2009-10-13 - An ABB press automation solution has taken productivity and product quality to unprecedented levels at China’s largest truck manufacturer and is helping the company expand its new showcase heavy truck series into international markets.
By
ABB Communications
ABB’s press automation solution went into operation earlier this year at the China National Heavy Duty Truck Corporation’s automotive plant in Shandong province.
Sinotruk, as the company is also known, is China’s leading manufacturer of light and heavy commercial vehicles, producing more than 100,000 units a year, mainly for the huge and still booming domestic market.
The company recently launched its new showcase heavy-duty truck, HOWO-7, which incorporates more than 130 patented technologies and is designed to meet global truck standards for quality, reliability and fuel efficiency. The new series will help Sinotruk enter new export markets that are vital to the company’s growth plan.
ABB robotics and press solutions help Chinese trucks roll into international markets
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The new tandem press line at the Sinotruk factory in Shandong province, China, showing two of the seven high-speed IRB 6650 robots. The IRB 6650 is optimized for press tending applications and has cycle times 15 percent shorter than those normally achieved in press lines.
To be sure that its new high profile investment would measure up to these standards, Sinotruk selected an ABB press-automation solution to help ensure manufacturing excellence and product quality.
The new tandem press line comprises one existing hydraulic press and four new mechanical presses for which ABB has supplied a robotics solution that is designed to ensure benchmark levels of speed, accuracy, equipment availability and productivity.
“With the adoption of ABB’s advanced equipment, the press line redefines the industrial benchmark of heavy truck manufacturing and allows Sinotruk to more closely meet global standards in heavy truck production."
Yan Wenjun, General Manager, Sinotruk.
The solution consists of seven IRB 6650 press tending robots and ABB’s patented press automation and line control software, including a unique robot vision alignment system called StampView. The software allows the robots to position each panel with pinpoint accuracy, at high speed, to achieve exceptional molding accuracy and quality.
The solution has already achieved some remarkable results. Output has almost doubled compared to the previous manually operated line, quality has risen to the required global standard, and operator working conditions and safety have been significantly improved.
In addition to supplying optimized robotics solutions for press machine manufacturers and system integrators, ABB is the world’s only supplier of complete press automation solutions, with an installed base of more than 650 press lines worldwide.