China Science News: A new starting point for Sany Heavy Industry

Transferred from: Science Network Source: China Science News Reporter: Cheng Ge Correspondent: Zhu Dengke Ai Yanlong
 
"The development trend of mechanical engineering technology in the next 20 years is green, intelligent, supernormal, integrated and service". At the end of August 2011, the "China Mechanical Engineering Technology Roadmap" was released to point out the direction for the future development of China's machinery manufacturing industry. Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and chairman of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, pointed out that China has become a global manufacturing power, but the development model is still relatively extensive, and the independent ability of core components still needs to be strengthened.
In November 2011, Lu Yongxiang came to the headquarters of Sany Heavy Industry in Changsha. Here he is pleased to see that the five major changes belonging to the future are taking root, sprouting and bearing fruit in this leading enterprise in China's construction machinery industry. As an innovative enterprise that takes serving the country by industry as its own responsibility and guides the progress of the industry, Sany Heavy Industry stands at a new starting point.

■To build a machine, you need to use your own core parts

On November 3, 2007, Lu Yongxiang inspected Sany Heavy Industry for the first time. At that time, the Sany 66-meter pump truck, which had not long won the title of the world's longest boom pump truck, had just returned from touring Beijing, Shanghai and other places. In front of this pump truck, Lu Yongxiang praised Sany Heavy Industry as "the pride of Hunan, the pride of China, and the national hero of the new era", which gave great encouragement to all R&D personnel. He particularly advised: we must adhere to the road of self-made core components.
On November 14, 2011, Vice Chairman Lu Yongxiang came to Sany Heavy Industry again for inspection. Under the warm reception of Liang Wengen, chairman of Sany Heavy Industry, Yi Xiaogang, executive president and others, Lu Yongxiang and his entourage visited the No. 18 plant of Sany Asia*5655, where they saw the majestic posture of the world's longest boom pump truck - Sany 86-meter pump truck. As a mechanical user with deep knowledge in the field of hydraulics and pneumatics, Lu Yongxiang has maintained a long-term interest and strong interest in electrical and hydraulic technology. "The longer the boom, the more stress, the more technical it is," he says. Sany has always maintained the pump truck arm length of the world*5656, which is remarkable. ”
Standing next to the assembly line of concrete pump trucks, Lu Yongxiang was full of praise for the increasingly modern logistics system and accessories information system of Sany Heavy Industry. Then, the machine builder turned sideways and opened the electric control cabinet of the pump truck next to him - he found that more and more parts inside were labeled with the label of Sany Heavy Industry. He walked into the core parts exhibition area to look at these various and high-tech core components. Lu Yongxiang told Sany Heavy Industry to take the road of self-made core components four years ago, which is already close at hand.
As the world's *5655 pump truck manufacturing base, Sany has not only mastered the key technology of concrete pumping, but also continued to make breakthroughs in the self-production of core components.
In 2006, 5656 sets of construction machinery special controller SYMC was successfully developed in Sany Heavy Industry, which is the first domestic special controller to adapt to the harsh construction environment of construction machinery and fully have independent intellectual property rights, which not only fills the domestic gap, but also reaches the international advanced level of comprehensive performance.
"In the past, when installing products, it was easy to connect the wrong peripheral wires and short-circuit, which made expensive equipment easily damaged. After the installation of the SYMC, the host equipment has a 'thorough awareness' that allows the customer to make mistakes: if the operator accidentally connects the wrong line, it automatically isolates, cuts off, protects the machine from damage and alarms in time. Zhou Xiang, general manager of Sany Heavy Industry Intelligent Machine Control Co., Ltd., said.
At present, the core control products represented by SYMC have been promoted and applied in the group's pumping, lifting, road surface, port and other construction machinery, which has comprehensively improved the intelligence and autonomy level of Sany host. Not only that, the application of Sany Intelligent's core basic components and key technologies has directly increased the output value by more than 700 million yuan, and greatly promoted the sales of Sany host products.
From 66 meters to 86 meters, the 20-meter leap benefited from Sany Heavy Industry's independent research and development strategy on core devices. Just 5 days before Lu Yongxiang inspected Sany Heavy Industry, on November 9, 2011, at the scientific and technological achievements appraisal meeting of "key technology and application of ultra-long boom concrete pump truck" held in Hunan Province, Sany's innovative achievements in the optimization design of ultra-long boom, vibration reduction control technology, intelligent control technology, safety monitoring technology and other aspects have been highly affirmed by Tan Jianrong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and other appraisal users, and unanimously agreed that the achievements have reached the international leading level in terms of key technologies and performance indicators.
On December 25, 2010, the first 400kW integrated variable frequency permanent magnet synchronous motor in China passed all performance tests in Sany Electric and was successfully rolled off the assembly line. This product is the first permanent magnet synchronous motor independently developed and designed in China that integrates the function of frequency conversion speed regulation. Its successful launch line has broken the long-term dependence on imports of similar products in the industry. Compared with imported products of the same power, the weight of the motor is reduced by 10%, the overload capacity is increased by 10%, and the efficiency is 2% higher, which can be widely used in mines, docks, power plants, steel plants and other high-energy-consuming industries in urgent need of equipment transformation.
"Now, Sany Heavy Industry is already a well-known enterprise, I hope you will continue to take this road of independent innovation and create a better tomorrow." At the end of the inspection, Lu Yongxiang was full of expectations for the future of Sany Group. "You are not only the pride of the nation, but also the pride of the world's industrial manufacturing." Lu Yongxiang said.
 

