What is a smart factory?

 Smart factories have the following six distinctive characteristics:


1. Device interconnection.

It can realize equipment-to-equipment interconnection (M2M). Through integration with the equipment control system and external sensors, SCADA (data collection and monitoring system) can collect the status of the equipment, production completion information, and quality information in real time, and through the application of RFID (radio frequency technology), barcode (one-dimensional and two-dimensional) and other technologies to achieve traceability of the production process.

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2. Extensive application of industrial software.


MES (manufacturing execution system), APS (advanced production scheduling), energy management, quality management and other industrial software are widely used to achieve visualization and transparency of the production site. When building a new factory, digital factory simulation software can be used to simulate equipment and production line layout, factory logistics, ergonomics, etc. to ensure a reasonable factory structure. In the process of advancing digital transformation, it is necessary to ensure the security of data and equipment and automation systems in factories. When defective products are detected through professional testing equipment, they must not only be able to automatically separate them from qualified products, but also be able to analyze the causes of quality problems through software such as SPC (Statistical Process Control).


3. Fully integrate the concept of lean production.


Fully embodying the concepts of industrial engineering and lean production, it can achieve order-driven and pull-type production, minimize work-in-process inventory, and eliminate waste. Promoting the construction of smart factories must fully integrate the characteristics of enterprise products and processes. In the research and development stage, it is also necessary to vigorously promote standardization, modularization and serialization to lay the foundation for promoting lean production.


4. Realize flexible automation.


Combining the company's products and production characteristics, we will continue to improve the automation of production, testing and factory logistics. Enterprises with few product varieties and large production batches can achieve a high degree of automation and even establish black light factories; enterprises with small batches and many varieties should focus on fewer people and the integration of man and machine, and should not blindly promote automation, but should pay special attention to establishing intelligent manufacturing units. . The factory's automated production lines and assembly lines should give due consideration to redundancy to avoid line shutdowns due to key equipment failures; at the same time, full consideration should be given to how to quickly change molds to adapt to mixed line production of multiple varieties.


Logistics automation is crucial to realizing smart factories. Companies can use logistics equipment such as AGVs, rack-mounted manipulators, and suspended conveyor chains to transfer materials between processes, and configure material supermarkets to distribute materials to the line as much as possible. The automation of quality inspection is also very important, and the application of machine vision in smart factories will become more and more widespread. In addition, careful consideration needs to be given to how to use power-assisted equipment to reduce labor intensity for workers.

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5. Pay attention to environmental friendliness and achieve green manufacturing.


The energy consumption of equipment and production lines can be collected in a timely manner to achieve efficient use of energy. In dangerous and polluting links, priority should be given to using robots to replace labor, which can realize the recycling and reuse of waste materials.

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6. Real-time insights can be achieved.


From the issuance of production scheduling instructions to the feedback of completion information, a closed loop is realized. By establishing a production command system, we can gain real-time insight into the factory's production, quality, energy consumption and equipment status information to avoid unplanned shutdowns. By establishing a Digital Twin (digital mapping) of the factory, it is easy to gain insight into the status of the production site and assist managers at all levels in making correct decisions.

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A factory with only automated production lines and industrial robots cannot be called a smart factory. Smart factories should not only realize automation, transparency, visualization and leanness in the production process, but also achieve closed-loop integration with the production process in product testing, quality inspection and analysis, production logistics and other aspects. Information sharing, on-time delivery and collaborative operations must also be achieved among multiple workshops in a factory.

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The construction of smart factories fully integrates information technology, advanced manufacturing technology, automation technology, communication technology and artificial intelligence technology. When building a smart factory, every company should consider how to effectively integrate emerging technologies in these five fields, closely integrate them with the company's product characteristics and manufacturing processes, and determine its own smart factory promotion plan.

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