In the early days of reform and opening up, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta region became the home of almost all the well-known labor-intensive enterprises in the world in a short period of time. Workers from all over the country flocked to find work. At that time, the relative surplus of labor resources greatly satisfied the active choice of enterprises. The cheap labor market is an indispensable factor for China's "world factory" name. Therefore, China's manufacturing has quickly occupied the international low-end products market, which has stimulated the rapid development of China's foreign trade enterprises. However, after we entered the 21st century, the situation of working in cities seems to have reversed.

       Relevant information shows that at the beginning of 2012, the total number of workers in Guangdong Province was about 800,000, and the demand for manufacturing labor was the largest, accounting for 20% of the current employment. The top three industries: clothing, electronics, and food manufacturing are divided into labor gaps. According to the 2011 Tracking Survey Report of 1000 Private Enterprises, 79.4% of private entrepreneurs believe that recruitment in 2012 is " quite difficult "or "a little difficulte". At the end of 2011, Lin Pingfan, a researcher at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said in the media that the problem of recruitment difficulties has existed since 2005. The advantages of human resources in the coastal areas have gradually weakened, the demographic dividend has become smaller, and the cheap labor has been rapidly decreasing . Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to turn around, and the problem of recruitment and labor shortage will become increasingly more prominent.

       From "demographic dividend" to "rising pressure”

      As mentioned above, nowadays, the days have already passed that China's coastal enterprises maintain labor advantages. The central government's support for the mainland's policies has transited from the "western development" to the "revitalization of the Northeast" and "central rise" by encouraging capital and technology, and sppeding up the development of urban and rural integration. The inland economic development is constantly close to that of coastal areas. Some coastal local enterprises are also taking advantage of the lower inland labor force to move some production units to the hinterland of China. Among them, perhaps the most representative company is Foxconn. In addition to Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Sichuan etc, keep moving their industry to the inland. As the first element of productivity: people are also gradually returning to their hometowns. To some extent, the coastal and inland areas seem to be playing a "competition for migrant workers."

       The domestic large-scale production network pulse transformer manufacturer,  general manager Jing Liangcai, Dongguan Mingpu Industrial Co., Ltd, said that Mingpu's manpower recruitment in Dongguan is still normal, but it is quite difficult to recruit people during the high turnover time before and after the Spring Festival. Although the recruitment pressure of personnel is not high now, he also said that the gap between the inland and Dongguan salary is gradually narrowing, and the attractive advantage of coastal workers is reducing. During the interview, the reporter saw Mingpu's recruitment notice in the most prominent positionfront of the front company. On the factory floor, a banner over ten meters long was also printed: a large number of female workers are recruited, and the monthly salary could reach 2,600 RMB.

       Mr Jiang Jianping, the deputy general manager of Jiangsu Chenyang Electronics Co., Ltd, manufacturing a large-scale high-frequency transformer in East China, said that Chen Yang's salary for this year's employees has reached 2,500 yuan, up nearly 500 yuan compared with the same period last year.

       From " manufacturing in China" to " researching in China"

         Despite the difficulty of recruiting workers and the shortage of labor to bring the production of enterprises to a passive situation every year, the dominant position of "Made in China is still difficult to break in the short-term global time. The industrial chain foundation formed in the past decades has been relatively perfect, and the product quality has been continuously in line with the international standards. What is more important is that the scale advantage of Chinese enterprises has won the big orders of international industry giants.

       According to reports, in February, Hitachi announced that it will hand over the TV manufacturing business to overseas manufacturers by the end of September this year. In other words, Hitachi is gradually divesting its TV manufacturing business since 1956, and will reduce the cost and strengthen the revenue structure in the form of overseas OEMs. Japanese companies such as Sony, Sharp and Panasonic also plan to gradually expand the proportion of overseas OEMs. According to IHSiSuppli's data, foundry production accounts for 34% of the world's 100 LCD TVs. In this large-scale contract for foundry, the foundry enterprises in mainland China are divided into the industrial and commercial enterprises in Taiwan. The cheap labor-intensive enterprises that still have the advantage are still the main factors that receive orders from overseas OEMs.

       Although man is the first element of productivity, the most important first productivity is technology. It is also Foxconn,  a representative of the labor-intensive enterprises that has proposed the "Million Robots" program in the near future, which is to invest 100 billion yuan to build 1 million robots in three years. It means reducing the number of workers, the rising cost of employment, and improving the company's automation and production efficiency.

       First "manufacturing", then "smart manufacturing". Foxconn's approach may also reflect the upgrade of manufacturing industries in the eastern coastal areas.

