as a large traditional manufacturing province, guangdong has faced economic transformation and upgrading in recent years. the "machine generation" has become the success or failure of many manufacturing enterprises in guangdong. in 2015, the number of robots in guangdong reached 41,400, accounting for 18.8% of the country and 2.49% of the world. among them, 18,200 new robots were added in 2015, accounting for a quarter of the country and 6.9% of the world. in a word, guangdong has gradually become a big province of "machine generation".
in the "made in china 2025" issued by the state council, "robots" are mentioned 12 times.
and guangdong, a large manufacturing province, has a more urgent need for robots. how to make good use of robots to drive industrial upgrades and spawn a truly outstanding robot production industry in the context of massive demand is a problem that needs to be faced and solved. accompanying the "machine substitution" is the transformation of a series of production factors and talent structure, which is undoubtedly a "new industrial revolution."
robots, this human fantasy of the 20th century, will eventually become reality one by one in the 21st century.
the "machine generation" boom continues to heat up in guangdong.
in 2015, the number of robots in guangdong reached 41,400, accounting for 18.8% of the country and 2.49% of the world. among them, 18,200 new robots were added in 2015, accounting for a quarter of the country and 6.9% of the world. in a word, guangdong has gradually become a big province of "machine generation".
reporters recently conducted investigations in guangzhou, foshan and dongguan and found that more and more robots are entering the workshop as "new blue collars". companies hope to solve the "immediate worries" of rising labor costs and difficulty in recruiting, and also seek to maintain production capacity to quickly respond to the market, improve production efficiency and product quality to reshape competitiveness.
however, the vigorous "machine generation" has also begun to become rational, and more companies no longer blindly follow the robot trend, but start to explore suitable technological transformation modes and rhythms based on their own reality and industry prospects.
frontline investigation of "machine generation"
as a large traditional manufacturing province, guangdong has faced economic transformation and upgrading in recent years. the "machine generation" has become the success or failure of many manufacturing enterprises in guangdong.
the general manager of a dongguan science and technology co., ltd. confessed to reporters that if "machines on behalf of people" are not carried out, the company may be dead.
this company is engaged in the research and development and production of touch screen cover glass for mobile phones and notebooks. since 2012, it has started the "machine generation" and has achieved highly automated production. in the company's dust-free workshop, the raw materials are finally turned into products through complex processes. the original densely-turned workers have been replaced by hundreds of fast and accurate robots. only a few processes still require manpower to connect.
according to the general manager, based on the monthly output of 15-20 million pieces of products, at least 6,000 workers were needed before, and only 1,800 people will be needed after the "machine generation". in the past, each skilled worker could only operate 2 pieces of equipment. now ordinary workers can operate up to 25 pieces of equipment with a little training. in some major positions, the efficiency can be increased by up to 10 times after the "machine replaces people". therefore, from the perspective of saving labor costs, more than 50 million investment in technological transformation has long been recovered.
there is more than one guangdong company benefiting from robots. after the transformation and upgrading of a certain furniture company in guangdong, orders came in, but the production capacity began to fall short. the chairman of the company told reporters that the efficiency of the assembly line was improved by 60% in april this year. the next step is to introduce welding robots to double the efficiency of the welding process.
behind the hotness of guangdong robots, the reason is not difficult to analyze. the primary reason is the shortage of labor.
data shows that in the first three quarters of 2015, the average employee gap of 20,000 fixed-point monitoring companies in guangdong province was 38. for example, as a "world factory", dongguan once suffered from "difficulties in recruiting". however, liang jingchang, an investigator of the dongguan municipal bureau of economic and information technology, recently stated that the city’s difficulty in recruiting workers has been greatly alleviated after the implementation of "machine substitution" in the city.
secondly, rising costs are also forcing "machine generation".
statistics show that in the 30 years before 2008, the monthly salary of workers in the pearl river delta only rose by more than 100 yuan, but in the following 7 years, the minimum wage in first-class cities in guangdong rose from 860 yuan to 1895 yuan, an increase of 1.2 times. in shoe, furniture and other industries even doubled.
according to zhang qingyun, deputy director of the foshan economic and information bureau, an average industrial worker costs an average of 3,500 yuan a month. after the introduction of robots, one robot can replace 8 industrial workers on average, saving 300,000 yuan in labor costs for the company a year.
another factor of "machine generation" is that industrial products are becoming more and more refined. zeng jianjun said that major mobile phone brands have increasingly strict requirements on suppliers, and robots are stable and accurate, which can greatly improve product quality. this company also attracted partners such as samsung and huawei, and was recognized.
multilateral efforts to support "machine generation"
the transformation and upgrading of guangdong's manufacturing industry is imperative, and "machine generation" has also become a key breakthrough for guangdong's manufacturing to reshape its competitiveness and realize its transformation into a smart and powerful province.
the smart manufacturing development plan and the three-year industrial transformation and upgrading plan issued by guangdong in 2015 clearly stated that 940 billion yuan will be invested within three years to promote more than 50% of industrial enterprises to complete technological transformation, and the manufacturing industry will move towards automation, intelligence and high-end.
the policies of various cities in guangdong are even more prosperous. for example, in order to increase the willingness of enterprises to "machine substitutes", dongguan has set up special funds to provide discount subsidies, and launched a "zero threshold, zero down payment" technology transformation credit plan for enterprises. foshan arranges 53 million yuan each year to support large-scale backbone enterprises and labor-intensive small, medium and micro enterprises to carry out "machine substitution" and complete automation equipment transformation.
and "machine generation" also has initial results. taking dongguan as an example, after 66% of the city’s manufacturing companies implemented the “machine-substitute” project, labor productivity increased by an average of 64.9%, product qualification rate increased from 89.3% to 96.6%, and unit product cost decreased by 12.5% on average.
it is worth noting that despite the strong willingness of enterprises and the timely promotion of the government, there are still many problems to be solved behind the hot “machine generation” in guangdong, and there is still a long way to go to explore.
zhang xu, secretary-general of the guangdong robot industry association, told reporters that a prominent problem of "machines for humans" is the asymmetry of supply and demand information. companies either don't know how to transform, are reluctant to transform, and their overall willingness is still low, or they are blindly transforming, thinking that they can simply replace people. in addition, many entrepreneurs are also more wait-and-see, and worry about technology, talent, and investment. at present, "machine generation" is in the explosive stage, but the real demand has not been completely released.
the "research on the change trend of the organic composition of guangdong capital" also believes that guangdong must eliminate the four major misunderstandings in the promotion of "machine generation": "machine generation" does not require the use of robots in all manufacturing industries; it is not about replacing all post labor; it is not simple to improve efficiency, it is necessary to improve quality; the government must guide rather than lead.
in fact, the reporter's survey also found that guangdong's vigorous "machine generation" has begun to become more rational, and more companies are exploring suitable technological transformation models and rhythms based on their own reality and industry prospects.
the assistant to the director of the intelligent manufacturing engineering center of a guangzhou equipment co., ltd. said that more than 90% of its companies adopt cost-effective transformation programs, that is, to realize single machine, unit, and partial automation first, forming cost-effective rolling investment, and gradual progress. this depends on the company's own conditions and needs. it is not just a matter of just pursuing high-tech. some companies are even affected by the supply chain and the conditions are too poor to be suitable for transformation.
on the other hand, jobs with high repetition, high intensity, high pollution and high risk, and high precision and precision requirements have become the current focus of "machine generation".
according to the calculations of the economic and information commission of guangdong province, by the end of 2020, the number of industrial robots in guangdong will reach more than 300,000 units, accounting for more than one-third of the country, and the robot density will reach more than 100 units per 10,000 people.