Construction Machinery Industry Intelligent Manufacturing Upgrade

In recent years, with the release of industrial restructuring and upgrading demand, rising productivity costs and other issues highlighted, coupled with the near-inflection point of industrial robots after technological advancement, the degree of acceptance has gradually increased, industrial robots have formed in many areas of alternative artificial trend. This trend may also apply in the construction machinery industry. Manufacturing intelligence has become the only way for the transformation and upgrading of engineering machinery companies today.

According to understanding, from 2005 to 2015, the annual average sales growth rate of industrial robots was 9%, while the average annual sales growth rate of industrial robots in China reached 25%. It is predicted that the demand for Chinese industrial robots is expected to explode in 2014, with large-scale replacement of labor by machinery. By 2015, the demand for the robot market in China will reach 35,000, accounting for 16.9% of the global total, and it will become the largest robot market.

China has become a big country in engineering machinery manufacturing, but it still has a big gap with countries in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. Next, it will inevitably have to transition to high-tech and high added value, and move toward manufacturing power. This requires more sophisticated processing. With manufacturing methods, industrial robots will become a trend instead of artificial.

The advantages highlight the transformation of engineering machinery manufacturing

Industrial robots can replace people in industrial production for some monotonous, frequent and repetitive long-term operations, or operations under hazardous and harsh environments, such as stamping, pressure casting, heat treatment, welding, painting, plastic forming, Processes such as mechanical processing and simple assembly, as well as in the nuclear energy industry, complete the handling or handling of hazardous materials.

It is understood that industrial robots used in the field of construction machinery manufacturing include: spot welding robots, cutting robots, painting robots, assembly robots, and mobile robots. Because robots take on many dangerous or tedious tasks, many occupational diseases, work injuries and the high costs involved can be avoided. In addition, since robots always perform their work in the same way, the quality of products is very stable. It will bring definite benefits to the company; robots can work 24 hours a day, product productivity can be predicted, and inventory can be better controlled. Each cost savings in the total value of the product will provide the product's ability to compete in a variety of markets; another advantage of the robot is that it can be used for small batch production with high flexibility.

In developed countries, complete sets of equipment for industrial robotic automated production lines have become the mainstream and future direction of automation equipment. Foreign construction machinery manufacturers have extensively used industrial robot automated production lines to ensure product quality and increase production efficiency, while avoiding a large number of industrial accidents. While China's construction machinery and equipment manufacturing industry is in a period of transition from traditional equipment to advanced manufacturing equipment, enterprises must strengthen the automation level of production lines if they want to seize more market share in the fierce competition and get rid of the homogenization of products. The introduction of robots will be a powerful technical means for the transformation and upgrading of China's construction machinery manufacturing industry.

The rising cost of "machine substitution" trend

On December 30, 2013, the “Guidance on Promoting the Development of Industrial Robot Industry” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China pointed out that by 2020, a complete industrial robot system must be formed and the market share of high-end products should be increased to 45. More than %, robot density (the number of industrial robots owned by 10,000 workers) from the current approximately 21 to more than 100, which means that the country will promote the number of industrial robots in the next six years about four times.

Compared with Japan, which is known as the "robot kingdom," China has a completely different basic national situation, namely, a large population and excess labor force. The fundamental driving force for stimulating the development of industrial robots in Japan is to solve the problem of severe labor shortage. The widespread use of robots is a very important way to achieve industrial automation and improve social production efficiency.

In the past two years, under the background of the gradual disappearance of the advantages of cheap labor in China and the significant rise in labor costs, the “labor shortage” and “high cost” factors of the construction machinery industry are intertwined and interwoven, which reduces the profitability of processing companies and highlights the current situation. The plight of the small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry, but also to promote potential and capable companies in the pain of transformation and upgrading to find new ways, the market will reshuffle. China's construction machinery industry is facing a transformation from high-end to international advanced manufacturing and participation in the international division of labor. "Machine substitution" is a general trend.

Robots Help China's Construction Machinery Intelligent Manufacturing

Anything from the rise to prosperity, always have to take the lead in eating crabs. In the construction machinery industry, it was the first to introduce and participate in the design of industrial robots such as “crabs”. Well-known domestic companies such as XCMG, Sanyi, Zoomlion, and Shantui were among the leading companies in the industry leading the robot application.

In 2013, Xugong invested 145 sets of industrial robots in the manufacture of loaders. After the parts are cut, they learn from the automobile manufacturing technology. All the structural parts automatically enter the accumulation chain. The welding, painting, and assembly of the next process all pass through the accumulation. The chain is suspended for operation.

