Digital Realization of Haier's Interconnected Factory

Manufacturing is unquestionably one of the industries that have been most significantly impacted by the digital transformation wave. Concepts such as Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, and industrial Internet are all made possible by digital transformation of enterprises. In this wave, Haier Group has consistently been at the forefront of the industry and has established a complete set of the smart manufacturing system in response to the disruptive changes in industry development.

As an ecological partner of Haier's interconnected factory, H3C assisted the launch of Haier Group's air conditioner interconnected factory in Jiaozhou with its future-oriented smart factory network solution. H3C has incorporated the latest industrial design, manufacturing, and sales concepts into the interconnected factory and provided a solid foundation for Haier Group's digital transformation.

Manufacturing process changes in the digital era

For the manufacturing industry, the major change brought by digital transformation is a shift in business models. For Haier, this development is realized by building a smart manufacturing system. The interconnected factory highlights Haier's core concept of smart manufacturing. In contrast to the traditional make-to-order model, Haier hopes to create a network-based production model by collaborating with users. This enables the users who are completely unfamiliar with technologies and the designers and suppliers who struggle to understand the user demands to interact and collaborate on a shared design platform provided by Haier to achieve client-specific o make-to-order.

According to this model, Haier built the air conditioning facility in Jiaozhou as an interconnected factory, where the color, appearance, performance, and structure of the products are all decided by users. Users are able to participate directly in the manufacturing production line with the use of Internet technologies. In this way, personalized needs can be sent to the production line in a timely manner. Demand, interaction, design, pre-sale, manufacture, distribution, and service are all parts of the process. The whole customization process—from online program customization to offline flexible production—is realized through the cyclical iteration and upgrading of each connection. For example, after a user places an order, the order is sent to the interconnected factory, which then begins to customize the required modules. The modular assembly enables the user to select different functions and minimizes the time spent on product manufacturing. Throughout the manufacturing process, the user can access the order progress through various end devices and understand the progress and location of the customized product on the production line.

This user-demand-focused business model is bound to emerge when the industrial manufacturing achieves a certain level. When the capacity is sufficient, companies can attract more users in the competition by improving the user experience through a digital change in the business model.

Two "visibilities" in the process of manufacturing process digitalization

For Haier's interconnected factory, the "digitalization" of information during the process is the key to achieving transformation in manufacturing business processes. In this context, "digitization" can be interpreted as "visibility of the entire process under the support of digitization." This includes two meanings: the visibility of the entire production process, and the visibility of user information.

The "visibility of the entire production process" requires "IT and OT integration" at the infrastructure layer. It refers to the integration of three networks (workshop IoT, information and communication network, and after-sales product service network) and the integration of five systems (ERP, PLM, industrial control, and logistics system with iMES as the core).

The "visibility of user information" requires "wider interconnection". On one hand, it refers to the internal and external interconnection, which achieves the interconnection and efficient collaboration of users and the design and production departments with the Internet; on the other hand, it refers to information interconnection, which ensures the interconnection of machines and product data and ultimately achieves the interconnection of user data. This means that in the interconnected factory, information about the product in the market can be reflected in real time to the processing equipment, logistics materials, and suppliers for processing. Even employee performance can be driven by users' evaluation of the product.

In the future, Haier's digitalization will evolve to "smart practice". The first priority is to connect R&D and manufacturing, which is the end-to-end connection. The second priority is the integration of virtual and reality, which is to connect the virtual and reality, perform verification in the virtual scenario, and achieve mutual verification optimization. For the users, this can further improve the participation experience of "manufacturing by everyone". And for the manufacturing end of the processing, this can improve the success rate of primary processing.

H3C helps to open the channels of "digitalization"

As a model factory of Haier Group, the air conditioner interconnected factory in Jiaozhou carries Haier's latest industrial design, manufacturing and sales concepts, and adopts a digital manufacturing process. H3C smart factory network solution creates a network channel for this digital process, helping to realize the integration of the workshop IoT, information and communication network, and after-sale product service network, and meeting users' requirements for customization.

With rich and mature products and solutions for IT/OT convergence in smart factories, H3C provides services for Haier's interconnected factory ecosystem construction. Its products and solutions have been successfully applied in network solution deployment of in Haier's interconnected factory. In addition, H3C also provides Haier with localized services and an excellent training mechanism to escort the air conditioner interconnected factory in Jiaozhou.

H3C has applied smart factory network solutions to the ecosystem construction of Haier's interconnected factories, and helped Haier Group to realize the value of data in the process from demand acquisition to production and sales. In the practice of the alliance between giants, the advantages of both sides can be maximized, and the experience can be used as reference for other manufacturing enterprises to advance digital transformation the whole manufacturing industry!