The robot industry not only helps Foshan's traditional industries to renew their machines, but also realizes the "acceleration run" on the new track.
In Foshan, Guangdong Province, the industrial park in the North Jiaotanzhou Convention and Exhibition Area of Shunde early in the morning has been busy. Trucks are departing from the KUKA Phase I manufacturing site, pulling orange "robots" to the whole country and even around the world.
The scale of the "robot assembly" starts with an average of about 150-200 units per day.
In the past, Shunde manufacturing was most mentioned as producing 52% of the country's rice cookers or 45% of the country's gas appliances every year; in the future, its development vision is "every three industrial robots in the country, one is made in Foshan Shunde." ”
In this issue of the "Foshan Answer Sheet" of the digital and intelligent transformation of the manufacturing industry, nandu reporters visited the robot manufacturing factory in depth. In the factory building with less than 200 workers, the output value will exceed 2 billion yuan in 2021, and there are more scientific researchers in the park than front-line workers. Behind this "technology-intensive" park is a regional sample from the manufacturing city of Foshan, to the manufacturing region of Shunde, to the manufacturing town of Beijiao, where the government and enterprises of urban towns and cities work together to promote the development of digital industries in key areas.
From making rice cookers to building robots. In this process, we not only see the robot industry from scratch, from weak to strong; see enterprises from "single-handed" to "group development"; but also see the first-line practice under the series of goals such as the development of the digital industry chain and the construction of an independent and controllable industrial ecology.
A Technology intensive
Less than 200 workers can "dry up" factories with a scale of several thousand people
Chen Feng, KUKA China's director of operations and human resources, roughly calculated that the peak production capacity of the first phase of midea's KUKA Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park in Beijiao, Shunde last year was about 2,000 units a month, and an average of about 150-200 robots were shipped from here every day.
This year, the park will reach a peak capacity of 4,000 units per month, double that of last year.
The first phase of midea's KUKA Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Park project was officially put into use at the end of March 2019. From the production of nearly 800 robots in 2019 to the output of more than 6300 units in 2020, the operating efficiency showed an explosive growth, and the annual product sales revenue reached 972 million yuan, and the sales revenue increased by 1180% year-on-year. In 2021, the park will continue to increase investment in infrastructure and research and development, investing about 700 million yuan to complete the park's infrastructure projects and expand the development of new products for research and development; it is expected to produce and sell 14,000 robots throughout the year, with an output value of about 2 billion yuan.
"This is not a traditional labor-intensive industry, the same 2 billion output value in the traditional industry needs thousands of workers or even tens of thousands of people, but our entire park workers are less than 200 people." We are not a labor-intensive enterprise, but a technology-intensive enterprise. ”
According to the data, the park currently has more than 500 permanent personnel, of which nearly 70% are scientific and technological personnel.
Digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading will realize "robots made of robots"
Not only are there more researchers than front-line workers, but there are more "robots" than "people" in KUKA's workshop. At the entrance to the factory are finished robots of different sizes and "lined up" for shipment; next door, some robots with various angles "waving" robotic arms are test areas; further inside, there is a circular warehouse, only one worker enters instructions at the office desk, and the robots in the warehouse are like "grasping Chinese medicine", "grabbing" parts in hundreds of drawers, and then passing them to the workers through conveyor belts; next door, workers are sending silver-gray robots to spray, if the buyer does not specify the color, These robots will be uniformly sprayed orange...
According to the latest data, the existing robot body research and development center in the KUKA park covers an area of about 20,000 square meters, including the robot test area and the AGV test area, all of which are built with reference to the high standards of kuka laboratories in Germany. In terms of production, there are 6 six-axis robot production lines with loads from 3KG-500KG, 1 SCARA, DELTA, AGV robot production line, and 1 logistics automation product production line; some robot models and logistics equipment are introduced to domestic production for the first time, which will effectively fill the domestic technology gap.
