Intelligent manufacturing is the focus for building China into a manufacturing power. Intelligent manufacturing is a general concept under continuous development. In this paper, the intension of intelligent manufacturing is put forward. Intelligent manufacturing is categorized into three basic paradigms: digital manufacturing, smart manufacturing, and new-generation intelligent manufacturing. It is proposed that China should push forward the intelligent transformation of its manufacturing industry by adopting a technology roadmap of “parallel promotion and integrated development”. The strategic objectives, strategic guidelines, and development paths for the future development of intelligent manufacturing in China are put forward. Then some preliminary suggestions, in terms of mechanism guarantee and policies in China, including strengthening and implementing the intelligent manufacturing promotion mechanism, increasing fiscal and financial support, and deepening international exchanges and cooperation are proposed.
At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution as well as industrial transformation is accelerating, and global manufacturing has entered a new stage of development. Developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan have formulated their own development strategies for intelligent manufacturing technology. Intelligent manufacturing in China is in a critical period of accelerated development. However, the problem of insufficient and imbalanced development is very prominent. In this context, a development strategy for the intelligent manufacturing technology suitable for China’s national conditions must be developed according to the principle of combining perspectiveness, stages, practicability and openness, thus to guide and promote the scientific intelligent upgrading of manufacturing in China.
This paper briefly describes the significance of studying the paradigms of intelligent manufacturing, and introduces the connotation and development process of intelligent manufacturing. By analyzing the characteristics of relevant paradigms of intelligent manufacturing, three basic paradigms of intelligent manufacturing are summarized: digital manufacturing, digital and networked manufacturing (“Internet Plus” manufacturing or smart manufacturing), and digital, networked, and intelligentized manufacturing (new-generation intelligent manufacturing). The connotation and characteristics of the three basic paradigms are expounded. China should start with the digital manufacturing, thus to consolidate the foundation for the development of intelligent manufacturing. In the next stage, China should focus on the development of “Internet Plus” manufacturing, and promote these three basic paradigms in parallel. The new-generation intelligent manufacturing will fundamentally lead and advance the fourth industrial revolution, and bring a historic opportunity for China’s manufacturing to achieve leapfrog development.
First, development of intelligent manufacturing in western developed countries and the status quo of development of intelligent manufacturing in China were discussed. It is proposed that development of intelligent manufacturing in China should not follow a sequential development process. China should adopt a technical route of parallel promotion and integrated development, and promote simultaneous development of three paradigms of intelligent manufacturing, i.e., digital manufacturing, digital and networked manufacturing, and new-generation intelligent manufacturing. While vigorously promoting, applying and popularizing digital and networked manufacturing, China should accelerate the exploration and research of new-generation intelligent manufacturing, thus to lead and promote upgrading and leapfrog development of China’s manufacturing industry.
Intelligent manufacturing is an evolving system that covers theories, methods, technologies, and application involved in the whole life cycle of products, manufacturing, and services. Considering the new technologies, concepts, and models emerging in the field of intelligent manufacturing, a system structure for intelligent manufacturing needs to be summarized and proposed to well guide its implementation. This paper constructs the system structure of China’s intelligent manufacturing from three dimensions, i.e., a value dimension, a technical dimension, and an organization dimension, and makes a horizontal comparison with the system architectures related to intelligent manufacturing in the United States, Germany, and Japan.The technical dimension reflects that China’s intelligent manufacturing should focus on the integration of industrialization and informatization, the value dimension reflects that the main body of China’s intelligent manufacturing is manufacturing activities, and the organization dimension emphasizes that China’s intelligent manufacturing should be people-oriented.
This paper first discusses development of the new-generation intelligent manufacturing from the aspects of problems and challenges of the manufacturing industry, major opportunities brought by new-generation artificial intelligence, and core technologies of the new round of industrial revolution. By analyzing the evolution process of intelligent manufacturing, this paper points out that the process of development from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing is also a process of development from the original human-physical systems (HPS) to a human-cyber-physical systems (HCPS). HCPS reveals the basic principles of intelligent manufacturing development and is the theoretical basis for supporting the development of the new-generation intelligent manufacturing. Based on system integration of HCPS and intelligent manufacturing, the prospect of the new-generation intelligent manufacturing is described from the perspective of the revolutionary changes brought to the manufacturing sector and to human society.
