As China wants to forge its own path for developing technology, the country must give full play to its late-comer advantages and adopt a parallel development method. The technological route of integrated development is adopting digital, networked, and intelligent parallel advancement.
Looking at the historical development process, the first industrial revolution and the second industrial revolution were based on the invention and application of steam engines and electric power, which greatly increased productivity, and human society entered a modern industrial society. The third industrial revolution was marked by the innovation and application of digital technology and continued to push industrial development to new heights.
The breakthroughs and applications of the internet, big data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have further improved the digitalisation, networking and intelligence level of the manufacturing industry. The development of the manufacturing industry entered a new stage, which is a new generation of intelligent manufacturing. The breakthrough and wide application of the new generation of intelligent manufacturing will promote the formation of the fourth industrial revolution climax.
Intelligent manufacturing is a big concept and a big system. It is a deep integration of advanced manufacturing technology and a new generation of information technology. It runs through the entire life cycle of product manufacturing and service. It produces digital, networked, and intelligent manufacturing, and continuously improves the company’s product, quality, efficiency, and service level.
With the rapid development of information technologies such as the internet, cloud computing, and big data, intelligent manufacturing has increasingly become the main direction of the entire economy and society’s transformation to intelligence and has become the key to globalisation.
At present, China and developed countries have equal opportunities to master the core technologies of the new round of industrial revolution. This provides the possibility for China to leverage its late-comer advantages and achieve leapfrog development. The next 15 years will be a critical period for the development of intelligent manufacturing. China’s manufacturing industry must seize this once-in-a-lifetime historical opportunity and concentrate its strengths to achieve strategic breakthroughs and key leaps.
According to an article, China is aiming to have its manufacturing enterprises fully digitised by 2035, with breakthroughs in various types of intelligent manufacturing equipment, key parts and devices and software, in a bid to upgrade its massive manufacturing sectors. As part of a draft action plan issued on Wednesday, 70% of the intelligent manufacturing equipment and 50% of industrial software will be supplied domestically.
China will also aim to formulate or revise 200 national and industry standards for intelligent manufacturing and establish more than 120 industry internet platforms, said the draft plan released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
To achieve these goals, China seeks to research and develop 1,000 kinds of advanced intelligent manufacturing devices and products, including automobile engines and gearboxes, aerospace large-scale composite intelligent placements, large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing equipment, and new display manufacturing equipment. The draft plan will also focus on technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, 5G, blockchain, virtual reality/augmented reality, and computing
The draft plan also calls for further international cooperation and exchanges in tackling key problems of intelligent manufacturing technology, standard formation, testing and certification, and personnel training. The plan will help to promote and accelerate self-sufficiency in key technologies. Multinational companies and foreign research institutions are encouraged to build intelligent manufacturing research and development centres, demonstration factories and talent training centres in China.
The plan also aims to boost the added value of China’s secondary industry, which serves as a backbone of the economy. The development of advanced manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing is one way to realise industrial upgrading and improve the profitability of the manufacturing industry.
