“投入5年了，希望明年可以达到一个盈利的平衡点。”合肥合锻智能制造股份有限公司董事、总经理王磊在接受第一财经采访时称。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
作为一家始建于1951年的装备制造企业，合锻智能从2017年开始依托工业互联网平台进行数字化升级。“数字化改造可以提高生产效率，但前提是需要持续地‘烧钱’，这对于原本就是重资产投入的装备制造企业而言，无疑又是一笔巨资。从‘数字化升级’项目的投资收益率来看，我们过去几年未产生盈利。理想情况下，仍需要2~3年的布局，成为新的利润增长点。”王磊说。
这既是发生在一个传统制造行业企业身上的个体故事，也是近年来国内制造业企业数字化转型的缩影。
我国制造业规模已多年保持世界第一，但整体信息化水平仍不高，与工业化融合深度不够，制造业企业尤其是中小制造业企业的数字化仍处于早期阶段。11月初，工信部办公厅发布《关于印发中小企业数字化转型指南的通知》，对中小企业提出“从易到难、由点及面、长期迭代、多方协同”的数字化转型思路，并对工业互联网平台、数字化转型服务商和大型企业等数字化转型服务供给方，提出“推动产业链供应链上下游企业业务协同、资源整合和数据共享，助力中小企业实现‘链式’转型”的要求。
这里的“中小企业”，根据工信部信息技术发展司解读，尤指制造业中小企业。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
艾瑞咨询最新发布的一份调研显示，目前中国制造业企业的数字化转型仍以央国企、大型民企为主，需求金额集中在100万~500万之间，项目周期历时整体约4~18个月，具有金额高、历时久的特点。
在“需求vs成本vs效果”等多重因素拉锯下，多名受访业界人士告诉记者，对于中小制造企业，尤其是装备制造等传统重资产行业企业而言，数字化转型如何实现可持续性仍是个待解的难题。
一、数字化是“必修课”吗
“数字化不是目的。”王磊称，理想状态下的制造业数字化转型，是降本增效、拓展新商业模式的手段。
他认为，转型包含两个方面：一是企业内部从生产到销售全周期的数字化转型，二是实现产品所负载的数据价值提升。前者旨在提质增效，后者旨在通过优化产品使用感，增加产品的市场竞争力和客户粘性，最终帮助企业实现从孤岛型向用户体验型的转变。
“对于行业企业而言，数字化投入是否为刚需、何种程度的数字化更能够为企业带来最大价值，仍是一个问号。如果进行转型，中小企业还面临一个问题：随着头部企业已经借助工业互联网、大数据平台等信息手段实行企业全周期数字化集成创新，如果继续依赖单一环节的数字化转型，中小企业获得数字红利的边际效用在减弱。”王磊称。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
多重因素叠加，中小企业转型的动力还充足吗？这一问题曾经困扰过用友精智工业互联网事业部总经理张友明。但在作为讲师参加了工信部工业文化中心中小企业家数字化转型的培训活动后，他对这一问题有了更积极的答案：“会后一周内，就有不少学员主动联系我，其中一些后来也成为了我们的客户，这些学员中，很多是中小装备制造企业的掌舵人。”
张友明告诉第一财经，因为这类企业信息化基础一直较为薄弱。“汽车、流程制造行业，对精细化管理水平和连续生产所需关键机器的自动化水平要求高，产业的数字化进展也因此可以较快地推进。”
相比之下，装备制造业在数字化转型中“走得较慢”，张友明认为，这是多重因素共同造成的。其一，作为重资产投入的行业，装备制造业在生产环节，如果对大型设备迭代智能化产品，改造成本更为高昂；其二，作为传统制造行业，装备制造业发展较为粗放，利润率较低，行业中小企业新技术应用的动力有限。此外，装备制造业的供应链和产业链一直较为固定，企业“上云”后，业务拓展的空间相对有限。
“积极因素在增多。”张友明认为，当前，随着下游需求的升级，定制化生产能力强弱已直接影响装备制造业企业的竞争力，而这种边设计边生产的模式协同管理难度高，让数字化逐渐成为企业刚需。
“产品复杂、零部件多是装备制造业的行业特征，中小企业也不例外。随着行业上游零件厂商增多，能否寻找到性价比更优的供应商，供货渠道是否通畅，直接关乎企业生产和销售。解决这类全要素全产业链的协同问题，需要搭建起工业互联网平台。”张友明称。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
根据张友明介绍，工业互联网可以帮助中小企业打通供应链上下游，降低其原材料成本，并对接到更多下游客户，增加其捕获商机的能力和市场议价权。此外，企业上云上平台后，生产、研发、采销均是数字化的，这种将“传统资产转化为工业数据，再将数据转化成信用”的方式，也为中小企业融资难的问题提供了解决之道。
二、融入数字化生态
“接触了很多中小制造业企业，几乎没有企业决策者不知道工业互联网的，但却鲜有能真正说清工业互联网架构是什么？适配于大数据生态环境的企业运营管理业务软件有哪些？企业哪些业务需要‘上云’？”一名企业云服务与软件提供商相关业务负责人告诉记者。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
11月初，工信部发布了《制造业中小企业数字化水平评测表（2022年版）》。在“数字化基础”指标上，有20％的权重为“企业通过部署工业互联网公有云/私有云/混合云平台等形式，实现业务的数字化管理情况”。
树根互联联合创始人、CEO贺东东告诉第一财经，“工业互联网”的外延很多，包含了自动化设备传感器、5G通信解决方案以及很多的工业解决方案等内容，但其真正的内核是这些操作系统或者说工业互联网平台。“随着头部制造企业主动搭建行业级工业互联网平台，为中小企业搭上行业数字化转型的顺风车提供便利。”数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
在《中小企业数字化转型指南》中亦提到，中小企业应融入数字化生态。应用产业链供应链核心企业搭建的工业互联网平台，融入核心企业生态圈，加强协作配套，实现大中小企业协同转型。应用行业龙头企业输出的行业共性解决方案，加速提升自身数字化水平。
根据该指南，除了行业龙头企业外，中小企业数字化转型的服务供给方还包括互联网平台企业、工业互联网平台企业、数字化转型服务商等。
工信部数据显示，截至2022年三季度，工业互联网已经全面融入45个国民经济大类，累计培育具有一定行业和区域影响力的特色平台超过150家，遴选出28个跨行业跨领域工业互联网平台，其中32个重点平台连接设备超7900万台（套），搭载工业APP数量28万余个。
