However, for many enterprises, there is no clear understanding of the benefits of intelligent manufacturing and how to upgrade the production process simply and effectively.Under the background that the global manufacturing industry is facing a new round of industrial division of labor, the time left for China's manufacturing industry is not abundant.

The natural complexity of manufacturing means it will be a long road.This is also why "the digital transformation of manufacturing industry" will be the topic of our discussion in huxun's program "Achieving the Transformation and Upgrading of Manufacturing Industry and Changing the Future intelligently".

Why is smart manufacturing so important?

Hollis Chanari, a former Harvard Professor, noted economist and World Bank economic adviser, points out in his book Comparative Studies on Industrialization and Economic Growth："Structural changes in the economy, represented by manufacturing growth, will accelerate the process of economic growth;Manufactured exports lead to countries with faster economic structural changes, higher industrial links at home and abroad, and a greater contribution of manufacturing to growth."

Take China as an example. After the reform and opening up, China has risen from poverty and backwardness to become the world's second largest economy.The fundamental reason for the rapid economic development lies in the successful utilization of the labor force advantage brought by the population.All industries have integrated into the global industrial chain and participated in the international division of labor, eventually becoming the "factory of the world".

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the added value of China's manufacturing industry reached 26.9 trillion yuan in 2019, accounting for 28.1% of the global total, maintaining the status of the world's top manufacturing country for ten consecutive years.

But after 40 years of development, such a model is gradually facing challenges from both inside and outside.

On the one hand, it comes from within. The "labor shortage" in the domestic manufacturing industry has been worsening year by year. After the epidemic, it once became a social hot spot.Behind this is a demographic dividend that has made low-end industries dependent on low-cost labor, while the young are no longer satisfied with the meagre incomes of traditional manufacturing workers.With the rapid development of mobile Internet, it has turned to seek new professions such as couriers, riders and online ride-hailing.

In order to recruit more workers, the factory has to raise wages.Rising Labour costs have further led to a new wave of manufacturing migration to cheaper south-east Asian countries.

On the other hand, it is externally led by the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" proposed by Germany, the "Intelligent Manufacturing Leadership Alliance" of the United States, the British Industry 2050 Strategy of the United Kingdom and so on.At the international level, many governments or organizations are vigorously promoting new forms of highly automated manufacturing, and the next generation of industrial manufacturing has gradually become a new trend.

In this context, Premier Li Keqiang put forward the "manufacturing power" strategy in 2015."Made in China 2025", the first Ten-year agenda, takes "Intelligent Manufacturing in China" as the main direction of development.To promote the transformation of traditional manufacturing industry and alleviate the employment problems faced by China's manufacturing industry in the way of "replacing people with machines".

In April this year, the CPC Central Committee went a step further, explaining the definition of "new infrastructure" and explicitly listing "Internet of Things" and "industrial Internet" as the main development directions in the construction of "information infrastructure".

Immediately after the fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China put forward: "adhere to the focus of economic development on the real economy, unswervingly build a strong manufacturing, quality, network, digital China, promote the upgrading of the industrial base, modernization of the industrial chain, improve economic quality and efficiency and core competitiveness.

Under the goal of realizing socialist modernization by 2035, "basically realizing a new type of industrialization" has also become a key driving force.

For hesitating factories, labor pressures and policies such as "new infrastructure" have made it clear that the way forward is to further optimize productivity and cost through the digital transformation and construction of traditional production lines thanks to IoT and big data technologies.

This is not only a solution for local factories, but also a necessary change of production mode in the process of promoting the development of China's manufacturing industry.