At the recently held 2022 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference, relevant officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that over the past decade, China has deeply implemented its intelligent manufacturing initiative, with the scale and level of its applications now ranking among the global leaders.
The robot density in manufacturing has increased approximately 13-fold, reaching 322 units per 10,000 workers. The application scale of key intelligent manufacturing technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence remains at the forefront globally.
Over the past ten years, 110 factories have reached internationally advanced levels of intelligent manufacturing, and nearly 2,000 high-level digital workshops and smart factories leading industry development have been established.
During this decade, the scale of China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry has approached 3 trillion yuan, and revenue from industrial software products has exceeded 240 billion yuan. The number of intelligent manufacturing system solution suppliers with main business revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan has reached nearly 100, with their services covering over 90% of manufacturing sectors.
The next steps will adhere to the main direction of intelligent manufacturing, accelerating the creation of an "upgraded version," primarily focusing on four aspects:
Focus on building a highly efficient innovation system, strengthening basic research, applied basic research, and key technology R&D to lead the evolution and upgrade of intelligent manufacturing.
Focus on constructing a high-level industrial system, promoting the innovative development of intelligent manufacturing equipment, industrial software, and system solutions, and strengthening the development of digital infrastructure such as 5G, AI, and the Industrial Internet.
Focus on forming a high-standard application system, continuing to carry out intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration actions, creating more smart factories and intelligent supply chains, accelerating the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, and encouraging the establishment of intelligent manufacturing pioneer zones.
Focus on establishing a high-level guarantee system, concentrating on iconic products, backbone enterprises, talent, and industrial clusters, optimizing the intelligent manufacturing promotion system, implementing the Intelligent Manufacturing Partnership Plan, and carrying out multi-level, cross-field exchanges and cooperation.
China's Industrial Robot Demand Expected to Increase by 3 Million Units in the Next Decade
At the end of last year, the "14th Five-Year Plan" for Robot Industry Development jointly issued by the MIIT and 14 other departments stated that by 2025, the average annual revenue growth rate of the robot industry should exceed 20%, and the robot density in manufacturing should double. With China's manufacturing robot density at 246 units per 10,000 workers in 2020, this implies it will reach around 500 units per 10,000 workers by 2025, indicating still vast room for growth.
Currently, China's aging trend continues to intensify. The reduction in the labor force and rising labor costs are constantly increasing development pressure on the manufacturing sector. Accelerating the development of automation applications represented by industrial robots has become an urgent priority.
UN projections show that China's population aged 20 to 64 (representing most of the workforce) may have already peaked and will decline sharply after 2030.
In reality, China's manufacturing sector is also contracting internally, while the service sector continues to expand, with fewer and fewer young people willing to work in factories. Data from the International Labour Organization shows that in 2021, China's manufacturing employment was 147 million, a decrease of 22 million compared to 2012. During the same period, employment in the service sector grew by 32%, reaching 365 million people.
Many economists believe that as China's working-age population is no longer growing rapidly, it can no longer rely on a continuously expanding workforce to drive economic growth. Automation is the most reliable way to increase the productivity of its existing workers.
Beyond alleviating labor shortage pressures, China's industrial structure is accelerating its transformation. The increasing proportion of high-value-added advanced manufacturing also demands faster application of robotic automation. The requirements of advanced manufacturing for precision, stability, and other aspects align precisely with the strengths of robots.
The economic benefits brought by changes in the labor market and improvements in robotics technology will propel China into a period of fervent robot application. Currently, China's operational stock of industrial robots is around 1 million units. The Wall Street Journal predicts that by 2030, the number of industrial robots on Chinese production lines will reach 3.2 to 4.2 million units.
Accelerating the automation process in manufacturing is not only to mitigate the pressure from a declining working-age population but also aids the development of advanced manufacturing. The Wall Street Journal stated that this is a necessary path for China's development into a higher-income country. Currently, China accounts for 29% of global manufacturing, remaining the unquestioned world's factory.