面对越来越多的区域级、行业级、企业级工业互联网平台，中小制造企业在数字化投入上的选择权和议价权开始加大。但新问题随之而来：中小企业如何以更低门槛、更低成本“上平台”？
“中小企业的关注点主要有三：第一能够产生价值的应用，第二用得起，第三门槛低，即没有很多IT工程师也知道怎么用。”贺东东称，在供给端，针对中小企业的特征和实际需求，数字化转型服务供给方已开始提供轻量化、订阅式服务，以减轻中小企业数字化转型顾虑和成本。
所谓“订阅式服务”，贺东东称，就是将各种各样的工业最佳实践沉淀在这个工业互联网平台上面，然后让中小企直接去订阅上面的这些工业应用APP。
根据张友明观察，中小企业的选择往往是多元的。他们可以选择和链长企业共用平台，也可以选择租用、一次性或分阶段地购买第三方云服务厂商搭建的工业互联网平台。
贺东东认为，基于工业互联网是一个巨大的生态和系统，从投入成本和时间的角度看，即便是现金流充裕的中小制造企业，也需要慎重考虑自己搭建工业互联网平台。
“如果每一家企业自己去做底层的通用平台，一方面是花很多钱、花很多时间，需要大量的人才；另一方面，从应用规模来讲，其实对于企业来说成本是摊销不掉的。”贺东东称。
三、可持续性转型的两大挑战数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
倒逼传统制造企业进行数字化，人力成本抬升是其中一大原因。但有部分受访人士对记者表示，在经历转型之后，一些中小制造企业的用人成本不降反增。
“制造业人工成本上升真正反映的是人才短缺的问题。”贺东东称。
张友明表示，一方面，工业互联网需要既懂工业又懂数字技术，同时还极具创新力的复合型人才，这种人才培养周期是很长的。教育部在2021年新增了工业互联网应用专业，也就是说，在此之前工业互联网人才的社会供给只能企业培养；另一方面，如果一个制造企业不成立科技公司，按其原有的薪资体系来招聘数字化人才，乃至培养企业数字化团队，是招不到也留不住人的，但这对于中小制造企业短期内无疑行不通。数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
应对信息化专业人才储备不足的挑战，合锻智造采取的策略是邀请“外援”。王磊称，截至目前，公司已合作或对外投资的科技企业包括了科大讯飞和安徽三禾一信息科技有限公司等。
从长远来看，制造业数字化转型的人才缺口问题，解决路径有二。赛迪研究院工业互联网研究室李昀告诉第一财经，一方面，要充分发挥行业联盟、机构组织的桥梁纽带作用，针对制造业应用需求，围绕硬件基础、工业软件、数据传输、工控安全等技术短板联合攻关一批共性关键技术；另一方面，要深化产教合作，建立“企业+高校”联合培养机制，向制造业定向输送一批既懂IT又懂OT的复合型人才。
不仅仅是“缺人”，王磊称，数据是智能制造产品的关键价值。但目前下游客户对产品数字化应用的认可度和使用率均不高，产品的附加值难以显现，制造企业的研发投入无法形成正回馈，这也让一些中小制造企业失去转型的动力。
也有如航天、军工等产业链下游客户对高端智能制造的数字化应用要求高，但在实践中，王磊发现，这些客户的需求对于智能制造企业而言，获益也不多。“目前，对于产品的数字化应用需求较高的下游行业，往往也是对数据安全和隐私保护需求更高的行业。这就导致制造企业在服务该类行业客户时需要签署保密协议，点对点共享数据，数据价值难以更大化。”
王磊呼吁，要想制造业企业的数字化转型具有可持续性，还需要构建更成熟的数据要素市场，进而推动制造企业通过数字化转型重构竞争优势。
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翻译：
“Invested for 5 years, I hope to reach a profit balance point next year.” Wang Lei, director and general manager of Hefei Hejian Intelligent Manufacturing Co., LTD., said in an interview with China Business News.
As an equipment manufacturing enterprise founded in 1951, Hejian Intelligent began to rely on the industrial Internet platform for digital upgrading in 2017. “Digital transformation can improve production efficiency, but only on the premise that it needs to continue to ‘burn money’, which is no doubt another huge amount of money for equipment manufacturing enterprises that are originally heavy in capital investment. Judging from the return on investment of the ‘digital upgrade’ project, we have not generated a profit in the past few years. Ideally, it still needs two to three years of layout to become a new profit growth point.” “Wang Lei said.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
This is not only an individual story of a traditional manufacturing enterprise, but also an epitome of the digital transformation of domestic manufacturing enterprises in recent years.
