Intelligent Manufacturing (IM) is a human-machine integrated intelligent system composed of intelligent machines and human experts, which can carry out intelligent activities in the manufacturing process, such as analysis, reasoning, judgment, conception and decision-making. Through the cooperation between humans and intelligent machines, to expand, extend and partially replace the mental work of human experts in the manufacturing process. It updates the concept of manufacturing automation and expands it to flexibility, intelligence and high integration.

Speaking of intelligent manufacturing, we should first introduce the "Intelligent Manufacturing System IMS" international cooperation research program advocated by Japan in April 1990. Many developed countries such as the United States, the European Community, Canada, Australia, etc. have participated in the scheme. A total of US$1 billion is planned to be invested in the implementation of pre-research plans for 100 projects. There is no doubt that intelligence is the development direction of manufacturing automation. Artificial intelligence technology is widely used in almost all aspects of the manufacturing process. Expert system technology can be used for engineering design, process design, production scheduling, fault diagnosis, etc. Advanced computer intelligence methods such as neural networks and fuzzy control technology can also be applied to product formulation, production scheduling, etc., to achieve intelligent manufacturing processes. AI technology is particularly suitable for solving particularly complex and uncertain problems.

But it is also clear that to achieve intelligence in the whole process of enterprise manufacturing, if not completely impossible, at least in the distant future. Some have even asked the question, will intelligent automation be achieved in the next century? If intelligence is only realized in a certain part of the enterprise, and the overall optimization cannot be guaranteed, the significance of this intelligence is limited. On September 10, 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the list of intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration projects in 2015, and 46 projects were shortlisted. These projects include the pilot of intelligent machine tools declared by Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co., Ltd., the pilot of intelligent cloud manufacturing of aerospace products declared by Beijing Aerospace Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Development Co., Ltd., and the pilot of intelligent manufacturing and service of fertilizers declared by Sinofert Co., Ltd. The 46 pilot demonstration projects cover 38 industries, distributed in 21 provinces, involving 6 categories, including process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, intelligent equipment and products, new formats and models of intelligent manufacturing, intelligent management, and intelligent services, reflecting the industry, regional coverage and strong demonstration.

Shenyang Machine Tool is also a selected enterprise in the metal cutting machine tool industry. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched the implementation of the "Intelligent Manufacturing Pilot Demonstration Special Action" in 2015, mainly directly cutting into the key links of manufacturing activities, fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of enterprises, paying attention to the growth of pilot demonstration projects, forming effective experience and models through breakthroughs in points, and promoting and applying them in various fields of manufacturing. Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said at the meeting that intelligent manufacturing has increasingly become a major trend and core content of the future development of the manufacturing industry, and it is also an important measure to accelerate the transformation of development mode, promote industry to move towards the middle and high-end, and build a manufacturing power, and it is also an inevitable choice to create a new international competitive advantage under the new normal. The promotion of intelligent manufacturing is a complex and huge system engineering, but also a new thing, which requires a process of continuous exploration, trial and error, difficult to achieve overnight, let alone rush. To this end, "we must make good use of the important starting point of pilot demonstration."