China’s manufacturing industry: a great need to innovate and automate
China has historically employed its massive population in factories to manufacture goods for the rest of the world. However, rising wages and many more reasons pushed companies to consider alternate regions for manufacturing, such as Vietnam. That led Chinese President Xi to call for a robot revolution in manufacturing to boost productivity. China needs to start looking at automation as a viable alternative since it will be a major driver for industries in the future. This comprises both robots and manufacturing technologies, which could potentially have a massive impact on the country’s workforce. In fact, existing jobs in China will be threatened by automation, with possible economic consequences.
Automation increases efficiency, improves quality and reduces risk. Furthermore, Chinese companies are not only adopting robots, they already manufacturing them. Moreover, local and national government funding and policy support, are encouraging automated processes and intelligent manufacturing. Government is aiming to sustain innovation and the development of automation and robotics technologies in production lines. Robotics investments in October 2018 totalled at least $1.24 billion worldwide with a total of 23 verified investments. Technologies explains todays’ success of many European companies in the manufacturing sector and China will have to provide an environment that stimulates innovation too. In fact, China is preparing a new industrial revolution. Even if the country is already the world’s largest producer of industrial robots, it is also the largest robot buyer in the world. However, despite its rapid growth, the robotics industry has yet to reach levels of absolute excellence and complexity.
Intelligent production and high value-added services is the engine of the future Chinese technological leadership. The forecast is that Chinese producers can increase efficiency and produce higher quality goods while keeping costs low and implementing new generation lean factories. Policies will likely influence processes, norms, methodologies and companies’ philosophy to a more long-term vision. Will the robots manage the factory of the future?
Luca Masoero