Smart equipment "hot" market needs "cold"

In 2013, the sales of Chinese industrial robots reached 32,864 sets. Among them, domestic brands accounted for only 8%. In the context of “machine substitution”, how does the national industry grow and expand and deliver in the blowout market? The "2014 China (Yiwu) Machine Substitution Summit Forum" sponsored by the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, and Wending Media Company was recently held in Yiwu, Zhejiang. Experts at the meeting made suggestions and vigorously supported local industrial robots to become stronger.

Member of the State Informatization Expert Consultation Committee and Consultant of China Machinery Industry Federation, Zhu Sen, proposed at the meeting that in order to build a manufacturing power, we must accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing represented by industrial robots. He suggested that the robot market must be “cold” while “hot”, and at the same time encouraging applications, it must increase support for the domestic smart equipment industry. Zhu Shiqiang, assistant president of Zhejiang University and deputy director of the Robot Research Center, also appealed to the government to actively guide and give subsidies to users of domestic equipment manufacturers to provide a relatively tolerant application environment and opportunities.

"Machine substitution" is actually not a new topic and it is the eternal theme of humankind. Tan Jianrong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a professor at Zhejiang University, emphasized that from the point of view of global economic development, overcapacity will exist for a long time. “Machine substitution” should proceed from reality and should not be swarmed. We should not only take a positive attitude, but also be very cautious.

Leading the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry

Zhang Shujing, president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said that after the international financial crisis, the demographic dividend gradually disappeared, labor shortages and costs increased sharply for the Chinese manufacturing industry. Under the background of increasingly fierce international competition, the Chinese manufacturing model and The development model is not sustainable and urgently requires transformation and upgrading. As a representative of high-end intelligent manufacturing, the industrial robot industry has brought about multi-level changes in the pattern, concept, and technology of the manufacturing industry.

"Machine Substitution" is an important step for China to become a manufacturing power. Zhu Sen told reporters that at present, the status quo of China's manufacturing industry is big and not strong, and that moving from a big country to a strong country is the direction of China's manufacturing industry in the coming years.

Zhu Sendi emphasized that from the perspective of the comprehensive index of manufacturing powers, in the evaluation index system of manufacturing powers consisting of four first-level indicators (scale development, quality and efficiency, structural optimization and sustainable development) and 18 secondary indicators, China The composite index for 2012 was 81.4, compared with 155.9 for the United States in the same year, 121.3 for Japan, and 110.7 for Germany.

We must optimize the manufacturing industry in terms of quality and efficiency, structural optimization, and sustainable development, and the transformation and upgrade of the manufacturing industry is imminent. Zhu Sendi pointed out that China's manufacturing industry must achieve four major changes, namely, a change from a factor-driven to an innovation-driven one, from a low-cost competitive advantage to a qualitative and cost-competitive advantage, and a shift from large resource consumption and emission of pollutants to green manufacturing. Production-oriented manufacturing is changing to service-oriented manufacturing. Among them, one main line is integration, including the deep integration of information technology and manufacturing technology, the integration of products and services, the integration of information and leanness, and the integration of the Internet and manufacturing.

"In the next few years, China's manufacturing transition will have to focus on 'E's third power', ie, efficiency, energy and emissions, and ergonomics." Zhu said that to achieve this goal, China needs a considerable period of time. . Because the process of industrialization in our country has not yet been completed. Judging from the level of China's manufacturing industry, the industry level is uneven, and some companies have even maintained their levels in the 1950s and 1960s. Therefore, if China wants to realize intelligent manufacturing, it must accelerate industrial 2.0 make up, 3.0 spread, 4.0 demonstration.

In this context, smart manufacturing is ready, and the transformation and upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry must take advantage of smart manufacturing. Its market is vast and strong. First, we must develop intelligent manufacturing equipment. To develop smart equipment, we must first develop smart devices, including: industrial robots, servo systems, sensing systems, CNC machine tools, laser processing systems, execution systems, optoelectronic devices, lasers, and intelligent process equipment. Zhu Sidi pointed out that "in the smart device, the robot is a very important piece."

