5G Promotes Intelligent Manufacturing: Cloud Network Convergence Accelerates Landing Iteration

Driven by various elements of new infrastructure represented by 5g, intelligent manufacturing in China is ushering in a huge application iteration period.

Liu Yunjie, academician of Chinese Academy of engineering and director of Zijinshan Laboratory of network communication and security, pointed out at the "20205g industrial ecology" Nanjing summit "held on September 9 that the future network needs to adapt to the deep integration with the real economy. The whole network resources will be spread into a huge resource pool, so that any enterprise can find the network in the resource pool.

The core of the evolution of industry 3.0 to 4.0 is the transformation from independent network hierarchical architecture of factory pyramid to flat architecture of cloud network integration. The equipment layer and the application layer are fully connected, and the delay requirements of data transmission between the equipment and the platform are guaranteed through various technologies, so as to realize the integration of production domain network and it domain network.

The adjustment of network architecture and the flexible configuration of digital demand will be the core driving force for intelligent manufacturing to mature. Cui Li, vice president and assistant president of ZTE, told the 21st century economic reporter that at present, most of the enterprises in the world only have a good landing in informatization and some production automation, but when it comes to intelligent manufacturing, everyone is at the initial stage.

But from the perspective of 5g, China is already ahead. "This means that China will also take the lead in the exploration of intelligent manufacturing. The whole new infrastructure is to build a good base, so that more enterprises can use the resources of these new infrastructure to realize the transformation to intelligent manufacturing as soon as possible. " She further said.

Turning point of intelligent manufacturing application has arrived

"Driven by Moore's law, hardware costs are falling rapidly, but labor costs are rising year by year. This will lead to the fact that intelligent manufacturing will become a necessity in the next few years. If it is not used, it will fall behind." Wang Xiang, senior vice president and Chief Strategic Officer of ZTE, pointed out to reporters of the 21st century economic report that, especially with the rising price of human resources in China's market, it will bring about new opportunities for the industry. "In many fields, machine manufacturing costs will be lower than labor costs in the future, which will become an inflection point for intelligent manufacturing applications."

Cui Li further analyzed that all over the world are exploring intelligent transformation in the industrial field, but there are still some conceptual differences between "intelligent manufacturing" and "industrial Internet".

The so-called intelligent manufacturing is to realize data-driven in the whole process of the enterprise. Only when the design, R & D, production, delivery and even follow-up services are opened and closed-loop, can we continuously optimize and adjust according to the data performance. What's more important is that through the data of the whole value chain, the optimal allocation of resources is formed, and then the efficiency is improved and flexible production is realized, which also brings the possibility of agile innovation.

However, the application of industrial Internet is not limited to one enterprise, but stands in a wider range, so that the industrial resources of the whole society can be shared. "This is a higher level, similar to building an industrial cloud, linking all elements to form the optimal allocation of resources in the whole society."

Based on this judgment, Cui Li believes that China's and even the world's industrial manufacturing are still in the initial stage to varying degrees.

The basis of industrial manufacturing is data. In fact, it and OT were not fully connected in the production process before, which was only the first step. On the basis of data penetration, the digital transformation of enterprises involves the reconstruction of process and organization, and the complex processes are constantly simplified and connected between their respective chains.

From the perspective of industrial chain, Wang Xiang believes that at present, countries all over the world are exploring the application of intelligent manufacturing, and their performance varies in different industries. "China is relatively strong in some fields, such as materials, chip manufacturing, automobiles, household appliances and high-end manufacturing. Relatively speaking, China is not far behind in the application of intelligent manufacturing. However, in terms of design and scheme of intelligent manufacturing, I think we are still relatively backward. Because applications can be bought with money, but manufacturing and other capabilities must be built on our own strength. "

He added that the design of intelligent manufacturing is relatively weak in China, including high-end equipment, design industrial process, business Embeddedness and circulation. ZTE is making efforts in this field and will work with industry partners to promote it.

According to reports, ZTE is exploring the process of "making 5g out of 5g" according to its own needs. In the internal production line, 5g is embedded into the business process to realize a new round of intelligent manufacturing design and promotion through data perception, transmission, processing and application. "In this way, China will be able to produce its own equipment with 5g and intelligent manufacturing equipment. We want to change ourselves in the field of our production, and we will certainly be limited or affected by buying alone. " Wang Xiang concluded.

Cloud network integration driven application

Among the three-dimensional network information, the integration of cloud computing and new generation network communication technology is the key to the next industrial iteration. ZTE pointed out at the shareholders' meeting that the goal is to be an "ultimate cloud company", which is also based on similar logic.

However, Cui Li stressed that ZTE did not emphasize access to the public cloud market. "In fact, the company has not decided to do public cloud for the time being. To be the ultimate cloud company is the goal of our own digital transformation."

This is called "precision cloud network" concept, including "distributed precision cloud" and "deterministic precision network".

According to Cui Li, the distributed precision cloud has two core concepts: it must support low-cost agile innovation methods, and emphasize customization at the edge end in combination with customer's situational requirements.

In terms of deterministic precision network, "we believe that the network must be organically coordinated with the cloud in the future, and the special needs of many industrial scenarios must be guaranteed by the network. This is why we mentioned the small granular hard slices of the bearing part in the deterministic precision network, including the enhancement of uplink bandwidth and the separate reservation of small granular resources. But in fact, the cloud and the network are organically integrated together. The cloud grows on demand, focuses on the final scene, and enriches the cloud services in reverse. The network moves with the cloud, and the network fully cooperates with the cloud to achieve the ultimate goal. " She continued.

Cui Li pointed out that in fact, when the pan 5g technology led by 5g drives the transformation and upgrading of the whole industry, there will be two main challenges: deterministic and uncertain.

In terms of certainty, previous generations of communication technologies are mainly oriented to consumers, and 5g technology is the first time to mainly consider industry oriented development and application. When you enter the Internet, you will find that it is not the same. For example, the distribution of power grid is required to reach microsecond level. " She said.

In addition to the current capacity, the existing 5g network needs some enhancement; in terms of deterministic network, the standard has been formulated, and the specific application version will be faced with the problem. However, Cui Li believes that this is not the main problem. As long as problems arise, innovation will emerge and solve problems.

The core of the uncertainty challenge lies in the business model. The industry has not yet fully figured out which solution can really benefit many parties.

How to deal with it? There are mainly two aspects: first, limited focus on high-value scenarios can solve larger problems, reduce greater costs, and bring greater benefits. Once there is a higher value, the business model will be established; second, when it is not clear what the future ultimately needs, low-cost trial and error and rapid iteration are needed, which is the logic of "precision cloud network".

"In fact, the ability of cloud computing to solve other problems is to enhance the ability of the whole industry to innovate accurately." Cui Li concluded.