The highlight of the 12th China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT2011) is the dozens of advanced flexible production lines exhibited by many well-known machine tool companies at home and abroad. It is worth mentioning that many domestic machine tool companies exhibited The flexible production line that serves the main parts in the automotive field achieved a breakthrough of zero. The flexible production line, as a technically complex and highly automated system, can fully resolve the contradiction between high automation and high flexibility in mechanical manufacturing, effectively ensure the quality and consistency of mass-produced products, and significantly increase production efficiency in automobiles and electronics. Manufacturing applications such as more and more widely. Today, from the stand-alone to flexible production lines and the development of comprehensive solutions, from product-centered to customer-centric and a good customer master craftsman philosophy, highlights the Chinese machine tool manufacturing technology has been greatly improved in integration technology, marketing service concept A profound and dramatic change is taking place.

The representative flexible production lines include the flexible manufacturing system of MAZAK Corporation in Japan, the automated processing unit of MAG Corporation in the United States, the automatic production line of engine cylinder liners and the flexible production line of engine blocks of Dalian Machine Tool Group, and the hub processing unit of Shenyang Machine Tool Group, Beijing. The first machine tool plant car brake disc production line, Anyang Xinsheng machine ZDX auto pulley production line. The exhibition of processing units and flexible production lines attracted great attention from industry experts and site visitors. In particular, Japan's MAZAK flexible manufacturing system is the first time that a foreign-funded company has exhibited a flexible production line at a Chinese exhibition.

The flexible manufacturing system exhibited by Japan's MAZAK company consists of a precision horizontal machining center, an automatic logistics transmission line, a tray system, and 6 working trays (including loading and unloading stations, master control systems, and other auxiliary equipment). composition. The flexible manufacturing system is suitable for multi-variety small batches as well as large-volume processing, enabling continuous 24-hour work. Each processing unit, automatic logistics transmission line, and automatic chip removal system in the system can be operated independently to ensure that the system is not shut down. Yamazaki Takashi, Senior Managing Director of MAZAK Corporation, expressed the idea of ​​providing customers with complete solutions and vigorously developing robots to reduce labor costs. “Our development focus is on unmanned operation, which is the key to the success of today’s manufacturing industry. Because the current global labor costs are rising, and there is a serious shortage of high-end technical personnel, the best solution is to achieve unattended operation. ."

The first time that the domestic machine tool giant Shenyang Machine Tool Group unveiled the hub flexible automatic processing unit, it precisely explained the theme of “Customization and Intelligentization” of Shenyang Machine Tool. This automatic processing unit lasted for nearly one year and was developed with complete independent intellectual property rights. It consists of a double-pallet double-turret vertical turning center, a vertical machining center, and a robot automatic handling system. It has wheels. Model's automatic detection, handling, automatic processing, cleaning, automatic marking and other functions, can realize the unmanned operation of the entire hub processing area, and achieve a high degree of automation and intelligence. Lin Jianfeng, deputy dean of Shenyang Machine Tool Design and Research Institute, said that the hub flexible automatic processing unit demonstrated the R&D strength and technical strength of Shenyang Machine Tool to the outside world.

Dalian Machine Tool Group has started to provide flexible production lines to users a few years ago. The automatic cylinder liner production line on display here consists of CNC lathes, single-axis vertical boring mills, CNC honing machines, truss manipulators, and recycling channels. According to the requirement of 80s/piece production, automatic processing from blank to finished product is completed. Cylinder liner blanks go from the first station to the final station to produce finished goods. The workload of 11 people in the past has now been completed by only 2 people, and the efficiency has increased several times. Gao Delu, a technical expert of Great Wall Automotive Power Division, told the reporter that “As early as 2006, Dalian Machine Tool participated in the bidding of Great Wall Motor Engine Project in the form of an entire production line. Today, just for the cylinder head production line, no matter whether it is equipment selection, The type, production line layout, or the entire logistics and quality control of the entire line have achieved information, digital, and intelligent.”

The innovative automated processing unit exhibited by MAG Corporation in the United States is a product newly developed by the company. It has high-volume and high-efficiency processing characteristics. The processing unit is composed of XS211C series horizontal machining centers, CFV800E series vertical machining centers and robots. Robots automatically transfer workpieces and automatically load and unload materials to achieve unattended operation. The advantages are particularly prominent for special-shaped and heavy-duty workpieces. As a logic control unit, the robot determines the status of each machine tool by exchanging signals with different devices to determine the robot's operation sequence.

Although another international machine tool giant Germany DMG did not exhibit a flexible production line at this time, according to the company's board member Dr. Tosten Schmidt, the automation solution will also be a focus of DMG's future development. "We established an automation company to complete the robotic solution. The purpose of doing so is to reduce human errors, and of course, to save labor costs."

It is not difficult to see from the advanced automatic production lines displayed by well-known machine tool companies at home and abroad that intelligentization, flexibility, and automation have become the mainstream of machine tool technology development, and in particular, automated production lines and complete solutions tailored for users have become The important move of machine tool companies to transform service concepts and win larger markets. It is believed that with the greater demand from the automotive, electronics, energy and other manufacturing industries, machine tool companies will have more flexible production lines and overall solutions for users in various fields.