In order to implement the central government's decision-making and deployment on promoting the accelerated development of the industrial Internet, improve the construction of the industrial Internet ecosystem, accelerate infrastructure construction, strengthen core technology research, promote the transformation of the real economy, work with all parties in the industry to promote the integration and innovation of the industrial Internet and its platform system in a wider range, deeper degree and higher level, cultivate and strengthen the new momentum of economic development, and greet the victory of the 20th National Congress of the Party with excellent results, The Industrial Network of China Industrial Information Publishing and Media Group and the China Industrial Internet Research Institute jointly launched the "Industrial Internet Platform Series Interview".
Interview guests in the ninth session
Vice President of Tencent Cloud, General Manager of Discrete Manufacturing Industry
Cao Lei
Q1: What is the industrial Internet platform you understand?
There are many interpretations of the industrial Internet platform in the industry, and the understanding of the platform is different due to different perspectives. As an Internet technology company, in Tencent's view, the industrial Internet platform is more like a "digital toolbox" in a narrow sense, which is filled with all kinds of digital tools that are handy, which is convenient for enterprises to use. With such a toolbox, complex digital practices can be made easier and help companies greatly improve the efficiency of digital transformation.
The so-called toolbox, it is not simply a bunch of tools piled together, first of all, the platform needs a strong self-development ability, whether it is a basic digital tool, or a platform or application tool, it needs a lot of investment in research and development; Secondly, it is necessary to have a strong combination ability, which can combine various types of tools in the form of building blocks to quickly respond to the needs of users in different scenarios; Then there is the ability to bring together simple, easy-to-use, and easy-to-use tools in the industry into the toolbox, constantly enriching the choice of tools and the combination between tools.
It's not easy to take on the role of "digital toolbox." The industrial Internet platform is a technology-intensive, capital-intensive and talent-intensive track, which requires long-term investment and operation.
Q2: What is the current status of the development of industrial Internet platforms?
Here I would like to briefly talk about some new changes and new trends in the current platform development through the process and results of the national double-cross platform selection of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this year.
First of all, in terms of quantity, there have been many excellent industrial Internet platforms in the past year. According to the statistics of the Academy of Information and Communications Technology, there were about 600 industrial Internet platforms in China last year, of which 100 were on a large scale. This year's selection of the double cross-platform has also been seen, from 15 last year to 28. As digital transformation enters intensive cultivation, I believe that more regional platforms and industry platforms for subdivision tracks will emerge in the future.
Secondly, from the perspective of the types of newly shortlisted platform manufacturers, there are both technology companies established by industry leaders, automation/information service providers who have been deeply engaged in the industrial field for many years, and new Internet and technology companies. Each company has different positioning and advantage capabilities, which further enriches the diversity of the industrial Internet ecology.
Then there is the quality of the platform development, through this year's double-span assessment focus, we see that the platform is ushering in four aspects of change. The first is to look at the core technology. The platform pays more attention to the investment in independent research and development and independent controllable technology. For example, the "Chang'an Chain" that Tencent participated in research and development is the first independent and controllable blockchain technology system in China. In addition, Tencent is also increasing investment in self-developed chips; The second is to look at the effectiveness of empowerment. In the early years, platform manufacturers were crossing the river by feeling the stones, holding hammers to find nails. But now I have a better score in my heart, more clear about what users want, what the platform can provide, and what to do to help enterprises maximize benefits; The third is to look at social values. More and more platforms are participating in social value creation. Whether it is during the epidemic and the resumption of work and production, or to promote the development of "double chain" and "double carbon", many platforms are playing an active role in their respective areas of expertise; The fourth is to look at long-term returns. That is, the platform pays more attention to the sustainability of resource input, the sustainability of growth and the sustainability of profitability, and pays attention to long-term value.
In general, the development of industrial Internet platforms has begun to enter a new round of growth cycle. Everyone's expectations for the platform are also higher.
Q3: Under the new situation of new infrastructure development, what opportunities and challenges do you think will bring to the development of industrial Internet platforms?
Based on our observations and practices in the industrial sector over the past year, the acceleration of new infrastructure development and digitalization has brought three opportunities for platform development.
The first is the opportunity of accelerating the convergence of next-generation digital technologies and high-value business scenarios. We often say that old maps can't find new continents, and outdated technology can't create new value. Exploring the application of new technologies in high-value business scenarios is the key to enterprise breakthroughs, which also provides valuable soil for platform technology innovation. Last year, for example, Tencent partnered with companies to try to apply game rendering engine technology to the industrial digital twin. Tencent's 5G and audio and video communication technologies have also been successfully applied to unmanned minecart scenarios. In addition, Tencent is also jointly exploring the application of quantum algorithms in the field of new material research and development.
