The author thinks that the construction of digital workshop should be driven by the actual demand, driven by the economic benefits and guided by the successful implementation. On the basis of advanced equipment, we should tap the potential in management, give full play to the role of human beings, build a digital, networked and moderately intelligent production mode, effectively achieve cost reduction, quality improvement and efficiency increase, and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.
In his book "workshop competitive advantage", economist William razonick emphasizes that "in the process of value creation, the core is to transform raw materials into products through workshop production - this can be called productive transformation."
In manufacturing enterprises, workshop is in a very important position. The enterprise value is ultimately reflected in products and services, and the workshop is the main place for the enterprise to turn various drawings into products, and it is an important link to determine the production efficiency and product quality. The workshop is often the organization with the largest number of employees in the enterprise. Therefore, to a large extent, a strong workshop means a strong enterprise, and a smart workshop means a smart enterprise. "Made in China 2025" also clearly points out: "promote the intelligent manufacturing process, and pilot the construction of intelligent factories / digital workshops in key areas." Digital workshop construction is an important part of intelligent manufacturing, the main battlefield for manufacturing enterprises to implement intelligent manufacturing, and the starting point for manufacturing enterprises to move towards intelligent manufacturing.
1 main line of digital workshop construction
At present, there is no standard definition of digital workshop at home and abroad. Based on my own understanding, the author describes the digital workshop as follows:
Digital workshop is based on production equipment, production facilities and other hardware facilities, with the purpose of reducing cost, improving quality and efficiency, and quickly responding to the market. On the basis of optimized management of process design, production organization, process control and other links, through digital, networking, intelligent and other means, in the virtual environment of computer, production resources and production, such as human, machine, material, method, environment, testing, etc Process design, management, simulation, optimization and visualization, with information digitization and data flow as the main characteristics, to manage and control production resources, production equipment, production facilities and production process in a precise, accurate, agile and efficient way. Digital workshop is the first step of intelligent workshop and the important foundation of intelligent manufacturing.
Digital workshop is the starting point for manufacturing enterprises to move towards intelligent manufacturing
It should be pointed out that the "digital workshop" here is a basic term familiar and commonly used by enterprises. The connotation of "digital" includes but is not limited to digital itself, but the concept of "digital" which integrates digital and network elements and expands its connotation. Its basic meaning is opposite to "smart" in German industry 4.0 Therefore, it corresponds to the second paradigm of intelligent manufacturing proposed by Chinese Academy of engineering. The term "digital workshop" is used wherever it is mentioned below.
Digital workshop is the starting point for manufacturing enterprises to move towards intelligent manufacturing
Many people think that a large number of procurement and introduction of digital equipment is the premise of building a good digital workshop. This is a big misunderstanding: the relationship between digital equipment and digital workshop is neither necessary nor sufficient. Even if the workshop is full of digital equipment, if there is no interconnection of equipment, no digital management of production process, and no real orderly flow of data, it cannot be called digital workshop. On the contrary, even though the equipment in the workshop is not all digital equipment, after the "three dumb transformation", the equipment is connected to the information system, and the production process is digitalized, networked and intelligent (such as intelligent production scheduling, decision support analysis, etc.), and the data of production plan, production resources, production progress and product quality are effectively managed in the information system, and can be based on the Production needs orderly flow, which can also be regarded as digital workshop. For example, in clothing processing and other labor-intensive enterprises, digital management of workshop can be realized through digital and network transformation.
For the construction of digital workshop, we can refer to the definition of "intelligent factory" in German industry 4.0: focus on the research of intelligent production system and process, as well as the realization of networked distributed production facilities. The first half of the sentence "intelligent production system and process" refers to intelligent management and control of production process in addition to intelligent production facilities such as machine tools and robots. From the perspective of information technology, it is an intelligent MES manufacturing execution system. The second half of the sentence: "and the realization of network distributed production facilities" refers to the interconnection and intelligent management of production equipment and facilities (such as machine tools, heat treatment equipment, robots, AGV, measuring and testing equipment and other digital equipment) to realize the deep integration of information system and physical system. At present, the Internet of things (including the traditional DNC / MDC functions) implemented by many enterprises is an important manifestation.
It can be seen from this that there are three main lines in the construction of digital workshop. One is the automation equipment and related facilities composed of machine tools, heat treatment equipment, robots, measuring and testing equipment, etc. to realize the precise implementation of production process, which is the physical basis of digital workshop.
The second line is an intelligent management and control system centered on MES, which realizes the fine management and control of various links and elements of the production process, such as planning and scheduling, production logistics, process execution, process quality, equipment management, etc., which is a typical cyber system.
The third main line is the foundation of the Internet of things