2015 is a watershed year for automatic production

Changes in the household appliance industry: 2015 is the "watershed" of automatic production

if the robot of 80000 yuan is depreciated for ten years, close to 10000 yuan a year, and the amortization is lower than the labor cost, it will be popularized in large quantities. Then there will be robots of 40000-50000 yuan

large scale automation of household appliance production. 2015 is an important year

2015 is a watershed year for automated production. Wu Shoubao, vice president in charge of manufacturing of Midea household air conditioning business unit, told According to the first finance and economics, the investment of their factory in automation will reach 800million to 1billion yuan in 2015 alone, 5billion yuan will be invested in production automation in the next five years, and a total of 1billion yuan will be invested in the first three years from 2012 to 2014.

the road of automation in the household appliance industry is in full swing: Haier has four interconnected factories put into operation; Galanz will introduce washing machine automation from June to July this year after investing 3billion yuan last year to transform Zhongshan microwave oven production base production line; The sixth factory with 70% automation of Omar refrigerator will also be put into operation in July this year; TCL plans to copy the intelligent production mode of csot to other businesses such as color TV sets. Why is automation popular? Huang Xingke, President of Zhigao, calculated an account with China business during the spring fair this year. Now the manipulator is about 130000 yuan/set, plus the maintenance fee, it costs 150000 yuan a year, while the labor cost is tens of thousands of yuan a year. If 80000 yuan robots are depreciated for ten years, close to 10000 yuan a year, and the amortization is lower than the labor cost, they will be popularized in large quantities, and then 40000-50000 yuan robots will appear

has the critical point of mass popularization of production automation arrived

automated watershed

Wu Shoubao believes that the critical point cannot be said to have arrived, but 2015 is a watershed for automated production

only a six axis manipulator can be regarded as a robot. You can't buy a robot for 80000 yuan, but only a simple small manipulator. Wu Shoubao said that since 2012, Midea has started to promote production automation on a large scale. By the end of 2014, Midea has 800 six axis robots, and the group is expected to add 600 in 2015

he said that 2015 was a watershed. From 2012 to 2014, Midea automation invested a total of 1billion yuan, while in 2015, it will invest 800million yuan and the whole process resolution will remain unchanged ~1billion yuan; Previously, Midea Group's household air conditioning, compressor, central air conditioning and other business units made breakthroughs. In 2015, the whole group launched a large-scale launch

single point machine at present, the technical concept of domestic aluminum alloy cable is emerging one after another, and those with low technology and cost-effective investment have been done. In the future, automation will push into deep water. In the past, there was a single breakthrough, but later it was systematic. Nansha factory has an automated production line with 26 robots, and a production line budget of 35million yuan. 40 operators can be saved, and the number of total assembly lines can be halved, which is not only a great challenge to suppliers, but also a great challenge to internal control. Wu Shoubao said

Midea household air conditioner Shunde electronic branch is a typical example of continuous promotion of automation and fewer people. Ten years ago, 2800 people, the output is only half of the current. Chen Jiansheng, the factory director, told China business news that the number of people in the factory will halve in the next three years from 1500 last year to 900 this year

this newspaper saw in the automatic production line of the remote controller that four six axis robots waved dexterous hands and arms, and from one to the other, they prostrated themselves on the arc-shaped assembly line to install components, one for the shell of the remote controller, one for the chip, and one for the key board, which cooperated tacitly and orderly

director Chen said that after the introduction of automation equipment, a remote control production line has changed from 7 people to 2 people. After further transformation in the second half of the year, it can be reduced to 1 person

air conditioning is obvious in the light and peak seasons, and it is difficult to recruit workers in the peak production seasons around the Spring Festival. We engage in automation. First, we must automate the links with high labor intensity, high risks and high environmental requirements, such as moving compressors, stamping and spraying; The second is the links with high quality requirements, such as security inspection and welding. Previously, the welding quality was related to the mood of workers

Midea home air conditioner has formulated a world-class manufacturing roadmap, and plans to control the peak number of people in 2015 at 26000, with efficiency increased by 30%; In 2016, the peak number of people was controlled at 24000, and the efficiency was increased by 25%; In 2017, the peak number of people was controlled at 22000, and the efficiency was increased by 25%; In 2018, the peak value will be less than 20000 people. At that time, the annual output value of Midea household air conditioners will increase from 70billion yuan in 2014 to 100billion yuan

from the perspective of Midea Group, last year, the operating revenue exceeded 140 billion yuan and the number of employees was 120000. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper in March this year, Fang Hongbo, chairman of Midea Group, said that in the future, when the revenue of Midea Group reaches 200billion yuan, the number of employees should be controlled at 100000. Improve efficiency with automation to realize the annual increase of employee income

