"Understanding smart manufacturing doesn't seem straightforward. At least, seeing robots on the production line, AGV carts running in the workshop, or even unmanned factories and warehouses doesn't necessarily confirm that it's true smart manufacturing. Unless you can see the data, see data from different business scenarios converging; see data shuttling between different application systems; see data driving AI applications that have already been implemented.

Changan Auto's 'Three Flows Integration'

"Huawei provides ICT infrastructure and Huawei Cloud services, ensuring stable business operation with highly reliable and high-performance products and solutions. Through IoT technology, 5G, Wi-Fi, and other network equipment, data collection and cloud upload of hardware devices throughout the factory are achieved, and integration with software data from various production systems is realized.""

Only by being in Changan Auto's Chongqing Digital Intelligence Factory can one truly appreciate the strength of Made in China. The 140,000-square-meter assembly workshop is as large as 20 football fields, and the entire factory has over 800 intelligent devices, more than 1,400 robots, and hundreds of intelligent AGVs. Huawei has created a unified production digital platform for Changan Auto's Digital Intelligence Factory, translating information from different devices into 'Mandarin,' standardizing data, allowing it to flow freely within the factory and participating in production as needed.

In fact, robots on the production line and AGVs in the workshop do not fully represent smart manufacturing. When mechanization and automation reach a certain level, further improvements in production efficiency and flexibility can only be achieved through digitization and intelligence. Changan Auto's Chongqing Digital Intelligence Factory is doing just that.

Here, a new car rolls off the line every 60 seconds on average, and 'one car, one file' data can be traced back; one production line can simultaneously produce three different models—Avitar 07, SL03, and Qiyuan A07—and the fastest production line can complete process conversion in just 6 seconds.

""Huawei helps Changan factories integrate engineering data flow, business information flow, and production process flow.""" Skipping over the 'white boxes' that collect data in the workshop and without discussing the data centers that operate in the background, Yang Ping, General Manager of Huawei China Government and Enterprise Smart Manufacturing System Department, said, "Huawei hopes to help automakers succeed in research and development, manufacturing, sales, and other aspects, rather than just building the best IT system. Huawei's positioning is to serve customers' main businesses to achieve success."""

Yang Ping, General Manager of Huawei China Government and Enterprise Smart Manufacturing System Department

Different industries share the same principles

However, there is another question: How can Huawei prove that it indeed has this capability? The ability to help more customers succeed?

In fact, the so-called 'digital intelligence' is the era of the superposition of 'digitization' and 'intelligence.' Looking back at history, China has gone through more than 30 years of the information age and only about seven years of the digital age. However, the seven-year digital age was too short, so short that most companies hadn't completed their digital governance before excitedly entering the intelligent age.

But the path that must be taken still needs to be taken.

Taking Huawei's own practice as an example, Huawei often describes itself as a 'manufacturing enterprise with strong R&D attributes.' Of course, this is not wrong. This telecommunications company, this ICT company, this company researching artificial intelligence has built more than 100 production workshops globally, producing over 40 million mobile phones, more than 200,000 base stations, and over 9 million tablets annually.

In 2014, to prevent the company from losing control as its business scale further expanded, Huawei initiated a digital transformation. During this period, three main tasks were focused on data: connecting data, governing data, and protecting data.

As Qiu Heng, CMO of Huawei China Government and Enterprise, said, "Although different industries are like mountains apart, they share the same principles." The digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises mostly starts with the integration of business systems, the fusion of IT and OT, and data governance. Based on this foundation, intelligent upgrades are then completed."

Qiu Heng, CMO of Huawei China Government and Enterprise

Because that's what Huawei did.

First, Huawei established a full-scale, full-element connection and real-time feedback system, fully connecting over 6 million end-side devices in the production process, over 40 communication protocols, and equipment from over 100 brands; furthermore, Huawei solidly governed the data; and going further, Huawei built a security system that is 'impenetrable, invisible, unobtainable, unbreakable, indestructible, recoverable, and traceable.'"

As the saying goes, 'If digitization is not done well, intelligence cannot be achieved.' Based on the above work, in 2018, Huawei further initiated an intelligent upgrade, achieving intelligence throughout the entire process in the fields of research, production, supply, sales, and service. Because of this, from 2015 to 2020, Huawei's revenue doubled, while its staff only increased from 175,000 to 197,000. Summarizing the experience, three sentences are most important: strategy is fundamental, data is the foundation, and intelligence is the direction.

Looking beyond the 'automotive circle' at manufacturing

Does it feel familiar?

Can you see a similar shadow in Changan Auto's Chongqing Digital Intelligence Factory? Huawei connects over 6 million end-side devices in the production process, and the equipment in Changan Auto's factory is also connected; Huawei solidly governs data, and Changan Auto also achieves 'three flows integration,' thereby bridging breakpoints in business processes.

Of course, there are many similar collaborations beyond the 'automotive circle.'""It is said that there are two hotspots at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the manufacturing industry: one is the abundance of 'cars,' and the other is the abundance of 'people'—there are a lot of smart cars and a lot of robots. Huawei's projects in the 'automotive circle' are not only in the manufacturing sector but also in cooperation with multiple automakers in research and development and after-sales service areas;

In the field of robot manufacturing, it is also a case of 'different industries sharing the same principles.' Huawei is also constantly 'spilling over its capabilities' to serve Chinese manufacturing. In-depth cooperation with leading robot companies in the research and development field has realized collaborative management of research and development quality and production quality, significantly improving research and development effectiveness.

Smart manufacturing, accessible at a touch

That's not all.""Another reason why smart manufacturing 'different industries share the same principles' is that Huawei has made it as simple as 'accessible at a touch.' In 2023, Huawei's China Government and Enterprise Business proposed 'Intelligent World, Accessible at a Touch'—whether it's large government and enterprise customers or small, medium, and micro enterprises, as long as they touch the 'Partner + Huawei' system, they can acquire a full set of capabilities to achieve the goal of reaching the intelligent world.

Among them, the 'full set of capabilities' is the cornerstone of 'different industries sharing the same principles.' Qiu Heng explained this in detail, stating that it includes three aspects: first, Huawei's technology, products, and solutions; second, the services provided by the 'Partner + Huawei' system; and third, Huawei's digital transformation experience, as well as industry benchmark cases and rapid promotion and replication jointly delivered by 'customers + partners + Huawei.'""Currently, the 'Partner + Huawei' system has over 40,000 partners, with capabilities covering consulting, solution development, operations, and maintenance, among other key capabilities throughout the digital intelligence lifecycle. Based on this, Huawei has currently served over 7,500 manufacturing enterprises in China, covering various fields such as automobiles, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, heavy industry, tobacco, and new energy.""Moreover, these fields, which seem unrelated, actually have many similarities. A fashion service enterprise specializing in lace fabrics cooperated with Huawei on an AI online inspection system, achieving 100% online full inspection with an average detection rate of over 95%, far exceeding manual inspection levels, saving the enterprise 2 million yuan in labor costs annually. Isn't this similar to Changan Auto's integration of the 'production process flow' to achieve online AI quality inspection, demonstrating that 'different industries share the same principles'?""Therefore, Qiu Heng finally emphasized that 'different industries share the same principles.' Although the needs of different industries vary, the service logic of digital intelligence transformation is universal. Huawei will help various industries create intelligent reference architectures by adopting a method of architecture first, platform first, scenario innovation, and iterative advancement, promoting intelligent perception, connection, platform construction, and the application of large AI models to drive high-quality development of the industry.