Thousands of protection suits were shipped out of factories in just one day; a down jacket production line was successfully converted into an epidemic prevention supplies production line in just two days; a digital workshop resumed production sweepingly in just a week ... Intelligent manufacturing in Jiangsu was amazing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference will be held in Nanjing International Expo Center on November 26. Intelligent manufacturing enterprises from across Jiangsu will showcase their wisdom in the fight against the epidemic at the conference.
"Intelligent Manufacturing" Brought about Reform of the Production Mode in a Bid to Resume Production
Estun Automation, as a leading brand in industrial automation and robots production in China, mobilized technical resources in early February. It adopted modular designs in its efforts to fight off the COVID-19 pandemic, provided solutions and core components for dozens of mask manufacturers, and promptly put into production the folding mask machine automatic production line. Estun Automation used the Trio motion controller on its folding mask machine automatic production line and adopted the Estun servo system as the core control scheme, shortening the debugging time to 3 days and achieving a production efficiency of 40pcs/ min. Estun Automation's production efficiency ranks among the top in the industry, and the performance of the production lines, which are easy to assemble and debug, is improving steadily. All the production lines are operating stably, which solves the problem of labor shortage in labor-intensive enterprises and makes outstanding contributions to epidemic prevention and control.
Only a couple of workers worked in a rumbling workshop of XCMG Machinery. Jiangsu has more than 1,000 similar provincial-level intelligent factories and workshops. All new national intelligent manufacturing application projects and provincial intelligent factories and demonstration workshops are well established in terms of digitalization and informationization. They do not employ a lot of workers, but operate with a high degree of intelligence, playing a leading role in the attempt to resume production.
One worker operated 10 machines effortlessly on an intelligent production line that is compatible with 18 processes and produces more than 20 kinds of products. High-power laser MAG hybrid welding robots and large-tonnage arm robots increased the production efficiency by more than 30%. This solved the problem of labor shortage and sped up the recovery of production capacity. XCMG Machinery resumed over 98% of its production on February 10.
The same happened in the "Robot RV Reducer Digital Workshop" of Nantong Zhenkang Machinery Co., Ltd. It adopted automatic software and hardware systems such as real-time data, robots, and intelligent logistics, making it possible for a small number of workers to confirm equipment parameters and conduct routine inspections during most of the production. The core production work was completed by industrial robots and numerically-controlled machine tools, and the workshop needed no more than 30 workers. The Robot RV Reducer Digital Workshop resumed production sweepingly in just one week, which minimized the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
"Intelligent Manufacturing" Enabled the Assembling of the Epidemic Prevention Supplies Production Line and Flexible Production Transfer
The fight against COVID-19 is not only a war against disease but also a scientific war to race against the virus. "We build what the war against the epidemic needs." In this gunpowder-free war against "COVID-19," intelligent manufacturing served as the "accelerator." It lent enormous support to enterprises that strove to meet new requirements imposed by the need for supplies, equipment, and quality inspection as well as the rapid shift of the management system efficiently and collaboratively.
Bosideng in Changshu, Suzhou, is famous for the production of down jackets. Since 2010, it has stepped up its efforts towards intelligent transformation, accelerated the construction of intelligent factories to achieve flexible manufacturing, leveraged the advantages of big data, and integrated various management and control software. As a result, the production chain has become more efficient and transparent, and the production processes have been made digital and intelligent. Bosideng concentrated its efforts on transformation upon receiving the order to shift production. It completed the conversion of the production equipment and workshops in just two days. Its isolation gown production line, with a daily output of 1,500 to 2,000, was put into operation on February 6.
Jiangsu Sunshine Group is a company that shifted from the production of high-grade suits to that of protective suits. For years, it has been involved in the intelligent transformation and upgrading of the production processes and has become the "industrial leader" in terms of "digitalization and informationization" and intelligent manufacturing. After a brief technical transformation in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19, its three production lines officially shifted to the production of protection suits on February 8. The production capacity was so rapidly ramped up that Bosideng could produce 2,000 protection suits daily. To meet the needs of personnel working outside of the hospital system, such as customs, community, traffic block port, and checkpoint personnel, the company developed a protection suit using composite film technology. This durable, comfortable, and permeability resistant protection suit effectively eased the shortage of epidemic prevention supplies.
"Intelligent Manufacturing" Provided Solutions to Pain Points and Ensured Transformation and Smooth Production
Among the main forces of intelligent fighting against the outbreak, there is a group of professional services providers who deeply sub-divide the industry and focus on intelligent reconstruction with their rich practical experience and efficient solutions. They are considered as specialists in providing system solutions under the guidance and cultivation of governments at municipal and provincial levels in recent years. The group of service providers has collected wisdom and efforts in resuming work and production, showing their powerful fighting force for "intelligent manufacturing" and proving the application potentials of “intelligent manufacturing”.
Relying on its independent “YAWEI Intelligent Cloud” cloud platform system, Jiangsu YAWEI Machine Tool, Co., Ltd., a listed corporation in Yangzhou, carries out engineer’s remote guidance and has accumulatively handled more than 300 issues of all kinds for clients across the country during the epidemic. Jiangsu Huibo Robotics Technology Co., Ltd., by standing on the foundation of its comprehensive solutions of intelligent factory designed by the automatic high-pressure forming system, helps the enterprises realize work resumption despite the fact that employees can not report to work. HOPU Technology (Yangzhou) Co., Ltd. provides users with a customized and digital-upgraded solution of Manufacturing Executive System (MES) and helps the enterprises realize intelligent online management, achieving effective and early warning of any potentially overdue orders and solving major difficulties such as massive order backlogs caused by the epidemic ... During the outbreak, intelligent manufacturing solutions providers in Jiangsu have extensively applied a new generation of information technologies for dealing with issues of production, management, and other aspects faced by many enterprises. By building up professional industrial service platforms, these providers help enterprises reconnect the supply and demand in the market and efficiently push forward online gathering and accurate matching of all kinds of resources in the supply chain.
The sudden COVID-19 epidemic significantly impacts the entire manufacturing industry, while opportunities come along with the challenges. As the mainstay in defending against the epidemic, the manufacturing industry has gradually turned out to be the main engine to propel economic growth in the post-epidemic age. Supported by 5G, AI, blockchain, and other new technologies, more and more manufacturing enterprises in Jiangsu stride forward towards intellectualization and digitalization, creating an accelerated speed of Jiangsu "Intelligent Manufacturing".
