategic emerging industries such as bio-manufacturing, commercial aerospace and low-altitude economy, open up new tracks for future industries such as quantum and life sciences, widely apply digital intelligence technology and green technology, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.
In this regard, Liu Chen believes that "more lighthouse-type leading enterprises should be cultivated in the future to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity in manufacturing."
"On the one hand, strengthen the demonstration and leading role of enterprises selected as’ Lighthouse Factory’, encourage’ Lighthouse Factory’ to export technology and help factories with foundation and willingness to carry out targeted transformation and upgrading; Introduce and cultivate the industry Internet platform, provide remote maintenance, fault prediction, performance optimization and other services for user enterprises in the industrial chain, and help the digital transformation of SMEs; On the other hand, based on the region’s own industrial advantages, strengthen the supporting capacity of digital infrastructure, carry out factory scene innovations such as digital design, intelligent production, green manufacturing and lean management, encourage deep integration of production and education, and promote enterprises and universities to jointly establish intelligent manufacturing application-oriented talent training bases to create a good ecology for cultivating’ lighthouse factories’ in various regions. " Liu Chen said.
(Editor: Meng Qingwei Proofreading: Zhai Jun)
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