Interview with DDD Era Think Tank: How Gotion High-tech Empowers the New Energy Industry with Pan-Semiconductor Smart Manufacturing Experience?
"The smart manufacturing needs of the lithium battery industry are highly similar to those of the pan-semiconductor industry in terms of extreme quality, equipment stability, and capacity release." "We were incubated from the pan-semiconductor industry and have accumulated extensive experience in pan-semiconductor and new energy smart manufacturing. This is our unique advantage in cross-border empowerment and超前 development for the new energy industry," said Dr. Li Nan, General Manager of Gotion High-tech's New Energy Business Unit.
As the lithium battery industry approaches the TWh era, high-efficiency and high-quality delivery will become key competitive advantages for companies, with digitalization and intelligence being crucial. As a national cross-industry platform enterprise originating from pan-semiconductor manufacturing, Gotion High-tech excels in industrial software and system R&D for尖端 manufacturing and is a leading provider of full-stack factory integration services. By extending and reusing advanced experience and innovative technologies from pan-semiconductor smart manufacturing, Gotion High-tech has brought升维 empowerment advantages to over 20 industries, including new energy.
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Let the new energy industry enjoy smart manufacturing红利 fasterLast year, Gotion High-tech analyzed its extension capabilities, product applicability, and industry competition barriers, deciding to focus on new energy as the next key赛道, targeting lithium batteries and光伏, with lithium batteries being the top priority.
"We chose to enter the lithium battery industry because our smart manufacturing experience from the pan-semiconductor industry can be quickly applied, reducing摸索 costs and allowing the industry to enjoy the huge红利 of smart manufacturing faster. We also observed that new energy itself is growing rapidly, representing a large incremental market worth long-term investment," Li Nan mentioned.
Data supports Li Nan's view. DDD Era Think Tank (TD) predicts that lithium battery equipment investment will peak in 2022 (230 billion yuan), while digital investment continues to grow rapidly, reaching 12 billion yuan in 2022 and increasing to 28 billion yuan by 2025. Meanwhile, the new energy industry's automation level is high and improving, moving towards full automation, with companies making progress but also facing弯路 and costs.
In this context, the "ahead" pan-semiconductor industry has become a reference for many new energy companies in smart manufacturing practice. Known as the "crown jewel of advanced manufacturing" due to complex processes, high reliability requirements, and difficult data analysis, the pan-semiconductor industry has rigorously tested Gotion High-tech, fostering strong technical support and empowerment capabilities for new energy——"Our past experience in full-automation production system control,整套 CIM systems, including upper-layer big data quality analysis applications and visual inspection, can be seamlessly applied to new energy factories with excellent applicability," Li Nan said.
The pan-semiconductor background brings not only technology and solutions but also advanced manufacturing concepts and management methods. "Many clients feel they are not just buying a system but our management experience and理念 from the pan-semiconductor field," Li Nan added. "For example, Gotion High-tech has沉淀 a整套 equipment management logic methodology with high universality, quickly replicable to new energy with minor adjustments based on on-site engineering logic."
Now, with deeper digitalization in lithium batteries,单纯 implementing an MES system no longer meets needs. Whether it's蜂巢 energy's AI factory or宁德时代's high-quality factory, both use大量 AI technology. The integration of AI and digital technology demands more from digital service providers. Gotion High-tech, from the pan-semiconductor industry, always emphasizes innovation-supported product and equipment quality management, aligning with lithium battery companies' needs. Li Nan revealed that Gotion High-tech's smart yield management system YMS,天枢 AI visual inspection, and quality management system QMS are highly recognized in the lithium battery industry, with projects underway in multiple factories.
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"The lithium battery industry is in a capacity expansion phase. How to shorten the产能爬坡期 through digital means while ensuring product quality and reducing per watt-hour battery manufacturing costs is the core challenge," Li Nan judged.
Li Nan pointed out that lithium battery companies' needs have shifted from single MES systems to end-to-end smart factory systems. Gotion High-tech provides comprehensive solutions from business, operation, informatization, and intelligence perspectives, focusing on capacity, quality, and cost, with clear advantages over pure MES providers.
For example, on equipment and production line stability issues affecting capacity, Gotion High-tech has rich solutions. Collaborating with lithium battery equipment manufacturers, it develops equipment management software with quality analysis and production line control systems, helping improve信息化能力, making equipment more stable, and reducing the gap between actual and theoretical capacity.
For production line stability, rapid capacity ramp-up requires stable equipment operation and improved product consistency and yield. Leveraging pan-semiconductor experience, Gotion High-tech integrates计划管理, recipe management, process parameter monitoring, warning management, and other systems on traditional MES, achieving CIM system国产化替代 and自主可控, ensuring compliant production execution while enabling real-time monitoring and精细化管理 of production equipment processes, effectively supporting yield and capacity improvement.
