"Intelligent Transformation & Digitalization Empower Manufacturing; Beacon Factories Create Competitive Edge"

In the context of the surging tide of digital economy development, implementing intelligent transformation and digital transformation is an important way to promote the deep integration of the digital economy with the real economy, and it is also an inevitable choice to promote the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.

In recent years, with the gradual maturation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, and industrial internet, China's manufacturing industry has entered the fast track of "intelligent transformation and digital transformation". Reporters from China Securities News recently conducted field research in many enterprises and found that China's manufacturing industry has begun to integrate into the core links of production practice, solving the pain points and difficulties of enterprises. At the opening ceremony of the 2024 World Manufacturing Conference held recently, Xin Guobin, a member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Deputy Minister, proposed to promote the digital and intelligent upgrading of the manufacturing industry, deepen the empowerment of 5G+industrial internet and artificial intelligence, and accelerate the application of digital technology in the entire industry and chain of manufacturing.

Promoting enterprises to stand out

The "Lighthouse Factory", known as the world's most advanced factory, is undoubtedly a benchmark for the "intelligent transformation and digital transformation" of the global manufacturing industry. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that China has built 62 "Lighthouse Factories", accounting for 40% of the total number of "Lighthouse Factories" worldwide; it has cultivated 421 national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories, more than 10,000 provincial-level digital workshops and intelligent factories.

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Jiangsu Times in Liyang, Jiangsu, is one of the factories that were included in the "Lighthouse Factory" list at the end of 2023, and it is also the third "Lighthouse Factory" under CATL. At present, the three "Lighthouse Factories" in the global lithium battery industry all come from CATL.

Walking into the battery cell manufacturing and assembly workshop of Jiangsu Times, rows of winding cabinets come into view. The comprehensive application of digital technology allows Jiangsu Times to exert the ultimate potential of the production line - an average of one battery cell is produced per second, and a battery pack is produced in 2.5 minutes. "CATL pursues 'extreme manufacturing', continuously breaking through the limits of manufacturing speed, defect detection rate, product quality, etc." Chen Ling, Deputy General Manager of Jiangsu Times, said in an interview with reporters from China Securities News that through intelligent transformation, the company's production capacity has increased by 320%, manufacturing costs have been reduced by 33%, carbon emissions have been reduced by 47.4%, and quality defects have been reduced by 99%. At the same time, the company has fully implemented digital management, and through innovative technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, it monitors production data in real-time to achieve transparency and traceability of the supply chain.

The 8.5th generation semiconductor display production line of BOE Fuzhou in Fuzhou, Fujian, has provided reference and reference experience for the digital and intelligent transformation of enterprises in related industries in China.

Zhou He, General Manager of Fuzhou BOE, said in an interview with reporters from China Securities News that thanks to technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, without increasing equipment investment, this production line has reduced unit costs by 34%, increased output by 30%, reduced electricity consumption by 39%, and reduced water consumption by 27% within two years.

One out of every three new energy vehicles in the world uses batteries produced by CATL, and one out of every four display screens in the world comes from BOE. The current market position of CATL and BOE comes from the support of lean digital and intelligent manufacturing capabilities. The加持 of intelligent and digital technology makes production faster and more accurate, and makes products better and more cost-effective, promoting enterprises to stand out in fierce global competition.

From multiple-choice questions to compulsory coursesAt present, the external competitive environment is complex and changeable, with technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence accelerating iteration. More and more entrepreneurs recognize that "intelligent transformation and digitalization" is no longer a multiple-choice question, but a compulsory course related to the survival and development of enterprises. It is a strategic choice for enterprises to actively adapt to and lead a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation under new circumstances.

Regarding the development of artificial intelligence, Chen Yanshun, Chairman of BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., exclaimed "the development is beyond imagination". He introduced to reporters from China Securities News that the management of BOE pays great attention to the development of artificial intelligence. "We will allocate 1.5% of R&D funds specifically for artificial intelligence research and development." Focusing on the three major fields of "artificial intelligence + manufacturing, artificial intelligence + products, artificial intelligence + operations", BOE has begun to build core technical capabilities such as large model training, big data, and the Internet of Things, deeply integrating artificial intelligence technology with the industry.

