An Intelligent Future for Manufacturing

Digitalisation plays a key role in the evolution of manufacturing industries. Foundry’s Digital Business Study 2023 shows that 93% of manufacturers surveyed have adopted or plan to adopt a digital-first business strategy, driven by internal demands like cost reduction, operational efficiency improvements, continuous innovation and R&D as well as external pressures due to evolving enterprise client needs and even individual customer-experience requirements.

The integration of ICT into manufacturing technology is transforming the industry to meet these demands and sustain competitiveness in the long term. Digital technologies are fast becoming indispensable for enabling innovation, driving modern R&D, and streamlining production and supply.

“Going digital is not only necessary for economic development,” writes Liu Chao, CEO of Huawei’s Manufacturing Business Unit, “but it is also the key to building a modern economic system and shaping industrial competitiveness.”

For Huawei, digitally transforming manufacturing through advanced ICT including 5G technologies, cloud computing, big data and AI, is the key to reshaping industries for the future.

Going Digital to accelerate Innovation and R&D

Today’s customer demands digitally integrated and intelligent products. This is pushing digitalisation of R&D processes and innovation, driving investment in related fields. In the automotive sector for example, the advent of autonomous vehicles has resulted in burgeoning demand for computing power, cloud storage and network bandwidth.

One such automaker is China’s First Automobile Works (FAW). FAW’s new Technology Innovation Space is a smart industrial campus for testing intelligent and New Energy Vehicles (NEV). Huawei’s Fiber to the Machine (FTTM) solution, incorporating fifth-generation fixed network (F5G) technology, provides the campus with secure, ultra-high bandwidth with low latency for data collection, testing, precision control, high-speed cameras, and intelligent office automation systems, and in the future will host even more applications such as office-to-cloud, IoT capabilities, and 4K video security.

Another leading manufacturer, BYD, first entered the automotive market in 2003. The company has since sold over four million NEVs and in 2022 became the top seller among NEV brands worldwide. To support such rapid growth, the company needed the right capabilities for its R&D network and production systems. BYD partnered with Huawei to build a 10 Gbps campus network featuring ultra-fast connectivity, enhanced user experience, a simplified architecture and simplified operations and maintenance (O&M). Huawei and BYD are taking their partnership further, to develop digital production platforms as well as AI-powered quality inspections solutions. When integrated with R&D systems, digital technologies help protect core knowledge assets while facilitating collaboration among R&D teams to streamline engineering design, simulation, and verification processes.

Digitalisation for Future-ready Production and Supply

For manufacturers, production and supply solutions are essential to managing mission-critical planning, logistics, quality control, and even equipment maintenance. Intelligent solutions enable manufacturers to improve efficiency and build up core competitiveness. The pervasiveness of IoT devices and connectivity is also allowing manufacturers to collect, analyse, and quickly act on data obtained through their networked devices, leading to enhanced efficiency, reduced energy consumption, and improved equipment availability thanks to preventive maintenance.

Kedali GmbH is a German firm that specialises in research, development, and production of precision components. The company’s new plant includes production spaces, warehousing, and offices, combining operational technologies (OT) and IT. Kedali required uninterrupted Wi-Fi coverage throughout the plant to facilitate reliable communication between management systems to warehouse scanners and transport vehicles, as well as the collection, storage, and processing of data from product designs, manufacturing, and warehouse operations. Huawei’s network solution, leveraging Wi-Fi 6 technology, has provided reliable, adaptive, and uninterrupted coverage as well as an excellent user experience—enabling comprehensive digitalisation of the plant, while achieving improved operating efficiency at a low maintenance cost.  

In the area of production, increasingly complex products are expected to drive prioritisation of Make-to-Order practices over Make-to-Stock, implying that manufacturers will need to focus on enhancing their supply chain security and ensure business continuity to meet tight delivery timelines.

Poland’s All Windows Factory, a leading manufacturer of building materials and systems, focuses on automation, with autonomous warehouses and semi-autonomous logistic lines utilising machines controlled by integrated software. With plans to expand, the company needed to upgrade its IT capabilities especially for storage and processing. Huawei provided a metro cluster solution that achieved highly secure, uninterrupted high performance data storage, while significantly reducing All Windows’ carbon footprint through a range of energy-saving technologies. The success of the solution convinced All Windows to engage Huawei to revamp their network infrastructure as well, increasing speed, reliability and overall employee productivity.

Smart Manufacturing for an Intelligent Future

Huawei envisions a bright future for smart manufacturing for enhanced innovation, efficiency, and quality through IT/OT integration. Not only is it committed to working with industry partners to develop the best digital solutions for every scenario and driving digital transformation among manufacturers, it also believes that continuous interaction and exchange will advance digitalisation and adoption of intelligence across industries to create greater growth potential and ultimately shape a better future.

Click here to learn how Huawei’s Intelligent manufacturing solutions can help transform your organisation.