■ Green "leap" starts from 20%.
 
In 2011, the Road Machinery Division of Sany Heavy Industry launched a series of products called "Leaper". Compared with the previous complete sets of road machinery, in terms of energy saving, this series of products reduces energy consumption by 10% to 20% compared with similar products. Take the full hydraulic grader as an example, due to the characteristics of full hydraulic drive, continuously variable speed, and consistent front and rear driving speed, the work efficiency is increased by 20% and the fuel is saved by 20%.
The "Leaper" series is just a microcosm of Sany Heavy Industry's journey into green manufacturing. As we all know, construction machinery, as a high-power and high-energy-consuming power equipment, has brought some adverse consequences such as environmental pollution while building a better life and creating huge wealth for human beings. In order to promote a virtuous cycle of economy and build a conservation-oriented society, the research on energy-saving and consumption-reducing technology of construction machinery is urgent.
As early as a few years ago, Sany Heavy Industry put forward the concept of environmental protection and energy saving of construction machinery. At that time, in order to meet the ever-changing working conditions of the load on the construction site, the domestic construction machinery manufacturers generally used the engine * 5655 power mode to operate, which met the needs of different working conditions, but because the speed of the engine could not be adjusted in real time with the change of load, it brought a lot of fuel waste.
According to Yi Xiaogang, a scientist at Sany Heavy Industry, there is an energy chain match between the engine, transfer case and main oil pump of the concrete pump truck. If the three cannot be well matched due to the change of concrete grade and pumping speed in the pumping process, energy loss will occur.
Since 2008, Sany has been developing a new generation of dynamic energy-saving mode, which has been successful for three years. Among them, the automatic identification system of the full power automatic adaptation energy-saving technology can automatically adjust the power, speed and torque of the engine in a few seconds, so that the three can achieve the best match. In the past, the traditional way of "burning as much oil as you want" has been completely subverted and transformed into a way of "giving as much oil as you want". As a result, Sany Heavy Industry has become the first enterprise in the construction machinery enterprise to realize the power matching of the entire machinery and equipment.
In 2010, Yi Xiaogang presided over the development of energy-saving invention patent "an energy-saving control method for concrete pump" won the China Patent Gold Award. In addition to the full-power automatic adaptation technology, its high-efficiency and energy-saving hydraulic technology can reduce the reversing time of the S-pipe valve from 0.52 seconds to 0.38 seconds, and the reversing cycle from 2 seconds to 1.86 seconds, reducing energy loss. The energy-saving technology of the cooling system can reduce energy consumption by controlling the temperature of the entire hydraulic system.
High efficiency and energy saving have always been the unique label of Sany heavy industry excavators. Since 2009, more than 300 excavator competitions have been held in the country, Sany excavator and major brands on the same stage, and finally won the first place with relative advantages, fuel consumption is about 10% lower than other brands on average, and the operating efficiency is about 8% higher than other brands. In a survey conducted by the China Association for Quality in 2011, the fuel economy of Sany excavators surpassed Japan's Komatsu and the United States' Carter, ranking *5656.
With the help of the three core technologies of "full-power automatic adaptation energy-saving technology, high-efficiency energy-saving hydraulic technology, and cooling system energy-saving technology", Sany Heavy Industry's new generation of dynamic energy-saving mode has been popularized and applied in a series of products, so that the average fuel saving of pumping products is 20%, the average energy saving of grader products is 30%, the average energy saving of paver products is 28%, and the energy saving of excavator products is more than 30%, which guides the development direction of energy conservation and emission reduction in the construction machinery industry.
 

