Smart technology renders high-end manufacturing possible

Advances in Manufacturing, Jun 2013

Bing-Heng Lu

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Smart technology renders high-end manufacturing possible

Bing-Heng Lu 0 0 B.-H. Lu (&) School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an 710049, People's Republic of China Before Liberation, even such small items as nails and matches in China were all manufactured by foreigners, as a result, they were called ''foreign nails'' and ''foreign matches''. China's mechanical manufacturing capabilities picked up after the foundation of new China with the aid of the former Soviet Union. From 1960s onwards, the industry was mainly dependent on self-reliance. In 1978 China's higher education was resumed and universities began to enroll students. As a result of economic reforms and opening up, China's manufacturing industry began to learn from foreign examples, and launched the first wave of manufacturing for household electrical appliances between 1978 and 1987. During this period mechanical engineering and science also underwent rapid development. Professor Chongxian Gu at Xian Jiaotong University was one of the earliest scholars studying dynamics of machining tools. His research achievements attracted some world-renowned experts' (for example the famous Professor Tobias) attention and academic exchange with their Chinese partners. Professor Yushan Tan was invited to build the Machine Tool Laser Measurement Laboratory at the University of Birmingham. During the 1980s Hanhe Yang founded the ''Mechanical Control Engineering'', highly praised by Prof. Shuzi Yang, the academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering. His work was considered as the classic works of mechanical dynamics. Two alumni of Xian Jiaotong University namely Yansun Lu (former chief engineer and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Mechanical Industry) - and Mr. Guobao Zhang, former Deputy Director of National Development and Reform Commission and Director of National Energy Administration. Both men had devoted their entire lives and energy to Chinese manufacturing industry, and earned the accolade of Engineers of the Republic. The second wave of manufacturing in modern Chinese history is automotive manufacturing (19871997). During this period of time, foreign manufacturers came to China in droves, and many privately-owned manufacturers began to sprout up. One must recognize that the astounding success in both waves of manufacturing in Chinaso successful are they that China is now the worlds largest manufacturing nationis mainly attributed to Chinas large population and cheap rural labor. It is important to note that the State 985 and 211 programs were aimed at developing world-class academic disciplines in key universities. After more than 30 years of development, Chinas manufacturing industry has become the largest in the world constituting 19.4 % of the global manufacturing in 2010 (see Fig. 1). It expanded further to 19.8 % in 2011. In many other products Chinas production volume also topped the world (see Table 1). Nevertheless at this point, China is only a large manufacturing nation but not a manufacturing power. Aerospace manufacturing is the third wave for Chinas manufacturing industry. It represents a high level of manufacturing technology and indeed powers its development. Manufacture of large aircrafts, aircraft engines, rotor blades and turbine disc is an extremely difficult process, especially considering that they require materials such as high-temperature alloy and titanium alloy and that they possess curved surfaces. Nevertheless Chinas aerospace industry is beginning to move away from its early days and is moving towards becoming a full-fledged industry. Fig. 1 Manufacturing production volume of major nations in 2011 During the National Innovation Conference in 2012, former Premier Wen Jiabao proposed to add Designed in China and Invented in China in addition to Made in China. As such an excellent opportunity awaits Chinas aerospace industry. Following the production of Yun-20 transportation aircraft, the aircraft manufacturer carried out technological revamping that would cost well over RMB 2 billiona fantastic opportunity for the manufacturing equipment industry. However Chinas manufacturing equipment remains to be at the low end and must be upgraded. At the same the industry is faced with intense international competition, particularly after the financial crisis developed nations have taken the view that greater attention should be given to their manufacturing industry. For example, the US has proposed re-industrialization by injecting high technology into manufacturing to create an advantage for the industry. Her idea is to defeat the concept of Made in China with a combination of artificial intelligence, robots and digital manufacturing technology. In this regard 5 departments jointly studied and proposed 20 technologies which they thought would revive American manufacturing. The first was 3D printing, and the second was robotics, and so on. During the past one year alone President Obama mentioned on no less than 5 different occasions, measures that would reinvigor (...truncated)


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Bing-Heng Lu. Smart technology renders high-end manufacturing possible, Advances in Manufacturing, 2013, pp. 107-111, Volume 1, Issue 2, DOI: 10.1007/s40436-013-0028-z