The evolution to Industry 4.0 has never stopped. The new factory of Siemens Numerical Control (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. (SNC) has been put into operation recently. Before the on-site construction, Siemens has fully applied its own digital technology to create digital twins of the factory in the virtual world in advance, realizing the digitalization of the whole process from demand analysis, planning and design, construction implementation to production and operation. According to reports, by opening up the data flow from research and development to production and operation, the production capacity of the new factory has increased by nearly 2 times, the production efficiency has increased by 20%, and the time to market of products has been shortened by nearly 20%.
Many years ago, when Siemens built its second digital factory in Chengdu, it copied the experience, technology and process of its factory in Amberg. However, the new SNC factory has no "German model" and no precedent to follow. This is Siemens' first local digital factory.
The factory was built before the ground was broken.
Founded in 1996, SNC is the largest R&D and manufacturing center in Siemens motion control field except Germany. Its main product lines cover CNC systems, general frequency converters, servo motors, gear motors and other products, which are widely used in high-end manufacturing industries such as automobiles, aviation, electronics, pharmaceuticals, logistics and new energy, and a large number of products are exported to overseas markets. Facing the increasing market demand, factories urgently need to expand production capacity and improve production efficiency and flexibility. As a result, the demand for new factories was born.
What is a native digital factory? Xiao Song, global executive vice president of Siemens and chairman, president and CEO of Siemens China, told the newspaper and other media that "native" refers to the whole life cycle from design, planning, construction to production and operation, and creatively uses Siemens' own digital ideas and technologies from scratch to make the factory from scratch and from virtual to real. "Before the factory broke ground, Siemens software was used in the virtual world to complete the whole process simulation and verification from factory demand and analysis to completion and operation. In the actual construction process, through big data analysis, the production process is further optimized to provide real-time and reliable data support for actual production and realize digital manufacturing and management. "
Siemens CNC (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. New Factory
Imagine that in order to produce a pen, the traditional way is to draw drawings first, then adjust the parameters of the machine tool to make samples, and the drawings will be sent back to the R&D department for comparison and modification before entering the production line. With the rapid penetration of digital technology into various fields of manufacturing, the digital twinning of products is nothing new: the design and manufacturing process of products can be simulated in the virtual world in advance, and the optimization of design through modeling and simulation can reduce the debugging time of physical objects and save a lot of material testing costs.
Xiao Song said that the completion of Siemens' native digital factory proves that factories and production lines can be designed like products, and digital twins can cover the whole life cycle of products and factories, thus achieving a digital closed loop of continuous optimization.
Before the ground was officially broken, engineers had completed the "construction" of the factory in the virtual world. "Maybe you will have questions. Who built the factory today without drawings? How to break ground without drawings? " Wang Haibin, executive vice president of Siemens (China) Co., Ltd. and general manager of Siemens Greater China Digital Industry Group, explained to this newspaper that this "drawing" is not his "drawing". There are indeed drawings of building factories, machinery and equipment, and production lines. But the difference is that only the design drawings can't "move" factories, production lines, machines, equipment and processes in the computer environment to simulate the actual production operation, and then verify and optimize the factory design. The new SNC factory has carried out virtual simulation, virtual debugging, virtual production and verification in all aspects of design, avoiding the trial and error cost of traditional design, which is the focus that other factories have not yet done.
According to reports, in the physical construction and operation stage, the new factory is based on the big data analysis of Siemens Industrial Cloud and its organic combination with the industrial Internet of Things system to further optimize the production process, provide real-time data support for actual production, and realize digital manufacturing and management. The new factory can produce electronic and motor products, which are completely different from raw materials, production equipment and process flow. "Producing these two products under the same roof is an unprecedented challenge for any enterprise." Zhou Yurong, general manager of Siemens CNC (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. said.
Implementing more thorough digital application in the newly-built "Greenland Factory" without the burden of hardware left over from history means more investment than traditional factories. However, Wang Haibin believes that in investment decision-making, in addition to the direct visible costs, hidden or indirect costs such as trial and error costs and wrong decision-making can not be ignored. "From the experience of the new SNC factory, the benefits of digital investment are totally worthwhile."
The local R&D and supplier systems will be strengthened.
The new SNC factory was designed with low carbon and environmental protection in mind. It is reported that the factory uses the rooftop photovoltaic system to provide some clean energy for the operation of the factory; Using ground source heat pump technology to improve the energy efficiency of heating in winter and cooling in summer; Adopt efficient water pump and fan, heat recovery device, rainwater recovery system, wind and light complementary LED street lamp, intelligent lighting control system and solar hot water system to save energy and reduce emissions to the maximum extent. The above measures are expected to save about 5.06 million kWh, 6,286 cubic meters of water and 3,325 tons of carbon emissions every year.
Xiao Song said in an interview that digitalization and low carbonization will be the two fulcrums of Siemens' development in China in the future.
"Although the epidemic has brought great challenges to the global economy, China, as the second largest economy in the world, has a complete industrial chain system. At the same time, it has put forward a series of efforts to promote high-quality economic development, such as unifying the big market and firmly implementing reform and opening up, which is very important for foreign-funded enterprises. " Xiao Song said that at present, Siemens has more than 30,000 employees and more than 40 operating enterprises in China, and has laid out a complete industrial chain and an open and win-win ecosystem in China. When talking about China's strategy, he revealed that Siemens China will improve its local R&D and innovation capabilities, and strengthen cooperation with universities and research institutions.
The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 prompted global enterprises to rethink supply chain layout and risk management.
Xiao Song said that in the past two years, the company as a whole has minimized the risks brought by the supply chain. In order to further strengthen the supply chain construction, a product may have only one supplier in the past, but now it needs to be increased to two or three suppliers to reduce risks. It is also important to strengthen the proportion of local suppliers. In the past, some products were based on global suppliers, and the epidemic situation made enterprises fully realize the need to strengthen the establishment and development of local suppliers. "Through these measures, we can face new uncertainties in the future more quickly."
Proofreading: Liu Wei