Intelligent products and equipment is the value carrier, technological prerequisite and material base of intelligent manufacturing and service. The intelligent products and equipment refers to two dialectical aspects: on the one hand, commercialization of intelligent technology, turning intelligence technology into products, which is mainly reflected in the comprehensive application of the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, edge computing, machine learning, deep learning, security monitoring, automation control, computer technology, precision sensing technology, and GPS positioning technology; On the other hand, the intelligent products and equipment refers to the intellectualization of traditional products. The new-generation artificial intelligence endows traditional products with higher intelligence and injects strong vitality and developmental motivation into traditional products in the aspect of intelligent manufacturing equipment, intelligent production, and intelligent management. Based on extensive scientific surveys and current researches, and combined with the ten major fields of Made in China 2025 and macro policies such as the Three-Year Action Plan for Artificial Intelligence, twelve major equipment fields of intelligent products and equipment are formulated. Researches show that the new-generation intelligent products and equipment focuses on knowledge engineering and is prominently characterized by self-sensing, self-adaptation, self-learning, and self-decision-making. Ten key technologies will be prioritized in future.
A new-generation intelligent manufacturing, characterized by the marriage of the next-generation artificial intelligence technology and advanced manufacturing industry, is emerging and becoming the core technology of the fourth industrial revolution. China’s manufacturing industry as a whole is big but not strong. The development of intelligent manufacturing can promote China’s manufacturing industry by improving both quality and efficiency, and ultimately, is the main path for the transformation and upgrading of China’s manufacturing industry. Intelligent production is a major component of intelligent manufacturing, while intelligent factory is the carrier for intelligent production. This paper focuses on the development strategy for smart factories in discrete manufacturing. First, the concept of intelligent factory is introduced, with its basic structure, information system architecture, and basic characteristics in discrete manufacturing discussed. Then, the key breakthrough directions and the implementation plan for intelligent factory are laid out. Finally, following suggestions are provided for policy makers to develop intelligent factory: ① actively support and guide the development of intelligent manufacturing through pilot and demonstration projects, and promote the formation of an ecological chain for intelligent manufacturing with regional advantages; ② encourage enterprises to build intelligent factories to construct technological competitive advantages and enhance economic benefits; ③ establish and improve the synergy mechanism for innovation; ④ highlight the Made-in-China capabilities for core technologies, key equipment components, and industrial software.
Based on the in-depth analysis of features of the process industry, the state of art of its operation control, and the global development of intelligent manufacturing, a new mode of intelligent manufacturing for the process industry, i.e., smart and optimal manufacturing, is proposed. After analysis of the development situation of the existing three-tier architecture (consisting of enterprise resource planning, manufacturing execution system, and process control system) and the control and management informatization system adopted by process enterprises, a smart and optimal manufacturing framework and prospects for future process enterprises are presented, followed by the analysis of key generic technologies that are critical for the successful deployment of intelligent manufacturing in the process industry. The fundamental challenges and open scientific problems to be addressed jointly by the communities of automation, computer and communication, and data science are also presented. Moreover, suggestions on the future development and deployment of smart and optimal manufacturing in the process industry are offered, include emphasizing the strategic position of the process industry, actualizing the strategic planning and top-level design.
Nonferrous metals are important fundamental and strategic materials for national economy and the national defense industry. In recent years, the nonferrous metal industry has made great progress in China. However, it is still facing the challenges of green, efficient, and intelligent development. In the nonferrous metal industry, the production conditions are complicated, the raw materials are changeable, and requirements for resources, energies, and environment protection become increasingly strict. Therefore, techniques for sensitive perception, precise operation, intelligent analysis, and quick decision-making are needed for coping with these complex changes and strict requirements. The rapid development of artificial intelligence fitly provides the core techniques for the transformation and upgrading of the nonferrous metal production process. In this paper, three aspects are mainly discussed: development and bottlenecks of the nonferrous metal industry, two cases of transforming and upgrading the nonferrous metal industry with artificial intelligent, and the challenges faced by artificial intelligence in the transformation and upgrading of the nonferrous metal production.
