A detailed account of the dark factories favored by the giants and the influence behind them

Guided by intelligent manufacturing, dark factories generally integrate many currently popular cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, 5G, etc. It is an attempt by enterprises to use information technology to reform manufacturing processes and industrial processes.

 
The internal driving force behind the birth of the dark factory

With the development of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, unmanned services such as "unmanned supermarkets", "unmanned hotels" and "unmanned driving" have begun to appear. Therefore, "unmanned" is no longer just a concept, but is being integrated into human life.

In the industrial field, "unmanned" has begun to become an important direction for enterprises to promote the intelligent transformation of factories. Especially in the context of the current difficulties faced by enterprises in recruiting workers, the continuous rise in raw material costs, and the increasing prominence of personalized needs, reducing the demand for workers and improving the flexibility and automation of production lines have become the internal driving force for promoting the development of unmanned factories.

Does a dark factory mean an unmanned factory?

The concept of a dark factory was first introduced from abroad. It is a literal translation of "Dark Factory", which means a smart factory. Because it does not require manual operation, it is also called an unmanned factory. In the era of Industry 4.0, unmanned factories are standard. The current intelligent manufacturing capabilities have long been able to build such unmanned factories:

① Unmanned intelligent workshop, which can complete product manufacturing and testing without any operators

② Equipment monitoring and testing are all handled by robots and coding programs

It can be clearly seen in the monitoring that from raw materials to finished products, each process is running in an orderly manner under the monitoring of the equipment itself. People only need to manage the system and monitor the execution of these machines in the background.

At present, whether it is traditional manufacturing giants, industrial giants, or Internet technology companies, they are all investing in the construction of dark factories and unmanned factories, making them a highlight of their own industrial chain.

The value of Gree and Xiaomi's dark factories

At the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Dong Mingzhu of Gree Electric Appliances said that driven by digitalization, Gree has realized a dark factory, and a factory that used to have 10,000 people now only needs 1,000 people. With the support of AI, unmanned operation has brought disruptive changes to precision, quality, and efficiency.

Last August, at Xiaomi's 10th anniversary celebration, Lei Jun revealed to the outside world the construction status of Xiaomi's smart factory. The dark factory that produces one million high-end mobile phones annually is one of the highlights.

According to Xiaomi, the factory can realize fully automated dark-light production of the entire factory's production management process, mechanical processing process, and packaging, storage and transportation process. In the past, four or five workers were needed at the front and back ends of the placement machine, but now relying on independently developed equipment, it can completely replace manpower.

In fact, over the years, society and the public have been paying more and more attention to technology. For companies, venturing into the field of technology is a very easy way to gain social favor.

Especially in the manufacturing field, if you can take the lead in using cutting-edge technologies to reform and empower the traditional manufacturing system, then the brand's influence in the market can be easily enhanced.

This is particularly true of Xiaomi, which has long been criticized by the market and users as a "OEM brand". The completion of the Xiaomi Smart Factory not only announced Xiaomi's transformation from OEM to independent R&D and production, but also showed the hard work Xiaomi has put into core technology.

At present, Xiaomi's dark factory has many core technologies including self-developed board testing system, central dispatching and control platform, automatic calibration visual algorithm, self-developed whole test system, parallel software system, and intelligent control center.

Dark factory technology is mainly manifested in three aspects

The first is network transmission technology. For example, 5G edge computing technology is used to deploy gateways, servers and other equipment on the production line side. User data is processed and transmitted in the edge computer room and does not need to be returned to the core network through the transmission network. This not only reduces latency but also ensures that production data is not transmitted outside.

The second is information perception technology, such as using visual perception technology to identify the identification code of goods or production parts to automatically obtain production information, providing the main information support for automated production;

The third is robotics technology. Currently, dark factories all use industrial robotic arms, palletizing robots, AGVs and other robots to assist in production, responsible for tasks such as transportation, assembly, welding, and spraying.

At present, these technologies are still being iterated and updated. During the application process, they can indeed improve the degree of automation of the production line. However, for the intelligent improvement of dark factories, the actual effect still needs to be broken through.

The investment benefits of dark factories

Whether it is for brand building, industrial exploration, or market development, dark factories have very obvious value in improving quality and efficiency for enterprises.

Although the efficiency of dark factories is much higher than that of traditional factories, the same investment is also higher than that of traditional factories. Let's take a look at the dark factory projects currently in production. The total investment amount of Xiaomi's smart factory is as high as 600 million, and the cumulative investment of Robam Electric Appliances is nearly 500 million. According to industry insiders who revealed to "Smart Relative Theory", investing in an automated production line will cost about 8 million, and there will be fluctuations depending on the industry.

For most companies, such cost investment is far beyond their ability to bear. In my country, most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises, accounting for 99%. Under such circumstances, the role of dark factories in upgrading my country's overall industrial manufacturing industry is still relatively limited.

end:

With the deepening of the intelligent transformation of factories, more and more "unmanned factories" and "dark factories" will emerge. Driven by the continuous innovation of technology, "fewer people" and "unmanned" factory workshops will become a trend.

Supporting the development of this trend are countless technical engineers. As the "invisible men" of the factory, they need to decide which tasks should be completed by machines and which by people based on a comprehensive consideration of factors such as efficiency and cost. This is a process of human-machine collaboration.

Therefore, although the dark factory is very cool, it is not the most effective and economical manufacturing model. Blindly pursuing the unmanned dark model actually deviates from the essence of intelligent manufacturing.

Some information comes from: Zhizao Yanxishe: Do Foxconn, Midea, and Gree's dark factories really need workers?; Intelligent Relative Theory: Industrial Internet of Giants: Exploring the Light of Manufacturing in "Dark Factories"; Technology Sharing Bacteria: Xiaomi invests in dark factories, Alibaba launches Rhino Intelligent Manufacturing, and Internet companies begin to lay out the industry; Equipment Jiazu: The real unmanned factory has arrived, and the unmanned model illuminates China's manufacturing