China Smart Manufacturing Starts with Localized Screw Production

Recently a company in Hefei City of China started to replace human with mahcinery, hoping to replace traditional human production with robots only to end up in a pain in the neck. Because common screws in China are not standardized enough, those standardized and programmed robots have a difficult time fastening the screws accurately, which ends up in producing a lot of unqualified products. In the past, unstandardized screws were not a big problem to production because the human hand can sense whether the screws are fastened tightly or loosely. Now, the screws become the barrier to the project for replacing human with robots.

"China Manufacturing 2025" announced by China State Council beginning this year clearly states the innovation-oriented plan to promote transformation and upgrade of the manufacturing industry. The plan is not just simply replacing human with robots. It starts with screw standardization and extends to improved standard and regulation for industrial production line. In this way China can shift from pure manufacturing to smart manufacturing.