The trend of China's LED screen intelligent manufacturing process

"The Trend of China's LED Screen Intelligent Manufacturing Technology" Many countries now propose intelligent manufacturing, using industrial machines to improve efficiency to relieve manual pressure. LED screens are high-precision industries. 10,000 pieces, the previous purely manual plug-in is far from meeting the manufacturing process of small-pitch high-definition LED screens. The industrial age of the LED screen industry is not a manual problem, but a process requirement. The manufacturing innovation center will become an accelerator to realize "China's LED screen manufacturing 2025", and the LED screen will become a key node of China's manufacturing collaborative innovation network. So, why does the Chinese government propose to build a manufacturing innovation center at this moment? Are there any successful precedents in foreign countries? How do local governments, enterprises, scientific research institutes and universities work together? This article combines McKinsey’s efforts to help local governments build similar innovation centers in many regions around the world Based on practical experience, try to answer the above questions.

As a member of the manufacturing industry, the LED screen industry is also bound by related issues in the manufacturing industry. I believe this article will inspire many LED screen people. In order to cope with the profound changes that are taking place in the global industrial competition pattern, the Chinese government released the "China LED Screen Manufacturing 2025" strategic plan in 2015, and then in August 2016, the four ministries and commissions released the "Five Major Project Implementation Guidelines", of which the first One is the "Manufacturing Innovation Center Construction Project Implementation Guide". According to the document, the innovation of LED screen manufacturing industry is "a new type of innovation carrier established voluntarily and independently by enterprises, scientific research institutes, universities and other innovation subjects, with enterprises as the main body and established in the form of independent legal persons".

Its purpose is to "complete the activities of each link of the innovation chain from technology development to transfer diffusion and first commercial application, and create a cross-border collaborative innovation ecosystem." In 2012, in order to support "re-industrialization", the US government proposed the "National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)" with a total investment of US$1 billion. In the next 10 years, the US Manufacturing Innovation Network will cover more than 45 national research institutions.

At present, the United States has established seven national manufacturing research centers. These research centers have some common characteristics, that is, they adopt the government-society cooperation model, connect the innovation resources of industry, academia and government through an open innovation platform, promote manufacturing technology innovation and accelerate its commercialization process. In addition to the United States, Germany also proposed a similar "Industry 4.0 Platform Plan (Plattform Industrie 4.0)" to accelerate the realization of Industry 4.0.

The core role of the Manufacturing Innovation Center is to strengthen the joint research and development and commercial promotion of new manufacturing technologies. For the first challenge, large state-owned enterprises are the first to try, but small and medium-sized private enterprises are hesitant. Due to the guidance of the government, large state-owned enterprises have given full play to the advantages of "concentrating their efforts on major tasks", and have made breakthroughs in major equipment and major production processes.

But on the other hand, the intelligent manufacturing process of small and medium-sized private manufacturing enterprises is relatively slow, largely due to the lack of understanding of intelligent manufacturing and the incentives of policy funds. The beneficiaries of China's smart manufacturing technology upgrade should be thousands of small and medium-sized manufacturing companies. They will purchase a large number of software and hardware systems for smart manufacturing production in the future, thereby forcing the development and production of upstream smart manufacturing equipment. Therefore, the manufacturing innovation center should also become a "demonstration and sales platform for intelligent manufacturing equipment and systems", and even increase the role of intelligent manufacturing technology science training, and strengthen the understanding of small and medium-sized enterprises on intelligent manufacturing.

After the "China LED Screen Manufacturing 2025" strategy was announced, it greatly boosted the morale of LED manufacturing companies, but there were two more prominent practical challenges in the implementation: the first challenge, the core technology of intelligent manufacturing is still foreign companies Mastery, production efficiency is far lower than that of developed countries. The essence of the manufacturing innovation center should be "a joint venture laboratory of various innovation subjects", a quasi-profit organization with the commercialization of research and development results as the core model, and each innovation organization conducts open research and development through the platform to realize the sharing of research and development resources and technology. Achievement sharing and commercial benefit sharing. The latest report "China's Choice: Seizing the $5 Trillion Productivity Opportunity" released by the McKinsey Global Institute pointed out that in the R&D-intensive manufacturing industries such as LED, automobile, semiconductor and pharmaceuticals, the return on investment capital of Chinese enterprises is 8.5%. , compared to 16.5 percent in the United States.

Chinese local enterprises still lag behind developed countries in the mastery of core technologies, such as industrial robot manufacturing. Except for the relatively mature development of Chinese enterprises in the field of system integration, other links (especially the manufacture of core components such as motor servo systems) are relatively weak. behind. Although Chinese companies can catch up or even lead through acquisitions, they have made slow progress in independent research and development. In fact, there is no carrier for the coordination of "government-industry-university-research-application". At present, many industrial alliances have been established in various places, but the role of such industry association-like organizations in promoting real R&D is limited.