The second phase of KUKA, which is under construction in full swing, will further upgrade digital intelligence and build a comprehensive, digital, intelligent and automated park.
Although the intelligence of KUKA production is already very high, but at present some of the processes still rely on manual assembly, this year KUKA will lay out an automated production line, the future will realize the robot manufacturing robot. "At that time, we can see that a few robots on the production line will make a robot." Chen Feng said.
The time for this robot to build robots will not be too far away, and it is expected that the production line will be laid out at the end of this year.
This is the first of its kind in China.
B Huge market
The goal is that one out of every three in the country will be made in Foshan
At present, the orders of the Kuka Shunde Park are scheduled for November-December in the second half of the year. In fact, since April 2020, KUKA has realized that there is not enough space available and has begun to prepare for the second phase. In Chen Feng's view, the robot industry has very good development prospects and strong market demand, relying on the trend of digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the national manufacturing industry, superimposing labor cost factors, green environmental protection and "double carbon" and other goals and needs, the market will increasingly need industrial robots, the need for intelligent production solutions.
This view is already a consensus in robot companies. "Foshan is the only national manufacturing transformation and upgrading comprehensive reform pilot city, at present Foshan vigorously promote the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry, for robot companies, Foshan is originally one of the largest cities in the domestic robot application market." Wei Chunsheng, deputy general manager of Haichuang Robot Intelligent Manufacturing City, said.
In the first year of KUKA's production, when the media reported that an account was calculated, almost one out of every 50 industrial robots in the country was made in Shunde, Foshan. The latest report not long ago said that one for every 20 industrial robots in the country is produced in Shunde, Foshan. After the second phase is put into operation, KUKA aims to achieve an annual production capacity of 80,000 to 100,000 units.
What is this concept? The industry expects that by 2025, the use of domestic six-axis robots is expected to reach about 300,000 units, that is to say, if KUKA reaches an annual production capacity of 100,000 units, then in the future, one out of every three industrial robots in the country will be made in Shunde, Foshan.
Can weld drilling and cutting, can also stir fry vegetables and cultivate land and even test nucleic acids
Although the manufacturing application market is huge, the "territory" of Foshan robots is by no means limited to this, and the "arms" of robots are extended to include medical, logistics, agriculture, construction, catering and other fields. The screen has been brushed, including the pink cute robots in the smart restaurant of the main media center of the 2022 Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympic Games, and the hamburger machines, rice cookers, and stir-fry machines developed and manufactured by Country Garden Qianxi Robot Group, which help international events, are efficient and reduce cross-contact.
From table food to the field, at the end of last year, the first generation of unmanned agricultural machinery equipment independently developed and manufactured by Country Garden appeared in Sanshui, and the person in charge of the project introduced, "500 acres of rice fields, this big guy can harvest in 8-10 hours, which is equivalent to the harvesting volume of 500 people a day." At the same time, robot leaders and "waist" companies from all over the country are still joining the "group chat", and these companies have brought a wider application market to the robot industry.
Last year, the relevant person in charge of the "first domestic brand" Eston Robot, which landed in Shunde Beijiao, responded in detail in an exclusive interview with Nandu reporter that the project is planned to be completed and put into production within two years, and it is expected that from the production year, the total sales volume of joint robots in five years will not be less than 5,000 units, "mainly used in welding, drilling and riveting, cutting, handling, loading and unloading, packing, palletizing, etc." ”
Founded in Shenzhen and established a subsidiary in Germany, Han's officially landed in Shunde Beijiao Robot Valley in the second half of 2020 to build Haichuang Han's Robot Intelligent Manufacturing City. Wei Chunsheng, deputy general manager of Haichuang Hanbo Robot Intelligent Manufacturing City, said in an interview with Nandu reporter that the total investment of the project is 300 million yuan, with an annual output of 15,000 sets of various types of robots, including 10,000 sets of seven-axis intelligent collaborative robots, with an output value of 3.2 billion. The goal is to be partially operational by March next year and fully operational by 2023. Robots, intelligent equipment, etc. are mainly used in automobile manufacturing, aerospace, medicine and other fields. "Such as nucleic acid detection robots, as well as food delivery robots in quarantine areas."
