Read the German industrial 4.0 to be qualified to talk about enterprise transformation

"Industrial 4.0" -- The Development Road of German Manufacturing Industry

1. Development of the German manufacturing system

German government departments and experts in the field of manufacturing generally describe the gradual progress of technology in the field of manufacturing as the four stages of the industrial revolution.

"Industrial 1.0". From the 1860 s to the mid-19th century, the mechanization of factories through water and steam engines can be called "industrial 1.0". The result of this industrial revolution is that mechanical production has replaced manual labor, and the economic society has transformed from agriculture and handicrafts to a model in which industry and machinery manufacturing drive economic development.

"Industrial 2.0". From the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the mass production of electric-driven products based on the division of labor can be called "industrial 2.0". This industrial revolution, through the successful separation of parts production and product assembly, created a new model of mass production of products.

"Industrial 3.0". Beginning in the 1970 s and continuing to the present, the wide application of electronics and information technology has enabled the continuous automation of the manufacturing process, which can be called "industrial 3.0". Since then, machines have been able to gradually replace human operations, taking over not only a considerable proportion of "manual labor", but also some "mental labor".

"Industrial 4.0". German academia and industry believe that in the next 10 years, the intelligence based on the information physical system (Cyber-Physical System,CPS) will enable mankind to enter the fourth industrial revolution dominated by intelligent manufacturing. The digitalization of the whole product life cycle and manufacturing process, as well as the module integration based on information and communication technology, will form a highly flexible, personalized and digital production mode of products and services.

Due to various factors such as political disunity, Germany made little progress in the first industrial revolution. The annual growth rate of per capita GDP between 1820 and 1870 was 1.09%, which was lower than that of Britain's 1.26%. However, Germany, which was moving towards reunification, was the leader of the second industrial revolution. New technologies and new inventions were emerging in an endless stream. As a result, the German economy exceeded Britain's 1.01 in an average annual growth rate of 1.63 from 1870 to 1913.%.

Although the baton of the leader of the third industrial revolution was passed to the United States, Germany still maintained its dominant position in global competition through continuous technological progress in the traditional machinery manufacturing, chemical, power and electrical industries. Especially under the background of "falling north" (referring to the weakening of traditional industries such as coal and steel represented by the Ruhr area), the formation of "rising south" (emerging industries such as electronics and biotechnology have emerged in southern regions such as Bavaria), Let the German manufacturing industry glow with new vitality.

After the reunification of Germany and Germany in 1990, the German economy fell into a long-term stagnation after a short period of reunification. However, in less than 10 years, the German economy returned to vitality. Even if the European debt crisis sweeping the European Union has had a significant impact on Germany, the German economy driven by the export of manufactured goods can still stand out in Europe ". The share of manufacturing in Germany's GDP has remained almost constant for nearly two decades, at 23 percent in 1994 and 22.3 percent in 2014. Compared with the EU average and the rest of the EU, the strength of German manufacturing is even more prominent: in 2014, the average share of manufacturing in EU countries was 15.3 per cent, compared with 11.4 per cent in France and only 9.4 per cent in the UK. If measured by a brand, "Made in Germany" is worth about $4582 billion, equivalent to 167 per cent of Germany's gross domestic product, ranking third in the world.

However, in the post-crisis era, Germany is also increasingly feeling some hidden worries, so it puts forward the "industrial 4.0" plan to deal with it. First, it is facing a decline in exports in the short term. Data from the German Federal Bureau of Statistics pointed out that German exports fell by 0.2 year-on-year in 2013. Entering 2014, the German export situation has not changed significantly. Second, the pressure of industrial upgrading is felt in the medium term. Since the last few years of the first decade of this century, great progress has been made in scientific application technology, including radio communication technology, 3D printing technology, Internet of things, etc. It is estimated that in 2020, the global Internet of Things industry's terminal equipment sales are expected to be 1.9 trillion US dollars, and the profit (including service fees) will reach 300 billion US dollars. The third is to face the double competitive pressure within the EU and emerging economies for a long time. The EU's "Stronger European Industry for Growth and Economic Recovery" issued in October 2012 clearly set the goal of the "Reindustrialization" strategy to increase the proportion of industry in the EU's GDP from 15.6 per cent at that time to 20 per cent by 2020. In emerging economies, india relies on high-end manufacturing industries such as computers and software to become the "world office". China surpassed the United States to become the world's largest manufacturing country in 2010 and is known as the "world factory". As a result, the trade advantages of developed countries are gradually losing.