      Having been established for Twenty-three years, the industry has a deep history. The general manager of Dongguan Yinli Electronics Co., Ltd, specializing in manufacturing EI-type low-frequency transformers, said that Yin Li is not at a very passive position, but similarly, there are also problems with recruitment difficulties like most of other factories. In the short term, Yinli will not move the factory, but make an industrial upgrade in the eastern coastal areas. Yinli is also concerned about the situation of automation equipment. He said that it is better to start from semi-automatic because at present, about 30% of the factories in the market are the orders from thousands RMB to tens of thousands RMB per month,  the proportion of hundreds of thousands RMB, an order is still relatively small. And the automation equipment in the factory mainly produces the designated equipment regardless of the size and specifications of the product etc. Manager Peng said that the bosses of each factory have a certain understanding of automation equipment. No one would say that they would only use people without automation.

       It is mainly produced in Taiwan, a listed company that develops magnetic components such as network filters, module power supplies, converters etc, and Hanhan Electronics (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd, wholly-owned by Taiwan Hanhan Co., Ltd, said that Mr Lin, who is in charge of IT information this year. Han arranges people according to the order quantity. Although the current number of employees can basically meet the production requirements, it has been recruiting since the festival. In the "employment shortage" environment, it will also encounter difficulties in recruiting workers. At this stage, we are considering the streamlining of personnel through the form of production automation to achieve the purpose of reducing costs, management, labor and other expenses.

       Mr Tong Yangwei, general manager of Huizhou Aode Electronics Co., Ltd, which specializes in the production of transformers and inductor automation equipment, tells a story that when the labor cost pressure in 2009 has not yet been highlighted, a customer with good relationship with Australia and Germany in the selection of both the winding machine and the single-axis winding machine, he purchase 1,000 single-axis winding machines. However, less than two years, the pressure on enterprise's labor costs is  becoming more apparent and its expenditure is  increasing surged heavier. He realized that he needed to switch to an automated production model. Therefore he required to give up that 300 units euipment , but exchanged 700 sets of corresponding automation equipment.

       Any aspect of the industry should prepare for danger in times of peace. Aussie has always adhered to this philosophy in the development process. During the financial crisis of the previous two years, Aude has done the "old-for-new" campaign, and customers can continue to use the new equipment in Australia if they make up the difference of price on the original equipment. Perhaps this concept can be a marketing method adopted by equipment companies. 

       Whether the product should be simplistic. 

       Even though electronic transformers and inductor companies have a positive attitude towards automation production, they have expressed different concerns and doubts about the automation equipment currently on the market.

         Regarding the automatic concern, Mr Jing Liangcai, the general manager of Dongguan Mingpu Industrial Co., Ltd, told reporters that many power transformers are customized and often need to produce different non-standard products. If you use fully automatic line change, it is not easy. Secondly, if the fully automatic equipment fails, it will cause the entire production to stop working, which will bring a lot of trouble difficute to company and the customer. Some automation equipment requires technicians to carry out maintenance and repair. When encountering frequent times, the cost of technicians is higher than that of general workers.

       Despite this, Mr Jing pointed the solution to a semi-automatic form. He said that in semi-automatic, first, compared with simple labor, the efficiency is relatively fast, and the cost of input is not very high. Second, after semi-automatic input, we also hope to achieve "modularization", that is, in this device, when the model is changed, as long as the corresponding part is removed, the replacement of the docked module can continue to be produced. After introducing the concept of "modularization", one can produce fast for the enterprise and the investment cost is not high.

        He said that Mingpu evaluated that it needed sixt months or a year to cover the money invested, and Mingpu did it. In addition to the "costdown", assessment indicator, it also involves the time-saving assessment of product hours, which is converted into labor-related costs based on the saved labor hours. Mingpu began to gradually upgrade semi-automatic production methods in 2009, saving more than 400 employees in 10 and 11 years. In addition, if you can be satisfied with the equipment when the customer is inspected, it is also an invisible advantage. He said that the two most visible goals of using automation are to reduce labor costs pressure ; the second is to improve product quality and customer satisfaction.

    Mr Jiang from Jiangsu Chenyang Electronics Co., Ltd told reporters that Chenyang just purchased a batch of fully automated winding machines in March. Mr Jiang said that it is mainly based on the production and customer's demand for goods for testing, seeing how its efficiency is. Semi-automatic equipment has been used before, and this time the main attempt is a fully automatic winding machine.

         Mr Lin of Shuhan Electronics said that although there are some technical problems encountered in the process of automated production, the processes or a small application of a product can only be completed by semi-automation, and the whole process havenot been realized for the time being. However, many years ago, Yihan began to produce through automation, especially after the 2008 financial crisis, it increased the intensity of automation.

