NVIDIA founder and CEO Huang Renxun recently appeared in Taipei, China. He announced on Hon Hai's "Technology Day" that he will support manufacturing giant Foxconn in building an "artificial intelligence factory".
Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturing company. Now, Foxconn hopes to use Nvidia's artificial intelligence software and hardware combination platform to produce intelligent cars. Previously, Tesla was also exposed to be using digital design and casting sand 3D printing technology to improve production efficiency.
Dassault Syst è mes is one of the world's leading industrial software manufacturers, with a digital simulation software platform called 3DExperience. Using our digital simulation platform, Fuyao Glass has accelerated the research and development of over 52000 glass materials, which has left a deep impression on me. We are also exploring how to use digital twin technology to empower innovative engineering design of glass materials to ensure breakthroughs in digital continuity in the manufacturing industry. "Xu Shansong, Executive Vice President of Dassault Systems Asia Pacific, recently told First Financial reporters.
1 aircraft can be produced in 9 days
In the field of aviation manufacturing, companies represented by Boeing and Airbus are embracing AI intelligent manufacturing and 3D additive technology (3D printing). Boeing is already building a "digital twin" of aircraft and simulating the production system for manufacturing aircraft.
The Boeing Super Factory is located in Everett, Washington, USA. This factory is renowned for its high efficiency and profitability. Industry insiders estimate that the factory can produce one aircraft in 9 days.
Airbus uses augmented reality AR technology to completely change its quality control process. Their team uses drones equipped with LiDAR sensors for flight inspections, which then transmit data to human inspectors using tablets and AR glasses to check information.
Electric vehicle giant Tesla is also using digital simulation technology to validate its "gigacast" process, which is expected to help Tesla significantly reduce production costs. If verified successfully, this will become another innovative breakthrough for Tesla in the automotive manufacturing field. This innovation will enable it to die-cast almost all the complex body bottoms of electric vehicles into a single entity, rather than being composed of hundreds of parts as in traditional cars.
If Tesla can truly mold the bottom of the electric vehicle body, it will be able to develop a new car from scratch within 18 to 24 months, which will further disrupt the design and manufacturing methods of cars, as most competitors currently require three to four years, which will also help push Tesla to launch a cheaper electric vehicle.
Taking a large metal testing mold as an example, the mechanical adjustment during the design process may cost $100000 at a time, and if the mold needs to be completely remade, it may cost $1.5 million. On average, the entire design process of large metal molds typically costs approximately $4 million.
In order to minimize costs, Tesla hopes to use casting sand 3D printing technology. The cost of the design verification process for this sand casting is currently the lowest, only 3% of the metal mold prototype, which means Tesla can adjust the prototype multiple times as needed. With 3D printing technology, a new mold prototype can be reprinted in a few hours. From a time perspective, the design verification cycle using sand casting only takes two to three months, while metal mold prototypes typically take six months to one year.
Accelerators for converting data into profits
In Huang Renxun's view, "artificial intelligence factories" will become the "accelerator" for new manufacturing enterprises to convert data into profits. The large-scale deployment of NVIDIA GPU systems in manufacturing factories, including HGX, GH200 superchips, can provide power for various industrial applications.
It is reported that through these computing chips, unstructured data can be obtained from a large number of IoT sensors deployed in manufacturing factories and transformed into useful "products", which may be a computer or a car.
Two years ago, NVIDIA launched the "Enterprise Metaverse" platform Omniverse, which serves as a tool for visualizing machine learning and sensor data. Manufacturing companies can use this platform to create digital twins in factory workshops or warehouses. Nvidia has partnered with Siemens to use the Omniverse platform to bring the "digital twin" to the mainstream of the manufacturing industry.
Huang Renxun believes that the true value behind the concept of Omniverse is simulation, which is based on real-life scenarios. Nvidia stated, "End-to-end simulation of the entire robot and automation process will provide Foxconn with a way to improve operational efficiency and save time and costs
Siemens was one of the earliest companies to propose the concept of "digital twins" in the industrial field. The "digital twin" is closely related to simulation technology. Siemens is helping OEMs develop thousands of new models through simulation technology every day.
Last year, Siemens collaborated with NVIDIA to apply NVIDIA's Omniverse to Siemens' manufacturing plants, making its "digital twin" technology even more cool.
Wang Haibin, executive vice president of Siemens (China) and general manager of Siemens Digital Industry Group in Greater China, told China Business News: "Simulation technology can see the same scene as the real world in the computer environment and software environment. The industry is using this technology to accelerate the innovation cycle, so that products, machinery equipment, production lines and plants can be simulated in the software environment."
For example, when the layout of the factory workshop changes, the digital twin system can be used to infer the changes in workers' movement routes and determine production safety; At the same time, it is also possible to accurately locate the source of machine faults through virtual model display based on the data of sensors in the system. This digital twin technology can also enable teams from different regions to collaborate and solve problems in a virtual manner.
Creating a "Model Factory" for Chinese Automobile Sailing Abroad
At a recent industry oriented digital intelligence innovation summit, Xu Shansong told reporters from First Financial: "In the high-tech field, many companies are restructuring their technology and architecture on servers to improve computing power. Fast computing power will bring competitive advantages
The wave of generative AI has also brought new development opportunities to software manufacturers. We hope to integrate generative AI technology into manufacturing solutions, making the entire production process and system layout more intelligent, "Xu Shansong told reporters from First Financial, We also integrate simulation platforms with operational data through AI technology, fully utilizing operational data for subsequent machine learning. Machine learning can help us improve and optimize the entire production system. The reason why generative AI technology is important is because it almost integrates the intellectual property (IP) of the entire company
Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturers are actively embracing software technology to accelerate the cycle of vehicle development, design, and production. In August of this year, Nezha Motors announced a partnership with Dassault Systems to fully deploy the 3D experience platform solution DELMIAAPRISO based on Dassault Systems from research and development design to production and manufacturing.
We will increase investment in data, collaboration, and efficiency improvement, driven by data and model algorithms, to improve the efficiency of factory operations, "Dai Dali, Chief Technical Officer of Nezha Automobile, said in a media interview at the Dassault System Summit.
Nezha Motors has announced that it will produce 1 million electric vehicles by 2026. The company has an automobile production line in Tongxiang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, and is expanding its production capacity.
With the increasing frequency of China's new energy vehicle overseas plans, some domestic manufacturers' intelligent production factories can also be replicated abroad through digital simulation technology. In March of this year, Nezha Motors has established a technology factory in Thailand.
Xu Shansong told a reporter from First Financial that "Chinese car manufacturers can first create benchmark projects locally, create some best cases, such as involving production modules or systems, and then replicate them to other countries through virtual twin technology as a model to expand their influence