Drone logistics …
It's already being used?
Wang Wei was already shocked when Lu Zhou said that it wasn't a problem. What Lu Zhou said next surprised him. He didn't know what to say.
Now that Lu Zhou offered to take him on a tour, he obviously wouldn't refuse. He agreed without any hesitation.
"Please take me on a tour!"
As he spoke, he stood up from his seat.
Lu Zhou looked at Wang Wei's anxious face and smiled. He signaled Wang Wei not to worry. He then called the office assistant in charge of reception and spoke to her.
"Help me tell Boss Chen that I'm taking Boss Wang to the factory for a walk. I might be back a little late at noon."
"Okay, Academician Lu."
After the assistant left the reception room, Lu Zhou looked at Wang Wei and smiled.
"Then let's go."
…
The factory that Lu Zhou was talking about was located in the corner of the Jinling high-tech zone. It was next to the highway entrance and the railway freight station. It was one of the star companies in Jin Ling.
To put it bluntly, it was actually Boss Liu's factory.
Ever since Star Sky Technology invested in Zhongshan New Materials, Zhongshan New Materials had relied on Star Sky Technology's strong technical support and orders from East Asia Power and the new energy industry chain to become a leader in the domestic carbon material processing field.
Science and technology were the number one productive force.
Liu Wanshan had fully enjoyed the benefits of Star Sky Technology, and he was a "hardcore fan" of Star Sky Technology. When Star Sky Technology proposed to transform his factory into an automated industrial logistics system, Liu Wanshan agreed without hesitation.
This set of industrial logistics system had begun to take effect. Zhongshan New Materials' lithium anode material factory in the Jinling high-tech zone had become a model production unit and technology pacesetter for the entire Jin Ling city.
The completely unmanned material distribution system maximized the efficiency of the production line.
In terms of cost, the workload that previously required more than 20 people with low academic qualifications could now be completed by a single engineer who had received higher education and a group of automated equipment controlled by cloud servers. The difference between the two couldn't even be mentioned in the same breath.
"This is the factory I was talking about."
After taking a step forward and looking at everything in front of him, Wang Wei had an incredulous expression on his face. After a while, he spoke in a surprised tone.
"… Unbelievable."
Yes, it was simply inconceivable.
Facing the scene before him, he was speechless.
The small and nimble AGV logistics vehicle moved quickly in the spacious factory, carrying boxes of goods. Drones with six-rotor wings whizzed through the air, completely replacing the workers wearing safety helmets as they adjusted the various links of the production line.
The whole factory was like a monster. The logistics vehicles and drones were like blood cells flowing in the blood vessels, and the workshops were like the organs of the monster.
From one production line to another, from one workshop to another, every gear was running at a high speed. Every production link was so efficient that people couldn't help but feel that everything here, including the flow of air, was designed.
In fact, it was indeed so.
It wasn't just the air temperature, the flow of gas per unit time, and even the PM2.5 in the factory were strictly controlled.
It was because of these strict standards that the lithium anode materials produced by Zhongshan New Materials had the highest yield in the world.
Unless there was a systemic failure in the factory that could not be removed, there was no need for workers to enter the factory. The maintenance of drones, logistics vehicles, and other equipment was completed outside the factory, and the maintenance of the production equipment in the workshop was mostly done by AI-controlled machines.
What was industrial upgrading? What was intelligent manufacturing?
This was industrial upgrading! This was intelligent manufacturing!
Even though this wasn't the first time Wang Wei felt the importance of technology in industrial production, nothing in the past was as shocking as what he was seeing now. Wang Wei finally understood what it meant for technology to change the world and change the future.
Not just that, but he also finally understood why Lu Zhou said this wasn't a problem at all.
An image appeared in his mind. Inside the logistics center of SF Express, there were unmanned AGV logistics vehicles, working with a group of AI-controlled electric drones to unload goods from planes or large trucks and load them onto logistics trucks heading to the city. Then, the drones would be responsible for door-to-door delivery, delivering the packages directly to the customer's balcony or the pickup point installed on the windowsill.
Wang Wei swallowed his saliva and suppressed the excitement in his voice.
"This system … How much does it cost?"