      We can see the production efficiency improved, and the operators cleared (Mingpu semi-automatically saved more than 400 people since 2009), but the production has been improved a lot. Besides, the automation also the electronic transformer and Inductor companies have brought their customers' recognition: about a company with automation equipment production and a manufacturer with no mechanical operation, customers undoubtedly regard the former one in the ranks of advancing with the times. The imperceptible idea is the subtle embodiment of corporate image. Its hidden benefits on manufacturers should not be underestimated.

           Professor Jin of Dongguan City Dazhong Electronics Co., Ltd, a domestic manufacturer of electronic transformers, inductors and power adapters, said that if there is an automated machine in the future, it can be combined with an interface in the E and I chips. The welding process provides an opportunity for automation. Professor Jin told reporters that Dazhong is preparing to introduce some 8-axis, 10-axis, and 12-axis winding machines to produce products with simpler processes and high output, like high-frequency inductors. A winding machine for a high-frequency multi-axis machine to reduce labor and increase production.

       From the above views of several transformers and inductor companies, it can be seen that as the most intensive manufacturing industry in China, electronic component manufacturers also hope to improve production efficiency, the production efficiency from equipment improvement, and ease human recruitment and cost pressures. However, transformers and inductors have become a common concern in the industry because of their inherent nature. It is a general concern wether orders for non-standard products can be produced through mechanical scale production.

       To this end, the reporter learned from the manager Yu, Dezhou Youdian Electronics Co., Ltd, enjoying"Taiwan winding machine production origin" specializeing in the production of transformer coil winding equipment, multi-axis automatic winding machine, unmanned automatic assembly line design and manufacturing that Dezhou Youdian is now the most popular 8-Way automatic winding machine for the DSW-4208P-TP, which is mainly used to complete the multi-angle stitching function and quick change winding. The function design of the fixture, with one-time winding and tape-wrapping functions, automatic cable management and waste wire elimination function, no residual residual line, etc. The price of each unit is about 200,000 yuan; it is suitable for customers of high-frequency transformers, stepping motors, relays, solenoid valve coils and inductors.

       When it comes to the recycling time of automation equipment costs, in Shenzhen, the salary of an employee is 3,000 yuan. Taking the DSW-4208P-TP as an example, the life of the machine is about 10 years. If a certain product model in the EE16 series is produced, it is generally 3~5 windings, and each winding can correspond to one DSW-4208P-TP automatic rubberized winding machine. One person and one machine usually take 1200/hour to accomplish a product. The passing rate of the current test standard is 99.2%, and the failure rate is only within 0.8%. Non-automated manual operations require three people to replace, and the average pass rate is only 95%. After calculation, it can be known that according to the 10-year life cycle of the machine, the daily usage fee is about 56 yuan, and the capacity is 1200 pieces per hour done by skilled employees. In the same unit hour, it can produce up to 400 pieces per hour, including a 3% to 5% of failure rate, while daily expenditure of each employee is more than 100 yuan.

       In the 2012 China (Shenzhen) International Winding Equipment Exhibition, the most well-known Japanese Tanaka Seiki related personnel of the world's automated winding machine learned that the 6-axis automatic winding of the model MX3606 was at the exhibition, about 250,000 yuan. If the switching power transformer EP14/15 is used for an winding object, the unit output per hour can reach 1500 pieces, which can replace the 8 human operation of the same output. And the product's pass rate is also increased to 90% even higher, compared to only 60% to 70% of the artificial product pass rate. Besides the machine has a conservative life of at least 5 years or more, suitable for LCD backlights, high and low voltage coils, fire high and low voltage coils, sensor coils, solenoid valve coils, automotive injector coils, automotive ABS, charger coils, small communication coils, printer nozzle coils, stepper motors, mid-week tuning Coils, automotive instrument coils, relays, camera lens drive motor coils, switching power supply transformers, EE-type transformers, EI-type transformers, I-shaped inductors, and small chip inductors etc.

       If calculated according to 3,000 yuan / person / month  in the Pearl River Delta region, the company's expenditures for employees, including social security and other expenses, it is shown as the following table:

       The person further pointed out that there isnot major fault, basically if the machine is daily simple cleaning and correct use. Even if the problem occurs, the factory will  provide the corresponding technicanl staff to maintain. 

      Mr. Rong, the world's leading automation winding leader, and the senior engineer customer service center of Japan Ritec Mechanical Engineering Co., Ltd said that the equipment of Hittite has certain appeal in the winding products of bulk production and has attracted the attention of the market. At the same time, Hitt also attaches great importance to customer requirements and ideas, and combines R&D equipment and procedures. He went on to say that from the feedback of customers, the automated production has greatly improved the output and quality of the products, and the personnel can also achieve cost reduction.