As mentioned earlier, in view of the predictable future internal and external pressure, Germany is once again taking precautions by proposing an "industrial 4.0" strategy to upgrade Germany's industrial location and ensure the future international competitiveness of German manufacturing. The concept of "industrial 4.0" in Germany came out at the Hannover Messe held in Germany in April 2011. It took shape in the report entitled "safeguarding the future of German manufacturing industry: suggestions on implementing the industrial 4.0 strategy" published by the German "industrial 4.0" working group in April 2013, and was further refined into the "industrial 4.0" standardization roadmap by the German electrical and electronic and information technology association on December 19, 2013. At present, "industrial 4.0" has become Germany's national strategy and is one of the ten future projects of Germany's high-tech strategic action plan for 2020.

2. The core content of "industrial 4.0"

The German government's "industrial 4.0" plan can be summarized as "1 core", "2 strategies", "3 integrations" and "8 measures".

1 core. The core of "industrial 4.0" is "intelligent networking", that is, through the virtual entity system (CPS), to build intelligent factories, to achieve the purpose of intelligent manufacturing. Through a large number of deployment of various types of sensing elements to achieve a large number of information collection; IT controls will be miniaturized and autonomous, and then embedded in all kinds of manufacturing equipment, so as to realize the intelligence of the equipment; Relying on communication technology to achieve high-speed and error-free data transmission; Data cloud storage and analysis system for control equipment and manufacturing equipment, so as to achieve the purpose of intelligent production process and convenient manual real-time control.

2 heavy strategy. One is the "leading supplier strategy", which focuses on the production field and requires German equipment manufacturers to follow the concept of "industrial 4.0" and produce production equipment that is "intelligent" and willing to "communicate. The strategy focuses on attracting the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises, hoping that they will not only become users of "smart production", but also become suppliers of "smart production" equipment. The second is the "leading market strategy", which emphasizes the effective integration of the entire German domestic manufacturing market. Building a high-speed Internet network throughout Germany is the key to achieving this strategy. Through this network, all kinds of enterprises in Germany can realize rapid information sharing and finally reach an effective division of labor and cooperation. On this basis, the production process can be redefined and further refined to achieve more specialized production and improve the production efficiency of the German manufacturing industry. In addition to production, commercial enterprises can also seamlessly connect with production units, further narrowing the distance between German manufacturing enterprises and the domestic market and the world market.

3 great integrations. The first is to pay attention to the production process of the product, and strive to build the vertical integration of production through networking in the smart factory; the second is to pay attention to the different stages of the entire life cycle of the product, including design and development, arranging production plans, controlling the production process, and product after-sales maintenance, etc., Realize the information sharing between different stages, so as to achieve the digital integration of engineering; the third is to pay attention to the realization of the whole social value network, from product research, development and application expansion to the establishment of standardization strategy, improve the effectiveness of social division of labor and cooperation, explore new business models and consider the sustainable development of society, so as to achieve the horizontal integration of German manufacturing industry.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is the guarantee of the realization of three major integrations. Related technologies include: machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, which is used for data exchange between terminal devices; Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which connects people and things in the whole society into a huge network; All kinds of application software to realize systematic management of enterprises, such as enterprise resource planning system (ERP), product life cycle management (PLM), supply chain management (SCM), system life cycle management (SysLM), etc., these systems further play a synergistic role and become a sharp tool for enterprises to carry out intelligent production and management.

