The reason why this year's China International Industry Fair has attracted so much attention and traffic is not only because people have been cooped up at home for too long in the first half of the year, but also because more and more companies have come to realize the infinite potential of digitalization.
At the 2020 China International Industry Fair, amidst the throngs of people, you could feel an even more surging wave of digital enthusiasm. The endless stream of exhibitors, the enthusiastic explanations and exchanges, the constant new product launches, and the wave of significant collaborations... all of this stood in stark contrast to the manufacturing industry, which had nearly come to a standstill at the beginning of the year.
The reason this year's China International Industry Fair (CIIF) attracted so much attention and traffic is not only because people had been cooped up at home for too long in the first half of the year, but also because more and more companies have come to deeply understand the immense potential of digitalization. During the pandemic, companies that had achieved good or even outstanding results in digital transformation often demonstrated sufficient resilience to cope with risks and uncertainties. As a result, many hesitant business leaders began to make up their minds to seek transformation and upgrading. Correspondingly, solution providers also brought many digital "secret weapons" and practical examples.
This year, Siemens, a long-established industrial giant, showcased its latest advancements and applications at the 2020 China International Industry Fair under the theme "Digital Enterprise – Taking Industry a Step Further." At the media briefing held that day, Wang Haibin, Executive Vice President of Siemens (China) Ltd. and General Manager of Siemens Greater China Digital Industries Group, also shared Siemens' latest perspectives on digitalization with attending journalists.
The construction of a digital palace is not something that can be accomplished overnight.
If we compare digitalization to a magnificent palace, then the construction of this palace is clearly not something that can be accomplished overnight. Even though all the companies that have already started are still under construction, everyone must clearly envision in their minds what this palace will look like after several years of effort—therefore, digital transformation cannot be separated from top-level design, and to do a good job of top-level design, we cannot do without the support of methodology.
Siemens views a company as typically involving four value chains arranged in a "star" shape: the first is the product lifecycle value chain from product development and manufacturing to final delivery; the second is the value chain from customer orders to production orders and then to order delivery; the third is the equipment and production line integration value chain; and the fourth is the smart factory lifecycle integration value chain. To build a digital enterprise, one must start with these four value chains and consider them comprehensively.
Currently, almost no other company can provide customers with such a comprehensive end-to-end service package, from hardware to software, as Siemens. At this year's China International Industry Fair, Siemens further showcased its end-to-end digital solutions, encompassing assessment, consulting, integration implementation, and optimization services.
Leveraging its strong technical expertise and industry experience, Siemens developed a comprehensive smart factory information solution for Laojiao Group, a traditional industry seeking digital opportunities. This solution covered numerous dimensions, including blueprint planning, architecture construction, roadmap development, automation data integration standards, IT infrastructure, software, dispatch centers, and smart parks, helping Laojiao clarify its direction and approach to digital transformation. Siemens' newly established Advanta, focusing on IoT services, also participated, successfully completing the Laojiao Group's supply chain center command and dispatch platform and application planning management consulting project. This project spanned five years and involved more than 15 subsystems.
Another typical example is Huaxing Glass. Since 2018, Siemens has provided this largest daily-use container glass company in Asia with a range of services, from assessment and consulting to the implementation of feasible digital solutions. Both parties hope to use Huaxing Glass's Foshan headquarters digital factory as a model to gradually realize the digital transformation, interconnection, and construction of information systems for production and manufacturing in its 15 factories, creating a digital lighthouse factory in the daily-use container glass industry.
Digital twins help create value
At Siemens' booth, in addition to concepts and examples of digital transformation in discrete, process, and hybrid industries, Siemens also highlighted how its digital twin technology can create value for enterprises in terms of product quality, production scheduling and delivery, and production efficiency, using its first digital factory outside Germany, SEWC, as an example.
A digital twin is essentially a digital mirror image of a physical entity. It uses digital technology to map information about objects, systems, and processes onto a digital system in real time, creating a virtual simulation of products, manufacturing processes, and even the entire factory. This allows businesses to understand the status of their assets in real time, respond to changes, and improve business operations.
At SEWC, the use of digital twin technology to optimize the design of new production lines increased production capacity by 16%; the use of digital twin technology for virtual debugging and offline robot programming reduced equipment debugging time by 30%; and the use of digital twin technology to continuously improve the overall efficiency of mixed-line production increased capacity by 10%.
In addition, Wang Haibin also shared many benefits that digital twins can bring to enterprises during the interview.
Taking the R&D process as an example, in the past, after completing the product design, companies needed to produce and debug the prototype. Then they would find many problems and have to go back to the design stage to make modifications and produce a second prototype. Now, R&D personnel can design machines and equipment in a computer environment and perform virtual debugging through digital twin technology. This allows the machines to run as if they were in an industrial site. They can find all kinds of problems in the design in the computer and make modifications efficiently, thus greatly saving R&D time.
Even companies that don't manufacture machinery can still benefit from digital twins. For example, end-users' management needs to know about equipment operation, product quality, production line energy consumption, and various process parameters. A digital twin of the production line can easily collect this crucial data and display it in the cloud, ultimately achieving full product traceability.
Wang Haibin said, "Whether you are a researcher, a process planner, a service provider, or an equipment manager and maintainer, as long as you understand the essence of digital twins, you can imagine what digital twins mean in your field of work and what tangible changes and benefits they can bring."
Digital transformation cannot be separated from a healthy ecosystem.
As mentioned earlier, building a digital palace is a massive undertaking that cannot be accomplished by a single company alone. Therefore, promoting the development of the ecosystem is equally important.
This year, Siemens invited numerous partners, including Shanghai Shangshi Longchuang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Huaixin Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zhongtuo Hekong Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Rongke Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Kangfu Technology Co., Ltd., and Zhejiang Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd., to the Siemens booth to jointly present comprehensive digital capabilities covering a wide range of industries. In addition, Siemens also showcased its collaborative achievements and successful practices with industrial enterprises such as Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd. and Huaxing Glass, contributing to the large-scale promotion of digital transformation in China's industry.
Wang Haibin stated, "Siemens has been rooted in China's industry for over a century. It has not only built a digital enterprise platform that includes industrial software and hardware product portfolios, cloud platforms, and cutting-edge technologies, but is also committed to creating a partner ecosystem covering the entire industry chain. We hope to leverage Siemens' comprehensive business portfolio and practical capabilities to co-create value with more Chinese customers and partners, providing new impetus for China's industry to further move towards intelligent manufacturing."
