Professor Liu Qiang of Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics), drawing on renowned theory and rich practice, and summarizing China's national conditions and foreign developments, proposed the "Three Don'ts" theory and the "Three Do's" theory of intelligent manufacturing.
The "Three Don'ts" theory of intelligent manufacturing:
1.Do not pursue automation on the basis of backward processes—this is the problem Industry 2.0 must solve first;
2.Do not pursue informatization on the basis of backward management—this is the problem Industry 3.0 must solve first;
3.Do not pursue intelligence when digital and networked foundations are lacking—this is the problem Industry 4.0 must solve first.
The "Three Do's" theory of intelligent manufacturing:
1.Intelligent manufacturing standards and norms must come first;
2.The supporting foundations of intelligent manufacturing must be strengthened;
3.Cyber-physical systems (CPS) must be understood comprehensively.
How do we proceed from the actual situation within our enterprises to realize automation, digitalization, and intelligence?
At present, enterprises typically use high-end equipment for the most critical parts and key operations. To realize the machining of these key operations, the processes are certainly advanced, the tooling is excellent, and the programs and cutting tools have been proven through testing. Therefore, building automation, digitalization, and intelligence in a small scope around this existing advanced equipment and these parts is one of the best entry points—it addresses the most critical points and yields the most effective results. The parts to be completed on this equipment may be in large batches or small batches; through accumulated cycles of months or even years, such a cell becomes one with super-strong comprehensive machining capability, able to machine grouped categories of parts, and can be upgraded and copied when production capacity is expanded. Relying on a large number of skilled workers, and gradually implementing intelligence from the most critical parts to the next-critical and then general parts, non-CNC equipment can be managed and integrated into intelligent management through kanban informatization. Such gradual implementation lays the foundation for large-scale intelligence and provides enterprises with real-time, accurate, and truthful data; only with such effective, truthful data can an enterprise's real production capacity be fully reflected.
Without the MES and ERP systems built on "three-ized" (i.e., automated, digitalized, and intelligent) production cells, it is difficult for them to play a real role in the enterprise, because the "three-ized" intelligent cells are the sound foundation on which such management software runs. The "three-ized" intelligent cells can provide real-time data, dynamically indicate on-time delivery status, and predict auxiliary-material procurement needs. No matter how well-designed MES and ERP are, without real-time data they cannot play their due role. But why do enterprises always implement MES and ERP first? Because enterprises all want to quickly improve management, informatization, and production capacity to demonstrate their capabilities, so they invest heavily—yet the results are often poor: many systems cannot be used or used well, many functions are mere decorations, wasting funds and harming everyone's assessment of MES, ERP, etc. In addition, implementing "three-ized" production cells requires the collaboration of multi-disciplinary engineers and entails high technical difficulty.
Xi'an CHINAF Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. has conducted more than 15 years of research and development, is vigorously promoting and actively implementing it, and has successfully applied it in the manufacturing of aero-engine blades. This is an embodiment of military–civilian integration, and a deep-diving practice of deep military–civilian fusion.