Three Bottlenecks: Technology, Funds, and Talent

Dongguan "machine substitution" research: technology, capital and talent are the three major bottlenecks

What benefits can the "machine substitution" bring to the company? What are the difficulties encountered during the implementation process? How do companies and governments respond? The author conducted field research in Dongguan.

Dongguan Yuming New Industry Co., Ltd., intelligent induction industrial robot is spraying the mobile phone shell on the conveyor belt. Compared to the extensive manual gun operations before, 60% of paint can be saved.

"World Factory" Dongguan is setting off a "machine substitution" investment boom. In 2014, the survey data of 441 companies conducted by the Dongguan Economic and Trade Bureau showed that 66% of the enterprises had started implementing “machine substitution” in the past 5 years, and 92% of the companies stated that they would continue to increase investment in the next two years. Prepare related work.

What benefits can the "machine substitution" bring to the company? What are the difficulties encountered during the implementation process? How do companies and governments respond? The author conducted field research in Dongguan.

From one person to one person to eight controls

Active innovation is the basis for the development of the company under the new normal. In traditional manufacturing industries with low profits, relying on technological progress to reduce costs, open up markets, and increase profits are becoming more and more companies' spontaneous choices. For Dongguan, a city where labor-intensive industries are clustered, "machine substitution" has already made many companies taste the sweetness.

Through the “machine substitution”, the outdated production capacity has been eliminated, and the production efficiency and product quality of many companies have been improved. This is an important measure for enterprises to control costs, and accordingly enhances their ability to participate in market competition. Take the Shifeng Knitting Factory as an example. In the past, workers used hand-held machines to implement “machine substitution” under the support of the government. From the original one person to the present one, 8 automatic computer machines were used to control the production efficiency. Raised a dozen times.

On the power plug production line of Vise Technology Co., Ltd., robots are also working efficiently. The designer designed the work program. The worker controlled the device to issue instructions and the robot would automatically produce. Workers only need to move the production parts and assemble the already processed parts. Workers on the production line do "simple labor." The injection molding room is a high-temperature zone, and the temperature is as high as 50°C. Radiated high-temperature robots are replacing manual work.

“In recent years, recruitment difficulties have always been a headache for us. The level of inland wages has remained basically flat, and the number of migrant workers in Guangdong has been gradually decreasing.” According to Qiao Rong, special assistant to the chairman of the company, “Machine Substitution” Not only has the backward production capacity been eliminated, but also the process of corporate transformation and upgrading has been promoted. At the same time, it has also solved the problems of employment difficulties and employment difficulties that have long plagued businesses. As early as 2007, China's accession to the world began to gradually implement “machine substitution”, and now there are more than 400 fully automated textile machines. If it is still a traditional one machine, in order to achieve the level of production capacity of these intelligent computer machines, it will require more than 3,000 hand-held machines and more than 3,000 laborers. Now, the total number of plants is only about 300 people.

In addition, for some companies, increasing the production capacity through “machine substitution” is also a powerful guarantee and prerequisite for opening up markets and obtaining orders. “Foreign customers need to see if you have a certain scale of production capacity. If you do not have them, there will be great restrictions on the orders. Technical innovation has played a big role in our market development.” Qiao Rong believes that joining the WTO every year Do 300 to 4 million sweaters, fully automatic production line to the company to obtain customer orders provide strong support.

A stable capital and market can make a substitution successful

“Machine Substitution” has become an important approach for the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises. Although certain achievements have been achieved, the bottlenecks in technology, capital, and talent faced by them cannot be ignored.

First of all, domestic high-end smart equipment, especially industrial robots, have insufficient R&D and manufacturing capabilities. Companies that rely on replacement machines rely on high-priced imports. In Yuming New Industry Co., Ltd., its mobile phone housing automation production line includes mold development, injection molding, spraying, assembly and other links, all of which are mainly imported robots, of which 90% come from the world's four giants. “We have always wanted to use domestically produced, but domestic high-end robots still have a gap compared with foreign countries,” said Yu Mingmin, deputy general manager of Ming Mingxin. “Although the price of domestic robots is very attractive, the stability of the equipment is for precision parts. Production is very important. In this respect, imported robots are even better."

Secondly, just like a bare-metal smartphone, you need to install various software and APPs with complete functions. After you purchase an intelligent robot, you also need to embed customized software and programs that meet the company's production needs. In this system project, because some companies lack sufficient technicians and R&D personnel, they can only rely on the high-priced customized services provided by foreign suppliers, which virtually increases the cost of “machine substitution”. Taking into account the need for independent research and development of some simple procedures, Yumingxin has specially set up an automation department and hired foreign experts to carry out software research and development. The cost is only 1/3 of that of imports.

In addition, the company's "Machine Substitution" investment is relatively large, moving million, ten million, and cost recovery may take 2-3 years or even longer. After many small businesses have done their best and even upgraded their debts, once the market changes their orders or their own supporting conditions are insufficient, they will face problems such as idle capacity. The idleness of production capacity does not only affect the cost recovery cycle. For a part of debt financing companies, it may also be caught in a vicious cycle of being unable to repay the funds in time and locking up the machines.

Therefore, "machine substitution" should avoid blindly following the trend. It must be considered in terms of its own capabilities, capital, market, internal technical support, and comprehensive management foundation. It must have a good assessment of itself before it can go on projects. Qiao Rong, the special assistant to the chairman of the WTO, said: "Special consideration should be given to whether there is a long-term stable market, and whether there is sufficient capital guarantee and strong technical support. This is the key to the project."

Government support

At the beginning of this year, the Dongguan municipal government issued "Opinions on Implementing the "Made in Dongguan Manufacturing 2025" Strategy". One of the important innovative measures is to accelerate the opening of the "machine substitution" era and deepen the "machine substitution" special action to promote " "Machine-for-man," "automatic-for-mechanism," "set-for-single-station," and "smart-for-digital" are used to achieve quality and efficiency enhancements for companies, and to enhance their core competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities.

In fact, Dongguan's package of “machine substitution” support policies has been implemented since 2014. The people visited by People’s Finance Research also generally believe that the government not only has timely policies in place, but also has great support.

The reporter learned from the Dongguan Economic and Management Bureau that through the guidance of the government and policy support, Dongguan has started implementing a special plan to support the “machine-for-machine substitution” for enterprises for three consecutive years starting from 2014. As of the first quarter of this year, the Dongguan Economic and Financial Information Bureau has received 505 effective applications for "machine substitution" special funds, with a total investment of 4.26 billion yuan. According to preliminary statistics, after the completion of these projects, it is estimated that 34,000 people can be employed, and the unit product cost will drop by an average of 12.5%. The average qualification rate will increase from 89.3% to 96.6%.

He Huimin, deputy general manager of Yuming New Industry, told reporters that he hopes the government will continue to support "machine substitution" and promote "Made in China" to become stronger. “The large-scale application of machine substitution requires a large amount of capital investment. Some companies’ own profits cannot be met, but they also face the problem of narrow financing channels and high financing costs.” He Huimin hopes that the government will increase financial support through special funds and promote financial services. Leasing business and other ways help companies solve capital bottlenecks.

In addition, the increase in the "machine substitution" related comprehensive support has also become part of the company's further expectations of the local government in Dongguan. “Especially to enhance the reserve of talents, not only the introduction of high-level talents, but also to retain them”, He Huimin believes that the comprehensive supporting services such as the R&D atmosphere of the large environment are the soft constraints imposed by China's manufacturing industry.