Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
On July 3, in Guangrao County, Dongying City, Shandong Province, a rubber tire manufacturer that won the title of "National Green Factory", intelligent stacker cranes are intensively sorting operations. Photo by Liu Yunjie (People's Vision)
On September 4, in the Huashu Robot Exhibition Hall of Chongqing 2023 Zhi Fair, guests visited robot work equipment. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi
On September 10, in a bamboo product manufacturer in Shuangfeng High-tech Zone, Loudi City, Hunan Province, sales staff introduced bamboo core mattress samples in a live broadcast. Photo by Nai Jihui (Xinhua News Agency)
On May 23, students at Jinhu Primary School in Hefei, Anhui Province, displayed their work of a variety of straws created from waste products. Photo by Hu Chaoqun (People's Vision)
Zippers that don't wrinkle, straws made of bamboo, nuts that can intelligently alarm... Have you noticed that many of the small objects commonly used around you have quietly changed? Whether it is the emergence of more uses, updated design categories, or a greener and smarter manufacturing process, behind these novelties is the innovation and transformation and upgrading of a technology, a production line and even an industry.
Innovation is the source of power for enterprises and the key to their development and market success. Recently, this newspaper interviewed a number of factories, explored the transformation of traditional industries, and felt the innovation vitality bursting from small objects.
Dual drive of market technology
Green transformation is a general trend
In autumn and September, the sun shines brightly. In Dashun Village, Xitang Town, Jiashan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, in the workshop of Jiashan Qimei Garment Accessories Factory, several semi-automatic button production lines such as color matching, styling and painting are operating in an orderly manner.
"The buckle making equipment in our factory has 'evolved' into environmentally friendly equipment, and accordingly, the hygiene, safety and management have also been upgraded." Wang Zhuo, general manager of Jiashan Qimei Garment Accessories Factory, introduced that the factory is located in Dashun Garment Accessories Business Park. After a wave of retreat and upgrading, the Dashun button industrial cluster has changed from a "small workshop" with "low and scattered" to a "business park" with green development.
It is understood that the Dashun button industry has a history of more than 100 years, is one of the three major domestic button production important agglomeration, the annual output of buttons is about 70 billion, more than 20,000 employees, the output value of about 4 billion yuan, known as the "hometown of Chinese buttons". Under the halo, the troubles of growth also emerged. In the past, most of the people gathered here were "small, weak, scattered, chaotic" small enterprises, profits in points, cents, there are high energy consumption, safety hazards and other problems, button production process dyeing, electroplating, painting and other processes, will also cause different degrees of pollution to the environment. At that time, although there were many factories, it could not meet the requirements of ecological green.
"2021 is the year of change for Dashun buttons, thousands of button companies are screened and classified according to qualifications, and through elimination and merger, upgrading and transformation, we have built the Dashun Garment Accessories Business Park." Wang Zhuo said that Jiashan Qimei Garment Accessories Factory seized the opportunity of this reform, took the initiative to change, improve the level of environmental health and safety management, and achieve green production.
The cement floor of the workshop and warehouse is newly paved with gray-green special rubber floor, which is clean and non-slip; Bright sunlight shines through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the freshly painted walls, with bright anti-glare lighting, the whole workshop is lit up; After scientific planning and transformation, the circuit and machine arrangement of the workshop are rearranged, eliminating potential production safety hazards and reducing the occurrence of accidents... Nowadays, walking into the factory, the clean and tidy scene is eye-catching.
"Factories in traditional manufacturing are the most difficult in summer." Wang Zhuo said that in the past, workshop workers had to look at the temperature when they went to work, and they could only work for half a day in hot weather to avoid heat stroke. Nowadays, after the workshop upgrade, the working environment has become comfortable, more importantly, the management has been upgraded, daily routine safety inspections and sanitation and cleaning, raw materials and production wastes are no longer stacked arbitrarily, the ecological environment around the plant is protected, and the personal safety of workers is also guaranteed.
