One workshop for 100,000 varieties

In Guiyang, south China, cloud manufacturing has moved beyondthe drawing board and into reality!With the aim of building a future-oriented industrialecosystem, Siemens entered a strategic cooperation with CASIC (China AerospaceScience and Industry Corporation) in July 2017. The partnership exemplifiedGermany’s “Industrie 4.0” and China’s “Advanced Manufacturing” combinedtogether to enable transformation and upgrade of the manufacturing industry.Siemens worked together with CASICloud and Guizhou SpaceAppliance (GSA) which are subsidiaries of CASIC group. They built the world’s firstpilot intelligent workshop with cloud manufacturing capabilities in theprecision electronics component industry. Featuring multi-variety, small-batchand customized productions, the pilot enabled a new order-driven productionmode which was lean and flexible.Unlocking the potential of intelligent manufacturingGSA started exploring the field of automation nearly twodecades ago. “However, automation is unable to solve the challenge of flexiblyproducing multiple varieties and small batches of products,” said GSA PresidentChen Zhenyu. “As the company develops, we are beginningto move ahead with intelligent manufacturing.”The pilot project started with digital enterpriseconsultancy led by Siemens. Making digital enterprise a reality is like buildinga house: it has to be constructed according to architectural drawings. Thecomprehensive consultancy made it possible for successful implementation tooccur later.With Digital Enterprise solutions, Siemens built a “digital twin” of intelligent manufacturing throughout the entirelifecycle of the workshop, enabling end-to-end integration. CASICloud appliedits competence of industrial internet platform and cloud manufacturing. Basedon “INDICS (Industrial Internet Cloud Space) + CMSS (Cloud ManufacturingSupport System)”, the workshop achieved collaborative design, intelligentproduction scheduling and industrial big data analysis. GSA built a networkedintelligent production line which allows flexible assembly and intelligentprecision detection. Such innovative business models, technologies andmanagement drove the enterprise development.The intelligent manufacturing pilot project has achieved leapsand bounds in all aspects. Its production efficiency is expected to increase by 50%. The rate of non-conforming products is estimated to drop by 56%, theoperations cost to shrink by 21% and the time to market to be shortened by 30%.On top of those, talent development was another prominentachievement. The skill sets of people involved in this project developedrapidly. GSA set up a new department especially for intelligent manufacturing.Lyu Jiangtao, a software engineer at GSA, participated in the building of thepilot project, and has grown to become manager in charge of intelligentmanufacturing. Many of the talents trained in this project are now taking leadroles in other intelligent manufacturing projects.Many of the talents trained in this project are now takinglead roles in other intelligent manufacturing projects.This pilot marks the first step of a journey into newrealms with endless possibilities.  Siemens’work with CASIC will continue to create value for both parties, and help towrite a new chapter of Sino-German cooperation in intelligent manufacturing.