Scholar's point of view - focus on Kunshan to deepen cross-strait manufacturing cooperation

From: Business Times Li Wo Wall Professor, Department of Finance, Tamkang University and Deputy Director, Cross-Strait Financial Research Center

Kunshan, China is a pilot zone for deepening cooperation between the two sides of the strait, and is also a key area for high-end manufacturing. The author was fortunate to be invited to participate in the cross-strait industrial cooperation forum held in Kunshan on June 24, with two or three hundred people from both sides of the strait. The conference spindles are divided into the IC Semiconductor Industry Forum, the Smart Manufacturing and Energy Automotive Industry Forum, the Biotechnology and Health Industry Forum and the Green Development Forum. Coincidentally, Hon Hai's Foxconn Technology Group signed a “Comprehensive Deepening Strategic Cooperation Agreement” of RMB 25 billion with the Kunshan Municipal Government on the previous day. The investment projects include many high-end smart manufacturing. To be fair, Hon Hai is an internationally renowned company. The global layout is understandable, but the hidden meaning behind the investment in mainland China is not only the deteriorating investment environment in Taiwan, but also the magnetic effect of the Chinese mainland. Xiao Yan. The author believes that if the two sides of the strait can cooperate, it is possible to solve the dilemma faced by Taiwan's manufacturing industry.

Furthermore, the current global manufacturing industry faces five major problems: labor reduction, rising costs, shortened product and service life cycles, accelerated changes in demand, and shortage of technology R&D. Similarly, Taiwan is also facing many difficulties such as rising wages, social labor security requirements, shortened product life cycles, global competition, diversified customer demand, rising raw material costs, energy shortages, green manufacturing requirements and labor decline; Six shortages (lack of water, lack of electricity, lack of land, lack of work, lack of talent, lack of market). As far as the labor shortage is concerned, the birth rate of Taiwan's population has been declining year by year. The labor force has been declining year by year from now (2017), and the per capita output value is also facing a key turning point. Consumers are pursuing personalization, and mass production models will be made up of a small number of customized forms. Instead, it has a huge impact on the manufacturing industry. In view of this, advanced countries such as Europe and the United States are the first to introduce smart manufacturing technology, and thus lead a global trend. Smart Manufacturing is a human-machine integrated intelligent system composed of intelligent machines and human experts. It can perform intelligent analysis, reasoning, judgment, conception and decision making in the manufacturing process.

It cannot be rumored that Taiwan has undergone a long and arduous effort to move from a capital-intensive industry to a technologically-innovative industry, to the stage of innovation-intensive industries, and even to the current productivity of 4.0, that is, to enter the stage of smart manufacturing. However, in the face of the above difficulties, development seems to have many obstacles; Zhuo Yongcai, chairman of Shangyin Technology, mentioned that cross-strait smart manufacturing should actively cooperate, and it is indeed necessary. The author believes that the cross-strait wisdom manufacturing cooperation model can be started by cooperating in the formulation of standards, brand building, industry-university cooperation and preparation of R&D innovation platform.

(1) Establishing a common standard system: There is a saying that “no rules, no squares”; in other words, the key premise of cross-strait wisdom manufacturing cooperation is to establish a complete “common standard” system; Many excellent cross-strait enterprises participate in and integrate into the system to achieve wider cooperation and docking, such as cooperation in smart factories or robotics.

(II) Building a smart manufacturing brand: In the face of increasingly fierce global competition, cross-strait manufacturing industries lack globally renowned brands. If cross-strait enterprises can integrate into the industrial chain, they will build smart manufacturing brands. It can not only be based on the mainland market, but also enhance international competitiveness and jointly earn the world's money.

(3) Wisdom manufacturing industry-university cooperation: Cross-strait manufacturing industry can further promote the application of higher scientific research results in related industries and promote the integration of “production” and “learning”; one, the scientific research results of universities can be applied in related industries. In addition, it can accelerate the integration and development of the cross-strait smart manufacturing industry. It can also provide technical consultation, training support, and various exchanges for enterprises.

(4) Forming a joint R&D and collaborative innovation mechanism: It is also necessary for the two sides to jointly promote the position of manufacturing in the global value chain through joint research and development. For example, in the Kunshan Experimental Zone, a research and development platform was jointly established to develop new technologies and new products, and to promote collaborative innovation and production. While continuously improving research and development capabilities and deepening cooperation, they jointly competed in the global smart manufacturing market to create a double vision.

Through cross-strait cooperation, it is possible to solve the difficulties faced by Taiwan's manufacturing industry. The photo shows the cross-strait industrial cooperation forum held in Kunshan on June 24th. Photograph of this newspaper