8 initiatives. The first is a reference system for technical standardization and open standards. This is mainly due to the need for networking and integration. Without standards, it is obvious that information exchange cannot be achieved. The reference system of open standards, including the disclosure of complete technical descriptions and other information, helps to promote the rapid popularization of the network and the participation of all parties in society. The second is to build models to manage complex systems. Due to the characteristics of "industrial 4.0", such as interdisciplinary, multi-enterprise collaboration and off-site cooperation, it is bound to put forward high requirements for the management of the whole system. Only by establishing and perfecting the management model in advance can it be fully effective. The third is to provide a comprehensive industrial broadband infrastructure. This is the basis for the implementation of networking to ensure high-speed, stable and reliable data transmission. Four is to establish a security mechanism. Including production safety must be guaranteed; in the process of transmission and storage need to maintain information security; the whole system should have a sound fault-tolerant mechanism to ensure that human error will not lead to disaster. Fifth, the organization and design of innovative work. Due to the high degree of automation and decentralized coordination of "industrial 4.0", new requirements are put forward for the organization and design of social production. It is necessary to explore and establish new production collaboration methods so that employees can efficiently, happily and safely carry out production activities. Six is to focus on training and continuous professional development. In the "industrial 4.0", the scope of production equipment and cooperative partners that employees need to face far exceeds the requirements of the current production mode, and the change speed of the working environment is also significantly accelerated. In the face of these two challenges, continuous learning of employees becomes particularly important. Only when the whole society has a large number of qualified employees, the power of "industrial 4.0" can be truly reflected. Seven is to improve the rules and regulations. It involves how companies protect data, security in the process of data exchange, protection of personal privacy, and coordination of different trade rules in different countries. Eight is to improve resource efficiency. "Industrial 4.0" refers to resources, including not only raw materials and energy, but also human resources and financial resources.

Taking the assembly plant of Mercedes-Benz in Bremen as an example, the production mode under "industrial 4.0" is explained. The plant produced 340000 vehicles in 2014 and is the second largest Mercedes-Benz plant in the world. Its sales model is to customize and then produce, through electronic orders to be sent from dealers to factories. Team staff will create a barcode containing the production date, including the vehicle identification number (VIN) and precise configuration specifications and activation code, which will be used as a deliverable order. In the assembly workshop, hundreds of welding robots made by KUKA company in Germany join the assembly work together. After the body is assembled, it will be inspected by workers to verify the welding accuracy and size of key parts. When all welding is completed, check again to ensure that the body can be assembled for the next process. After the painting process, the vehicle will return to the installation of internal components and engine assembly workshop. Robots and workers use their various skills to work with each other. Before long, an assembled vehicle will appear in front of us. In 2015, Daimler Group will invest 0.75 billion million euros to update its factory in Bremen, northern Germany, in preparation for the manufacture of two new models. The investment will include the complete networking and digitization of all production processes to improve the efficiency of cooperation between workers and robots. Under the modular production of the "cyber-physical system" at the Mercedes-Benz Bremen plant, cars that are being assembled can autonomously shuttle between production modules and accept the required assembly operations. Among them, if there is a bottleneck in the production and parts supply links, the production resources or parts of other models can be dispatched in time to continue production. In this dynamic configuration of the production mode, production management software can play the original integrated management function, can dynamically manage the design, assembly, testing and other production processes, not only to ensure the efficiency of production equipment, but also to achieve diversification of production types. It is the perfect integration of high automation and information technology that Mercedes-Benz Bremen factory has the ability to produce a variety of models in a single production line, including C- Class Saloon, C- Class Estate and GLK, which can be assembled on the same production line in this factory.

