Quality management is the lifeblood of an enterprise. It is not only about product quality, but also about the credibility of the enterprise, customer satisfaction and long-term development. However, quality management issues are often "at the root of the problem", and many companies in the industry are facing a series of challenges.
So, how to dig deep into the source of quality management problems and effectively achieve quality control goals?
In this regard, Zhang Xu, CEO of Yifei Mobile Robot, said that quality control is not only a process, but also a concept.
Yifei Technology is committed to being the "Foxconn" of the AGV industry and providing high-quality ODM services to industry customers. Based on this, Yifei Technology has established a sound quality management system to ensure high quality products and high production efficiency.
Yifei technology series AGV
Concept first, do our best to do a good job in quality control management
To achieve the goal of quality control, it is necessary to implement precise policies in every link. From the beginning of its involvement in the industry, Yifei mobile robot has taken quality control as the first element.
In the process of quality control, Yifei Technology insists on combining concept and investment. Zhang Xu said: "We believe that ideas are crucial, but it is not enough to have ideas, we also need to be willing to invest real money. In the early stage of product development, we invested a lot of money, from making model cars to small batch production, and then to mass production, and built AGVs with the process methodology of automobile manufacturing. ”
In order to better detect, Yifei Technology has built a number of laboratories in the factory, including silent laboratory, high and low temperature laboratory, laser calibration laboratory and electromagnetic laboratory. According to Zhang Xu, in the AGV industry, under the premise that the business has not exceeded 100 million yuan, Yifei, who is willing to invest nearly 10 million yuan to build a laboratory, must be the first.
"Although the noise generated by AGVs may not have much impact on production in actual operation, customers do mind in some environments. Therefore, we decided to invest in the establishment of a silent laboratory, paying attention to every product parameter and customer needs is the basic culture of a product-based company, we may not be able to achieve the octagonal warrior of performance and cost, but we can fully understand the meaning behind each parameter so that customers know and choose freely is our original intention. Zhang Xu said.
In addition to the testing of product development, Yifei Technology also attaches great importance to factory quality inspection, and it has always been a pain point in the industry, so Yifei has specially hired a third-party testing company Ward to conduct strict testing and issue a certificate of conformity for each factory product.
Zhang Xu further said that to minimize the cost of production needs to be automated, standardized production, limited by the scale and the reality of the industry personalized customization of the status quo, manual assembly is essential, in order to ensure quality, eliminate human error SOP alone is far from enough, so Yifei is willing to spend money to invite outsiders to do testing, so that the truth will be heard, the problem will not be covered up, so that "no bad flow" will not become an empty word.
"We will never treat quality control as a trivial matter," Zhang Xu emphasized. "Our commitment and commitment is reflected in our actions, from quality testing to equipment purchases, from the production of fixtures, inspection fixtures, to outer packaging, and turnarounds. We're all taking our actions to prove that we're a company that takes product manufacturing seriously. We're never playing tickets. ”
Details win, promote the road of standardized production
In the process of quality management, how to ensure the stability of product quality is a difficult problem. In Zhang Xu's view, there are differences in the perception of various enterprises in the industry in this regard.
"For example, many companies still lack the concept of assembly line production. Although Ford has long since invented the assembly line, many companies still use the traditional 'one person, one table' manual assembly method, which is difficult to ensure the stability of products. ”
In contrast, the advantage of assembly line production is that workers focus on a single task, such as loading wheels or screwing, which reduces learning costs and errors, thereby improving production efficiency and product quality. We took this into account in the early stages of the factory design, so we decided to use an assembly line during the planning stage. With the increase in production, Yifei planned to build a standard 10,000-square-meter AGV production plant in the E round of financing, and designed to have an AGV body-in-white made by self-produced robots roll off the assembly line every 20 minutes.
We pay great attention to the details and standardization in the production and manufacturing process. For example, Efe is equipped with a special load-bearing fixture for general custom materials to ensure that the materials are handled correctly during the production process.
Zhang Xu pointed out that in the past, many enterprises often put materials directly on the ground, which not only makes the materials easy to be polluted by dust, but also may be touched by forklifts and other equipment, and Yifei's approach not only ensures the quality of the product, but also reduces the possibility of secondary damage.
