Production automation and smart factory play an important role in the development phase of Industry 4.0. Many manufacturers are gradually adopting automation in their productions to enhance product quality and stability.
Group 32 (Hong Kong Automation Technology Council) of the FHKI organised a 5-day mission to Shanghai and Suzhou on 30 August. Robert Lai, Chairman of the Council, led a group of 20 delegates to visit eight factories to learn from their automation facilities and systems, as well as to know more about the demand of the industrial automation in different sectors. These eight factories include ABB Engineering (Shanghai) Ltd, SAIC Volkswagen Automotive Co Ltd, OMRON (Shanghai) Co Ltd, Kingdom Precision Product (Suzhou) Co Ltd, Kawasaki Precision Machinery (Suzhou) Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Automation Manufacturing (Changshu) Co Ltd, Suzhou Iron Technology Co Ltd and Shanghai Machine Tooling System.
In addition to the factory visits, the Council connected automation-related associations through this mission. The Shanghai-Hong Kong Roundtable Meeting on Automation Industry and Suzhou-Hong Kong Exchange Session were held in Shanghai and Suzhou respectively. With the support from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, representatives from the Chinese Association of Automation-Shanghai, Shanghai Electrical Automation R&D Institute, Shanghai Science and Technology Exchange Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Baosight joined the meeting to foster mutual exchanges regarding the development, technologies and market of the automation industry in the Mainland. “Many overseas buyers requested Hong Kong manufacturers to upgrade and achieve Industry 4.0. With the prevalence of ‘Made in China 2025’, Hong Kong manufacturers should be positive and innovative in order to tap into this opportunity.” Mr Lai said at the meeting. He also revealed that this mission provided a good platform for automation industry players in Hong Kong to get the latest industrial development and technical knowledge to explore the Mainland market.
This mission is one of the activities of the project Hong Kong Automation Industry- Promote the branding of Hong Kong Automation and assisting industry players to explore the industrial automation market in China, funded by the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (Organisation Support Programme) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The project aims to promote intelligent manufacturing, provide automation information of different industries and strengthen the competitiveness of the Hong Kong Automation Industry.