The scale of Chinese manufacturing industry has been the first in the world for many years, but the overall informatization level is still not high, and the depth of integration with industrialization is not enough. The digitization of manufacturing enterprises, especially small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, is still in the early stage.
In early November, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Notice on Printing and Distributing Guidelines for Digital Transformation of Small and medium-sized Enterprises, proposing the digital transformation ideas of “from easy to difficult, from point to surface, long-term iteration and multi-party collaboration” for small and medium-sized enterprises, and providing digital transformation service providers such as industrial Internet platforms, digital transformation service providers and large enterprises. It proposes the requirements of “promoting business collaboration, resource integration and data sharing among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain and supply chain, and helping smes achieve ‘chain’ transformation”.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises” here, according to the information technology development department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology interpretation, especially refers to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
According to a survey recently released by iResearch Consulting, the digital transformation of China’s manufacturing enterprises is still dominated by central state-owned enterprises and large private enterprises, and the demand amount is concentrated between 1 million and 5 million. The project cycle lasts about 4 to 18 months, which is characterized by high amount and long duration.
In the “demand vs cost vs effect” and other multiple factors, a number of interviewed industry insiders told reporters that for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, especially equipment manufacturing and other traditional asset-heavy industries, how to achieve the sustainability of digital transformation is still a problem to be solved.
Is digitalization a “required course”
“Digital is not the end.” Wang Lei said the ideal digital transformation of manufacturing is a means to reduce costs and increase efficiency and expand new business models.
He believes that the transformation includes two aspects: one is the digital transformation of the whole cycle from production to sales within the enterprise, and the other is to realize the improvement of the data value of the products. The former aims to improve the quality and efficiency, while the latter aims to increase the market competitiveness and customer stickiness of the product by optimizing the sense of use of the product, and ultimately help the enterprise realize the transformation from the island type to the user experience type.
