The rise of smart manufacturing, Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0 has and will continue to revolutionise China’s manufacturing sector. On the leading edge of these trends is Haier, Facteon’s parent company. Haier Industrial Intelligence and Automation (Haier i2A) hosted its first Forum of Industrial Robotics and Intelligent Equipment in Qingdao, China earlier this month. The theme of the day was Communication, Cooperation and Synergy.

The forum invited experts from Shanghai ABB Engineering, a global leading automation company; Nanjing Estun Robotics Engineering, a leading industrial robot company in China; Shanxi Oriental Material Handing, a leading company focused on intelligent logistics, as well as Haier Robot and Facteon. Each company presented its view on the opportunities for smart manufacturing within the wider Haier Group. 

With more than 100 factories across the globe, the Haier group is investing significantly in operational performance and manufacturing capability. The heads of Haier’s Industrial Intelligence Research Institute, Group Strategic Development team and Group Industrial Service Collaboration Platform were on hand to share the learnings from across the Haier group with attendees and presenting technology companies.

A key area of discussion was how to balance the speed of adoption when it comes to new technologies, such as robotics, and the challenge of having enough technical depth to manage smart manufacturing, all whilst maintaining peak operational performance.

To wrap up the forum Michael Wu, CEO of i2A, concluded with: “This is a highly competitive global market. The Group must continue to collaborate and evolve our smart manufacturing capabilities”. He presented i2A’s vision to “Connect with external specialists to help us understand the world outside Haier. This understanding of and connection to the external will ultimately enhance the manufacturing performance of the whole Group”.  

At Facteon, we understand the importance of collaboration with technology vendors and the need to be close to our customers. We don’t see Facteon as a foreign company with a China office, but a local company leveraging our global network to provide the best solution to the end user.