"It depends on the specific needs of the customer." Lu Zhou looked at the drones walking through the factory and said, "We have two standards. One is for small business owners, and the other is for large business owners. The former is mainly reflected in the optimization of the logistics link between the input of raw materials and the output of finished products. The latter is mainly aimed at the optimization of the logistics link within the production line.
"Actually, after hearing the problems you mentioned before, I think these two systems may not be suitable for you. What you need may be a dedicated logistics system for package delivery services in densely populated cities."
Wang Wei nodded.
"You're right.
"Our long-term goal for this intelligent logistics network is to achieve the entire logistics distribution link intelligent and unmanned. Just like I told you before, the transportation of the main road is completed by large vehicles, then by vehicle-mounted drones. Through the real-time route calculation, the packages will be delivered to the customer's hands, then returned to the nearest drone hive to charge. At the same time, the fully charged drones will replenish the logistics vehicles when they pass by. "
In fact, this drone delivery plan was the blueprint described in the ten theses published by Lu Zhou nine years ago. However, it was not easy to achieve this. There were many problems that needed to be solved.
For example, the real-time calculation of the drone route, how to determine the most efficient and safe delivery route, etc. This didn't sound complicated, but in fact, it was quite a difficult problem.
First of all, the route of the drone was not based on a 2D plane, but on a three-dimensional 3D space. Secondly, the maxim of "many" and "complex" is applicable at all times.
Take the first-tier city of Beijing as an example, the annual throughput of 2.2 billion packages was a huge number on average every day. The entire logistics network required tens of thousands of drones, and the delivery plan and route of these drones needed to be planned by computers.
To solve this problem, it seemed that only Star Voyage One could do it.
After listening to Wang Wei's requirements, Lu Zhou thought for a moment and said, "Actually, you can consider outsourcing the entire intelligent logistics network to us. Including the drones used in the delivery process, the design of the drone hives, and so on. We have a professional team that is competent for this work, and solving this problem as a whole is easier than solving the series of problems you encountered separately. "
Wang Wei paused for a second and spoke hesitantly.
"This … isn't appropriate, right? We have fixed partners in the procurement of drones and logistics vehicles, and we have signed long-term strategic cooperation agreements. If possible, I hope that you can design this intelligent logistics network for our current conditions. So far, we are quite satisfied with the products they provide, and we have no plans to change suppliers for the time being. "
Changing suppliers was not a trivial matter.
There were many problems involved.
Especially for a large-scale company like Shunfeng Group, a small change could affect the entire company. Making a small change in a small detail in the logistics distribution process could cause unpredictable effects on the existing operations.
At the very least, this kind of thing needed to be decided after a few meetings. It couldn't be decided on a whim like this.
Not just that, but what really made Wang Wei hesitate was that Shunfeng Group had already invested a lot of money in this project. Now that they encountered some bottlenecks, outsourcing the entire project made him feel like the initial investment was a waste.
Not to mention that Shunfeng Group was a large company with a market value of hundreds of billions of yuan. Being controlled by someone else on this kind of key technology made him feel "uneasy".
Lu Zhou guessed Wang Wei's concerns, so he spoke after thinking for a second.
"It depends on how you look at this problem. Industry enjoys the bonus of scale, and the same is true for scientific research. Let the professionals do the professional work, and the efficiency will definitely be higher than doing it yourself. I won't force you to accept our standards, but from a scholar's perspective, I will definitely put the best solution first. "
Wang Wei was still hesitant. He said, "Do you still produce drones and logistics vehicles?"
Lu Zhou: "Are you worried that we're not professional enough in this area?"
Wang Wei didn't say anything, but his expression clearly showed that he agreed.
Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.
"We don't have a factory, and we don't have a production line for drones and logistics vehicles. But in the era of smart manufacturing 2.0, this is not a problem at all."
Wang Wei obviously didn't understand what he meant. Lu Zhou spoke.
"If you're curious, I can show you something else."
As he spoke, he took a tablet from the accompanying secretary and handed it to CEO Wang in front of him.
Lu Zhou looked at Wang Wei, who was staring at the tablet with a muddled look on his face.
"First of all, you can choose the product parameters you need, then upload your requirements to the server. We will do our best to complete it. This process will take about two hours. Even though it's not a long time, it will still take a while.
"We might as well go eat lunch first, then come back."
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