Smart robots, a variety of mixed-flow products, automatic sorting by 'scanning', automatic palletizing, 22-meter-high three-dimensional warehouse racking... In the United States of America's Clean Electric Division and KUKA Robot in Shanghai ) Co., Ltd., The reporter felt the transformation of smart manufacturing of Midea Group, the 'small goal' and 'great achievements' of the Industrial Internet of Things.
From home appliance companies to smart manufacturing companies
'In addition to the expansion of the Kukasong Jiangchang plant and the construction of the Shunde plant in Guangdong, by 2024, KUKA's robot production capacity in China will reach 100,000 units, ranking the first in the Chinese market, accounting for 25% to 30%. In the KUKA Robots (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. located in Songjiang, Shanghai, Wen Qiming, CEO of KUKA General Industrial China, introduced KUKA's ambitious plans and bright prospects in China.
The prospect of KUKA is an important part of Midea Group's smart manufacturing blueprint. On May 26, 2016, Midea Group issued a draft report on the acquisition of KUKA. The company acquired KUKA, one of the four largest family of robots, for RMB 29.2 billion. 94.55% of equity, fired the first shot of the transformation of home appliance companies.
Huge investment in the acquisition of KUKA, Midea Group Swordsman smart manufacturing. ' Focus on the construction of a core six dimensions, intelligent lean factory as the core, combined with intelligent automation, intelligent robots, smart logistics, intelligent information, mobile big data, Six key technology applications, such as network integration, realize the smart manufacturing of Midea. “Zeng Jun, the person in charge of Smart Manufacturing of Midea Group, introduced the intelligent manufacturing strategy of Midea Group to reporters.
Under the guidance of the “New Generation of Man-Machine” strategy, Midea continues to upgrade its leadership in the intelligent manufacturing hardware capabilities of the industry, explore the best collaboration between people and machines in production scenarios, and free employees from tedious work processes. 2015 Midea Group released the strategy of the robotics industry and opened up the industry's 'second runway' to transform it into a global technology group. Subsequently, Midea Group and KUKA set up three joint ventures in China to develop industrial robots, medical care, warehouse automation, etc. In the three major fields, Midea Group announced on March 21 that by 2024, the joint venture's robot production capacity will reach 75,000 units per year.
Zeng Jun believes that smart manufacturing needs to span three stages of traditional lean factories, digital lean factories, and intelligent lean factories. The robot is an important basic carrier. By leading Kuka in the production of robotics, industrial automation solutions, system integration, etc. Technology, and Midea Group's deep integration in the field of big data and AI technology and 'resources' for channel resources, both of which can achieve common growth in technological advantages and business expansion, pushing smart manufacturing and human-machine collaboration concepts towards A broader industry application scenario.
Industrial and Internet of Things
In the layout of the technology group of Midea Group, the intelligence of production is only a part of intelligent manufacturing. What is more imaginative is the reflection and layout of Midea Group on the entire industrial Internet.
A transmission line, where dozens of products are carried through, each item automatically gets its own 'token' by 'sweeping' and the robot automatically moves to the corresponding 'work station'. After the palletizing, the AGV car (robot) autonomously transported the goods into a three-dimensional warehouse, where the high shelves were as high as 22 meters. In the clean electrical division of the Midea Group in Suzhou, the reporter visited the company's 'finished-product sorting conveyor'. Stacking and Smart Warehouse 'integrated system.
This integrated project is a good sample of Midea Group's intelligent manufacturing, covering the integrated application of intelligent logistics control technology, robot control technology, and intelligent storage technology within Midea Group. According to the introduction, the company's product sorting system is compatible. 640 products are mixed and transported, and the high-speed scan code can reach 100m/s. After the product enters the designated 'work station', the second scan code identification is performed to ensure the accuracy of the palletizing; the intelligent storage system consists of 20 high-level shelves. Covers an area of over 6,000 square meters.
The benefits of intelligence are remarkable. The related personnel from the Clean Electric Division of Midea introduced that the one-time construction cost of the smart warehouse is 30 million yuan less than that of a 40,000-square-meter flat warehouse with a similar capacity. On daily operations, the smart warehouse is one day. The storage capacity of up to 45,000 units, out of the library up to 60 cabinets, but also to achieve one-second inspection of goods, one minute out of the cabinet, each year to save porters and other manpower 50 people, saving operating costs 5 million yuan.
If the "human-machine collaboration" robots constitute the bones of intelligent manufacture, then software and information-driven systems are the brains and nerves of the "intellectual-giant giants". To this end, Midea Group actively promotes the industrial Internet of digital 2.0 and the US version. Through intelligent manufacturing construction and digital transformation, software, data-driven full value chain operations are realized.
According to reports, Midea Group is expected to replicate these smart manufacturing frontier practices in multiple business units and export and transplant them as mature solutions. In the future, the independent software R&D capabilities of Midea Group, R&D and innovation of Big Data and AI will increase. The intelligent degree and coordination ability of the production system provide more intelligent manufacturing services.