Second, under the pressure of the epidemic, enterprises have increased the opportunities brought about by investment in model innovation. According to a survey of companies last year, exploring new business models and creating new revenue opportunities ranked in the top two of digital transformation goals. Companies are now desperately looking for new growth points. The platform can give full play to the advantages of data element drive, reconstruct the relationship between the production factors of the whole value chain and the whole industry chain, and create a new value network. For example, the industrial C2B platform and digital industry chain platform that we have recently promoted are aimed at using digital technology and data elements to drive the reconstruction of production relations and the reconstruction of connection efficiency, so as to promote the win-win situation of all participants on the platform and create incremental value that was not available in the past.
Third, when all aspects of the enterprise are beginning to digitize, the urgency of a new round of digital infrastructure upgrades brings opportunities. One of the biggest challenges in the current enterprise transformation is the mismatch between the original IT infrastructure capabilities and the overall digital transformation strategy of the enterprise. Over the past year, we've received a lot of demand from enterprises to build cloud-native infrastructure. In order to be able to quickly respond to front-end business changes, the traditional IT infrastructure of enterprises is developing in the direction of middle-stage, micro-service, containerization, and low-code. Through the industrial Internet platform, enterprises can obtain more secure, reliable and efficient cloud-native technology capabilities, making large-scale upgrades of IT infrastructure less complicated. Of course, for service providers like Tencent Cloud that provide basic digital technology capabilities, there are huge business opportunities.
In a word, new technologies, new models and new bases are a long-term dividend for platform-based industrial Internet service providers.
Of course, there are many challenges. The challenges of the past remain, while new ones continue to emerge. For example, how to find a better balance between standardization and personalized products/solutions, while improving the replicability of products, while maximizing the needs of different business characteristics of enterprises; For example, how to solve the contradiction between fragmented supply and the overall digital transformation demands of enterprises. Platform vendors can hardly solve all the problems of the enterprise on their own, so who to choose to work with, how to integrate different products/solutions, how to ensure the smooth delivery of the project and the later operation are all very real problems; The second is the gap between the strong willingness of enterprises to digitally transform and the readiness to transform. In the past, digital projects were mostly small-scale attempts, but when the digital transformation strategy rose to the level of enterprises and groups, the lack of overall thinking and overall strategic planning was exposed, which would hinder the advancement of industrial Internet projects, and the cycle and front line would often be very long. The above challenges will exist for a long time with the development of the platform, and Tencent is fully prepared to fight a protracted war.
Q4: What do you think is the focus of the next stage of the development of industrial Internet platforms?
There are many variables that affect the development of the platform. In the past period of time, Tencent has also made continuous adjustments in strategy on changes in macro policies, market environment and technology demand. But if we look at the development of the platform in the future 1-3, the relatively certain direction of power has the following five points:
First, strengthen the division of labor and collaboration between platforms. In the past, industrial Internet platform manufacturers mostly did their own thing, competition was more than cooperation, and the phenomenon of repeated wheel building was more serious. In the next stage, platform manufacturers should focus on doing what they are good at, and form complementary talents, technologies and business resources with other platforms and partners, make up for each other's shortcomings, and jointly promote the development of industrial Internet platforms.
The second is to sink the area and focus on industrial clusters. China's economy has strong regional and blocky characteristics, with nearly 800 large and small industrial clusters. The agglomeration effect of industrial clusters is more conducive to promoting information exchange, technology diffusion, and the allocation efficiency of production factor resources. Focusing on the empowerment of industrial clusters, the industrial Internet platform can play a greater space and more obvious value.
The third is to promote cross-border innovation in technology. A lot of technological innovation comes from cross-border. Technical capabilities often produce new application scenarios in cross-border. For example, the game technology and audio and video technology mentioned above are good examples of cross-border in the industrial field. In the future, platform manufacturers with cross-industry and cross-field capabilities should further strengthen co-creation with enterprises, accelerate the cross-border flow of innovation elements, and promote the scenario-based and product-based landing of innovative technologies.
The fourth is to do a good job of connecting with the consumer Internet. If you look at the lighthouse factory report released by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2022, half of the more than 100 lighthouse factories in the world have crossed the manufacturing links of factories and extended to the opening of the end-to-end value chain, and achieved good results, many of which occur in China. China should give full play to the unique advantages of the consumer Internet, and promote collaborative supply chain, collaborative production, collaborative research and development through the digitalization of the consumer side, until the interconnection of the whole value chain. In a C2B way, we can better extend the value of the industrial Internet platform.
Fifth, the tree industry lighthouse benchmark. Setting and promoting industry benchmarks is necessary at any stage of the development of the Industrial Internet. The significance of the benchmark is that it proves that this road can be run, the risks and benefits are relatively certain, replicable, and more importantly, it can reduce the concerns of enterprise transformation. Therefore, the government, enterprises, think tanks, including platform service providers, should spare no effort to cultivate benchmarks, promote benchmarks, copy benchmarks, and use benchmarks as a fulcrum to leverage the overall digital transformation of the industry.
Q5: What are your relevant products/systems/platforms, application scopes and fields? What role and value has it generated? Can you give examples or use numerical examples?
