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Some materials shuttle in the “air corridor” between the finished three-dimensional warehouse and the production workshop, some materials are “leisurely” waiting for the “bus” to connect and transport, and some materials have realized personalized “ride-hailing” services, and the AGV trolley will be accurately delivered to the designated location according to the demand.This is the scene that the reporter saw when he walked into the material sorting workshop of ZTE Nanjing Binjiang 5G Intelligent Manufacturing Base (hereinafter referred to as “Binjiang Factory”), the first five-star 5G factory in China. The whole process is not manual operation, but it is orderly, thanks to the blessing of 5G technology.
In terms of logistics management, the Binjiang factory relies on 5G technology to achieve accurate distribution of materials and real-time inventory management. In the face of diversified logistics scenarios, Zhou Jianfeng, vice president of ZTE, introduced that ZTE innovatively proposed the logistics model of “high-speed rail, bus, and taxi”: the high-speed rail mode uses 5G equipment to achieve long-distance and large-scale “fast delivery”; The bus mode uses 5G automatic forklifts and AGVs to achieve “flexible distribution” of short-distance and fixed routes; The taxi model combines “5G+AGV+X” technology to flexibly cope with complex and changeable “feeder logistics” and achieve accurate distribution.At the same time, the Binjiang plant also uses 5G technology to build a global logistics monitoring system, which realizes real-time monitoring and early warning of transportation equipment, goods and personnel, and further improves the safety and reliability of logistics management.At present, the Binjiang plant can produce 70,000 5G base stations (small stations) and 40,000 servers per month, compared with 2020, the output per unit man-hour of base station products has increased by 113%, the output per unit man-hour of server products has increased by 125%, the per capita output value has increased by 81%, and the delivery cycle has been shortened from 20 days to 14 days.
This series of dazzling data not only shows the strong strength of the Binjiang factory, but also is a vivid practice of 5G technology to empower the manufacturing industry.At present, the Binjiang factory has achieved full coverage of the 5G network, with a 5G networking rate of 89.3%, and through the integration of cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, machine vision, AI, and big data analysis, the Binjiang factory has successfully incubated diversified application scenarios and achieved a comprehensive leap in production capacity.
Specifically, the high-performance 5G flexible automated production line has shortened the production line changeover time by 95%, from the original 30 minutes to only 3 minutes. In addition, “Manufacturing 5G with 5G” has shortened the R&D cycle of 5G products by 25%, reduced the manufacturing cost of 5G and server products by 23%, and reduced the number of production line operators by 53%.
In addition to the improvement of production efficiency and the reduction of operating costs, the application of new technologies such as 5G has also significantly improved product quality. In the server assembly workshop, the robot “partner” works together and uses 5G machine vision to accurately locate the screw holes, which can realize the precision assembly of 2.5-inch, 3.5-inch and other multi-specification and multi-size hard disks and their brackets. Compared with manual assembly of hard disks, the assembly efficiency is increased by 30%, and the defect rate is reduced by 50%.It is understood that the Binjiang factory widely applies machine vision, AI and other technologies, and makes full use of the high-speed transmission characteristics of the 5G network to achieve real-time monitoring and accurate analysis of the whole chain of product production. For example, the use of 5G-enabled machine vision technology has played a key role in automated and precise operation processes such as dispensing, assembly, and labeling. At the same time, the 5G-based machine vision system is also used in the quality inspection of single boards and the 5G cloud-based PLC test.
Thanks to the application of digital intelligence technology, the product defect rate of 5G base stations (including small stations) in the Binjiang factory has been reduced by 34%, and the assembly process has achieved a zero missed detection rate, compared with the 3% missed detection rate of manual visual inspection, and the accuracy of quality inspection has been greatly improved.In the era of digital economy, the manufacturing industry is an important engine of the real economy, and promoting the acceleration of the manufacturing industry to digital and intelligent has become the only way for the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry. In this process, the integration of 5G technology and manufacturing is undergoing a profound transformation from “one-way empowerment” to “two-way running”. ZTE’s Binjiang plant has accumulated valuable experience in 5G industry private network construction, 5G cloud-based AGV, 5G machine vision, etc., which may help more traditional manufacturing factories transform and upgrade to 5G factories, so that 5G technology can inject more vitality and momentum into the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry.
