Foshan: Robots on the march

Software facilitation

The transition has propelled the innovation of robotic software systems. Industrial modeling software in the international market is expensive, and relies on the exceptional expertise of engineers. Xie Hui, a professor of smart manufacturing systems at the provincial government-backed Ji Hua Laboratory, has led a team to develop specialized software for industrial applications. "By utilizing our intelligent design system, the level of design efficiency has gone up more than 20-fold, resulting in a significant reduction in design engineer hours and a substantial decrease in equipment research and development costs," says Xie.

After feeding in parameters and requirements, the self-developed software Agile-Form V1.0, which has been trained using vast amounts of data from over 60 firms, can slash the time required for stamping mold processes from 10 days to one day. The software can lower the requirements for engineers and cut labor costs, says Xie. "For instance, the company must pay at least 100,000 yuan monthly to a veteran engineer, while a monthly salary of just 5,000 yuan is needed to hire a fresh graduate who knows the basic instructions to operate the software."

Ji Hua Laboratory's clients include Vietnamese electric carmaker VinFast, and China's Geely Automobile Holdings and Dongfeng Motor Corp.

Xie says the laboratory aims to expand the industrial-applied artificial intelligence system to other sectors, such as furniture manufacturing. "One of the challenges is data access, as each company's data accumulation is limited. Some businesses from other industries have approached us for collaboration. However, due to limited manpower, we have been unable to pursue these opportunities," he says. The company currently has a workforce of about 40 people for research and development, and another 60 of them involved in engineering and developing techniques.

Technology professionals are worried about a dearth of skilled workers as the traditional manufacturing sector shifts toward high-end technologies. According to a joint report by Deloitte and Chinese firm Renrui Human Resources Technology, the intelligent manufacturing business was short of 4.3 million digital workers last year. It expects the gap to widen to 5.5 million by 2025.

To address the talent shortage problem, the Foshan authorities are offering a resettlement subsidy of 300,000 yuan to technicians holding a senior title, while those with an associate senior title will get 200,000 yuan.