Tencent is not only a new recruit in the field of industrial manufacturing, but also a veteran of the industrial Internet. After the past four years of exploration and practice, Tencent WeMake Industrial Interconnection Platform has precipitated a "1+3+6" technical capability system, that is, a digital base, three major middle platforms (industrial data middle platform, industrial AI middle platform, industrial security middle platform), and six major business engines for research, production, supply, marketing, service and collaborative office. We hope that through such a complete set of front, middle and back office technology capabilities, we can help manufacturing companies prepare for a comprehensive digital transformation, including organizational transformation, production operation transformation, business model transformation and IT transformation.
For example, in terms of production intelligence, based on Tencent's SmartConnect digital factory operating system, it can realize multi-system access and data collection such as equipment management, production management, and security monitoring. Using Tencent's game rendering technology, it realizes the three-dimensional visualization of the production space, and based on AI technology, it can achieve pre-judgment and alarm, linkage and collaboration during the event, and traceability of problems after the fact. For example, our transparent factory for Rite-Hite Masteel steel can reduce energy consumption by 10%, increase production efficiency by 12%, improve product quality by 10%, and reduce failure rate by 25%.
In addition, Tencent's industrial AI engine has also successfully achieved large-scale application in the field of 3C quality inspection. Relying on the AI capabilities of Tencent Youtu Lab, it can collect images without dead ends in poor light conditions, and use transfer learning technology to complete model training with only a small amount of product defect data. Huaxing Optoelectronics, Fuchi Hi-Tech and many other 3C production enterprises can basically achieve 10 times the improvement of quality inspection efficiency and release 90% of the labor force through Tencent's AI capabilities.
At the level of business model transformation, we will give full play to Tencent's advantages in the field of connectivity and cooperate with Linglong Tire to build a C2B platform for the tire industry. Through the platform, 300 dealers, 25,000 stores and end users are moved to the online operation at the same time, and the production, inventory, research and development ends have made a full link of data connection. Through the platform, at the height of the epidemic last year, Linglong Tire's sales revenue increased by 50% against the trend.
In addition, Tencent is also helping Zongshen build a digital industry chain platform for the auto and motorcycle parts industry. Through the platform, all the participating links in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industrial chain are connected to build an integrated service system for the whole industry, promote the accurate matching of supply and demand, and reduce the procurement costs of supporting manufacturers. And through the sharing of inventory and capacity information between factories, optimize order allocation. At the same time, the platform also introduces Tencent's supply chain finance capabilities, using Tencent's AI and blockchain technology to establish a complete set of trust mechanisms between the platform and enterprises, financial institutions and enterprises, and reduce the loan threshold of small and medium-sized enterprises.
At the IT transformation level, Tencent helped Sany Group to build a group-level technology middle office, which can support the rapid development of more than 1,000 microservices at the same time, reducing duplicate code by 90%." The hybrid cloud base and PaaS platform built for Industrial Fulian helped Industrial Fulian quickly develop 1000+ industrial APP and build 4 lighthouse factories; Based on Tencent's AI platform, it will bring ten times the improvement of AI application development efficiency to the Ningde era; And the cloud simulation platform built by Tencent with the help of Shanghai Electric can save 40% of the cost of computing power.
Q6: In the long run, how does your company view the digital transformation effect brought about by technologies such as industrial Internet platforms?
The development of the industrial Internet platform is a long-term system engineering. It will not be like the consumer Internet, which can form a pulse of growth in a short period of time, but will go through a long, compound interest growth process. If we extend the time span to ten, twenty years or more, the industrial Internet platform is destined to become the core infrastructure of digital transformation, more precisely, the digitally native infrastructure.
Just recently, Tencent announced that Tencent's massive self-developed businesses, including games, social networking, and audio and video, have all gone to the cloud, which is also the largest cloud-native practice in China. From a digital immigrant to becoming a digital native, this process took Tencent 3 years.
In our view, there will only be two types of enterprises in the future. Digitally native enterprises and enterprises that are on the road to digital native. Digital native, for any enterprise is only a matter of time, the future of all business is born in the cloud, grown up on the cloud. The industrial Internet platform can give full play to the advantages of technology aggregation, data aggregation and knowledge aggregation to help the majority of manufacturing enterprises accelerate the arrival of this day.
Let's explore the application results of the industrial Internet and its platform system to promote digital transformation in an all-round and multi-dimensional way, and listen to the voice of the industrial Internet landing!
Contact us
Executive Editor-in-Chief of Gongwang network: Xi Yongzhi
Contact number: 18210575843
Email: [email protected]
Gongwang reporter: Liu Yanling
Contact number: 13718719278
Email: [email protected]
Qi Bingxin, researcher of China Industrial Internet Research Institute
Contact number: 15321567298
Email: [email protected]
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Author: Liu Yanling
Editor-in-charge/Layout: Shen Xinzhu
Review: Shen Qing
Producer: Liu Qicheng