When talking about quality management in the production process, Zhang Xu also mentioned his experience in the automotive industry: "In the automotive industry, a common principle is that once a screw falls to the ground, it cannot be used. This philosophy is deeply ingrained in our bones, because we know that details are important to the quality of our products. Therefore, Yifei is absolutely not allowed to put materials on the ground at will during the production process, but insists on placing them in a special storage area. These seemingly small measures are actually crucial to product quality management. ”
In addition, Yifei has fully integrated attention to detail in the design of the factory. For example, in the new factory of Yifei, the visiting corridor is located on the second floor of the office area, which is designed to prevent irrelevant people from entering the workshop and to keep the production environment quiet and focused.
In the factory of Yifei Technology, every link from raw materials to shipment follows the logic of standardized production. For example, for the packaging and transportation of products, Yifei Technology has adopted a series of strict standardization measures, in addition to using standardized fixtures and boxes, it has also adopted special packaging methods to ensure the transportation quality of products.
"Our standardized factory is significantly different from the traditional 'front shop and back factory' model. "Enterprises that adopt the 'front store and back factory' model often pay less attention to the planning and standardization of the production process, because doing so will increase costs, but we think these costs are worth it." At the beginning of the design of our products, the design of packaging boxes and plastic bags was considered, and in the future, after the product shape is stabilized, the foam compartment commonly used in household appliances will be developed to effectively prevent pressure. ”
Production is both work and art, which requires managers to love production, invest time and money for it, and promote the standardization and automation process of product production step by step.
Collaborate and win-win to build an efficient supply chain system
The supply chain is also an extremely important part of quality management, as it directly affects the quality and stability of raw materials, components and final products. Zhang Xu pointed out that supply chain management is an important challenge facing the industry, which requires the joint efforts of the entire industry to improve the scale and standardization of the supply chain.
Yifei Robotics has taken a number of measures to optimize supply chain management. First of all, we have long-term cooperation with a single supplier or a designated supplier, because its products are relatively standard, and the supplier can focus on producing specific models of products, so as to better control the quality. Secondly, Yifei Technology purchases monthly quantities on an annual basis, so that parts suppliers do not need to work overtime during the peak period of seasonal orders, and can balance supply and demand to keep production running normally.
In the process of supply chain management, Yifei Technology launched the "GAIA Plan" for the entire mobile robot industry, advocating the separation of software, car body and delivery, hoping to create a more open supply chain system. On the premise of ensuring that the interests of suppliers are not damaged, we will further reduce procurement costs, create the most cost-effective car body, realize the division of labor in the industry, and make the industry more prosperous.
"Our goal is to reduce supplier costs and increase the number of production quantities of a single model to improve the stability of the industry," Zhang said. Through the GAIA program, we will bring more unified and standardized products to the entire industry, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and improving supply stability. ”
In the current competitive business environment, companies should focus on the long-term development and sustainability of the industry while pursuing profit maximization. Because only when the whole industry prospers and develops, can it provide enterprises with a broader market space and a more stable development environment.
"Only by keeping the stars and the sea in our hearts can we go further. If everyone only has that one-third of an acre in their hearts, we can't take bigger steps. Zhang Xu said.
He believes that the GAIA alliance must be based on public will and vision, and at the same time, in the process of pursuing public will, it must not ignore interests. "We are well aware that we must also address some of the issues facing the industry while satisfying the interests of all parties. Therefore, GAIA is to achieve a win-win situation, which can not only reduce costs for everyone, but also promote the prosperity of the industry. ”
Epilogue:
In recent years, many mobile robot manufacturers need to take responsibility for product manufacturing, integration, and delivery at the same time, and the supply chain is vertical. In this case, Yifei Technology took the lead in launching the ODM model in the industry, aiming to return the value to the original and promote the division of labor and collaboration in the mobile robot industry.
Facing the future, Yifei Technology will continue to uphold the principle of quality first, continuous innovation and progress. We plan to build a factory that focuses on the production of standard AGVs. At the same time, the company will continue to strengthen team building, set up a "red and blue army", and improve the execution efficiency and innovation ability of the R&D team through dual deployment. In addition, Yifei Technology will also actively explore the application of new technologies, such as low-speed driving technology and autonomous driving technology, and combine them with AGV technology to continuously expand the functions and application fields of products.
"These are the things that set us apart from others, we don't set limits on ourselves, we are constantly thinking about how to solve problems and innovating in many ways. Zhang Xu concluded.