■"Remanufacturing" makes the machine "reborn"

In China, most of the waste construction machinery is often recycled into the scrap iron plant as scrap iron for reprocessing, which causes a great waste of resources.
In August 2009, the state promulgated the "Circular Economy Promotion Law", which included 5656 times of remanufacturing into the scope of law. In December of the same year, Sany Heavy Industry was selected as the first batch of 35 remanufacturing pilot enterprises announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, and established "Hunan Sany Construction Machinery Remanufacturing Company". On January 28, 2011, the "Hunan Sany Construction Machinery Remanufacturing Pilot Implementation Plan" was successfully passed in the review organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and Sany Group officially became a remanufacturing pilot enterprise recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the implementation plan, Sany Heavy Industry will carry out parts and vehicle remanufacturing within the group.
At that time, the outside world had high expectations for Sany to join the ranks of remanufacturing. In the field inspection and review organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, many users are full of confidence in the road of Sany remanufacturing, expressing "hope that Sany can become the benchmark of China's construction machinery remanufacturing". The industry commented that "Sany's participation has shown more imagination for the development of the remanufacturing industry".
The repair of parts and components is like a delicate medical operation, and only enterprises that have reached a high technical threshold can enter. In 2003, Japan's Komatsu entered the field of China's construction machinery remanufacturing and became one of the earliest enterprises. In 2008, Caterpillar established the world's third remanufacturing center in Shanghai, and in the first half of 2009, it successively established remanufacturing recycling points in Guangdong, Sichuan and other places.
In China, Zoomlion, which lives in the same city as Sany Heavy Industry, entered the field of remanufacturing earlier. In 2006, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery took the lead in starting the engine remanufacturing project, and formed a more standardized process through the introduction and transformation of equipment. In December 2009, Yuchai Machinery and Caterpillar established a joint venture to provide remanufacturing services for Yuchai diesel engines and parts. In the same year, the remanufacturing projects of construction machinery companies such as Weichai Power and Liugong were also launched. Although Sany Heavy Industry started late, it is full of stamina.
There was a misconception that "remanufacturing" was just a rephrase for "renovation". In reality, this is not the case. Compared to a typical new plant, remanufacturing is equivalent to operating two plants at the same time.
"'Remanufacturing' is different from the recycling of waste materials, nor is it maintenance in the traditional sense, its core is to use special technology and technology, on the basis of the original manufacturing for a new manufacturing, so that the old machinery and equipment can be rejuvenated. Remanufactured products are not inferior to the original new products in terms of performance and quality. At the annual summit of Sany Heavy Industry held in Boao, Hainan in December 2011, Yi Xiaogang said.
In September 2010, Sany Heavy Industry's first remanufactured pump truck was successfully rolled off the assembly line, indicating that Sany remanufacturing has taken substantial steps. According to reports, when the car was launched, it was covered with cement dirt and rust, and some parts were cracked and deformed. Due to the long service life of the old pump truck, some of the pins have been completely rusted, and great difficulties were encountered when disassembling the outriggers. Through evaluation, comprehensive disassembly, repair, testing, final assembly and other procedures, the R&D personnel have revitalized this pump truck, and its product performance and quality are no less than new products.
The average remanufacturing company has been able to use 40% of the raw materials from the old parts. Sany clearly has a more ambitious goal. They first aimed at the company's flagship product, the concrete pump truck, and rearranged and redesigned the production line. More than 85% of the mechanical components such as booms, turntables, turrets, cylinders, chassis, beams, hoppers, conveying cylinders, hydraulic components and other mechanical components of the pump truck will be reused after cleaning or remanufacturing, plus the replacement of consumables such as conveyor pipes and cables and some control components, which will make the utilization rate of old parts of the vehicle reach 70%.
While focusing on enterprise remanufacturing, Sany Heavy Industry gives full play to its technological advantages and actively participates in the construction of the national remanufacturing system. On November 10, 2010, Sany Group attended the "Construction Machinery Remanufacturing Standard Work Seminar" held in Tianjin, and participated in the formulation of remanufacturing standards such as "Construction Machinery Remanufacturing Product Identification", "Construction Machinery Remanufacturing Terminology" and "General Technical Specifications for Construction Machinery Remanufacturing".
 

