An automobile factory generally consists of several basic workshops: stamping workshop, welding workshop, painting workshop and assembly workshop.

The automotive stamping parts purchased from outside and the large stamping parts produced by the stamping shop will be welded into a body in white in the welding shop.

The so-called body in white is the skeleton of the car.

Just because the steel plate looks a bit silvery-white, it is called body-in-white.

After these white bodies are sent to the paint shop through an automatic conveyor chain, they will be cathodic electrophoretic coating.

This process is actually very important.

This is related to the anti-corrosion performance of the car.

At the same time, the appearance of various colors is also sprayed on here.

In a sense, all cars are blister cars.

Because these bodies in white are in the paint shop, the entire body needs to be immersed in the electric pool.

Afterwards, the painted body-in-white will be sent to the assembly shop to be installed with various parts.

For an automobile manufacturer, the assembly workshop also has the largest number of employees.

Even if a large amount of automated equipment is used, only part of the workforce can be reduced.

"Leader, our welding workshop is where the various parts are assembled into a body-in-white. The workshop is divided into two floors. The first floor is for the door cover, floor 1 line and assembly line. The second floor is mainly for the side panels, floor 2 line, general assembly and assembly line.

Intersecting lines.”

"Compared with the welding workshops of other car companies, Xingchen Automobile's automation rate is very high."

On December 12, 2006, Xingchen Automobile's vehicle factory officially entered the mass production stage.

Cao Yang naturally held a large-scale ceremony for this important moment.

The media who had just been invited to participate in the test drive event after the auto show returned to Yangcheng again today to visit the Xingchen Motors factory.

There are many leaders here today, and the leaders from Lingnan Province are also present in person.

However, the leaders had a very tight schedule and left immediately after the event.

When it comes to the on-site visit, Cao Yang only needs to match Liu Tianwu.

"This has a high automation rate, so what kind of high-level method is it?"

Liu Tianwu wore a safety helmet and followed Cao Yang enthusiastically, listening to the relevant introduction.

"The current design production cycle of the welding workshop is 60 seconds per unit. Calculated based on 246 working days a year and only one 8-hour shift per day, it can produce 120,000 body-in-white units annually."

"If necessary in the future, we only need to switch to two shifts and the production capacity can be increased to 240,000 units."

"Even under extreme circumstances, there is no problem in increasing the production capacity to more than 300,000."

"The number of robots in this welding workshop has reached 472, and the automation rate has reached 84%. This is the automobile welding workshop with the highest automation rate in the country and even the world."

After Cao Yang explained this, Liu Tianwu immediately had an idea.

The information previously reported by Xingchen Automobile stated that it would build a factory with an annual output of 100,000 units.

It now appears that their previous calculations were very conservative.

As long as there is demand, production capacity can be expanded at any time.

"The higher the automation rate, the greater the investment in the factory, and the production cost should be higher, right?"

Liu Tianwu also has some knowledge of the automobile industry.

So I took the initiative to ask.

"Yes, it seems that the cost will increase now."

"However, with a high degree of automation, the stability and consistency of product quality can be better guaranteed."

"At the same time, the requirements for quality management and control are also higher."

"Because once there is a welding quality problem, it must be in batches."

"Therefore, we need to strengthen the control of welding quality from the process source, automatic detection, predictive analysis and other aspects."

"This also forces Xingchen Motors to improve its management level and quality level."

Cao Yang doesn't mind the increased investment now.

As labor costs in China continue to rise, increasing the automation rate is a major trend.

Although Nanshan Group needs to increase its number of employees through various methods, it definitely cannot be achieved by reducing the automation rate.

"Are these robots produced by you yourself?"

Liu Tianwu knew that Cao Yang attached great importance to the development of robots.

Even because of the existence of Nanshan Robot, several other robot start-ups have been attracted to the district, and a robot industry chain has slowly begun to form.

"Yes, all the robots used in the welding line are produced by Nanshan Robot. There is a small instrument on each robot, which is a pressure gauge to monitor whether there is any abnormality in the robot."

