With the arrival of the intelligent-manufacturing era, the global manufacturing industry is ushering in a new round of industrial transformation. As a major manufacturing country, China's automotive, home-appliance, rail-transit, and equipment-manufacturing industries are actively adapting to the trend of intelligent development, carrying out automation and intelligent transformation of production and assembly lines, and accelerating the building of smart factories. Relevant data shows that by 2017, the market size of China's intelligent-manufacturing industry had grown to RMB 1.5 trillion, of which smart-factory sales revenue alone reached RMB 88.8 billion. Preliminary estimates indicate that in 2018 China's intelligent-manufacturing market reached RMB 1.6 trillion, is expected to exceed RMB 1.9 trillion in 2019, and that by the end of 2022, 21% of domestic manufacturing enterprises' factories will have been converted into smart factories. Clearly, the domestic manufacturing industry—now in transformation and upgrading—is leading a new round of industrial competition and has unlimited potential!
To meet the demand for automation and digital transformation of key processes in the traditional electronics-manufacturing industry, from April 24 to 26, the China Smart Factory and Automation Technology Exhibition (S-FACTORY EXPO) will be grandly held concurrently with NEPCON China 2019, a well-regarded electronics-manufacturing industry show, at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center. This edition of the show is devoted to the frontiers and trends of intelligent-manufacturing industry development and actively explores the application and achievements of smart-factory construction at home and abroad. The two shows are expected to attract nearly 500 well-known domestic and international brands, showcasing products and solutions across several fields: machine vision, IoT and big data, industrial software, industrial robots, system integration, and intelligent warehousing and logistics.
Going All-In on Intelligent Manufacturing — Strong Exhibitors Unveil Their "Secret Weapons"
Relying on the NEPCON series' years of deep cultivation in electronics-manufacturing automation, S-FACTORY EXPO has been innovatively upgraded from an electronics-manufacturing automation zone, and its ready buyers and supporting-enterprise resources are becoming a new energy source for the 2019 electronics intelligent-manufacturing industry. At this edition, innovative products and technologies covering intelligent manufacturing, smart factories, and automation technologies will all make their appearance. System integration—a key component of intelligent manufacturing—is becoming one of the core technologies of the new technological revolution; Youbei, Sumida, Hongshida, Dongxie Technology, Zhiku Information, and Hechun Automation are bringing new products to support S-FACTORY EXPO. Among them, Hongshida's APS-900B high-speed inline placement system, Dongxie Technology's E-drawer intelligent access data terminal, and Hechun Automation's inline upper dust-collection depaneling machine (γ-S330IN-LINE-UCSL/UCSR), offline depaneling machine (γ-330W), and optical-outlet inline inspection machine (AOI-1000) are dedicated to achieving processing-quality upgrades, process optimization, and intelligent production scheduling and management through more innovative and efficient technology applications—helping more enterprises build truly smart factories.
Machine vision is regarded in the industry as the "eye of intelligent manufacturing." Relying on reliability and automation unattainable by humans, it realizes intelligent and precise product inspection and is widely used in electronics manufacturing. Led by Omron, machine-vision exhibitors including Keyence, Huaxian Optics, VS TECHNOLOGY, and Yishi Zhitong Technology will participate in this S-FACTORY EXPO. Among them, Omron's high-speed CT-type X-ray automated inspection system VT-X750 achieves an ROI revolution through excellent productivity, detection capability, safety, and ease of use, and delivers industry-leading high-speed automated inspection.
With the deepening of the "Industry 4.0" concept, the software industry is also gradually rising and increasingly becoming the main front of intelligent-manufacturing transformation. S-FACTORY EXPO 2019's industrial-software exhibitors include strong companies such as Pangu Technology, Wangyou Information, Moore Technology, Mentor Graphics, and Kaiming Intelligent. At that time, Wangyou Information will showcase SMT Expert intelligent SMT placement programming, while Moore Technology focuses on developing the Moore Cloud Platform—these software technologies, representing the industry frontier, support and define the rules of smart factories, build the data-flow system, and are the undisputed "brain" of the intelligent-manufacturing industry.
As a key link in smart factories, the intelligent warehousing and logistics field brings together strong exhibitors such as Dongxie Technology, Kaiming Intelligent, Zhiku Information, Zhijin Technology, and Lanxin Technology. Among them, Dongxie Technology's E-drawer intelligent access data terminal, Zhijin Technology's cloud material warehouse, and Lanxin Technology's intelligent handling robot and high-precision 3D vision sensor are all frontier tools in warehousing and logistics. Their showcases will greatly promote the rapid flow of production-required materials between processes, support the efficient operation of large-scale, customized flexible production, and bind logistics equipment, information technology, production processes, and manufacturing technology and equipment more closely together.