■Let the machine "IoT" become a "network"
 
For many remanufacturing companies, recycling is a long-standing problem. Since China has not yet opened the free circulation market of waste parts, it is difficult for formal remanufacturing enterprises to obtain old parts from the market. In addition, the state has no mandatory scrapping legislation for construction machinery products, and most of the equipment is not scrapped immediately after use, but is reluctantly used for repair, or is directly sent to the boiler after scrapping. The waste parts imported from abroad are often confiscated as "foreign garbage", which is tantamount to a "neck" stuck in the raw material supply chain of the remanufacturing industry, which is already scarce.
Curiously, this question does not seem to bother Trinity.
On November 5, 2011, the reporter followed Xu Tao, director of the delegation of the Youth Federation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and walked into the multimedia demonstration room of the global parts control center located in the headquarters of Sany Heavy Industry in Changsha. After an introductory video, the narrator connected to the Internet, and a three-dimensional figure of a "Sany" crane appeared on the big screen. Info tip: This machine is located in Henan Province. On the left side of the screen, a menu appears, and with the click of a mouse, the machine's exact location, service time, operating conditions, performance parameters, service engineer name, and other information can be seen at a glance. When the mouse swipes and zooms over the machine, all the parts on the machine are presented in three dimensions.
Almost all of the users present had one word in mind: the Internet of Things. But what I didn't expect was that this new word, which was just a concept a few years ago, has been really staged in such a huge industry as construction machinery. What's especially surprising is that this isn't just a demo show, it's a real work scene. In this control room, if the dispatcher gives an instruction, then the machine and his operator receive it immediately, adjusting the operating conditions to automatically adapt to changes in the environment; If there is an unexpected situation that the operator in the field cannot solve, the system will automatically dispatch the engineer closest to it to repair it.
According to Liu Yonghong, a core member of Yi Xiaogang's R&D team and executive vice president of the "Sany Group" Research Institute, the core functions of Sany Heavy Industry's remote monitoring platform are mainly completed by the central monitoring system, mobile remote monitoring terminal (SYMT) and motion controller (SYMC). Among them, the mobile remote monitoring terminal is mainly responsible for the positioning and wireless communication of the vehicle, the motion controller is mainly responsible for the working condition data acquisition and motion control of the engineering vehicle, and the central monitoring system is mainly responsible for the collection, recording, display, analysis and automatic processing of the positioning data, working condition information and other data of the engineering vehicle.
Through the central monitoring system, Sany headquarters can directly control each machine equipped with related systems, so as to realize the remote monitoring of the new location data, vehicle status and alarm information of the equipment, realize the matching with the GIS digital map, intuitively display the real-time coordinates of the vehicle, and automatically record, analyze and process various information. Through authorization, each monitoring user can use wired or wireless Internet access all over the world, log in to the monitoring center website for vehicle information sending, receiving, querying, analyzing, etc., and can even directly issue instructions to remotely control the authorized vehicle.
Naturally, once the equipment is aging, parts need to be replaced, or the equipment is scrapped, it will not suffer the fate of entering the steel mill and becoming a pile of molten iron, but will be sent to the nearest hospital for "diagnosis and treatment", waiting for "discharge" and "remanufacturing".
Of course, such a scenario has not yet been fully realized, but in Sany Heavy Industry, this is no longer a distant thing. On the other hand, in the domestic industry, according to Zhou Xianbiao, secretary general of the Information Working Committee of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, although more construction machinery and equipment have long realized the automatic alarm function, but the remote alarm function has not yet been realized. Although many devices are inherently intelligent, the Internet of Things has not yet been fully formed because they are not equipped with relevant data output and input systems. At present, 17% of the profits of construction machinery enterprises in developed countries come from the field of remanufacturing, while China has just begun.
 