Led by the development of artificial intelligence technology, the production technology, organization mode, and competitive strategy of the manufacturing industry are facing major changes, which also provides opportunities for formation of new modes and business models of manufacturing. Driven by the new generation of artificial intelligence technology, new modes and business models generated by convergence of the service industry and the manufacturing industry have emerged in the practice and thus serve as the focus of this study. The study has analyzed the development trends, typical types, and key platform technologies of the new modes and business models of manufacturing, and proposed the development guidelines, goals, and approaches for the new modes and business models. According to the basis and present situation of manufacturing in China, the study has selected the remote operation & maintenance service and mass customization as examples, and put forward the development directions, goals, and policy suggestions for the two business models in the related fields.
This paper first briefly explains the booming era of “New Internet+ Big Data+ Artificial Intelligence+”, then discussed that an intelligent manufacturing system guided by a new-generation of artificial intelligence technology is a new intelligent interconnected manufacturing system that integrates human, machine, material, environment, and information through “New Internet+ New Intelligent Manufacturing Resources/Capabilities/Products”. This paper also explains the connotation, architecture, and technical system of the intelligent manufacturing system guided by a new-generation of artificial intelligence technology, and introduces the preliminary study on its prototype—big data intelligence in the CASICloud. Finally, some suggestions for developing the intelligent manufacturing system guided by a new-generation of artificial intelligence technology are put forward. Particularly, importance must be attached to the coordinated development of technologies, application, and industries; while highlighting the characteristics of different countries, industries, and enterprises, cooperation and exchange with the whole country or even the whole world must be strengthened, thereby forming a new mode, new means, and new form of intelligent manufacturing in the new era.
As one of the three main function aspects of the industrial Internet, networks provide infrastructure for the all-round interconnection of industrial elements. The existing “two-layer and three-level” industrial network is difficult to meet the development needs of the new models and services of the industrial Internet. The emerging network technologies can promote the evolution of the network architecture. The intra-factory network is developing in directions of integration, openness, and flexibility. The services of the extra-factory network are universal, refined, and flexible. At the end, the paper describes the networking framework of the industrial Internet, and suggests that industrial enterprises build intra-factory networks according to requirements for business, real-time performance, transmission methods, etc., and build extra-factory external networks by selecting three dedicated lines and one networking mode according to development requirements of different services.
Based on the latest Perspective article from Engineering, a journal of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Toward New-Generation Intelligent Manufacturing, and combined with the evolutionary path of intelligent manufacturing in the aviation industry, this paper starts with the traditional human–physical systems (HPS), analyzes the transition from digital to intelligent development of the aircraft manufacturing industry, and expounds the transition of aircrafts from model-based digital definition to digital definition based on the cyber–physical systems (CPS). The new-generation intelligent manufacturing relies on the new-generation information technologies such as cloud technology, Internet of Things, mobile communication, big data, and artificial intelligence to achieve deep integration with humans, equipment, and materials, and its typical feature is the digital twin enabled by the digital thread.
In order to gain a deeper understanding of the significance of the Chinese Academy of Engineering’s “China Intelligent Manufacturing Development Strategy Research Report Based on the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence”, the author adopts the method of deconstruction and reconstruction, to analyze the Reference Architecture Model of Industrial 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) of Germany, and compared with the general architecture of intelligent manufacturing proposed in the report of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and similarities and differences of each other are found. It is believed that the general architecture of the intelligent manufacturing in China is superior in intelligence. This is the Chinese contribution to the development of intelligent manufacturing. At the same time, the analysis deepens the understanding of the both architectures.