Similar to the pan-semiconductor industry, lithium battery companies adopt a "zero tolerance" attitude towards defects for higher quality and yield. Relying on its industrial internet platform and multi-factor analysis technology, Gotion High-tech collects data from all process stages, analyzes it to find optimal parameters, improving product consistency, reducing defects, and enhancing safety performance. "With data, we can analyze consistency parameters affecting product safety to help companies improve yield," Li Nan said.
Besides capacity and quality, under the "carbon neutrality" background, lithium battery energy consumption is a key concern. Gotion High-tech has accumulated rich energy management experience and technology from serving energy-intensive pan-semiconductor industries, attracting lithium battery companies to collaborate on reducing energy consumption through equipment management. Currently, Gotion High-tech's equipment management system helps reduce energy consumption by 5%~10%, saving significant energy costs.
Currently, in the lithium battery industry, Gotion High-tech's business covers the entire产业链, including materials, anodes/cathodes, electrolytes, cell pack, and automotive整车, providing tailored empowerment services. For化工-like material ends, it offers solutions like equipment management systems for direct business value; for cell, pack, and automotive, it provides overall smart factory solutions based on replicable benchmark cases to meet complex, diverse needs.
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紧扣 business value, promoting industry digital empowerment破局In lithium battery smart manufacturing services, besides foreign giants like Siemens, Dassault, and SAP, there are few large, comprehensive domestic players, and the industry格局 is far from settled. In fact, due to lack of business perspective and experience in full-automation production line control, most companies' system建设 suffer from散,乱,差 problems——"散" means digitalization is point-based, e.g., MES this year, WMS next, APS later; "乱" means lack of overall planning and sequence optimization; "差" means勉强 using,甚至 "too many companies abandon a system within three years."
"Rather than simply implementing a system, Gotion High-tech aims to bring real value to lithium battery companies," Li Nan said. Compared to other domestic digital service providers, especially traditional MES players, Gotion High-tech is more of a "破局者," bringing升维 advantages from its pan-semiconductor background and紧扣 business value to promote industry digital empowerment from multiple dimensions:
First, from a business perspective, truly挖掘 value. Li Nan believes the biggest difference is Gotion High-tech's basis in TCL Group's 41 years of manufacturing experience and rich scenarios from three major industries,擅长从业务视角出发, helping companies improve capacity and quality through business梳理 and信息化系统建设, truly挖掘 digital value on the shop floor. Thus, before proposing solutions, Gotion High-tech starts from indicators like DQIE, identifies root problems, derives solutions and costs, calculates ROI to judge value and feasibility.
Second, deeper understanding of full-automation production line control. In new energy digitalization, traditional MES-focused providers pay less attention to automation, focusing more on单一方向信息化, collecting data upward but lacking management闭环 and "downward" operation. In contrast, Gotion High-tech has achieved control of full-automation production lines in pan-semiconductor, not only collecting information but also反向控制, like AGV logistics control and industrial parameter upload/download, truly integrating信息化系统 with automation lines. This understanding and experience are key for new energy companies to enhance smart manufacturing.
Third, industrial intelligence积淀 and engineering capability. As an MIIT-certified "cross-industry cross-field industrial internet platform," Gotion High-tech has served numerous manufacturing companies across industries, providing fertile ground for model algorithm cultivation,沉淀 rich industrial models in quality analysis, visual inspection, equipment maintenance, and planning. Reportedly, Gotion High-tech's industrial application intelligent platform has nearly 30,000 industrial models, forming a true "hard barrier" with strong scenario cultivation and engineering capability.
In fact, the mindset of starting from business and紧扣 business value is deeply ingrained in Gotion High-tech's基因——nearly half the staff have OT backgrounds; in Li Nan's new energy unit, 90% of sales teams come from lithium battery and光伏 industries, and to better understand client needs, the team includes lean consultants, lithium battery production consultants, and business consultants. Li Nan herself is a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, with over 10 years of experience in manufacturing excellence and digital transformation project implementation, serving over 50 pan-semiconductor and new energy companies.
Regarding this year's goals, Li Nan hopes to secure more top clients in lithium batteries, help 1-2 companies build benchmark factories, and implement 10 high-business-value cases.
In the future, facing the broad development space of lithium battery digitalization, Gotion High-tech will continue to deepen its efforts, helping companies truly achieve smart manufacturing transformation. "We hope Gotion High-tech can become a共创人 for lithium battery companies' smart manufacturing strategic leap," Li Nan said.
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