Chapter 1241: Prototype for the Future Industry
After seeing the factory of Zhongshan New Materials, w.a.n.g Wei was merely shocked. However, after witnessing what happened next, he was flabbergasted.
He chose the type of product he needed on the tablet, as well as a series of parameters such as weight, size, design style, etc. Then they drove to the restaurant where they were having lunch.
After lunch, he and Lu Zhou returned to the factory again. The “customized” drone prototype was flying right in front of him.
In less than a few hours, the drone turned from an “idea” into a reality. If it weren’t for the world-renowned scholar standing next to him, he might even be tempted to suspect that this was actually a scheme from Star Sky Technology just to shock people.
Seeing how surprised w.a.n.g Wei was, Lu Zhou smiled and explained as he looked at the unique logistics drone.
“BYD battery, DJI electric motor, Huawei carbon chip, and Zhongshan New Material electrode and blade materials… All of the parts were completed by the Star Voyage One server. These parts were s.h.i.+pped through an automated logistics system, then two pairs of industrial-grade robotic arms completed the a.s.sembly. Isn’t it amazing?”
w.a.n.g Wei nodded.
“… It is.”
This wasn’t just amazing…
He had no idea how all of this was done in just two hours.
Even if Star Sky Technology had a close relations.h.i.+p with major manufacturers, normally it would still take a lot of discussions and negotiations to build a production chain.
In any case, this was definitely not a task that could be completed in two hours.
Lu Zhou smiled at w.a.n.g Wei.
“I understand how you feel. In fact, ever since the industrial revolution, the effective allocation and connection of resources have been the two major bottlenecks restricting the advancement of productivity.
“If a dairy factory wants to produce cartons of milk, they must first find the demand from the market, then use their own industry experience or network to select suitable carton factories and ranches. They would have to sign multiple contracts just to form a simple industrial chain.
“This process is called resource connection.
“Even though it sounds simple, this stage actually contains many hidden costs. For example, the relations.h.i.+ps of the business owners, the management interests, and even regional policies and regulations. Normally, we cannot determine whether an industrial chain is efficient. We can only screen it through the market and find the efficient parts. The inefficient parts will eventually go bankrupt.
“This model ensures that the maximum amount of social resources flows to where they could be used as efficiently as possible.
“But now the problem is that, why does a monopoly giant, who operates a ranch, a boxing factory, and a dairy processing company, often does better than those companies that only play a single link in the industry chain?”
w.a.n.g Wei didn’t have to think for a long time.
The answer was obvious.
“Because they can control the cost of each production link and complete the connection of production resources within the enterprise. This reduces costs. If the entire industry chain is longer, the more links they control, the higher their efficiency.”
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.
“That’s basically it.
“In fact, this is the biggest improvement of the smart industry over the traditional industry. All of the links involving human partic.i.p.ants are uncertain and inefficient, including the connection of resources.
“Therefore, we use AI to replace manual labor and efficiently allocate resources.
“The Jinling high-tech zone has been working on an intelligent manufacturing system for two years. We have established an independent quality and standard system and a.s.signed production tasks to each production unit through computer servers. AI will build the entire industrial chain, not human labor.
“The first to use this system was the Skyglow aeros.p.a.ceplane. Back then, many people were puzzled as to how we could build an aeros.p.a.ceplane out of thin air, without a factory.
“In fact, we didn’t build the plane at all. It was just a.s.sembled in our equipment center. The parts and components needed for a.s.sembly were automatically a.s.signed to factories through standardized orders. We decide what we need, and the next day, the industrial factories get to work.”
Seeing how shocked w.a.n.g Wei was, Lu Zhou smiled and said, “I want to give this drone as a gift to you, CEO w.a.n.g.
“I wonder if you like it?”
“Of course I like it!”
w.a.n.g Wei snapped back to reality and looked at Lu Zhou with a solemn expression as he said, “On behalf of Shunfeng, I’d like to accept this precious gift!”
…
After returning to Shenzhen from Jinling, w.a.n.g Wei began to think.
What he witnessed at the Jinling high-tech zone deeply shocked him.
He didn’t realize how powerful the Jinling high-tech zone was.
Star Voyage One was like a brain.
This brain had established a set of production standards, and every factory that met this set of standards was integrated into this production system called the “smart industry”.
This brain controlled every factory in the factory zone, creating an “intelligent manufacturing system”. They were like muscle cells, connected by a complete neural network.
Although they were under different companies, the overall power they had was enough to rival any monopoly giant, in terms of efficiency and cost.
For some reason, w.a.n.g Wei had a strange thought in his mind.
Maybe in the future, everyone can open their own factory.
Of course, in his mind, this factory was just an abstract concept.
An ordinary person, as long as they had basic design knowledge and a.s.sembled standardized parts using DIY methods, they could create products that meet the customers’ needs. Just like inputting parameters to a 3D printer, the entire intelligent industrial system was like a large-scale 3D printer, serving the entire society.
Everything was completed in the intelligent manufacturing network. There was no need for a burn-in period. All of the individuals operated in an efficient and transparent system that seamlessly connected production capacity and demand.
It seemed like a prototype of the future industry was taking shape.
If this system could grow and mature, not only would the middlemen be eliminated, but people’s creativity would also be completely liberated… They would no longer be controlled by the hands of a few monopoly giants.
Labor would become cheaper and cheaper, and knowledge and creativity would become more valuable. All society’s needs could be precisely met and satisfied with this “intelligent factory machine”.
Even though these things had nothing to do with Shunfeng, w.a.n.g Wei started to become intrigued.
He had already seen a prototype of this futuristic industrial system. However, it seemed like Star Sky Technology had not yet connected this system to individual users. It was only available between factories in the high-tech zone.
Shunfeng’s strength in the logistics area could totally fill this gap in this market and connect this intelligent manufacturing system with individual users.
He began to breathe deeply.
This was like a gold mine, sitting right in front of him…
After he returned to the office, he immediately found the vice president and said, “Connect the people at Star Sky Technology immediately. I want to hand over the entire smart logistics network to them.”
Vice president: “Shouldn’t we hold a meeting first?”
w.a.n.g Wei said, “I’ll deal with the board, just do what I say.”
“… But what about our agreement with New Science Manufacturing?”
“Star Sky Technology is more important than New Science Manufacturing.” w.a.n.g Wei said decisively, “Just pay the liquidated damages to New Science Manufacturing.”