Behind the wide range of applications is the practice of Foshan Shunde robot industry to promote the integration and development of the digital economy and the real economy: grasp the direction of digitalization, networking and intelligence, and promote the digitalization of manufacturing, service industry, agriculture and other industries.
C Industrial chain autonomy
Promote the development of clustering "The cost of purchasing base steel plates in Foshan should be 18% lower"
Before putting into production, Haichuang's park has attracted many enterprises to come in.
According to the data, there are currently 81 robot upstream and downstream enterprises in the park intending to settle in. Among them, there are 22 robots and related enterprises, accounting for 28%; 40 intelligent manufacturing enterprises, accounting for 50%; there are 15 high-end equipment intelligent manufacturing enterprises, and 4 computer and chip enterprises. These enterprises are mainly Guangzhou and Shenzhen enterprises, accounting for 76%.
Why do these companies choose Foshan Shunde? One of the key words is: industrial chain. "First of all, Shunde is the core point of the geographical location of the Greater Bay Area; in addition to location and supporting industrial chains, Foshan is the most advantageous in the entire Greater Bay Area." Wei Chunsheng gave an example, "For example, the steel plate of the robot base is purchased directly from the steel market in Shundele, and the procurement cost is about 18% lower than that in Shenzhen." ”
In addition to cost advantages, the effect of the industrial chain is accelerating the aggregation, forming a scale effect, and promoting the development of clusters. Since the settlement of Midea's KUKA, the first robot project in the region in 2018, Primus Robot and Han's Robot have landed successively, and last year, the south China regional headquarters of the core components of Zhongdad Robot, the first brand of domestic robots, the South China Industrial Base of Eston Cruise, and the South China Intelligent Manufacturing Base of Zhongshi also joined the "group chat". At the beginning of this year, the smart factory project of Shenzhen Tuoye Intelligent Headquarters also joined the robot "circle of friends" under this "magnet" effect. "The Foshan government has introduced so many robot companies to lay out in Foshan, forming an industrial group", Chen Feng said bluntly, Foshan not only introduced robot ontology manufacturing enterprises, but also introduced some downstream suppliers and upstream integrators.
Build an independent and controllable industrial ecology "To achieve all Chinese R&D, Made in China"
Zhongda Dade is one of the "downstream suppliers and upstream integrators" mentioned by Chen Feng.
"As early as 18 years ago, we set up an office in South China, with a huge customer base, this layout of Shunde, is to better serve South China customers." Cen Guojian, chairman of Zhongdade, introduced that as a domestic core component giant, the company is mainly engaged in the production and research and development of core components such as reducers and servo drives. After the Project of Zhongda Dehua South China Headquarters is put into operation, it will continue to improve its R&D, design and manufacturing foundation and integrated integration capabilities of core components such as drives, servo motors, precision RV reducers, etc., to fill the gap in shunde's mechanical equipment and robot core components industry, and quickly respond to the demand of shunqi enterprises for reducers. "For our core components of the enterprise, the nearby support, the nearest service will bring a great competitive advantage." At the same time, we will give full play to the advantages of core components and empower the upgrading of Shunde's robot industry. Cen Guojian said.
In the process of promoting the development of digital industries in key areas, how to cultivate ecologically leading enterprises with industrial chain control and build an independent and controllable industrial ecology?
Foshan Shunde's "answer sheet" is not only to supplement the chain, but also to achieve localization.
