[ Chinese ]
Winning Strategies and Best Practices for Sustainable Manufacturing
"Collaborate and Go Green"
May 14-15, 2010 - Beijing, China (co-located with FA/PA Show)
ARC’s First Forum in China Attracts More than 500 Attendees
ARC held its first China Forum on May 14-15 at the Beijing International Exposition Center. Organized by ARC, Gkong.com, and Hannover Milano Fair, ARC China presented the forum in conjunction with the FA/PA Automation Exhibition - one of the most important events within China's manufacturing and automation domain. During the past three decades, China’s manufacturing sector grew tremendously, and the country now plays an increasingly critical role within the global industrial chain. Competition from Chinese manufacturers represents a huge challenge for many global competitors, resulting in many trade conflicts.
Over 500 people attended the forum — 76 percent of attendees were from the discrete and process manufacturing industries, 16 percent were technology providers, and the remaining 8 percent were system integrators and distributors, or representative from design institutes, industry associations, and the media. Many attendees are currently focused on improving plant IT infrastructure and increasing energy management efficiency. The diversified audiences represented different views, including users, technology providers, and third parties. More than 10 leading technology providers sent 
speakers to this Forum, including Rockwell Automation, ABB, Schneider Electric, B&R, FDT Group, Endress+Hauser, Cognizant, SAP, SUPCON, and SIASUN. Most speakers’ presentations focused on a common theme: the need for the Chinese industry to “collaborate and go green”. Lively discussion between speakers and participants highlighted this Forum.
The process manufacturing session on the second day of this forum attracted more than 200 professionals from various vertical industries. Most were end users, system integrators, or process manufacturing solution providers. Presentations and discussions focused on applying automation and manufacturing IT to enhance energy efficiency and operational excellence for process manufacturing.
Thanks to the rapid growth and open policy in China, manufacturers here are eager to adopt advanced concepts and methodologies for production and operation, especially emerging collaborative production and energy efficiency approaches. Manufacturers in China understand the importance of improving competitive performance through advanced production management techniques, especially during the on-going economic downturn. Speakers from leading organizations presented new concepts and case studies for process manufacturing during formal presentations and shared their experience and ideas in subsequent panel discussions. Many off-line exchanges between speakers and attendees also took place.
Collaboration Provides Vision for Sustainable Manufacturing
Collaboration and going green were common themes throughout most discussions at the forum. By reducing their energy consumption and emissions, Chinese manufacturers aim to improve environmental performance and become "greener." Collaboration with automation and IT technology will provide a means to achieve this more sustainable style of manufacturing.
"What will your control system look like in 30 years?" asked John Watts from Rockwell Automation in his presentation while introducing the company's vision of the next generation of automation and control systems. Mr. Watts provided a historical review and predicted the future progress of automation systems. He listed issues the next-generation plant will address, and gave suggestions how automation and IT could help manufacturers deal with these challenges.
In his presentation, Mr. Zeng Shuowei from ABB provided an actual case study of a Collaborative Process Automation System. This examined an oil refinery in Brazil that uses a collaborative system with process control, asset management, energy management, and collaborative production management tools to optimize operations and achieve significant improvements in productivity and asset utilization.
Energy Efficiency Is the Hot Spot
Improved energy efficiency is critical for reducing a manufacturer's carbon footprint and conserving non-renewable energy resources. Automation and IT, including new emerging smart grid technologies, are key for improving energy efficiency. The smart grid, one of the major infrastructure improvement initiatives globally, will provide the intelligent platform for power and energy management.
Jason Dong, General Manager of ARC China, provided introductory remarks on the importance of developing collaborative platforms that integrate energy management and process automation. Several presentations on energy management followed. Mr. Qin Lingtao from Cognizant shared best practices for energy management and then discussed solutions for improving energy efficiency using manufacturing IT to achieve operational excellence. Mr. Liu Peng from Endress+Hauser emphasized the importance of accuracy in measuring and monitoring energy consumption. Attendees showed great interest in Mr. Liu's demonstration of data acquisition and processing for energy consumption. Mr. Uwe Grundmann, VP and General Manger of ARC Europe delivered a presentation on winning strategies for energy management. In his presentation, Mr. Grundmann highlighted the importance of intelligent electrification to production and energy management.
Rail Transit Benefits from Urbanization and Huge Infrastructure Investment in China
Investments in rail transit represent one of the most significant government expenditures in China in recent years. Thanks to economic growth in China, urbanization and infrastructure investment have been top business drivers. As Chief Engineer at SIASUN, a rail transit system integrator, Mrs. Bai Yanhua presented "Success Case Study of BAS System for No.1 Subway Line in Shenyang City". She shared her experience applying Schneider Electric's automation and electrical systems for the metro line, and then gave suggestions how to deal with challenges and bottlenecks while deploying solutions in this sector.
