Industrial internet helps enterprises improve efficiency, reduce cost

While digitalization is rapidly emerging as the main factor for industrial upgrading, the industrial internet is helping Chinese enterprises improve efficiency and reduce costs by facilitating their digital transformation.

With the help of an industrial internet platform developed by HollySys, a leading IT solutions provider in China, enterprises in the water treatment industry can realize real-time detection of water quality and ensure that an accurate quantity of pharmaceuticals is used for water treatment. The platform also helps enterprises reduce energy consumption by 10 percent to 15 percent, cut pharmaceutical consumption by 5 percent to 10 percent, and lower overall costs and labor input by at least 4 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

A visitor tries VR (Virtual Reality) glasses during the 2020 Global Industrial Internet Conference (GIIC) in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Oct. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Long Lei)

CITIC Industrial Cloud Co., Ltd., a bellwether in the industrial internet field, enables companies to realize global collaborative research and development, as well as planning and scheduling. It also helps them increase the utilization rate of equipment by 8 percent, reduce inventory costs by 5 percent, and optimize the operational efficiency of components.

COSMOPlat, an industrial internet platform developed by Chinese home appliance giant Haier Group, allows motorhome manufacturers to realize large-scale customization at a lower cost. The platform has helped a new energy vehicle company in east China’s Shandong province increase its orders by 62 percent, reduce its overall costs by 7.3 percent, and shorten its delivery period from 35 days to 20 days.

Huijiang Group based in Foshan, south China’s Guangdong province, has partnered with the industrial internet platform Rootcloud to boost transportation efficiency of its concrete by coordinating concrete mixing plants, truck drivers and clients through the application of internet technologies. Based on its improved algorithms and real-time positions of trucks, the platform assigns orders to drivers in a more rational way, helping the group save more than 20 million yuan (about $3 million) in transportation costs and increase comprehensive production capacity by 85 percent.

Hualong Xunda Information Technology Co., Ltd., in Guangdong’s Shenzhen is also a leader in the industrial internet field. In a workshop powered by a digital twin platform of the company, each device is installed with over 1,000 sensors for carrying out predictive maintenance and fault diagnosis. The platform has reduced the average maintenance time of equipment from 2 hours to 20 minutes, increased productivity by 8 percent, reduced equipment maintenance costs by 10 percent, and dramatically lowered capital for spare parts inventory.

The industrial internet can not only help enterprises realize intelligent manufacturing and improve production efficiency by applying digital technologies, but also assists them in improving their operations according to big data analysis of market information and their management situation, said Pan Helin, executive director of the digital economy research institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law.

The industrial internet can also ensure safe production and operations for enterprises, thanks to its intelligent monitoring and warning features, Pan added.

Industry insiders said China’s industrial internet is entering an important period of strategic opportunity for development, and suggest that the country make full use of its advantages in industrial internet platforms and computing power to facilitate industrial enterprises’ digital transformation and promote high-quality development of the digital economy.