The experience of the United States and Singapore shows that "government-guided investment, commercial operation, and various innovation subjects share benefits" is a feasible path for manufacturing innovation centers. Singapore's LED screen manufacturing industry also faces similar challenges, and its economic development is limited by limited land. Resource supply and rising factor costs. In 2015, the Singapore government and McKinsey jointly planned the "Lighthouse" project (led), hoping to gather global manufacturing innovation resources and reactivate local small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. Lighthouse is actually a digital excellence operation center. The Singapore Economic Development Board provides capital and helps introduce members. The Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Center, a subsidiary of the Science and Technology Research Bureau, provides venues and connects with scientific research institutions. McKinsey participates in course design and new member development, with a total investment of 2800 It only covers an area of ​​2,500 square meters and has sub-platforms such as LED screen technology showroom, R&D center, training center and incubator.

The Singapore government hopes that the platform will play four major roles: ①Strengthen the demonstration and leading role of large-scale manufacturing companies in digital manufacturing for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies; ②Promote technical exchanges between local companies and multinational companies; Directly connect with equipment providers; ④Promote the collaborative innovation of enterprises and scientific research institutions on the innovation and application of intelligent manufacturing technology. At present, the platform already has Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce), Siemens (SIEMENS), 3M and other heavyweight members. As a key part of the "National Manufacturing Innovation Network", the US government established the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute (DMDII) in Chicago in 2015.

Its success factors can be summed up in three points: "government investment, management by professional managers, members sharing scientific research achievements". First of all, DMDII is supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Illinois State Government and the Chicago City Government. It was founded at the University of Illinois and raised an initial capital of 170 million U.S. dollars through public-private partnerships (PPP) (the state government and the city government provide start-up capital of 26 million U.S. dollars , the Ministry of Defense provided 70 million U.S. dollars in follow-up investment capital). Secondly, the board members of the center include the technical director of General Electric, the president of Northwestern University, government staff, etc. The main members of the operation team include former VCs, directors of operations and R&D of leading American manufacturing companies, and McKinsey consultants, etc., all of whom are experienced professionals manager.

Finally, the operation model adopts a membership classification system. The center develops about 15 R&D projects every year, and invites enterprises, scientific research members and start-up companies to participate in joint research and development. The scientific research results and patents are shared by all members. Cast and display equipment and technology. With a total area of ​​9,000 square meters, the center has multi-functional platforms such as R&D centers, training centers, and technology application displays. At present, 173 enterprises and 49 scientific research institutions have gathered, and Boeing, Procter & Gamble (P&G), John Deere and other leading enterprises settled here.

From DMDII in the United States and Lighthouse in Singapore, you can find the commonality of manufacturing innovation centers. The government spares no effort to invest, and at the same time, the innovation centers are handed over to professional managers with rich business experience to ensure that technology investment can get tangible returns. The method allows members to propose research and development needs, participate in research and development investment, and display trading research and development results. These successful experiences can serve as a reference for governments across China to build manufacturing innovation centers. If the Chinese government wants to build a model project of a manufacturing innovation center, it must also follow the commercial principle of "government leading investment, professional operation, and market payment". Capital participation adopts the public-private partnership (PPP) model, and the innovation center can be self-financed and does not require additional government investment.

Professional operation, the government plays the role of financial investor, and does not participate too much in the specific operation of the innovation center. The government should take the initiative to invite well-known entrepreneurs, who can be leaders of state-owned enterprises who have retired to the second tier, to serve as the chairman of the board to guide the daily operation of the innovation center; Venture capitalists of technology companies and external professionals set up a "R&D investment decision-making committee". The market pays the bill, imitating the membership system, allowing members to give priority to the customization needs of manufacturing technology research and development, and making the market willing to pay for research and development from the very beginning.

At the same time, the innovation center will be used as a promotion platform for intelligent manufacturing technology and equipment, so that more small and medium-sized enterprises can deeply experience the benefits brought about by intelligent manufacturing. Rely on the market's own strength to promote the innovation and popularization of intelligent manufacturing technology. We can foresee that as soon as the decree comes out, manufacturing innovation centers will spring up like mushrooms in the industrial parks of many cities in China. It is necessary to maintain their innovation vitality and truly give full play to the country's expectation of "strengthening the research and development of industrial frontiers and common key technologies, promoting Technology transfer diffusion and first commercial application”, we suggest to learn from the practices of developed countries, follow the business principle of “government leading investment, professional operation, market pay” to build a model project of a manufacturing innovation center.

For the LED screen industry, policy assistance to the industry and the development of enterprises are also a huge force. With the release of more policies, more LED screen companies will usher in greater development opportunities. However, government assistance is not a perfect injection of funds, and the areas that can be improved are also worthy of attention. .