Made in China 2025 is a ten-year initiative to make China the dominant power in Industry 4.0 and associated fields like robotics and AI. The plan is to become a manufacturing superpower and to be largely self-sufficient when it comes to technology. Rexroth has been part of the plan since the beginning.
Rexroth’s support has included implementation of Industry 4.0 processes in China, co-design of robotics factories, and a focus on synergy between China and Rexroth’s native Germany.
In the U.S. the Made in China 2025 program has been making enemies. But China is the largest robotics market in the world, accounting for nearly one third of all sales in the past year.
And Chinese manufacturing is facing some significant challenges. American manufacturers are reshoring, creating a slow down in manufacturing growth in China. But the most important challenges may be the cause of reshoring, rather than the changes in U.S. demand.
China’s wages are rising. Since manufacturing is increasingly becoming a matter of few humans and many machines, China’s low wages were the only reason for offshoring rather than automating. China has automatic minimum wage increases, and Chinese workers are demanding higher wages. These factors cut the cost difference between Chinese factories and taking the plunge into more automation.
Add the complications of communication and logistics and offshoring becomes less appealing.
China’s working-age population is also decreasing. A lack of workers may be a predictable result of an intentional low birth rate, but China is facing a need for automation simply because of their aging population. By 2025, China expects to have a drop in the workforce of one third — some 212 million workers.
Since China has relatively few immigrants and slow productivity growth, they need innovative approaches to manufacturing of they want to be a manufacturing super power.
Made in China 2025 is intended to bring those innovative approaches to the table.
Meanwhile, if you need support for your Rexroth electric industrial motion control system, give us a call. We’re specialists, and we provide phone support and field support as well as factory repair and reman.