On October 18, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the 34th collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, stressing the need to stand in the overall situation of the strategy for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the height of the world's unprecedented changes, to coordinate the two big picture of domestic and international, development and security of two major events, give full play to the advantages of massive data and rich application scenarios, promote the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, empowering the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, giving rise to new industries and new business models, and constantly strengthen and expand our digital economy.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" proposed to promote the digital transformation of industry, in key industries and regions to build a number of the international standard industrial Internet platforms and digital transformation promotion centers. In recent years, China's in-depth implementation of industrial Internet innovation and development strategy, "5G + industrial Internet" construction pressed the accelerator button, a variety of application scenarios continue to expand, remote equipment control, on-site auxiliary operations, product quality testing, and other typical scenarios have achieved significant results.
Recently, the reporter visited many places to observe and record the applications of the "5G+Industrial Internet" in manufacturing, steel, mining, and other industries, showing the vigorous development of new technology to empower industrial transformation.
The industrial Internet has become a key force in the digital transformation of industrial enterprises by linking industrial equipment to the Internet and realizing intelligent collaboration in the industrial chain. With the advantages of large broadband and low latency of 5G network to ensure high-speed transmission of massive data, the integration of 5G and industrial Internet is accelerating the process of China's new industrialization and injecting new momentum for China's economic development.
In November 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "5G+Industrial Internet" 512 Project Promotion Program (hereinafter referred to as the "Program"). In the past two years, how has the Program been promoted and what effects has it produced? To promote the "5G + industrial Internet" in a wider range, deeper, higher level of integration and development, what other aspects should be from the efforts? In response to these questions, the reporter conducted an interview.
The integration of exploration continues to accelerate, helping enterprises to reduce costs and increase efficiency
To sensor technology to transform equipment, through the 5G Internet of Things to achieve real-time interconnection of data and the cloud, in Lenovo Wuhan digital factory motherboard production test workshop, only 30 minutes will be able to achieve product line change, testing efficiency has been greatly improved; by introducing 5G network into the power Internet, the State Grid Hangzhou Xiaoshan Power Supply Company using power transformation robots, power transmission drones, etc., the Hangzhou Asian Games main venue for intelligent upgrades to ensure that all aspects of electrical safety ...... In recent years, "5G + industrial Internet" integration exploration continues to accelerate.
"At present, the country's '5G + industrial Internet' projects under construction exceed 1800, covering more than 20 key industries and areas of the national economy." The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that "5G+Industrial Internet" has become one of the most enthusiastic, innovative, and effective areas in the development of industrial Internet and 5G, which will strongly help the real economy to digitalize, network and intelligent transformation and upgrade.
Scenario applications are constantly enriched to help enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency. "5G+industrial Internet" has been developed in electronic equipment manufacturing, equipment manufacturing, iron and steel, mining, electric power, and other industries, and has formed collaborative R&D and design, remote equipment control, collaborative equipment operation, flexible manufacturing, on-site auxiliary assembly, machine vision quality inspection, equipment fault diagnosis, factory intelligent logistics, unmanned intelligent inspection, production site monitoring, and other scenarios. Production site monitoring and other scenarios.
What changes have been brought to industrial enterprises by the expansion of these scenarios?
Cost reduction. Remote equipment control, unmanned intelligent inspection, and other scenarios help enterprises to realize unmanned and less humanized production. In the mining sector, 5G is used to realize unmanned mine truck driving and underground mining, which effectively reduces the accident rate and saves an average of about 30 million RMB per year.
Improve quality. Machine vision quality inspection, equipment fault detection, and other scenarios improve product quality and guarantee the yield rate. The deployment of a 5G+8K surface inspection system in the steel field has changed the existing sampling inspection mode and achieved full product inspection, improving the detection rate of steel defects by more than 90% and the defect identification rate by more than 85%.
Increase efficiency. Scenarios such as the collaborative operation of equipment, intelligent logistics in the plant, and equipment fault diagnosis support enterprises to optimize production processes and improve production efficiency. The port sector can automatically analyze the optimal path of container handling and logistics through 5G + artificial intelligence technology, which can improve the efficiency of load distribution by 15-20 times on average.
Industrial agglomeration is accelerating and various innovative practices are emerging. In the Yangtze River Delta region, three provinces and one city have issued policies to support the development of "5G+Industrial Internet", and nearly 20 fields such as textiles and metal products have been explored. In the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area, eight "5G+industrial Internet" demonstration parks have been created in the fields of steel smelting and electronic equipment manufacturing. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, a number of typical application programs have been formed, mainly in industries such as computer, communication, and other electronic equipment manufacturing. In the western region, enterprises focused on the field of coal mining and washing innovation have become a strong demonstration of the application practice.