Focusing on the difficulties domestic industrial enterprises are facing while promoting intelligent manufacturing, this article introduces the methods for facilitating in-depth application of related technologies. It is shown through research and comparison, that the fundamental cause of these difficulties is the poor economic efficiency of technology. Therefore, the key to promote the application of certain technology is to improve the economic efficiency of technology. Besides, problems such as out-dated management levels and low requirements for quality are the general causes restraining the economic efficiency of technology. To promote the economic efficiency of technology, strategic goals have to be set for technological transformation and upgrading on a business level, and a higher quality standard should also be set. Meanwhile, intelligent manufacturing related technologies can be used to promote the management level and to address the weaknesses of the enterprises, thus to improve the economic efficiency of technology.
Collective intelligence (CI) is widely studied in the past few decades. The most well-known CI algorithm is the ant colony optimization (ACO). ACO is used to solve complex path searching problems through CI emergence. Recently, DeepMind announced the AlphaZero program which has achieved superhuman performance in the game of Go, Chess, and Shogi, by tabula rasa reinforcement learning from games of self-play. By experimenting and implementing the AlphaZero series program in the game of Gomoku, along with analyzing and comparing the Monte-Carlo tree search (MCTS) and ACO algorithms, it is realized that the success of AlphaZero is not only due to the deep neural network and reinforcement learning, but also due to the MCTS algorithm, which is discovered to be a CI emergence algorithm. Thus we propose a CI evolution theory, as a general framework towards artificial general intelligence (AGI). Combining the strengths of deep learning, reinforcement learning, and CI algorithm, CI evolution theory enables individual intelligence to evolve with high efficiency and low cost through CI emergence. This CI evolution theory has natural applications in intelligent robots. A cloud-terminal platform is developed to help intelligent robots evolve their intelligent models. As a proof of this idea, a welding robot’s welding parameter optimization intelligent model is implemented on the platform.
In terms of the artificial intelligence (AI) application in intelligent manufacturing, this paper analyzes the system realization form of intelligent manufacturing based on the definition of enterprise’s key performance indicators (KPI), and further discusses the main role of AI in intelligent manufacturing. Based on the typical application scenarios of AI in intelligent manufacturing, this paper puts forward the application map of AI in intelligent manufacturing from the life cycle dimension, summarizes the common technologies in AI application to intelligent manufacturing, and illustrates the influence of AI on enterprises by taking production as an example. Finally, this paper puts forward the standards system of AI in intelligent manufacturing.
Driven by market demands and the artificial intelligent technology, mass customization is emerging. It thus becomes significant to analyze the influence of artificial intelligent technology on the development trend of the mass customization service mode and to summarize the breakthroughs of key technologies that need to be made in the future. Through case studies and expert interviews on furniture, household appliances, clothing and automobile industries, this paper analyzes the development trends of multiple key technologies such as multi-source cross-media heterogeneous database construction, a big-data-based design requirement feature mining system, a virtual experience system and virtual manufacturing, and whole-process information automatic collection, according to various market demands. Suggestions are proposed for popularizing the mass customization service mode integrated with artificial intelligent technology from aspects of top-level design, enterprise, talent and finance.
Promoting technological transformation and intelligence upgrading of the manufacturing industry is an important measure to deepen the supply-side structural reform. However, due to the disproportionation in development of China’s manufacturing industry, how to effectively promote transformation of the industrial base is the major difficulty in China’s industrial policy implementation at the present stage. Since 2013, Zhejiang Province has accumulated rich working experience in terms of advancing technological transformation and intelligence upgrading of the manufacturing industry, and obtained remarkable achievements in the aspects of improving the quality of manufacturing products, easing labor pressure, optimizing the investment structure, and fostering emerging industries. Based on field research of the manufacturing industry in Zhejiang Province, this study summarized the main methods and effects in the aspects of giving play to government guidance, stimulating enterprise initiatives, and optimizing market supply in the process of technological transformation and intelligence upgrading of the manufacturing industry in Zhejiang Province, and proposed policy suggestions for comprehensive promotion of technological transformation and intelligence upgrading of the manufacturing industry in China.