■"Service-oriented manufacturing" and Sany Heavy Industry's concept of responsibility
 
Manufacturing, service and IT, three different industries, have achieved a wonderful integration in Sany Heavy Industry. This may create a new form of industry, that is, intelligent and service-oriented manufacturing.
On November 6, 2011, Lu Yongxiang pointed out in a report at the Changsha Science and Technology Fair that manufacturing enterprises in developed countries have already transformed from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing. In the next 20 years, it will be a critical period for China's manufacturing industry to transform from production-oriented manufacturing to service-oriented manufacturing, service-oriented manufacturing will become a new industrial form, and the technology and industry serving the whole life cycle of products will receive greater attention.
Zhu Sendi, special adviser to the China Machinery Industry Federation and member of the State Information Advisory Committee, believes that this new industrial form that integrates manufacturing and services, enterprises will provide customers with not only products, but also services or overall solutions based on products. If production-oriented manufacturing is bound to move towards service-oriented manufacturing, then providing remote monitoring, testing and diagnosis is an important step for construction machinery to move towards full-service manufacturing.
In this step, Sany Heavy Industry once again stepped in front. But it's not just a technological revolution.
In the perception of many people, let the product be scrapped naturally, and then consumers come to buy new products, which will bring higher profits, why spend so much effort to engage in "remanufacturing"? In fact, there are two completely different corporate philosophies behind this.
In the "2011 Construction Machinery Industry User Satisfaction Evaluation" initiated by the China Association for Quality, Sany Heavy Industry's concrete products surpassed Germany's Putzmanster and Schwein in terms of design, appearance, engine system, hydraulic system, electrical system, structural component system and other quality characteristics. Sany's truck-mounted pumps, mixing plants, pump trucks, trailer pumps, pavers, crawler cranes, excavators,Rotary drilling rigsand other 8 categories of products, and won the title of user satisfaction*5656 in the selection.
When the news came, Sany Heavy Industry felt very excited, and Chairman Liang Wengen personally instructed: This award is of special significance to Sany Heavy Industry, because this is the user directly awarded us with the award.
Relying on advanced technology and management, we serve users and serve the country with industry. Sany Heavy Industry fulfills its responsibilities and missions.
In March 2011, the story of Sany Heavy Industry's concrete long-arm pump truck rushing to the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is still fresh in my memory. The pump truck that injected water to cool the nuclear power plant was affectionately known as the "big giraffe" by Japanese engineers, and many ordinary Japanese citizens also left messages of gratitude through the corporate mailbox on the Sany Group website.
August 26, 2011, Ningde Nuclear Power Plant, Fujian Province. Known as "Asia's * 5656 crane", Sany SCC9000 crawler crane whistles to operate hooking, lifting and slewing...... A series of hoisting actions were smooth and precise, and the dome of Unit 3 of Ningde Nuclear Power Plant was in place, which took 48 minutes. As one of the core and key components of nuclear power facilities, the nuclear island dome of a nuclear power plant has almost strict requirements for lifting equipment.
In China's nuclear power construction, imported crawler cranes have always been used for the lifting of nuclear island domes. The emergence of Sany Heavy Industry crawler crane ended this history, created a precedent for domestic crawler cranes to lift the dome of nuclear islands, and once again proved to the world that Sany Heavy Industry crawler cranes have been at the world's leading level in the field of hoisting key components of nuclear power.
First-class results benefit from first-class talents. In Sany Heavy Industry, Yi Xiaogang, the executive president, also serves as the president of the General Research Institute of Sany Group and the director of the postdoctoral workstation, responsible for cultivating scientific and technological talents and guiding technical research. Under his leadership, in the past 10 years, Sany Heavy Industry Postdoctoral Research Station has successively incubated a number of innovative achievements such as "intelligent construction machinery and information manufacturing based on transfer vehicle" and "power energy-saving technology of construction machinery", with a transformation benefit of nearly 2 billion yuan, becoming an important force and bridgehead for the company's technological innovation and high-end talent gathering.
In 2011, the postdoctoral research workstation of Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. stood out from the 521 postdoctoral research workstations in the country and was rated as the national postdoctoral research workstation, which is also the first unit of similar institutions in China's construction machinery industry, which strongly demonstrates the R&D strength of Sany Heavy Industry to rely on increasing R&D investment and system innovation to continuously achieve improvement.
It is with strong R&D strength, relying on the corporate culture of the company, and benefiting from the management model and service concept of the company, in 2011, Sany Heavy Industry was shortlisted for the FT Global 500 for the first time with a market value of 21.584 billion US dollars, becoming the first enterprise in China's machinery industry to enter the world's top 500.