Interview with Zhou Jinrong, General Manager of Marketing of Dongguan Oute automation Technology Co., Ltd.
Emphasis on technological innovation, multi-point flowering to improve equipment intelligence
In 2020, the epidemic has accelerated the pace of “Robot generation”. The price competition in the robot industry is extremely fierce, domestic brands are gradually infiltrating into the high-end field, and foreign brands have launched more popular products that are backward compatible. 35%, seized the opportunity during the special period. Such achievements can be achieved, on the one hand, thanks to Ott Automation’s focus on the 3C electronics industry, which is less affected by the epidemic, on the other hand, it is not unrelated to its emphasis on technology research and development. According to Zhou Jinrong, from 2018 to 2019, Ott Automation invested a lot of money and talents in technology research and development, and achieved fruitful results in the past two years, especially in terms of technology, which has contributed to the improvement of equipment intelligence.
Various factors such as labor shortage, falling cost of optical lenses, etc., have driven the significant growth in the machine vision market demand in recent years. In all aspects of Industrial production such as inspection and sorting, the addition of machine vision is even more powerful for Industrial Robot applications. Ott Automation has also developed machine vision products accordingly, which cover various steps such as shooting, recognition and calibration, which greatly shortens the cycle of customer R&D, debugging and deployment of prototypes, and is seamlessly integrated into EPSON robot models. At the same time, it can also provide customized services according to the special requirements of customers to meet the non-standard applications that are not covered by mature products in the market.
Take the mobile shoe sole gluing scheme as an example. Due to the frequent changes of shoe styles and the difficulty of production line transformation, artificial sole gluing is the main gluing method of major shoe factories at this stage. The mobile sole gluing solution launched by Ott Automation can not only realize fully automatic operation, but also is unique in intelligence and ease of use. It can be installed without large-scale transformation of customer production lines. This solution combines machine vision and Industrial Robots, and can directly plan the trajectory on the graphical interface on the screen. After self-editing algorithm, the accuracy can reach 1~2MM, the efficiency is 8s per one (take 43 yards as an example), and the yield rate can reach 99.8 %, truly achieving high efficiency, high precision and high yield.
In addition, another key product of OTT Automation, the intelligent flexible feeding system, fully demonstrates OTT Automation’s attainments in transforming technology into products. The traditional feeding system is mainly based on circular vibrating discs. Multiple vibrating discs are matched with multiple brackets. The feeding method is also a fixed flow channel, and it cannot be sorted according to the color and size of the materials. The product change cycle is long and the flexibility is poor. . Secondly, using the traditional vibrating plate for feeding, jams and scratches occur from time to time, which greatly increases the manufacturing cost of the enterprise. Thirdly, the post-maintenance of the vibrating plate is also very inconvenient. If it is damaged, it can only be replaced in most cases, which is not practical. The intelligent flexible feeding system developed by Ott Automation, through the unique vibration control technology, enables the vibration plate to evenly separate the parts, and then detects the oriented parts through the vision system, and the robot can grab the parts from the platform. Take parts for assembly. Thanks to the superiority of detection and identification algorithms, the system can supply multiple different components at the same time, and can quickly realize product switching, which is suitable for flexible production of small batches and multiple varieties in current industrial automation production.
Avoid low-price competition and follow the manufacturing process for vertical layout
“Starving to death of peers, exhausting oneself, and killing users”, the negative impact of low-price competition on my country’s manufacturing industry is self-evident, and the equipment manufacturing industry is no exception. Zhou Jinrong believes: “The biggest pain point of the Robot Industry is the low added value. Therefore, in order to survive, companies must quickly increase sales, so they have to embark on the road of ‘exchanging low prices for sales’. But this form of It is unsustainable. Because low-price competition will eventually lead to a decline in the quality of products and services. Especially after the high-speed growth period of the industry, companies either disappear or retreat. The transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry is no longer a simple and uncontrolled expansion of scale. , and more is to improve the level of craftsmanship and improve the value of products.”
Instead of confronting these companies head-on, Ott Automation chooses industries with development potential to conduct market layout in advance, research technologies and develop products in a targeted manner. Zhou Jinrong believes: “Development of mature industries in the middle and late stages, the market share tends to be stable, the profit of products is compressed to the extreme, and enterprises are not active in upgrading production equipment. The need for renovation and upgrading is more obvious. Because it needs high-quality products and services more than price.”