"The cost of environmental protection equipment is relatively high, but it also gives us the motivation to take the initiative to improve quality and expand sales." Wang Zhuo introduced that many manufacturers also choose to develop in groups. Dashun Duoduo Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. was merged and reorganized by 21 button resin bar sheet companies. The wastewater treatment equipment of the new company adopts the current more advanced microbial comprehensive treatment method, with a total investment of more than 15 million yuan. The investment that small enterprises and small workshops could not bear was now easily "won" to help the intensive, large-scale and green development of the Dashun button industry. In recent years, the local area has also introduced new processes such as color printing, engraving and laser, and launched new categories such as glass pearlescent buttons, carved buttons, and metal hanging buckles, effectively enhancing the added value of some products.
The production process should be green, and the product use should also be green. As a product life cycle concept, green manufacturing should not only save energy and reduce emissions in the production process, but also explore new materials, new designs and new technologies, and transform the concept of green development into an innovative development driving force.
A cup of milk tea between meals, a cup of coffee at leisure, and often use a straw. With the green lifestyle deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, plastic straws have long degradation time and harm to natural ecology have become a consensus, paper straws, PLA (polylactic acid) biodegradable plastic straws, bamboo straws and other products appear on the market. Relatively speaking, bamboo straws can be naturally degraded quickly after disposal, which can greatly reduce the pollution to the natural ecology, and "replacing plastic with bamboo" has become a new trend.
How does a bamboo plant that is straight in the middle become a tiny straw? In the past, bamboo straws were usually processed directly from small-diameter bamboo or drilled with solid bamboo round rods, which were bulky and had a large amount of consumables. In Jianyang District, Nanping City, Fujian Province, Longzhu Technology Group Co., Ltd. independently innovated and developed two key patented technologies, unscored bamboo unfolding and longitudinal planing, so that the idea of "winding bamboo straw" can be implemented.
Don't look at the complicated name, the volume of this straw is no different from ordinary straws, light and thin, the light green shell looks like real bamboo, the elegant pattern retains the appearance of bamboo, and the characteristics of anti-scalding. Lian Jianchang, chairman of the company, introduced that a hairy bamboo with a diameter of about 10 cm can be made into about 1,700 bamboo straws with a diameter of 8 mm.
"Bamboo material has the characteristics of longitudinal long fibers, which is very suitable for winding processing." Lian Jianchang explained that using the unscored bamboo unfolding technology, the bamboo of the cylinder is first softened and unfolded without cracks, so that the pipe becomes a sheet. Compared with the traditional method of directly cutting and then bonding raw bamboo, this technology greatly improves the yield of materials and reduces the consumption of bamboo. Next, the longitudinal planing technology is used to cut the sheet to obtain 0.2mm-0.3mm ultra-thin bamboo sheets, and the bamboo sheets are double-wound - that is, the ultra-thin bamboo sheets are "rolled" up, and finally made into bamboo straws.
"Such bamboo straws reduce environmental pollution as much as possible from raw materials to degradation, and the tough and lightweight bamboo straw has a better experience." However, there are no bamboo straw-related technology machines on the market, and we have to develop it ourselves. Lian Jianchang introduced that the patented technology of independent innovation requires special equipment to achieve mass production, and the current bamboo straw production technology and equipment has been iterated to the third generation, and the cost has decreased by about 60% compared with the initial period. In the Jianyang District Economic Development Zone of Nanping City, Fujian Province, a 120,000-square-meter dust-free workshop for bamboo straw production is under construction, and it is expected that early next year, winding bamboo straws will be officially put into production and enter the market.
A straw made of bamboo, a toothbrush handle made from the remaining straw from sugar cane refining sugar ... The new trend of green consumption provides valuable opportunities for the quality transformation of traditional industries, and more and more enterprises rely on innovation to find the code of green transformation.
Innovative process design
Bring new experiences
From tables and chairs, to spacecraft, little nuts are everywhere. The nut, also called the nut, is screwed together with a bolt or screw to play a fastening role, and is a necessary component for manufacturing machinery, and it is also one of the most common small objects. Recently, on the tower crane on the construction site, a new type of small nut has become a big contributor to eliminating potential safety hazards.
"The traditional nut loose monitoring method is to use a thread gauge for contact, or use a universal tool microscope for manual measurement, which has a large workload, low work efficiency, and the measurement results are prone to errors. Most of the operation and maintenance work is carried out at height, and the risk factor is still very high. Ni Erbin, the relevant person in charge of Shenzhen Bokai Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., said that in the past, many workers suffered from fastener maintenance. Bokai Optoelectronics turned its attention to nuts and innovatively designed the patented product of intelligent early warning nuts.
