Meet the New Hype
The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress, which were held on March 3 and 5 respectively, showed us the channeling of the national will to reinvent the nation. In these two gatherings, Chinese leaders came to a collective mindset where smart manufacturing is regarded as the new catalyst to a real economy, a revamped manufacturing model and the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy.
From Self-Realization to Self-Expression
There is a new spirit in the air, and in XCMGers’ minds. If there’s one thing to learn over the many achievements including rolling out ‘World’s No.1 Crane’ XGC88000 and establishing XCMG Environment Technology in recent years, it’s that individual breakthroughs in new models of machines and parts are simply not enough for the ever-expanding repertoire of XCMG’s construction machinery. The realization is dawning that a smart factory concept is all the more fundamental in the on-going development of the industry.
1. Digitizing the Production Lines
In a traditional manufacturing operation, management and examination were labor-intensive, due to the very specific structural problems and assembling of different machines. This particular locus of tracing complicated mechanical parts and their interaction gives new meaning to our jettisoning a ‘labor factory’ in favor of prompt switches of parts and production of larger scales. The manufacturing execution system is adopted to track and document thousands of parts and the processes of assembling them into finished machines. A much wider variety of models and quality assurance can both be achieved in a timely manner.
2. Elevating the Online Platforms
There will be no more wading through chunks of research and data. The implementation of communications technology is the key to the idea of smart manufacturing. In this integration of the Internet into factories and sites, enterprise resource planning allows dynamic innovation, categorical design, customized combination, flexible manufacturing and precise service provision. For example, in 2016, the first-ever ‘Internet Plus’ application assisted in the launching of XCA60_E cranes by combining functions of the mobile Internet and the mobile terminals, so that users could use smartphones or packet assemblers/disassemblers to operate machines from distances. Going further and opening up access to both macro- and micro-management, the Internet of Things for heavy machines and mobile applications for cranes and road machinery cover activities including sales, after-sales support, replacement parts and search engines for second-hand machines.
3. Eco-labelling Our Development
The ‘greening’ of manufacturing constitutes the core of our global missions. G-generation products are our best examples of industrial ecology. The energy-recovery system reduces the potential energy in dropping heavy objects and different movements; the energy-saving hydraulic system effectively minimizes energy consumption in operation by 10-15%; and compared to cranes of the same category, G-generation, with its intelligibility of functional design and eco-awareness, has a decrease of 15% in general energy consumption. Besides, DingTalk, an office application by Alibaba, is incorporated into information technology such as offices of administration, manufacturing execution systems, product data management and customer relationship management.
Smart manufacturing is a persuasive window into a brighter future. Our claim to distinction is that we communicate a vision, in which this fully-integrated system is not only about grand corporate strategies and policies, but also a greater sense of humanity and collaboration.