After landing in Shunde, KUKA invested 211 million yuan in research and development in the park in 2020, and R&D funds accounted for 21% of sales revenue. In order to accelerate the promotion of the local supply capacity of robots and reduce the delivery impact caused by the external epidemic environment, KUKA China has set up a localization team in South China to promote local supply, make breakthroughs in process technology, and build manufacturing capabilities for core components, so as to improve the level of quality delivery and efficient supply capabilities. According to the application market and demand of China's manufacturing industry, robots that are more suitable for the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry have been developed according to local conditions and independently. "For example, SCARA robots, DELTA robots, and various robots with small and medium-sized loads such as 6 kg to 10 kg will be officially put into production in Shunde Park around May 2021, realizing all Chinese research and development and Manufacturing in China."
"We can not just be a processing enterprise, on the one hand, we must maintain and strengthen international cooperation, master the key technical points of the core technology of robots, and at the same time, when developing new robots, fully consider the supporting of China's supply chain, and in the future, our own products should reach 100%, or at least more than 95% of the supply chain is supporting in China." Chen Feng said.
D "Software" and fertile ground
From scratch, from weak to strong The market is effective and the government has something to do
The robot industry from scratch, from weak to strong, enterprises are participants, witnesses, but also the beneficiaries of development. In this process, the "robots" need not only land and markets, but also new infrastructure construction, high-level talents and a first-class business environment. Because R&D personnel need to travel between Shunde and Shanghai, in order to reduce the loss of manpower and material resources, KUKA has built a R&D center in Shunde. After the construction of the R&D base, KUKA needs more R&D talents in Beijiao, Shunde. "Shunde Beijiao itself has this kind of talent accumulation." Chen Feng said.
From making rice cookers in the past to building robots now, behind the "visible" industrial development form, is the fundamental change in the industrial, market and talent structure of Shunde, a manufacturing region. Taking Beijiao as an example, in the five years from 2017 to 2021, the scale of high-level talents in Beijiao has tripled, from less than 4,000 in that year to more than 12,000 now, and the number of bachelor's degrees or above has increased fivefold; the number of masters and doctors has exceeded 8,000 last year.
"The opening of Line 7 will also connect to Guangzhou University Town." Wei Chunsheng said that this will further promote the gathering of regional talents and resources. Shunde Beijiao has not only the "two world top 500 companies", but also the vitality of regional industrial development. Under this development vitality, not only talents are gathered, but also active markets. As of 2021, the main body of the Beijiao market exceeded 31,000, an increase of 170% over 2017. At present, there are 10 locally listed companies, and 10 more companies will be listed in the next five years.
The relevant person in charge of Eston told the Nandu reporter that in addition to the advantages of hardware conditions, the Shunde government has set up a special investment promotion committee to actively promote investment promotion services, while recreating the industrial, urban and rural, ecological and even grass-roots governance patterns, creating a first-class business environment.
"From Beijiao to Shunde to foshan government, the investment in the robot industry is very large, and the efficiency of our support and services is very high." One thing that impressed Chen Feng very deeply was that during the construction of the second phase of the KUKA Park, the transportation of goods or personnel had to go around a large circle, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. "We need a channel, when we put forward the demand, under the premise of ensuring safety and environmental protection and doing a good job in related supporting facilities, the government opened a green channel for us within one day to make the construction and speed of the second phase of the park more smooth and efficient." "Why did the great clan choose Shunde Beijiao?" Wei Chunsheng made an analogy, from the initial accident to follow Sanlong Bay to the German Hannover Industrial Fair to visit and study, The Family and Shunde 'talked about love for three years', "From land approval to development and construction, this road is really a nanny-style service." ”
The robot industry not only helps Foshan's traditional industries to renew their machines, but also realizes the "acceleration run" on the new track. In this process, the market is effective and the government is promising, and Foshan is accelerating the exploration of the "digital industry chain" development practices and samples.
Perhaps, the vision of "every three industrial robots in the country has one made in Foshan" is not far away.
Special Planner: Qiu Ping He Huiwen
Co-ordinator: The road is long
Written by: Nandu reporter Lu Manman intern Chen Yingping
Photo: Nandu reporter Zheng Junbin