“For industry companies, it is still a question mark whether digital investment is sufficient and what level of digital will bring the most value to the company. If transformation is carried out, smes are also faced with a problem: as leading enterprises have implemented whole-cycle digital integrated innovation with the help of industrial Internet, big data platforms and other information means, if they continue to rely on a single link of digital transformation, the marginal utility of smes to obtain digital dividends is weakening.” Mr. Wang said.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
Multiple factors superimposed, small and medium-sized enterprises transformation power is still sufficient?
This problem has troubled Yonyou Jingzhi Industrial Internet Division general manager Zhang Youming. But after attending as a lecturer a training event on the digital transformation of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs at the Industrial Culture Centre of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, he has a more positive answer to the question: “Within a week after the meeting, quite a few students contacted me, some of whom later became our customers, and many of these students are at the helm of small and medium-sized equipment manufacturing enterprises.”
Zhang Youming told Yicai, because this kind of enterprise informatization foundation has been relatively weak. “The automotive and process manufacturing industries, which require a high level of precision management and automation of the key machines needed for continuous production, are able to accelerate the digitization of the industry.”
In contrast, the equipment manufacturing industry is “moving slower” in the digital transformation, which Zhang believes is due to a combination of factors.
First, as an industry with heavy investment in assets, the equipment manufacturing industry will have higher cost of transformation if it iterates intelligent products for large equipment in the production link. Second, as a traditional manufacturing industry, the equipment manufacturing industry has extensive development, low profit rate, and limited impetus for the application of new technologies by smes in the industry. In addition, the supply chain and industrial chain of the equipment manufacturing industry have been relatively fixed. After enterprises “go to the cloud”, the space for business expansion is relatively limited.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
“The positives are growing.” Zhang Youming believes that, at present, with the upgrading of downstream demand, the strength of customized production capacity has a direct impact on the competitiveness of equipment manufacturing enterprises, and the mode of collaborative management of design and production is very difficult, so that digitalization has gradually become a rigid requirement of enterprises.
“Complex products and many parts are the characteristics of the equipment manufacturing industry, and small and medium-sized companies are no exception. With the increase of upstream parts manufacturers in the industry, whether to find more cost-effective suppliers and whether the supply channel is smooth is directly related to the production and sales of enterprises. To solve this kind of coordination problem of the whole factor and the whole industrial chain, we need to build an industrial Internet platform.” Zhang Youming said.
According to Zhang Youming
According to Zhang Youming, the industrial Internet can help small and medium-sized enterprises connect the upstream and downstream of the supply chain, reduce their raw material costs, and receive more downstream customers, increasing their ability to capture business opportunities and market bargaining power. In addition, after enterprises are on the cloud platform, production, research and development, mining and marketing are all digitized. This method of “converting traditional assets into industrial data. And then converting data into credit” also provides a solution to the financing difficulties of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Integrate into the digital ecology
“I have contacted many small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. And there are almost no decision-makers who do not know the industrial Internet. But few can really say what is the architecture of the industrial Internet? What are the enterprise operation management software suitable for the big data ecological environment? What businesses need to ‘go to the cloud’?” An enterprise cloud service and software provider related business person told reporters.
In early November, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the 2022 Edition of the Digital Level Evaluation Table for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. In the index of “digitalization basis”, 20% of the weight is “enterprises realize the digital management of busines. Through the deployment of industrial Internet public cloud/private cloud/hybrid cloud platform”.
He Dongdong, co-founder and CEO of Root Internet, told Yicai that the “industrial Internet” has a lot of extension. Including automation equipment sensors, 5G communication solutions and a lot of industrial solutions. But its real core is these operating systems or industrial Internet platforms. “As leading manufacturing enterprises take the initiative to build industry-level industrial Internet platforms, it will provide convenience for small and medium-sized enterprises to hitch a ride on the digital transformation of the industry.”数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
In the Guide to Digital Transformation of smes, it is also mentioned that smes should be integrated into the digital ecology.
Apply the industrial Internet platform built by core enterprises of the industrial chain and supply chain, integrate into the core enterprise ecosystem, strengthen collaboration and supporting. And realize the collaborative transformation of large, small and medium-sized enterprises. Application of industrial common solutions output by industry leading enterprises to accelerate the improvement of their own digital level.
In addition to industry leaders, service providers for smes’ digital transformation also include Internet platform companies, industrial Internet platform companies and digital transformation service providers, according to the guideline.