3. Prospects and expectations for "industrial 4.0"

TNS Emnid, a joint market research organization of Thelot Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), recently conducted a survey on the industry focus of "industrial 4.0", which was aimed at 235 German industrial companies and employees in manufacturing and engineering, electronic and electrical systems, information and communication, automotive and process industries, etc. Research shows that "industrial 4.0" will greatly innovate and subvert the product and service portfolio of enterprises, thus improving customer satisfaction; "industrial 4.0" realizes the digitization and interconnection of products, business models and value chains; to realize "industrial 4.0", a large amount of investment is needed, and the scale of investment should not be underestimated. Over the next five years, businesses will invest more than 50 percent of all their capital investments in "industrial 4.0" solutions. Among them, it is estimated that by 2020, German companies will invest up to 40 billion euros (I. e. US $42.89 billion) per year, while scaling up to the entire European industrial sector, similar investments may reach 140 billion euros (I. e. US $150 billion) per year. Among all the industrial enterprises surveyed, only one-fifth of the enterprises have realized the digitization of key processes in the industrial chain.

It can be seen that Germany's "industrial 4.0" still needs years of investment, development and implementation to be fully transformed into reality. However, this concept has been widely spread in Germany, forming a certain consensus. However, there are differences in the acceptance of this concept by various enterprises. The larger the scale or the higher the technical content, the easier it is to accept the concept of "industrial 4.0". The acceptance of large enterprises with 500-999 employees is 35% higher than that of small enterprises (20-99). High-tech enterprises lead 22% of the general enterprises with 47%. The German government is actively promoting, and put forward the "digital agenda" in August 2014, hoping to speed up the development of "industrial 4.0" by promoting the wide application of advanced information technology. Looking to the future, the effectiveness of "industrial 4.0" is still worth looking forward. A Deutsche Bank research report quoted the conclusion of the German Academy of Science and Engineering, which optimistically estimated that "industrial 4.0" can help German companies increase labor productivity by 30%. In addition, the German Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media Association and the Fraunhofer Association jointly conducted a study and concluded that "industrial 4.0" will not only significantly improve the level of German manufacturing, but also benefit the six major industries: By 2025, the six major industries will create an additional 78.77 billion billion euros in output value, with an annual growth rate of 1.7 percentage points.

Product innovation throughout German companies

1. Product service system and "industrial 4.0"

Schumpeter, one of the greatest economists of the 20th century, believes that economic development stems from innovation. The so-called innovation is to establish a new production function, which is to introduce a new combination of production factors and production conditions that has never been seen before. The introduction of the production system can be simply described as the recombination of resources. In large German enterprises, this comprehensive innovation has been widely adopted in the form of product service system, and its overall goal is to focus on the innovation of business strategy. Taking Siemens' R & D and business departments to jointly realize product innovation as an example, Siemens Academia Sinica focuses on implementing "technology map" technology, making technical plans for the next 20 years, focusing on technological innovation; business departments implement "multi-generation product planning" "Technology, determine in advance the technology required for the production and marketing plan of specific products in the next few years, focusing on market needs. Academia Sinica implements the "technology map" technology, which has a longer-term vision than the "multi-generation product planning" technology of the business department, and the "multi-generation product planning" is more suitable for the actual needs of the market. After the plan of both sides was made, Academia Sinica began to discuss the plan with the business department and had a constructive debate, so that the plan could be improved. Joint planning activities enable Academia Sinica and business units to form a common language, improving work efficiency and effectiveness. In short, the innovation of German enterprises is not carried out in isolation around technology, but around the needs of product service objects. In this process, it needs the participation, communication and feedback of internal and external enterprises in all aspects, which belongs to the innovation of the whole process. At the same time, Germany's technological innovation always pays attention to the needs of the market, even if the forward-looking technology research and development is to meet the potential needs of the market.