       Mr. Rong also showed a fully automatic device for multi-turn inductor winding to the reporter. The author saw this equipment from winding, soldering, detection to discharge, etc, a series of processes are smoothly completed under unmanned operation. Efficient automated operation greatly increases production efficiency and the number of products.

       Structured design meets multiple types of product requirements

       What the transformer needs is to change the voltage input and output are unchanged, and its structure will not be changed too much. Therefore, manufacturers rarely make large adjustments to the transformer structure due to the consideration of the design cost of the entire circuit board.

       Dezhou Youdian Manager proposed that different components be designed into the automation equipment according to the different products. The whole machine is unchanged, and the surrounding configuration can be realized by changing different components. Mr. Rong, a Japanese mechanical engineering company, said that nowadays, automated machinery can be customized to a large extent according to the needs of customers' products.

     The reporter learned from Mr Feng, responsible man of Dongguan Potai Automation Technology Co., Ltd, who  introduced the Japan's automatic winding machine technology, the design, production and sales of automatic multi-axis winding machine to Chinese market that machine like Botai 4216, this type of automatic winding machine, is 16 axes, and 42mm shaft spacing. Products with a diagonal or diameter of the skeleton within 42mm like ignition coils, relays, inductors, high and low frequency transformers, micromotors (stepping motors, synchronous motors) etc, are suitable for coil types. If the inductor is produced in the early stage and the relay is produced later, the loading frame and the 16 axes in the fixture part can be replaced. The loading rack device is replaced with the shaft center, and the price varies from 7,8000 to 30,000 depending on the raw materials. In addition, other major replacement parts, including  line needles, cost about 50~200 yuan respectively. Mr Feng also said that many automated winding machines can now be replaced by programmable controller PLCs, and the price can be achieved in thousands.

       As for the degree of abrasion, it is determined by different types. The largest part that is easily worn is the shaft center. The various number of coils around the transformer, and the frequency of the shaft unloading frequency also affect the speed of abrasion. If the other parts are not damaged by humans, the machine can be used normally for at least 5 years or more.

       In the initial stage of production mode transformation, most enterprises are more semi-automated operations, and through the replacement of modules and institutions, they meet the production needs of different non-standard products. The high capital investment and low flexibility of the fully automated production line have become the main factors that companies are not investing in the first time.

    "Customer's Product Requirements" is the most important design basis for automated winding equipment. Non-single-batch machines can be more personalized to the customer's products to do different program adjustments, but also ensure the production of various non-standard products of transformers or inductors.

       After-sales become an important part of maintaining production.

       Mr Yu of Dezhou Youdian said that if you want to avoid or have fewer problems, first of all, equipment manufacturers should use good materials when they are producing equipment. The design should also consider many details, trying to make it less troublesome; In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the training of the technical personnel of the customer's enterprise. If there is any problem, it can be dealt with in the first time.

      Enterprises with fully automatic equipment generally have a very large order quantity, and produce the same kind of products all the year round. Even if the products change, they only change some wire diameters and laps, and will not change the appearance of the products such as solenoid coils and relay coils can consider fully automated assembly lines. However, in general,  customers' production model is in the form of a pipeline. Each station has workers. If the machine of a certain station is suspended, it will be manually used.

       Mr Feng from Dongguan Botai Automation said that he is worried about the after-sales problem especially when cooperating with Japanese companies, and the product research was all designed by the Japanese, even the raw materials of the equipment were also shipped from Japan to ensure the high qality. If there is a failure within one year, we repair it for free charge. Only the cost is charged after the warranty period is exceeded.

        Improvement of core competitiveness of labor-to-automation industrial transformation enterprises

       Through nearly a month, Big Bit reporters visited a number of companies and learned that most of the electronic transformer inductor companies recognize the trend of automation development, and they are also interested in learning more about automation bands, benefits and cost savings. But it also shows concerns about the efficiency, cost, and diversification of automation equipment. As a device manufacturer, how to more fully understand the market of electronic transformer inductors, approach customer needs for humanized research and development, tailoring and electronic transformers and inductors are a problem that should be considered in multiple directions.

       In the changing market, in order to maintain a strong and favorable competitive position, it is obviously difficult to keep up with the pace of industrial upgrading by using a large number of labors to produce traditional products with many varieties, large batches and large quantities. If our electronic transformers and inductors companies cannot break through higher-level technologies than manual production, it will be difficult to expand into new markets. "The survival of the fittest" has always been the jungle law of the competitive market, and vice versa has become an effective measure for the electronic transformer inductance enterprises to forge ahead. We hope that more electronic transformer inductor companies can clearly understand market trends, product development and innovation, and increase the first factor of productivity—investment in science and technology, improve corporate competitiveness, and create a new advantage for China's "intelligence manufacturing".