According to the data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. By the third quarter of 2022, the industrial Internet has been fully integrated into 45 categories of the national economy. And more than 150 characteristic platforms with certain industrial and regional influence have been cultivated in total. 28 cross-industry and cross-field industrial Internet platforms have been selected. Among which 32 key platforms have connected devices exceeding 79 million (sets). It carries more than 280,000 industrial apps.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
In the face of more and more regional, industry-level, enterprise-level industrial Internet platforms. Small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the digital investment of choice and bargaining rights began to increase.
But a new question arises: how can smes “get on the platform” with lower barriers and costs?
“There are three main concerns for smes: first, applications that generate value, second, affordable. And third, low barriers to entry — not many IT engineers know how to use them.” On the supply side, according to the characteristics and actual needs of smes, digital transformation service providers have started to provide lightweight, subscription-based services to reduce the concerns and costs of smes’ digital transformation, He said.
The so-called “subscription service”, He Dongdong said, is to deposit a variety of industrial best practices on the industrial Internet platform. And then let small and medium-sized enterprises directly subscribe to these industrial apps.
According to Zhang Youming observation, the choice of small and medium-sized enterprises is often diversified. They can choose to share the platform with long chain enterprises. Or they can choose to rent, one-time or phased purchase of industrial Internet platforms built by third-party cloud service manufacturers.
He Dongdong believes that, based on the industrial Internet is a huge ecosystem and system, from the perspective of input cost and time, even small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises with abundant cash flow need to carefully consider building their own industrial Internet platform.
“If each enterprise to build a common platform at the bottom. On the one hand, it will cost a lot of money, spend a lot of time, need a lot of talent. On the other hand, in terms of the scale of the application. The cost is actually not amortized for the enterprise.” He Dongdong said.
Two major challenges of sustainable transformation
The rise in labor costs is one of the main reasons for forcing traditional manufacturing companies to go digital. However, some interviewees told reporters that after undergoing the transformation. Some small and medium-sized manufacturers’ employment costs have increased instead of decreasing.
“Rising labor costs in manufacturing really reflect a shortage of talent.” He Dongdong said.
On the one hand, the industrial Internet needs interdisciplinary talents who understand both industry and digital technology. But are also highly innovative, and the training cycle for such talents is very long, Zhang said. The Ministry of Education added the major of Industrial Internet application in 2021. That is to say, before that, the social supply of industrial Internet talents can only be trained by enterprises. On the other hand, if a manufacturing enterprise does not set up a technology company. It is impossible to recruit and retain digital talents according to its original salary system. And even train its digital team. However, this is undoubtedly not feasible for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the short term.数字化转型网www.szhzxw.cn
To cope with the shortage of information technology professionals, the strategy adopted by the company is to invite “foreign aid”. Wang Lei said that so far, the company has cooperated with or invested in technology companies including iFlytek and Anhui Sanheyi Information Technology Co., LTD.
In the long run, there are two ways to solve the problem of talent gap in digital transformation of manufacturing industry.
Li Yun from the Industrial Internet Research Office of CIDI Research Institute told China Business News that. On the one hand, we should give full play to the role of industrial alliances and organizations as Bridges and links, and jointly tackle a number of common key technologies based on the technical weaknesses of hardware foundation, industrial software, data transmission, industrial control safety, etc. According to the application needs of manufacturing industry. On the other hand, we need to deepen cooperation between industry and education, establish a joint training mechanism of “enterprises and universities”. And provide a targeted number of versatile talents who understand both IT and OT in the manufacturing industry.
It’s not just a “lack of people”, Wang said, adding that data is the key value of intelligent manufacturing products. However, at present, the recognition and utilization rate of digital application of products are not high among downstream customers. The added value of products is difficult to show, and the R&D investment of manufacturing enterprises cannot form positive feedback. Which also makes some small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises lose the motivation for transformation.
Just like the downstream customers of the aerospace, military and other industrial chains have high requirements for the digital application of high-end intelligent manufacturing.
However, in practice, Wang Lei found that the needs of these customers are not much for intelligent manufacturing enterprises. “Currently, downstream industries that have a high demand for digital applications of their products also tend to have a high demand for data security and privacy protection. As a result, manufacturers need to sign confidentiality agreements when serving customers in this industry. And peer-to-peer sharing of data makes it difficult to maximize the value of data.”
Wang Lei called for sustainable digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises. But also need to build a more mature data factor market. So as to promote manufacturing enterprises through digital transformation to rebuild competitive advantage.
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