Huawei Unveils Upgraded Intelligent Factory Solution

[Shanghai, China, September 19, 2024] During HUAWEI CONNECT 2024, Huawei announced its latest Intelligent Factory Solution at the session themed Building Fully Connected, Intelligent Factories. Top enterprises, experts, and partners from the global manufacturing industry discussed the path and successful practices for building next-generation intelligent factories. Huawei's latest Intelligent Factory Solution is an upgrade to the previous version in terms of network connection, digital production platform, and applications. It is designed to accelerate the transformation of factories from fully connected to digital and intelligent.

Digital and intelligent transformation has become the key driving force behind the upgrade of the manufacturing industry. Intelligent manufacturing is a crucial part of this transformation and is leading the industry to new heights. As product iteration speeds up and consumers demand more personalized products, manufacturing companies are increasingly recognizing the need to advance data and AI innovations on top of driving value growth.

At the session, industry experts shared their perspectives on the latest trends in manufacturing. Yang Ping, General Manager of the China Intelligent Manufacturing Account Dept, Huawei, highlighted the significant value that digital and intelligent technologies can bring to manufacturing companies, using Huawei's own transformation as an example. He said that as a manufacturing company with a profound understanding of the industry, Huawei will persist in promoting the integration of digital technology and manufacturing based on its own reliable practices. The company will continue to collaborate with industry partners to develop end-to-end intelligent factory solutions to tackle the challenges brought by Industry 4.0.

Prof. Peter Sachsenmeier, Member of the German National Academy for Science and Engineering, believes that manufacturing companies must embrace intelligence and prioritize innovation as well as win-win cooperation. This is how they can keep pace with the rapidly evolving industry and stride towards the future. Dr. Pei Huang, Deputy Secretary General of the International Coalition of Intelligent Manufacturing (ICIM) and CEO of e-works, provided forward-looking and constructive suggestions for the development of intelligent factories. He recommended a step-by-step approach, starting with equipment interconnection and transparency, progressing to closed-loop digital management and to AI-enabled smart production, ultimately evolving into an intelligent factory. Each step should be clearly defined to avoid hasty decisions.

Hu Yufeng, Chief Architect of Intelligent Factory Solution, Huawei, unveiled the upgraded Intelligent Factory Solution that caters to the latest trends and core scenarios in intelligent manufacturing. The solution aims to enable the connectivity of everything, an open platform architecture, and data-driven operations. To achieve this, Huawei has upgraded the solution to offer comprehensive capabilities, including top-level planning, a production network that integrates IT and Operational Technology (OT), digital operations, and manufacturing AI platforms. Hu explained that Huawei's Intelligent Factory Solution features new connections, platforms, and applications. It is built on lean production principles and facilitates the integration of R&D, production, and sales. In doing so, the solution seeks to foster seamless collaboration across production, manufacturing, demand, design, suppliers, order planning, self-making, and outsourcing. It also enables intelligent upgrades for products, materials, equipment, environment, logistics, and maintenance.

In addition, several leading manufacturing companies shared their successful experiences in transforming to intelligent manufacturing. Liu Feng, Director of the Information Management Department at Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (JAC), said that the key to successful transformation in manufacturing enterprises is to invest heavily in transformation, have a clear direction, and build a reserve of professionals who understand both IT and industry scenarios. Liu Xiangyang, Chief Information Security Officer of Midea Group and Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, said that Midea's full-stack intelligent factory infrastructure relies on a complete set of digital foundation systems, among which the big data R&D platform, database management platform, and R&D efficiency platform are the most important.

Building an intelligent factory that goes beyond connectivity to intelligence requires systematic work, such as transforming business processes, integrating workflows, upgrading architecture, ensuring data transparency, and developing talent. Huawei will continue to collaborate with industry partners to delve into manufacturing scenarios and harness the power of smart technology, particularly AI. Together, we will accelerate the implementation of intelligent factories and provide robust support for manufacturing enterprises to achieve high-quality development.