China shows industrial tech improvement at 2018 Hannover Messe

(Photo: Feng Xuejun)

Hannover (People's Daily) - The 2018 Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest trade fairs, once again showcased the latest in industrial technology under the theme of “Integrated Industry – Connect and Collaborate.”

The fair, which ran April 23-27 in Hannover, Germany, gathered more than 5,000 exhibitors from 75 countries. Some 200,000 guests attended the event this year to see breakthroughs for digital transformation in the manufacturing industry.

China has been a major participant in the event since 2016 and this year the country sent more than 1,000 companies to showcase their goods at the fair.

Thanks to the "Made in China 2025" strategic plan, Chinese companies are making noticeable improvements in technology development and innovation. Furthermore, the image of Chinese products is improving and gaining worldwide attention.

Hall six of the convention center is one of the most visited areas of the fair, which includes tech giants such as Intel, HP, Cisco, Amazon, Deutsche Telekom and China’s Haier and Huawei.

(Photo: Li Qiang)

Haier, the world's top home appliance brand, showcased its independently developed industrial Internet platform, COSMOPlat, at the event. Through interaction with the platform, COSMOPlat can create personalized orders based on a customer’s age and requests. COSMOPlat can create a model of a customized appliance in minutes once its preferences are stated by the user.

Henning Kagermann, president of the German National Academy of Science and Engineering and the father of Industry 4.0, was impressed at the creativity of COSMOPlat during the fair and said the system is the best among platforms made by other Chinese companies.

(Photo: Feng Xuejun)

A new car model from Citroën, the DS7 Crossback, was displayed in front of Huawei’s booth to feature an advanced interface that pairs with the telecommunications giant’s mobile phone application. With the app on a mobile phone allows users to access their vehicle’s status, travel history, driving habits, and pre-maintenance suggestions. Users can also scan parts of the vehicle to view user instructions to familiarize themselves with their functions. The car’s touch screen can also display landmarks and additional information such as gas stations and prices as well as empty parking spots in parking lots. All these features are powered by Huawei’s Internet of Things solutions.

Jean Leflour, senior vice president of Connected Vehicle & Services Architecture, Groupe PSA told People’s Daily that PSA Peugeot Citroën is very picky about quality and the process of technology. Huawei was originally not considered for a partnership with the automobile company. However, Huawei eventually impressed them with their advanced products and professionalism.

German water waste company wks Technik GmbH, which was purchased by China Aerospace and Science Industry Corp (CASIC) last year, was also present at the fair.

Wei Yiyin, the deputy manager of CASIC, said the company’s new developments can reduce more than 30 percent of system sludge volume and reduce secondary pollution. Their integrated water treatment and energy utilization technology can provide centralized treatment for municipal and industrial wastewater for reuse.

“The completion of technology integration can better suit the Chinese market, provide sewage treatment solution for China’s rural areas,” Wei said.

iRootech Technology Co., Ltd is the subsidiary of Trinity Group, which showcased its RootCloud industrial internet platform at the annual event.

iRootech signed with its first European customer Putzmeister, a multinational manufacturer of concrete pumps, in December 2017. The pump trucks are crucial for the construction industry. A pump truck team usually consists 20 crew members and the truck must be well-made to ensure no heavy losses are made due to mechanical failure.

Huang Luchuan, vice president and chief marketing officer of iRootech said if all pump trucks can link to an industrial internet platform, customers could access the truck’s status to make maintenance decisions in real time to reduce downtime. This can also help insurance companies too, since they can implement reasonable insurance plans based on the maintenance conditions of the truck. Truck manufacturers can improve their future vehicle models based on operational data.

Martin Knötgen, the CEO of Putzmeister said that compared to the car industry, the construction industry is in a rugged spot of the Industry 4.0 era.

Knötgen said to take advantage of Industry 4.0, the construction industry needs to convince its customers about the convenience of the Internet of Things to demonstrate their true potential and benefits.

During the Hannover Messe, China’s Investment Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce jointly held the “China opportunity- China-German Intelligent Manufacturing” forum with the Sino-German Industrial Cities Alliance.

Wang Weidong, spokesperson for the Chinese Commercial Office in Germany, said that China and Germany have a shared potential in the cooperation in the intelligent manufacturing field.

After 30 years of rapid development, China’s economy will switch its focus from speed to high quality output and consistent development to make new requests on corporations’ transformation and improvement.

Despite Germany’s advantage in the intelligent manufacturing field, Chinese corporations have a strong interest and many opportunities with cooperating with German corporations.

(Compiled by Ryan Yaoran Yu, Terry Guanlin Li)