How does the nut alarm? The mystery lies in the pressure-sensing point inside the intelligent warning nut. The nut and bolt are connected by threaded fastening, and the intelligent warning nut is also screwed on the bolt immediately after the normal nut. Once the bolt is loose, the normal nut will back and squeeze to the intelligent warning nut, thereby triggering the sensing point, activating the audible and visual alarm, continuously sounding the alarm and flashing red light. This allows service workers to visually see where the nuts are loose.
Behind the intelligent warning nut, there is also a powerful online cloud platform. Each smart nut can wirelessly send the alarm signal to the communication gateway, and upload the number of the smart nut and the alarm information to the server. Even if you are not at the construction site, as long as you log in to the cloud platform on the mobile phone and computer, you can know the location, number and alarm time of the loose nut in real time. Ni Erbin introduced that with the intelligent early warning nut and its cloud platform, the positioning of potential safety hazards is more accurate and the monitoring and maintenance is more efficient.
Design innovation, process innovation, category innovation, and the innovation of the whole industry chain enhance the vitality of enterprise development and facilitate people's daily life.
Taking zippers as an example, almost everyone has clothing with zippers. In daily use, down jackets, sunscreen clothing, storm jackets and other clothing often arch at the zipper due to their special material, which is neither comfortable nor beautiful. Shanghai Donglong Garment YCC Zipper Co., Ltd. noticed this and achieved innovation in small items through independent research and development and design of anti-wrinkle zippers.
"Zipper arching is a pain point for almost every clothing designer when designing zipper-related products." Gao Jixiang, director of domestic brand development of Shanghai Donglong Garment YCC Zipper Co., Ltd., said in an interview with this newspaper that because the cloth belt of the ordinary zipper is the same length as the chain teeth, when stitched on the clothes, the cloth belt of the zipper becomes shorter due to the tightening of the seam, and the length of the cloth belt on both sides and the chain teeth is no longer consistent, and the zipper will appear arched, stuck and other problems. The design of the new zipper applies the principle of "wrinkle resistance", using a special weaving method to make the cloth tape harder and wavy, after repeated research and production experiments, the company has developed anti-wrinkle zippers suitable for different fabrics and thicknesses.
Don't look at this change as inconspicuous, even small innovations are not easy. In the design workshop of Shanghai Donglong, the walls and tables are plastered with design sketches of each stage, and videos of production guidance prepared for partner factories are played on large screens. "Our overall research and development took three years, in order to make this design can be applied to more clothing categories and let more people enjoy this convenience, this zipper has undergone countless revisions, and the R&D personnel went to one factory after another to connect with the patternmakers, and finally implemented the design innovation into the products used by people." Gao Jixiang said that in order to maximize the effectiveness of the design, they specially went to the cooperative manufacturers to conduct field research, and made this guidance video according to the problems existing in most factories.
As society moves forward, innovation does not stop. "When people wear intimate sportswear, the tight zipper will cause some discomfort, and observing this problem, we will improve people's comfort in exercise by reducing the pressure of the zipper on the muscles." Gao Jixiang said that the company will design more innovative products that facilitate consumers' lives.
Intelligent manufacturing to control quality
Flexible production shows individuality
"Sharpen scissors, chop knife." Everyone must be familiar with this shouting. Knives are an indispensable cooking tool in the kitchen. In the past, this industry was labor-intensive, and basic processes such as cutting, water milling, cutting and assembling relied on the personal experience of the craftsman. With the rapid growth of market demand, the efficiency, product consistency, yield and so on of manual manufacturing are challenged. In addition, the contradiction between the limited number of traditional craftsmen and the high cost of employing people can be solved? Zhejiang Hangzhou Zhangxiaoquan Group Co., Ltd. aims at this problem, promotes the standardization of traditional skills by digital means, and ensures the stability of product quality in intelligent manufacturing.
