On February 18, Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, announced on Weibo that Xiaomi's Beijing Changping Smart Factory (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory") was officially completed and put into operation on the same day. The annual production capacity of the factory can reach the order of 10 million units, which is another key milestone in Xiaomi's intelligent manufacturing. With the establishment of the first phase of Xiaomi's smart factory in Yizhuang (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaomi Yizhuang Factory") and Xiaomi's Changping smart factory, Xiaomi's intelligent manufacturing layout is in full swing.
Lei Jun has said that in 2024, while continuing to maintain stable operation, Xiaomi will show a more positive attitude, allowing consumers to see a new Xiaomi to the next level. Facing the future, Lei Jun also revealed Xiaomi's determination to continue to invest in the underlying core technology.
The new smart factory was put into operation.
Lei Jun revealed that the Xiaomi 14 Gulf Blue and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra process innovation verification came from the factory.
According to public information, Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory is the second phase of the smart factory project that Xiaomi focuses on building, and the construction will start in July 2021, with a total construction area of 14110,000 square meters, with a total investment of 12.1 billion yuan. The second phase of the project includes three major sections: Xiaomi Smart Factory, Xiaomi Innovation and Research Center, and Xiaomi Future Industrial Park, and is positioned to build an intelligent industrial park that integrates R&D, testing, production, release, application, and demonstration of intelligent terminal equipment and multi-format integration.
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi's Changping smart factory is Xiaomi's first self-built and self-operated factory that mainly produces flagship machines, with an annual production capacity of more than 10 million units, and is delivered in large-scale mass production, and is Xiaomi's first real smart factory. At present, in addition to undertaking the production tasks of the Xiaomi 14 series, the Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory has also completed the key verification of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra in the production stage.
According to the information previously released by Beijing Changping's official WeChat, most of the work of Xiaomi's Changping smart factory will be completed by intelligent robots after it is put into operation, achieving 24-hour non-stop operation, with an average daily output of up to 30,000 smartphones. Moreover, the factory adopts the world's most advanced automation, digital production line and intelligent manufacturing technology, and penetrates the core capabilities of "data-driven, flexible and agile, global collaboration, green and low-carbon" into all aspects of intelligent manufacturing, and is one of the mobile phone factories with the highest degree of intelligence and digitalization in China.
In order to realize intelligent manufacturing based on full-scene digitalization, Xiaomi Group has also developed the Xiaomi Industrial Digital Intelligence Platform. In terms of intelligent operation, the IAMS intelligent operation management system developed by Xiaomi Group provides comprehensive early warning of factory abnormalities through the deep interconnection and dynamic perception and analysis of all elements in the factory, such as people, machines, materials, methods, and environments, so as to achieve 100% digital control of key manufacturing elements in the whole process, as well as efficient handling of abnormal problems.
At present, the Xiaomi smart factory has completed the installation and commissioning of the first production line, and it is planned that all production lines will be put into operation by the end of 2024, and the annual production capacity is expected to reach 10 million smartphones after all are completed, with an annual output value of about 20 billion yuan.
In-depth layout of intelligent manufacturing.
The official operation of Xiaomi's Changping smart factory shows that Xiaomi is increasing its industrial layout in the field of intelligent manufacturing.
At the end of 2019, Xiaomi's Yizhuang factory was completed and put into operation. The factory has strong R&D attributes and is a large-scale laboratory factory for the pre-research of new processes, new materials and new technologies. In addition, Xiaomi's Yizhuang factory has a fully automated production line, which can produce lights out 24 hours a day, and has the ability to produce one million smartphones per year. Compared with traditional factories, the production efficiency of Xiaomi's Yizhuang factory has increased by 60%.
Compared with Xiaomi's Yizhuang factory, Xiaomi's Changping smart factory is better in terms of production capacity. Lu Weibing, partner and president of Xiaomi Group, revealed in his personal Weibo that the Xiaomi Smart Factory in Yizhuang, Beijing, which was completed three years ago, has an annual output of one million units and is an experimental factory for pre-research of new technologies. The Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory put into production this time is very different, realizing the large-scale mass production of advanced intelligent manufacturing, with an annual production capacity of 10 million flagship mobile phones.
The completion of Xiaomi's Changping Smart Factory demonstrates Xiaomi's advanced intelligent system and strong technical strength. Lu Weibing revealed on Weibo that the self-research rate of the group test package equipment in the Changping Smart Factory has reached 968%, and the self-development rate of the software system of the whole factory has reached 100%. Based on the comprehensive grasp of the underlying layer of the entire software and hardware system, combined with advanced technologies such as IoT, 5G, cloud computing, big data, and AI, Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory has achieved full automation and digitalization, making the factory an intelligent whole.
In terms of production lines, with standardized and modular design, Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory has improved the flexibility of the production line and the reconfigurable ability of equipment to meet the flexible production needs of rapid adaptation to new processes and multiple processes. It solves the problems of poor flexibility of traditional production lines, complex equipment debugging, and difficulty in changing and mixing lines.
With the successive completion and operation of the two factories, Xiaomi's intelligent manufacturing layout is in full swing, and the two Xiaomi factories will form an industrial synergy of "R&D + mass production" together. "Through independent production, Xiaomi can better control production costs, so as to gain a certain competitive advantage in the world. Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, pointed out.
Build hard power of production capacity.
It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi has also developed a complete set of factory intelligent management system called "light chasing platform" for Xiaomi Changping smart factory. The intelligent system can deeply mine and master full-stack production data, realize independent analysis, independent management, independent decision-making, and independent execution, and can also continuously accumulate production experience to achieve independent learning and independent evolution of production processes and processes.
By using advanced production processes, Xiaomi's Changping Smart Factory is able to meet the needs of new, more demanding and diverse manufacturing processes more quickly. Lu Weibing revealed on Weibo that the two customized colors of Xiaomi 14 Gulf Blue and Olive Green are produced in Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory, and the upcoming Xiaomi 14Ultra, a series of advanced process innovations have also completed key production verification in Xiaomi Changping Smart Factory.
The establishment of two self-owned factories is conducive to Xiaomi's further improvement of R&D speed, building hard power of production capacity, and enhancing market competitiveness. Jiang Han believes that its own factory will also help Xiaomi make more breakthroughs in technological innovation and product upgrades. By centralizing R&D and production resources, Xiaomi can launch new products and technologies faster.
The increase in production capacity is helping Xiaomi to occupy more market share in mobile phones around the world.
According to Canalys data, in the third quarter of 2023, Xiaomi ranked among the top three in global smartphone shipments, with a market share of 141%, up 4% year-on-year and 27% month-on-month, and is the only manufacturer among the world's top three mobile phone brands to achieve positive growth. In terms of market, Xiaomi's smartphone market share in all major markets increased month-on-month, and the smartphone market share in Europe reached 233%, and the market share of smartphones in Latin America reached 183%, and the market share of smartphones in Africa reached 107%, a year-on-year increase of 47%, and the market share of the Middle East increased to 177%。
Jiang Han believes that the establishment of its own factory will help Xiaomi better control the production process and product quality, and improve production efficiency and flexibility. At the same time, it will help Xiaomi better meet market demand and improve customer experience. After the establishment of its own factory, it can reduce intermediate links and reduce the risk of the first chain, and Xiaomi can better grasp its own development direction.
At Xiaomi's 2024 kick-off mobilization meeting, Lei Jun said that in 2023, Xiaomi has clarified the new ten-year goal from 2020 to 2030: continue to invest in the underlying core technology and strive to become a new generation of global hard-core technology leader.