China, Germany combine strengths for best of both

Quantity and quality came together when China and Germany's industrial strategies came face-to-face at a conference in Foshan called "Made in China 2025 Meets German Industry 4.0".

The Sino-German Industrial Services Zone in Foshan, Guangdong province, hosted the conference on Sept 10. More than 500 participants from China and Germany discussed the similarities and differences between the two national strategies and business opportunities in the field of intelligent manufacturing.

China now tops the world in terms of net exports in the manufacturing sector, according to United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Despite a large production quantity, China cannot be recognized as a manufacturing powerhouse like Germany and is still in the stages of Industry 2.0 and Industry 3.0, according to Mo Wei, an official at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The national plan of "Made in China 2025" issued earlier this year is to help the manufacturing giant move up the value chain.

"There is a big gap between China and Germany in terms of R&D investment, technological sophistication, product quality and brand image. But the two countries can complement each other and there is great potential for cooperation," Mo said, listing advanced equipment manufacturing, energy saving, new energy, new-energy vehicles and small and medium-sized enterprises as examples.

Miao Wei, China's minister of industry and information technology, and Sigmar Gabriel, Germany's vice chancellor and economic minister, signed an agreement to promote cooperation between the two countries' enterprises in Internet-based, intelligent manufacturing in Beijing on July 14.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will press ahead by cooperating with Germany in core areas such as telecom network and industrial software, according to Mo.

Industrial associations, research institutes and enterprises from the two countries will jointly set international standards for intelligent manufacturing.

The ministry is encouraging exchanges and training programs for policy makers, corporate managers, scientists and engineers, and said it would consider opening schools jointly operated by the two countries.

Important platform

"The Foshan conference is an important platform for the governments and businesspeople of China and Germany to enhance mutual trust and deepen cooperation," Mo said.

"The Sino-German Industrial Services Zone should use the opportunity of the conference to fully discover local firms' needs and pair them with suitable German partners for winwin cooperation."

Guangdong has had the largest economic scale in China for the past 26 years and is strong in both the manufacturing and information sectors, according to Wang Yueqin, head of the provincial bureau of big data management.

If considered as an independent economy, Wang said, Guangdong has the world's fifth highest output in the manufacturing industry. The annual output of its electronic and information industry is nearly 3 trillion yuan ($470 billion), a quarter of the country's total, she added.

Foshan is a manufacturing hub in the province. Total output value of the city's large-scale industrial companies hit nearly 1.9 trillion yuan in 2014, ranking it fifth among Chinese cities.

Georg Maier, secretary of the Thuringia state's ministry of economics, science and digital society, said he is glad to see that Foshan values its industrial foundation as much as Germany does.

"Germany's economy is greatly influenced by industry. Foshan is in a similar situation. Raising the concept of 'Industry 4.0' shows that we hope to keep the industrial tradition and base development on it," Maier said.

'Hidden champions'

"Thuringia is a very small state and has a lot of SMEs, among which many are 'hidden champions' such as those designing and making state-of-the-art sensors," he added.

Like in Thuringia, a large number of SMEs have contributed a lot to the local economy in Foshan. They are being encouraged to learn from their German fellows to stay focused and grow into "hidden champions" in a specific area.

The technologies of cloud computing and the Internet of Things are effective in helping SMEs optimize their production processes and save on labor costs. However, it is unaffordable for many SMEs to upgrade their equipment and purchase advanced technologies.

Fortunately, some industrial giants in China, including Shenyang Machine Tool Co, are offering solutions. For example, startups can rent the company's numerical control machines by the hour, which means they don't need to pay rent when the machines are not in use, but they need to share the added value of the parts produced on these machines with Shenyang Machine Tool.

As well as equipment and technologies, talented professionals are also very important for China to become a manufacturing powerhouse and for Germany to push forward its Industry 4.0 plan, according to Joschka Fischer, former vice chancellor and minister for foreign affairs of Germany.

Professionals needed

"China hopes to produce high-quality products and those products can only be made by high-quality professionals," Fischer said.

"Not only engineers but also technicians have played a core role in the German manufacturing industry. I encourage China to improve college education with the vocational training system in Germany as a model."

To foster talent, engaging people's interest is essential.

Guangdong Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Center launched an exhibition on robots in the Sino-German Industrial Services Zone on Sept 10, on the sidelines of the Sino-German conference.

Twenty-five robotics brands from home and abroad displayed their latest designs, including the world's top four producers of industrial robots - ABB from Switzerland, Kuka from Germany, and Fanuc and Yaskawa from Japan.

Visitors played LEGO and table tennis with robots and watched them dance.

"Public education is important. If we start fostering kids' interest in robotics today, some of them may become star designers and engineers in this field in the future," said Egon Lai, a senior consultant of intelligent manufacturing at the Sino-German Industrial Services Zone.

"China has a growing demand for not only industrial robots but also professionals to design, produce and handle them," Lai said.

Lai said that about 50,000 industrial robots were sold in China last year and he expects the number to grow to between 60,000 and 70,000 this year.

"Robots won't take away people's 'rice bowls' but rather create new job opportunities for them," he said.

"However, few universities and vocational schools provide training specialized in industrial robotics."

The Shenzhen-based Lianshuo Robot Vocational Training Center may fill the gap in the market. It has invested more than 20 million yuan purchasing advanced industrial robotics for practice in class.

The training center has opened a branch in the Guangdong Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Center based in Foshan.

xujingxi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/18/2015 page12)