why is automation hot all at once? Wu Shoubao believes that, firstly, the price of robots has come down, secondly, the technology is more mature and the robots are more flexible. At the same time, DSM has also provided us with outstanding technical support and service work, such as moving compressors, which we couldn't do before, but now we can do it. These two aspects promote the wide spread of automation

linkage with R & D

so where are the fewer people going? How can the remaining people be promoted

we lose people because we hire fewer people in the peak season. For example, the air conditioning business unit has 30000 people in the peak season and 15000 people in the off-season. Through automation, it may only need 20000 people in the peak season. Employees will naturally lose. In the future, the workers we recruit in the off-season are all required to be undergraduates, because facing the future demand for intelligence, the cost of automation will soar if it is not used well, and tens of millions of yuan per line will be wasted if it is not used. Wu Shoubao said

in order to cope with the increase of labor costs and the difficulty of recruitment, Galanz invested 3billion yuan last year to significantly improve the automation level of Zhongshan microwave oven base. Now it can produce 170000 microwave ovens per day

first finance saw on the scene that the assembly line is used between the workshops of microwave oven production to automatically send the parts to the next process. In each row of stamping machine tools in the stamping workshop, there are four or five stamping machines operating at the same time, and only one worker is in charge. Stamping, injection molding and spraying are now automated. You Limin, Minister of Galanz planning department, said

can no longer rely on demographic dividends to survive. You Limin said that Galanz has accelerated production automation since 2013, which is matched by the full skilled worker system and the implementation of the five level skilled worker system. Some stamping workers who do well earn 7000-8000 yuan a month, which is higher than ordinary clerks who send and receive documents in the office

in addition to solving human problems, automated production should also be linked with R & D

all our automation is linked with R & D. If you go to an automated production line, you should ask the R & D department whether this line is applicable. I'm most afraid that new products can't be produced. Wu Shoubao said that we assess the R & D department every year, including the manufacturability of products and how long it takes to assemble a product

Chen Jiansheng operated in strict accordance with the specified steps of the instrument instruction manual. That is to say, the past three to four years have been the exploratory stage of automated production. First, he has mastered automation technology; Second, product design can be automated production; Third, in addition to Midea itself, upstream suppliers should also cooperate to realize the automatic production of product components

Midea Group has also made a layout of automation technology. Hu Ziqiang, vice president of the group and President of the Central Research Institute, told this newspaper that Midea is vigorously promoting the standardization and modularization of product component design

at the same time, Weiling motor, a subsidiary of Midea that is listed in Hong Kong and focuses on parts, has been developing and producing servo motor and other robot parts

in addition, Midea Group is also preparing to work with the Foshan municipal government to establish the South China robot research institute to explore ways to promote the automation and intelligent manufacturing of local manufacturing industry

industry 4.0 is still far away

in fact, automation is only the surface. To realize real industry 4.0, it is inseparable from the informatization of manufacturing system and management system

in April this year, Haier's washing machine interconnection factory in Foshan was put into operation. So far, Haier has four interconnected factories: Shenyang refrigerator, Zhengzhou air conditioner, Qingdao water heater and Foshan washing machine. These factories have two major characteristics: first, they are connected with the sales system, and the customized needs of users are directly transmitted to the factories, and after convergence, large-scale customized production is promoted; Second, through waiting, users can see the progress of order completion, whether the product is in production or in the process of delivery

Li Yang, general manager of Qingdao Haier wave washing machine, believes that compared with industry 3.0, the premise of industry 4.0 is interconnection. Interconnection is a soft thing. It is a system. Without the support of this system, it is useless for you to go to automation. He said that we have a clear roadmap for the promotion of smart factories, and nearly 50 factories in China will also be upgraded in the future

Wu Shoubao also believes that industry 4.0 includes hardware and software, hardware includes the intellectualization of products and production equipment, and software is the information transparency of orders, product development, production, logistics and distribution. It is not difficult to do both. It is not difficult to build a new factory. If the old factory is reconstructed, it will be a great challenge in terms of investment and energy. The old equipment may not have a machine interface

industry 4.0 includes five aspects: first, equipment automation; Second, the production is transparent, and the equipment status is reflected in the information system; Third, the logistics is intelligent, and the materials are directly sent to the production posts according to the production specified information; Fourth, management mobility. If I travel on business and the product quality is abnormal, I can also monitor that Nansha factory has this prototype; Fifth, the digitalization of decision-making. All decisions are based on big data. Behind automation, there must be informatization, which can be combined with lean manufacturing to realize intellectualization

only when you have money and dare to invest can you embark on the road of intelligence. Wu Shoubao said frankly that we are very concerned about input and output, and cannot affect business performance or increase consumer costs. Chen Jiansheng also said: the key is the return on investment. The lower the robot cost, the better. Now the cost is recovered in three and a half years. If the cost is recovered in one year, we will definitely replace people with machines without hesitation