Walking into Zhang Xiaoquan's Guangdong Yangjiang knife and scissors intelligent manufacturing base, in the trial production workshop of the smart factory, the robot clamped the knife and nimbly turned into the sharpening module, and in just a few seconds, a brand new sharp kitchen knife has been opened. According to the on-site operator, for the finished tool, the cutting angle, sharpness, etc. are very important parameters. Zhang Xiaoquan's automatic cutting line simulates the manual cutting process, cooperates with the robot intelligent vision system and constant force control system, avoids the influence of various uncertainties on the quality of the tool, and greatly reduces the risks that may be brought by traditional manual operation.
In this intelligent manufacturing base, 3 automated production lines have been put into operation: blanking, water milling and cutting edge. The factory adopts industry-leading digital and intelligent collaboration system, integrating the three characteristics of smart factory, intelligent production and intelligent logistics, to create an intelligent manufacturing system that interconnects people, machines and resources. At the same time, the intelligent manufacturing base improves production efficiency with automated production lines, and completes the upgrade of "first-line flow" from blanking to packaging by reducing material flow and simplifying processes.
The digital transformation of tool manufacturing is a microcosm of the accelerated digitalization of China's manufacturing industry. According to the "Research Report on the Development of China's Digital Economy Industry (2023)" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the role of industries with a high degree of digitalization in driving China's economy is increasing. In 2022, the digital scale of mainland industries will reach 41 trillion yuan.
Industry insiders pointed out that the above data shows that the digital exploration of mainland industries is moving towards deeper and broader fields, and the role of digital technology in driving the output growth and efficiency improvement of traditional industries has been further strengthened. With the practical application of 5G, digital twin, artificial intelligence and other new generation information technologies and advanced manufacturing processes in key areas, the pace of enterprise digitalization, networking, and intelligence has accelerated, and the intelligent transformation of production and manufacturing processes has reached a new level.
The application of digitalization in the manufacturing industry not only solves the problems of low efficiency and low quality caused by the fragmentation of the production process, but also improves the level of flexible production, realizes "small single quick reaction", and meets the personalized and diversified needs of today's consumers.
Nowadays, many people like to customize personalized products. Different from the previous manufacturing mass production model, this kind of demand shows the characteristics of small unit volume and fast sales. Take socks, an everyday item that everyone can't live without, for example, and now, a pair of socks has also become an integral part of fashion. Fluorescent, cartoonish, hip-hop, street... The unit price is not high, but the socks that can "become trendy in a second" have gradually become a must-have for many young people's daily matching, and the customization needs of personalized trendy socks are emerging one after another. In Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, the "capital of the socks industry", a series of digital transformations have allowed production to keep up with the requirements of "small orders and rapid response" on the consumer side.
"Don't look at just a pair of socks, our functional fiber socks are not at all ordinary black, white and gray socks in everyone's impression, it can be said that it is more like a 'work of art'." Speaking of socks on the hands, Qi Jianjun, chairman of Zhejiang Kaishli Technology Co., Ltd., is like a few family treasures, in order to meet the personalized needs of consumers, the company has found ways to produce digitally. In the past, the production of socks relied on manual labor, which was a time-consuming and laborious work; After the digital transformation, all equipment can share the pattern, and any machine can automatically arrange orders when it is free, which greatly reduces labor costs and realizes flexible production. At the same time, the customer is also clear about the production progress of socks.
In the Zhuji Socks Industry Brain Operation Center, there is a huge LED display. With just a click on the screen, you can quickly and accurately match engineers who can provide technical services in the talent pool according to the needs of the enterprise. At present, the Collaborative Innovation Center for Socks Industry Engineers has cooperated with 35 universities and institutes and 10 industry associations at home and abroad, and introduced 158 engineers in four fields of socks design, textile materials, intelligent equipment and brand operation through three ways: full-time, flexible and shared.
"With the guidance of engineers, the operation process of our digital system has been greatly simplified and the level of flexibility has been greatly improved." The relevant person in charge of Keshili said that in the past, the socks industry won by quantity, and the production was millions of pairs, but now as the market demand becomes more and more personalized and customized, small orders of hundreds of pairs can also be accepted, and digitalization has given the industry a new look. (Ye Ziyun, He Ziyun, Li Feifei)
People's Daily Overseas Edition (Version 05, September 12, 2023)