For traditional industries, "intelligent transformation and digitalization" is an important step for these industries to leap to new quality productivity and break through the industry ceiling. Facing the overcapacity in the petrochemical industry, Liao Zengtao, Chairman of Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd., chose to use digital and intelligent means to improve internal skills. "In 2024, we will take 'digital and intelligent year' as the management theme, and the production method will develop towards high-end, intelligent, and green. Through continuous business transformation and digital and intelligent construction, we will further improve internal operations and external collaboration efficiency, build a sustainable competitive advantage, and achieve high-quality development." Liao Zengtao said.

Artificial intelligence has also brought benefits to Wanhua Chemical. Liao Zengtao introduced that artificial intelligence can greatly shorten the experimental time. "Using artificial intelligence technology, it is possible to screen out 156 plans from more than 14,000 plans, and then screen out 4 plans through iterative optimization. The effect of the experiments conducted on this basis is very good."

The combination of manufacturing enterprises and digital and intelligent technology has also brought development opportunities for many companies engaged in the development and service of digital and intelligent technology.

Ren Feng, co-CEO of Insilico Medicine, told reporters from China Securities News: "In addition to the biopharmaceutical industry, artificial intelligence can also have many applications in green chemistry, agriculture, and other aspects. For example, the agricultural technology company Syngenta is a partner of Insilico Medicine, and the two parties will be committed to applying artificial intelligence to plant science and agriculture to accelerate the discovery of new molecules and the invention of more effective and environmentally friendly crop protection products."

Wang Wenjing, Chairman and CEO of Yonyou Network, also noticed that the digital and intelligent needs of more and more enterprises continue to evolve. He said in an interview with reporters from China Securities News that with the popularization and application of artificial intelligence technology, the digital and intelligent process of enterprises has entered a new stage where digitalization and intelligence are both emphasized. "In the new stage of enterprise digital and intelligent needs, a powerful platform system is needed to unify the digital and intelligent base and connect data and processes."

From point to surface, go deep and go solid

Many industry insiders interviewed believe that "intelligent transformation and digitalization" has entered the deep water area from case demonstration and should further promote from point to surface, and go deep and solid in the production practice of thousands of industries.

Industrial Internet is the key support for the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy. Data shows that at present, the number of China's "5G+Industrial Internet" projects has exceeded 14,000, and the Industrial Internet has fully integrated into 49 major national economic categories, achieving full coverage of industrial categories. Lu Chuncong, Dean of the China Industrial Internet Research Institute, frankly stated that the application of the Industrial Internet needs to be closely combined with the knowledge, experience, and skills of the industry, with high complexity, and it is difficult to use "one prescription to treat all diseases". This also determines the complexity and arduousness of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. "We need to do one industry after another deeply and thoroughly, evolving from the 'hundred meters wide, one meter deep' of consumer Internet to the 'one meter wide, hundred meters deep' of Industrial Internet." Lu Chuncong said.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued the "Guide for Equipment Update and Technical Transformation in Key Industries of Industry," setting requirements for the upgrading and transformation of key industries such as petrochemicals, steel, non-ferrous metals, automotive, engineering machinery, and photovoltaics. For instance, regarding the petrochemical industry, the "Guide" proposes that by 2027, the proportion of enterprises with a digital transformation maturity level of 3 and above should reach more than 15%, the proportion of enterprises with level 4 and above should reach more than 7%, the numerical control rate of key processes should reach more than 85%, and the popularization rate of digital R&D design tools should reach more than 75%.

The "Guide" emphasizes accelerating the large-scale application of industrial internet, promoting the "intelligence, digitalization, networking, and interconnection" of manufacturing, and driving the networking transformation and upgrading of industrial equipment, industrial networks, industrial computing power, and industrial control systems in industries such as automotive, steel, light industry, engineering machinery, building materials, ships, consumer electronics, aviation, petrochemicals, and consumer goods. It aims to achieve basic networking transformation in 80% of large-scale manufacturing enterprises by 2027, with more than 1 million edge gateways and edge controllers deployed, and the number of "5G+ Industrial Internet" projects exceeding 20,000.

Xin Guobin stated that manufacturing is the main body of the real economy. Promoting the integration of digital technology with manufacturing helps to fully release the superimposed, aggregated, and multiplying effects of China's manufacturing power and network power, and to build a new industrial system with data as the core driving element. At present, it is necessary to accelerate the digital transformation of manufacturing, grasp the direction of digitalization, networking, and intelligence, give full play to China's advantages of massive data and rich application scenarios, promote the deep integration of the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy, and use digital technology to transform the industrial system in all directions and chains, empowering the optimization and upgrading of the industrial system.