Rational planning of industrial development

Industrial "machine substitution" will have broad application prospects. Zhang Zhenjing pointed out that at present, in addition to the automotive industry is more widely used, in the future, industrial robots will also be used in machinery processing, food, textile and clothing, electronics, chemicals, logistics, packaging, assembly, testing and other industries.

Zhang Shujing said that statistics show that in 2013, a total of 37,000 industrial robots were sold in the Chinese market, which was three times that of 2012. The Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions have begun the "machine substitution" program. Since 2012, Zhejiang Province has accelerated the promotion of industrial upgrading and comprehensively promoted “machine substitution”. It is planned that in the next five years, 5000 machine substitution projects will be implemented each year to realize the 500 billion yuan machine substitution investment (referred to as "machine substitution 555 promotion plan").

Nier Erlai, deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Machinery Industry Automation pointed out that China's industrial robot industrial park (base) has exceeded 30, and the planned area exceeds 28,000 mu. By 2020, the planned investment will exceed 500 billion yuan.

The “machine substitution” hot market is not accidental. Tan Jianrong said: “This is the trend of the times and the situation is the eternal theme of humankind.” Starting with the replacement of textile workers by steam engines, the essence of industrial development is the continuous “machine substitution”. the process of.

Tan Jianrong said that China’s demographic dividend has passed and that it will be difficult to recruit for a long time. In particular, some special types of work, such as spraying, welding, dangerous toxic and hazardous, highly polluting industries, and labor-intensive industries all require “machine substitution”.

Compared with the huge market demand, the development of the robotics industry faces many challenges. For example, one-time big investment, long cost recovery period, shortage of skilled personnel, inadequate government policy incentives, unclear business model, and local brand industry Compared with foreign brands, robots still have a large gap between their competitiveness.

Judging from the current situation of China’s robots, in 2011, the average density of industrial robots in the world (the number of employees per 10,000 employees) was 55, 22 in China, and 23 in China in 2012. However, it is still quite different from South Korea and Japan. gap.

Nierer pointed out that, from the perspective of the development characteristics of the domestic robot industry, first of all, the leading enterprises with low level of industrialization and international competitiveness have not yet been formed. At present, China's robot production is customized according to the requirements of users. There are small batches, low degree of general parts, long lead times, high cost, low-end products, and poor quality and reliability. Industry chain has not yet formed. Second, the market share is low. There are about 300 companies specializing in the development and application of robots, but they are mainly integrated applications. Thirdly, the manufacturing capability of basic components is poor, and key components such as AC servomotors, RV reducers, and controllers are imported. Coupled with long-term suppression by foreign brands, and the basic level of robot research is not high, the research team is small, lack of talent, and so on.

According to the status quo of the industry development, Zhu Sen first proposed the "machine substitution" path selection: First, choose the right robot, the process needed to transform itself, improve the operating environment and improve production efficiency. The second is from point to line, from line to face, and gradually expand. The third is the goal of digitization and intelligence, and it is implemented in phases according to the actual situation of the company. The fourth is to improve the process and change the production organization. The fifth is system integrator contracted automation digital production line. Six is ​​an innovative manufacturing model.

Cultivate national brand robots

"To achieve smart manufacturing, we need to develop smart equipment. The most immediate task in front of us is to develop smart devices first. Robots are an important part." said Zhu Sendi. "If the equipment companies do not develop, we will intelligently manufacture slogans." When it comes up, the application is pushed away. Finally, even if intelligent manufacturing is implemented, the smart manufacturing equipment we use is all foreign. This is not what we want to see.”

Robot "hot" should drive the development of China's robot industry. Zhu Chendi stated that at present, China’s robot production only accounts for about 8% of the market demand. Under such a prosperous market, it is bound to adopt a large number of foreign brand robots, which is a grim situation for China’s robotics industry.