It can be foreseen that the comprehensive arrival of many strong intelligent-manufacturing exhibitors with new products will surely bring more frontier and high-end technology applications to industries such as automotive electronics, mobile phones, computers and peripherals, home appliances, wireless communication equipment and systems, aerospace and military electronics, automation and industrial-control electronics, audiovisual and digital-electronics products, smart home and wearable products, medical electronics and equipment, new energy, security electronics, service robots and drones, instruments and meters, and new energy and financial electronics—while also making S-FACTORY EXPO a truly one-stop trade-procurement platform!
Digital-Twin Technology Enters the Show — VR Brings a Zero-Distance Experience of the "Dream Smart-Manufacturing Factory"
A smart factory represents a highly interconnected and intelligent digital era, realized through the mutual coordination and promotion of five key areas: interconnection, digitalization, big data, intelligent equipment, and the intelligent supply chain. Therefore, how to achieve lean production and flexible manufacturing remains a key industry concern. To this end, the new S-FACTORY EXPO, in addition to showcasing diverse exhibits, will hold multiple highlight events concurrently, inviting exhibitors and professional visitors to fully experience and deeply participate in every link of intelligent manufacturing, comprehensively improving the production efficiency of electronics manufacturers.
Last year's well-received "Electronic Smart-Manufacturing Dream Factory" will launch a 2.0 upgraded version in 2019. The entire line aims to create an idealized production model of customized orders and single-piece production, providing new ideas for more colleagues in the electronics-manufacturing industry. At that time, visitors will not only be able to watch on site the dynamic production process of real-time equipment interconnection and genuine collaboration, fully grasping the electronics-production flow from real-time ordering, component placement, and housing assembly to automated testing, but also have the opportunity to watch a transparent factory via video, experience VR-based job training, and use the "I Am the Team Leader" app and other innovative interactive forms to observe the transparent factory and understand the production-execution process of manufacturing enterprises, restoring the development thinking of real team units. This will undoubtedly boost visitor engagement and promote the conclusion of more orders!
Industry Leaders Gather at the Summit Forum to Tell Digital-Factory Transformation Stories
The new S-FACTORY EXPO will continue its "exhibition-plus-conference" format, carefully preparing multiple summit forums for attendees by inviting industry experts and scholars, media partners, and excellent enterprises, to fully drive the technological advancement of the intelligent-manufacturing industry and the healthy development of the industrial chain.
At the 2nd China Digital Manufacturing Summit Forum, to be held on April 24–25, we have invited representatives from Lenovo, Microsoft, Huawei Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Siemens, Phoenix Contact, and other enterprises to share their insights. Attendees will learn about successful digital-factory transformation cases in the industry, industrial IoT trends under the 5G wave, and new applications of artificial intelligence and sensors in visual inspection, as well as new MES and ERP solutions. Lenovo will deliver a keynote on "Cyber-Physical Systems Empowering Digital-Factory Transformation," and Huawei Cloud will focus on sharing its intelligent-manufacturing cloud. In addition, industry leaders such as Microsoft and Siemens will also speak on site, discussing smart-factory innovative solutions and factory exemplars on topics of common concern, providing new ideas for electronics-manufacturing enterprises.
Smart Factories Lead the Industry's Future — China and Germany Join Hands to Share Frontiers of Electronics Manufacturing
Another industry-anticipated event, the 13th "NEPCON and Smart Factory 1.0 — The Future of Electronics Manufacturing" seminar, breaks new ground again by organizing three theme sessions—"Overall Planning and Implementation Cases of Electronics-Manufacturing Smart Factories," "Data and Data Analysis Creating Value for Electronics-Manufacturing Enterprises," and "Innovative Applications of Collaborative Robots in the Electronics-Manufacturing Industry"—closely integrated with the actual needs of the electronics-manufacturing industry's transformation and upgrading. Aimed at solving the specific problems enterprises face in moving toward smart factories, it starts from smart-factory capability assessment and focuses on sharing the overall planning stage, tasks, and key supporting products and technologies of electronics-manufacturing smart factories, as well as actual cases of the industry's transformation and upgrading, answering questions for electronics-manufacturing enterprises from the perspectives of implementation, frontier, and focus.
In the future, with the promotion and commercialization of 5G technology, China's manufacturing industry—supported by 5G technology scenarios—will continue to accelerate its transformation and upgrading toward intelligent manufacturing, and smart factories will soon become standard equipment for Chinese manufacturing. The S-FACTORY Smart Factory and Automation Technology Exhibition will continue to devote itself to the "showcase + demonstration line + forum" format, bringing more frontier information and technical solutions to the industry and helping the electronics-manufacturing industry open a new mode of automation.
From April 24 to 26, S-FACTORY EXPO will join hands with NEPCON China 2019 to create a three-day non-stop electronics-manufacturing automation industry gala. Free visitor pre-registration is now in its final countdown—electronics professionals should not miss it. Let us join hands to carry intelligent manufacturing through to the end!