"Relying on this highly automated robot, we have built a flexible total welding system."

"This body-in-white flexible assembly welding system independently developed by Nanshan Group and independently owned by the intellectual property rights can support the production of 6 types of vehicle models and can be expanded to a maximum of 8 types."

"In addition to being able to produce Ziweixing and Yangwang, it also lays the foundation for the production of different models in the future."

"This total welding system not only has a high level of flexibility, but also has high welding dimensional accuracy."

These things will be important technologies that will be vigorously promoted in the future to enhance the brand power of Xingchen Automobile.

Let Liu Tianwu take a look now. Many visits and inspection activities in the district can also be arranged by Xingchen Automobile.

For this reason, a special visiting channel has been set up in the factory.

"Why do those robots look a little different? They don't look like they are used to weld parts?"

Liu Tianwu pointed to a tall robot not far away and asked curiously.

"Leader, these robots are used to tighten bolts."

"A lot of bolts and nuts need to be installed on the car. For the first time, Xingchen Automobile adopts a fully automatic robot tightening process."

"This is a cutting-edge technology in factory construction in the automotive industry that can further improve the level of automation."

"There are two automatic tightening stations in the welding workshop, containing 12 robots. Each robot tightens two bolts on average, and the tightening time is about 40 seconds. If the running time of the car body between stations is added, the entire cycle time is 51 seconds."

"It selects different technical solutions for different working conditions and independently develops bolt feeding and nail removal technologies. The tightening steps include nail removal, initial tightening, pre-tightening, intermediate tightening and final tightening. The torque of each tightening is different.

, where the final tightening torque is “

"In order to ensure the success of this technology, Xingchen Automobile conducted more than 1,000 nail removal tests to ensure that no failures occurred. At the same time, it overcame the difficulty of lack of technical standards and ensured the stable production process."

Several cameras behind Cao Yang were filming.

Of course, these are all taken by Nanshan Group's own employees, and visitors from outside are not allowed to take photos at will.

Even cameras are not allowed.

If it weren't for the fact that mobile phones in this era generally don't have high pixels, the camera of the mobile phone would need to be processed to a certain extent before entering.

"During the launch ceremony, I heard you mention the term 'benchmark factory' many times."

"I didn't feel anything when I heard it."

"Now that I'm visiting and listening to your explanation, the feeling is different."

The more advanced Xingchen Automobile's factory is, the better it will be for Liu Tianwu.

To a certain extent, this can be regarded as a facade factory in the district.

"Leader, our factory can be called a benchmark factory in the automobile industry, and this is not just a boast."

"In just one welding machine workshop, there are many places where other peers may not be able to catch up in ten years."

“In addition to what you just saw, we also use a cold metal transfer welding process.”

"Compared with traditional welding processes, the temperature of cold metal over-welding droplets is relatively low, and the thermal deformation of parts is small. The welding process can reach a drawing speed of 70 times per minute, does not produce spatter, and is not affected by the surface condition of the workpiece. It can make

The shape of the weld is more beautiful.”

"At the same time, it uses high-density repair welding, which can be applied to different models without switching welding guns, and the welding capacity is increased by 3 times. There are currently 14 welding robots responsible for this process, which can be expanded to 16 in the future."

As Cao Yang continued to introduce, the smile on Liu Tianwu's face never stopped.

"What other advanced processes are there in this welding workshop? You introduced them to me."

"When the time comes, I can show off to other leaders."

After Liu Tianwu said this, Cao Yang was naturally not polite and continued: "Our welding workshop also uses high-speed laser welding technology."

"After welding the roof and sides, the body is ready to enter the laser welding station."

"This station includes laser welding and repair welding of several solder joints."

"The laser welding speed used can reach 110mm/s, which is the fastest laser welding among automobile factories in the world."

"Increasing the speed can better meet the demand for production capacity, so that the overall laser welding rhythm can be controlled within 60 seconds, so as not to hinder the welding workshop."

Xingchen Automobile is an industry that Cao Yang attaches most importance to.
To be continued...