How can we target industries with development potential? Ott Automation uses two thinking modes to firmly grasp the market direction. One is the horizontal transfer across industries or regions. For example, after deep and thorough in the field of mobile phone manufacturing, transfer the accumulated mature technology and experience to emerging electronic industries such as wearable devices; or, after stabilizing the market share of a certain region, transfer the accumulated mature technology and experience to other provinces, cities and even overseas regions. expansion. The second is to comply with the vertical layout of the manufacturing process. Zhou Jinrong said that for Ott Automation, vertical layout can bring greater value. Taking the mobile phone industry as an example, the automation equipment used in feeding and size testing is already a relatively mature market, and the price competition is fierce.
Then it is time to combine the craftsmanship and tap new entry opportunities. For example, if the precision assembly link is seen, then the accuracy, takt speed, and stability of the assembly equipment should be further improved. “When others are competing at low prices and replicating on a large scale, we are constantly iterating on technology and launching second and third-generation robots to seize market opportunities. This is also the ability of OTT Automation.” Zhou Jinrong added. .
The key to widening the gap lies in the difficulty and depth of technology
In Zhou Jinrong’s view, after 20 to 30 years of development, the robot product has been iterated five or six times. Unless it is a revolutionary technological innovation, the upgrade space of the ontology is very limited. Therefore, the technical upgrade direction of Ott Automation is to expand around the overall function of the robot. However, if it only stays at a shallow level of functional support, then Ott Automation cannot achieve today’s achievements.
Zhou Jinrong said: “The key to widening the gap between enterprises lies in the difficulty and depth of technology. It is not feasible to make the robotics industry with technological content and value content at the price of cabbage. Robot companies want to become bigger and stronger, they must First stabilize technical resources, continue to develop and innovate, overcome technical difficulties, explore technical depth, and increase the added value of products. If you persist in this for a few years, there will definitely be results. Therefore, we plan to use ten to two routes to upgrade advanced manufacturing processes. Ten years to go.”
The fully automatic micro screw machine of Ott Automation is a typical product of this idea. The threshold for fully automatic screw machines is not high, but if the word “fine” is added, it will be another matter. It is not easy to step in. At present, the common automatic gantry type screw machines on the market in my country are only suitable for large screws with specifications above M2. These large screws are usually used in TV, home appliances, toys and other industries. The specifications of micro screws on small electronic products such as mobile phones and watches are often below M2, and there are few brands of fully automatic micro screw machines that match them.
Ott Automation’s fully automatic micro screw machine realizes the industry’s top small and lightweight technology, with high-speed rotation and high torque, it can correspond to S0.6-M3.0 screws, and can be equipped with linear Robotic arms or Multi-joint robotic arms, etc., are a major contribution to automatic locking screws. Through the unique control technology of Ott Automation, high-precision torque control can be achieved through the current value of ± 5%, and the maximum rotation speed is 1500rpm and the maximum torque value of the locking screw is 700mN.m. Traceability, remote control and other functions are not a problem.
In addition to the research and development of fully automatic micro screw machines, Ott Automation has also worked with a number of large OEM companies to formulate process standards for screw locking and payment automation for enterprises. So far, a set of scientific evaluation standards for automatic locking screw machines has not been formed in China. Participating in the formulation of standards is of great benefit to Ott Automation. Zhou Jinrong believes: “Standards represent the direction of technology, and the formulation of standards will help accelerate the pace of development of Ott Automation in the field of screw lock and pay automation.”
summary
In addition to 3C electronics, Ott Automation’s business scope also includes automotive electronics (Car Electronics), which Zhou Jinrong calls 4C electronics. Regardless of whether it is 3C electronics or 4C electronics, there are huge opportunities for automation companies.
On the one hand, 3C electronic products are becoming more and more sophisticated, and there are more and more types. The speed of update and iteration is accelerated, and the demand for process change is more obvious. On the other hand, the popularity of automobiles and the “new four modernizations” of automobiles – “electric , networking, intelligence, sharing” development trend is increasingly strong, the automotive electronics industry ushered in a rising period of development. Ott Automation, which continues to work hard in it, will undoubtedly make great achievements. According to Zhou Jinrong, the five-axis high-precision gluing solution for the mobile phone industry has been developed and will be officially launched to the market at the end of this year after about a year of verification.
N2 feeding tray
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