Maihe robots move towards the high-end of "intelligent manufacturing", and the "top ten" industries in Shandong are accelerating their rise
One robot held a bow and moved into position, while the other robot next to it took arrows from the arrow rack, set up arrows, and pulled arrows. Through precise control, the two robots cooperated to shoot ten rounds; The "Big White" robot picked up the scrambled Rubik's Cube, "observed" its six sides and "thought" about it, and restored it in a few strokes
Recently, at Maihe Robot Automation Co., Ltd. located in Zhucheng, the reporter saw various robots that are capable of both writing and martial arts. Founded in 2010, Maihe started with automation equipment for automotive painting processes and has now developed into a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the research and development of high-end intelligent equipment systems and providing users with overall solutions for smart factories. The process of adhering to independent research and innovation for transformation and upgrading is a vivid manifestation of the comprehensive transformation of old and new driving forces in our province.
70 years of magnificent waves, 70 years of vicissitudes and great changes. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the glorious achievements of Shandong's economy have been remarkable. From weak foundations to continuous improvement of the industrial system, the industrial structure has shifted from "one two three" to "two three one" and then to "three two one". The annual gross domestic product has increased from 4.38 billion yuan in 1952 to 7.56 trillion yuan in 2018
Entering a new era, the whole province is deeply implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and requirements for Shandong's work, "changing the cage for a bird and phoenix for rebirth", and promoting high-quality economic development. At the beginning of last year, the government approved the construction of Shandong's first comprehensive experimental zone for the conversion of old and new kinetic energy in the country. Shandong is determined to eliminate outdated production capacity, transform and enhance traditional driving forces, and cultivate and strengthen new driving forces. New generation information technology, high-end equipment, new energy and new materials... Shandong is making every effort to promote the construction of the "Top Ten" modern advantageous industrial clusters.
The Maihe Intelligent Robot Manufacturing Base is a key construction content of the high-end equipment industry for the transformation of old and new kinetic energy in our province. The success of intelligent transformation and upgrading, in the view of Zhao Yongjun, General Manager of Maihe Robotics and Intelligent Welding Business Unit, is due to the company seizing opportunities and innovating technology around user needs.
The demands of automotive OEM customers for automation, standardization, and intelligence are gradually increasing, and the demand for product upgrades and replacements is extremely urgent.
Meanwhile, many manufacturing companies are facing a labor shortage. The changes in the development environment have prompted Maihe to firmly position its development direction towards intelligent robot systems.
In the production workshop of the body department of Foton Motor's super truck factory, there are very few workers, and more than 60 "big" robots are busy working. They are responsible for completing all processes from the production of body parts online to the production of white leather bodies offline. And this high-end "smart manufacturing" production line is delivered by Meihe Integrated.
At the vehicle assembly station, the collaborative operation of six robots attracted the attention of reporters: grabbing the side panels, top cover, and bottom plate, and completing the assembly welding in one go. The most technologically advanced part of the entire production line is here. It takes less than 3 minutes to assemble and weld a car body, "said Sun Aiqiang, the head of the body department at the Super Truck Factory. Through robot welding, the body size compliance rate has reached 95%, and the welding quality is more stable. The precision of the body size has increased by 20% compared to manual welding.
This production line also has higher intelligence advantages. In response to the fact that there are many production vehicle platforms in the workshop, the production line has achieved flexible switching functionality. Wang Qi, the director of the Mechanical Design Institute of the Maihe Robotics and Intelligent Welding Division, gave an example that if a production line has just produced a long car and the next step is to produce a short car, the "intelligent brain" of the production line will recognize the car model through sensors at the automatic recognition station, and the corresponding equipment will then automatically enter the production site for production. This avoids the time-consuming and labor-intensive process of manual adjustment and replacement, and has almost no errors. For automobile companies, the production of multiple products can be compatible with a one-time investment, greatly reducing costs.
Innovation never stops. By installing sensors on factory production, energy and other equipment, our system can collect data information on production, quality, process, environment, energy and other aspects, achieving full process monitoring of equipment operation status. Li Zhenhua, General Manager of Maihe Intelligent Equipment Business Unit, said that if the relevant data is abnormal, predictive maintenance strategies for production equipment and refined energy control strategies can be proposed through analysis. At present, the IoT system has been successfully applied in more than ten projects such as the painting workshop of Ruiwo Factory and Jinan Greenland Center. In addition, the new generation of intelligent operation and maintenance system based on the Internet of Things is currently under development by Meihe. By integrating new technologies and concepts such as artificial intelligence algorithms and big data modeling, it will ultimately achieve intelligent operation and maintenance.
At present, Meihe has more than 20 national invention patents and over 200 utility model patents, some of which have filled the domestic gap and reached the international leading level. Behind achieving excellent results, it is inseparable from Meihe's emphasis on platforms and talents.
Zhao Yongjun introduced that Maihe has a research and development team consisting of more than 300 high-end technology talents, and has also formed alliances with universities such as Shandong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Qingdao University of Technology, building multiple platforms such as postdoctoral research workstations and the Shandong Industrial Robot Industry Technology Innovation Strategy Alliance, focusing on tackling key and common technical difficulties in the intelligent manufacturing industry and enhancing core competitiveness.
Maihe, with outstanding technical and service capabilities in the automotive equipment industry in the province, has seen an average annual increase of around 20% in operating revenue in recent years. New driving forces have landed and blossomed, and new advantages are increasingly growing. Driven by millions of "megahertz", Shandong's economy is accelerating into the track of high-quality development.
Article source: Popular Daily
Editor He Yang of this website/Organizing
