The first heavy-duty truck produced in my country in 1960 was named "Yellow River". It was built entirely by hand at the time. In 2020, the first "New Yellow River" rolled off the assembly line at Sinotruk's world-leading new automated factory. In recent years, Sinotruk has begun to carry out comprehensive and in-depth reforms, establish a modern enterprise system, and gradually get out of the trough. In 2023, it will take the first place in China's heavy-duty truck sales and market share. So how is this transformation achieved?
I am now in the welding workshop of Sinotruk Laiwu Factory. What is welding? You can see the welding mask in my hand. We often see workers holding welding masks and welding with welding guns. Now the smart factory has replaced manual labor with robots. This model is made based on the prototype of the "New Yellow River" heavy-duty truck. When the parts enter the welding workshop, they are still pieces of steel plates, and when they go out, they are already the same as the front of the model. How is this process achieved? We will reveal it to you from the perspective of a cross-country drone.
It took only 280 days from the groundbreaking in 2020 to the first heavy truck rolling off the production line in the smart factory where we are located. It is characterized by high-end. This is one of the world's highest-level heavy truck manufacturing bases and a microcosm of China National Heavy Duty Truck's reform and rebirth. The goods we see on the production line now are overseas orders, and they are served by 110 robots and 109 automatic guided transport vehicles. It takes 3 to 4.5 seconds for the robot to weld a weld, and there are about 3,000 such welds on a head. This workshop has a total of 38 processes, and it only takes about two and a half hours from parts to the head.
After looking at so many processes, the most core one is the cab splicing process around us. Six robots work together, some carry parts and some weld, and the head is formed. The data is particularly worth mentioning: At present, the splicing accuracy of the key parts here is ±1mm, and the qualified rate has reached 100%, which shows the precision of the robot's work.
After looking at the high-end, let's look at the intelligent. Hanging behind me is the "smart brain" of the welding workshop. It is connected to the central control system of the welding workshop. In addition to managing the robots we just saw, it is also responsible for workshop order distribution, quality monitoring and other tasks. This system is highly intelligent and can work about 20 hours a day.
High-end and intelligentization bring about the liberation and development of productivity. The two production lines in our workshop only need 5 people to manage. In contrast, the photo in my hand is of the old welding workshop 4 years ago. The two production lines required about 400 people, and the current labor volume is only 1/80 of the past.
I am now in the assembly workshop, and what is happening next to me is the key link of the assembly - the cab installation. The cab and chassis are transported by robots. The workers first accurately control the installation position through the remote control in their hands, and then tighten the connection points. The whole process is smooth and seamless. In this workshop, there are more than 300 processes to be completed, but relying on the tacit cooperation between man and machine, each process can be completed within five minutes, so a heavy truck can be born here every five minutes.
From the intelligent workshop to the assembly workshop, there are obviously more workers. Through the camera of the drone, we can see that there are many cabs of different colors and models being transported in the air on the conveyor belt, which means that different models can be assembled on a production line at the same time. This kind of "flexible production" with multiple varieties and small batches requires a large number of professional and technical workers. Like the team next to me, although they are young, with an average age of only 23 years old, they are very skilled, and nearly one-third of the members are senior technicians.
China National Heavy Duty Truck Group has come to where it is today step by step, thanks to the deepening of reform. Solving problems with a problem-oriented approach and "focusing on the main business", 98 non-main businesses have been cut off one after another, and nearly 10.9 billion yuan of assets have been realized. At the same time, the profit chain has been resolutely cut off, saving a total of 27 billion yuan in procurement costs in the past five years. At the same time, Sinotruk has also increased its investment in research and development to ensure technological innovation, with a total investment of 15 billion yuan in the past five years, which is the sum of the previous 15 years. It has also established a "three-ability" mechanism, which has greatly stimulated the vitality of employees.
In recent years, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group has also been making full efforts in overseas markets. In the first five months of this year, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group's heavy-duty truck exports have exceeded 60,000 units, constantly breaking my country's monthly heavy-duty truck industry export record.