In essence, "industrial 4.0" is the continuation of the traditional product service system under informatization and modularization. The adoption of "industrial 4.0" can significantly improve the improvement of the product service system and realize the efficient operation of the product service system. It can at least play a role in the following aspects: First, enhance the transmission of information. This includes between various departments within the enterprise, as well as upstream and downstream, consulting companies, universities and research institutes outside the enterprise. Compared with small enterprises, the information transmission of large enterprises is more complex, so the acceptance of "industrial 4.0" is higher as mentioned above; the second is to shorten the time and space for communication with product service objects, that is, users, and can quickly grasp the changes in user needs; the third is to improve the quality, diversity and flexibility of services. The emergence of "industrial 4.0" makes the industrial production of "personalized customization" a reality, and according to the market, order changes flexible arrangements for procurement, production. Take Siemens as an example. After transformation, its electronics manufacturing plant in Amberg, Germany, has been built into the most advanced digital factory in Europe. The error rate when manufacturing electronic products such as printed circuit boards is only 12 parts per million.

2. Innovation system construction of German enterprises

The innovation system of an enterprise is established with the development and growth of the enterprise. For start-up companies, the innovation of the company all comes from the invention of individuals. As long as new inventions continue to appear, the company will continue to grow at a high speed. However, with the expansion of the company's scale, enterprises are faced with the problem of how to turn the innovation ability of a few people into a collective innovation ability. The key to the development and growth of an enterprise is to turn personal creativity into organizational creativity.

Innovation strategy. A strategy to create a new technology that is essential to the market in order to achieve high profits. To rely on strong technical force as a backing. Especially for those key technologies, as well as those that will have a disruptive or revolutionary impact on the market to master, and obtain patents. In addition, the innovation strategy must be closely integrated with the company's business strategy.

Innovative tactics. Focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of R & D, while continuously developing the potential for synergy, using many methods to achieve this effect, including: setting targets, sharing of best practices, company-wide patent management, joint development, and platform strategy. For example, the design of a software module can be applied to multiple systems at the same time, such as security technology, voice recognition, image processing, and control technology can be used in the industrial and energy fields at the same time.

Innovation process. In order to achieve the innovation strategy, the following innovation cycle is continuously engaged through systematic processes: identifying technologies with development potential; Identifying technological breakthroughs; Anticipating future customer needs and new business opportunities; Shaping the company as a leader in this field.

Innovative planning. In order to develop a systematic, continuous and powerful R & D system, the relevant departments, in cooperation with consulting companies, research institutions and experts, have created a "future picture" innovation plan with "creating the future" instead of "predicting the future", which has become the most useful tool to realize its R & D strategy. This not only creates business opportunities for new products, systems and services for the company, but also ultimately integrates its R & D with other departments. Due to the emphasis on innovation planning, Volkswagen's long-term plan has reached 2037.

Innovative talents. Through the selection, training, incentive three links to protect people's innovation. In the selection process, in addition to the applicant's own professional skills, the requirements for personal qualities or characteristics are: "have a wide range of interests", "have curiosity", "can maintain a strong desire for innovation no matter what difficult circumstances". In the training process, in addition to the "dual-member education", there is also a consistent on-the-job lifelong education. Of the annual training fees invested by Siemens, 60% is used for on-the-job training of employees. In the incentive link, in the four aspects of interest incentive, development incentive, material incentive and cultural incentive, through work rotation, target management and other means, the superior supervisor and the human resources department participate together to encourage employees' innovative activities.

innovation system. One is the research and development funding system. Take Siemens as an example, the funds of research institutions are provided by three aspects, of which the head office provides 35% of the funds, the business department provides 50%, and the government provides 15%. This requires that the research department must complete the specific research work required by the business department in order to obtain 50% of the funds, thus achieving the goal of innovation around the market needs. The second is innovative project management system. Through innovative planning to identify the need to implement the long-term, medium and short-term projects. At the same time, in the global scope to find the source of technology, through the purchase, cooperation, cultivation and other methods to obtain. Three is the technology incubation system. Venture capital into any external technology it wishes to acquire, set up a "seed enterprise" and provide it with the financial and technical resources it needs to innovate. The Siemens venture fund program has so far injected € 0.5 billion million of seed capital into more than 100 small and medium-sized innovative companies around the world.