The benefits of the introduction of robots can also be seen in the rapid development of Sany Heavy Machinery. The "China's Industrial Robot Market Development Trends and Investment Planning Analysis Report" shows that in 2007, two robots appeared on the Sany Heavy Machinery production line. Since then, corporate sales have grown by leaps and bounds, and the robot team has grown. In Sanyueji’s Lingang Industrial Park, we can see that more than 200 robots perform their duties and are busy cutting, welding, painting, or gluing. All of them are excellent players.

Zoomlion’s introduction of industrial robots is also started from the field of welding. On October 24, 2012, Zoomlion Hanjiang Industrial Park officially launched the welding robot production system in the mixer drum of the mixer. In mid-November, along with The 11th welding robot installed in the Quantang Industrial Park structure workshop of the Engineering Crane Company was completed and officially delivered. The welding process of the four components of the boom, turntable, frame, and support leg of Zoomlion Wheeled Crane fully advances the robot. era.

Shantui, as a leading construction machinery manufacturer in China and a leading enterprise in the bulldozer industry, should have reached the forefront of domestic counterparts in the application of automated welding equipment. It began to use welding robots and automated welding machines in the mid-1990s. These measures have not only effectively improved the company's production efficiency, but also changed the traditional concept of employees.

The benefits of the introduction of industrial robots are obvious. In addition to the above-mentioned enterprises, there are companies in the country that have the strength to meet the needs of development. All of them are speeding up the development of industrial robots, such as construction machinery companies such as XGMA, Longgong and Degong. It is understood that many machinery manufacturing companies that have already tasted the sweetness are now unwilling to use manual work when they encounter machinery equipment.

Boost Production Structure Reform and Develop Modern Management Mode

However, things always have two sides. Although industrial robots have many advantages and are the key to the transformation and upgrading of construction machinery companies in the future, the greater change they bring to the company is that this is actually a change in the management model. As Yuhongfu, chairman of Sany Heavy Machinery, put it, robots are not a single machine concept. It is a system that requires us to plan in advance. We need to change our thinking and management methods.

In the production workshop, workers have distinctions between skilled and professional workers. They are not only prone to fatigue, but also affected by emotions. There are good and bad jobs, and robots do not have these problems. However, robots are also not as good at turning as people, and the requirements for the standardization of parts and processes are very high. It is like assembling blocks. If the parts are not sized, the assembled expert can be useless. Therefore, the use of robots requires high management capabilities for companies. This includes the study of the robot itself, the overall coordination of the entire production line, and even the selection and control of raw materials.

Take Sanyuji as an example. In the past, the same kind of parts may come from different manufacturers, and the price is the dominant consideration. However, because robots have extremely high requirements on the consistency of spare parts, Sany Heavy Machines began to require suppliers to provide their own designated materials. This is directly reflected in the management system. In terms of material selection, consistency becomes the primary indicator.

From the human-oriented production model to the robot-oriented manufacturing model, this will reduce some traditional jobs, but the new smart manufacturing model will also generate many new jobs. Workers will not be eliminated due to the arrival of new equipment, but will be eliminated because they do not adapt or learn. In the era of machine automation, workers need not worry about being eliminated as long as they can maintain their desire to learn, adapt to new jobs and new equipment.

Robotic applications are limited to explore changes in the advance

Although there has been no shortage of “crab-eating people,” the industry is still some days away from large-scale robot applications. At present, the production line of construction machinery is still mainly artificial, and the level of automation is weak.

This is not unrelated to the characteristics of construction machinery products. First of all, parts and components are self-important, the structure is complex, welding quality is required, the workload is huge, and the variety and models are many, which restricts the development of the automation level of the construction machinery production line. Secondly, due to the complexity and precision of robot construction, high demands are placed on maintenance personnel. Sometimes, they also require the assistance of manufacturers. They also impose higher requirements on the quality of workers who operate robots. Teaching programming and troubleshooting are all required. A certain amount of expertise. In addition, the original welding robots were originally imported, the accessories were not easy to prepare, and the use cost was high. Automation requires benefits, not simply speed. In the initial application of robots, many companies also took some detours and the flexibility of robots has not been fully utilized. According to the survey, some companies have introduced arc welding robots, because of various reasons, there are still some states that are under load or unable to operate normally, which directly affects the confidence of more companies in using robots.

Although the industrial robots currently used in construction machinery products still have many limitations, with the development of technology and the long-term exploration and practice of enterprises, under the background of weakening demographic dividend, China's construction machinery manufacturing industry must create new competition. In order to realize the high-end manufacturing process, it is necessary to make changes, and the use of robots by enterprises will surely increase.