Convergence applications are beginning to show results, industrial support to be enhanced
At present, various types of convergence applications have begun to show results, but the problem of in-depth promotion still exists.
"5G is mainly a technology for industry scenarios, and 70%-80% will be applied in the field of vehicle networking and industrial Internet." The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that China is one of the first countries in the world to commercialize 5G, in technology, industry, applications, especially for industrial and even real economy convergence applications, no precedent to follow, no experience to learn, no path to follow, the continued promotion process, inevitably face new challenges.
On the one hand, the lack of technological development capabilities, industrial support needs to be improved.
"At this stage, the 5G public network for consumer scenario applications, the downlink transmission bandwidth is about three times the uplink bandwidth. But in industrial scenarios, there are a large number of 5G applications based on machine vision, and often the uplink transmission data demand is significantly higher than the downlink transmission data demand." The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said, "At present, although a few enterprises have made breakthroughs and developed corresponding technical solutions, they have not yet achieved industrialization."
On the other hand, the fragmentation of the chip module industry and higher prices restrict the promotion.
From the market, "the industrial sector has diversified and differentiated needs, and 5G industrial terminals, chips, modules, and gateways have higher requirements in terms of performance and protocol support." The relevant person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced the current 5G chips and modules and other characteristics of industrial decentralization and market fragmentation, which makes it difficult to dilute costs through market scale in the short term, resulting in high prices, which to a certain extent restricts the scale of 5G industrial applications promotion.
From the perspective of industrial enterprises themselves, although the construction and application of "5G+industrial Internet" have been piloted in some areas, there are still problems with the overall promotion. Hu Jianbo, vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, suggested that enterprises lack a systematic understanding of the "5G+industrial Internet" application scenarios, use-values, and construction paths. In addition, the threshold of capital, talent, and technical requirements for enterprises to build "5G+industrial Internet" is high, and the digital foundation still needs to be consolidated.
"These developing problems need to be solved by development." In the view of the person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, this is a common challenge faced by the industry, which requires a multi-pronged approach and joint efforts to solve.
Replicating and promoting mature models and promoting collaborative innovation in the industry
How to do a good job on the additive question of 5G and industrial Internet to accelerate the release of the multiplier effect of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries?
--Take the replication and promotion of mature models as a grip, and promote the application of accelerating from pilot to popularization.
The program proposes to create a number of "5G + industrial Internet" intranet construction and transformation benchmarks, model projects. Taking the mining industry as an example, in May this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a set of typical cases of "5G+Industrial Internet" in the mining industry, providing an example to further promote the "5G+Industrial Internet" to a deeper and higher level of development.
The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced that within two months after the release of the typical case set, 28 new "5G+industrial Internet" projects were launched in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, and other provinces, with a contracted amount of about 350 million yuan, and more than 100 models covering ten typical application scenarios were formed. "5G+industrial Internet" products, providing "menu" and "one-stop" services for mining enterprises.
According to the introduction, the Ministry of Industry will release the second batch of "5G + industrial Internet" typical application scenarios and key industry practices, to guide the industry to accelerate the scale of the development process, to provide a reference for more enterprises to apply innovation. The Ministry of Information Technology (MIIT) will issue the second batch of "5G+Industrial Internet" typical application scenarios and key industry practices to guide the industry to speed up the process of large-scale development and provide a reference for more enterprises to apply innovation.
--Take the deepening and expansion of the innovation model as the key to promoting the development and growth of the industrial ecology.
On the one hand, carry out pilot industrial 5G private networks to enhance industry network supply capacity. The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology introduced that the next step will be to promote the construction of 5G fully-connected factories, promote the integration and deployment of information technology networks and production control networks, create three to five 5G fully-connected factory demonstration benchmarks, and form deep integration solutions between 5G and industry.
On the other hand, it will accelerate the development and industrialization of customized and economical industrial 5G chips, modules, terminals, and other products. "By enhancing the dynamism of the main body of enterprises and promoting collaborative innovation among all industrial parties, it will issue guidelines for the development and construction of convergence application pioneer zones and create several demonstration pioneer zones nationwide." The person in charge of the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that in the future, it will work with relevant departments and industrial parties to speed up the innovative development of "5G+industrial Internet" and help build a strong manufacturing country and a strong network country.
