Xinshida is deeply engaged in the field of digitalization and intelligence, and uses robots to manufacture robots

Source: Economic Daily

In the production workshop of nearly 20,000 square meters of Shanghai Xinshida Electric Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinshida"), there are almost no staff members, and different types of industrial robots are being debugged in an orderly manner on the production line...... At the same time, the AGVs, which are equipped with robot parts, flexibly perform the automatic obstacle avoidance function and smoothly travel to the product test area. In the new Shida Robot Smart Factory, the reporter personally felt the digital intelligence in the factory.

Founded in 1995, Xinshida takes motion control technology as the core, focusing on the research and development of servo drive, frequency conversion speed regulation technology and industrial robots and other products, helping the domestic manufacturing industry to improve the level of automation and intelligence. The company was listed on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010 and was rated as a national high-tech enterprise and a national innovative enterprise. At present, Xinshida's products and solutions are widely used in 3C electronics, elevators, semiconductors and other industries, serving more than 110 countries and regions.

Focus on control technology

Xinshida started with the development of elevator control system, the company developed the elevator serial control system in the year of its establishment, and launched the elevator remote monitoring system two years later. "The elevator control system mainly controls and manages the floor indication, in-car instructions, safety protection, etc. of the elevator car, and its core is the controller." Liang Rui, president of Xinshida, told reporters, "We have developed control system functions based on the scenarios of users' daily use of elevators to improve the intelligence level of elevators as much as possible." For example, in response to the situation that the user accidentally presses the wrong floor button when taking the elevator, we set up a command to cancel by pressing the floor button twice more, which solves the problem of repeatedly opening and closing the elevator door. ”

Based on the accumulation of experience and technological innovation in the field of control, Xinshida continues to expand the product categories of elevator control systems, and has developed 15 kinds of products such as elevator control cabinets, elevator inverters, and elevator car command boards.

Safe operation and maintenance are the factors that must be paid attention to in the process of elevator operation. To this end, Xinshida has launched the "Elevator Cloud" digital and intelligent solution for the whole life cycle of elevators. The solution uses cloud platform technology, relying on cloud supervision, cloud services and other functions, through holographic communication to perceive and record the operation status of the elevator in real time, realize fault prediction, provide scientific and efficient support for the daily management of the elevator, regular safety inspection and maintenance plan, and reduce the cost of elevator operation and maintenance.

Liang Rui introduced the latest application scenario of the elevator cloud to reporters: "In order to prevent residents from bringing electric bicycles into their homes to charge and cause fire hazards, we launched an AI camera with advanced image recognition technology in March this year to monitor the internal scene of the elevator. Once the electric bicycle is detected entering the elevator, the alarm will be triggered immediately, and the property and elevator maintenance personnel in the community will be quickly notified through APP or SMS, effectively preventing the electric bicycle from entering the home. At present, Xinshida has provided intelligent electrical control systems, component products and technical support services for more than 3 million elevators around the world.

"Based on the foundation of motion control technology, the company has made efforts in the two directions of variable frequency drive and servo system, and established an independent core technology research and development platform." Liang Rui introduced that the frequency conversion technology can adjust the voltage and frequency of the alternating current, realize the precise control of the motor, and meet the production requirements in different scenarios; The servo system can make the position and status of the target object change in real time with the control command. The company breaks through these two technical problems and provides intelligent ecological services for upstream and downstream customers, and its products have been widely used in water supply, elevators, rubber and plastics and other industries.

"At present, the business territory of Xinshida is closely focused on motion control technology. The company is accelerating the layout of the whole industrial chain of intelligent manufacturing, and strives to provide customers with full life cycle services. Liang Rui said.

Deeply cultivate the research and development of robots

With the rapid development of scientific and technological innovation in mainland China and the continuous change of the global industrial market pattern, coupled with the influence of policy support and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the market demand for industrial robots has increased rapidly. Xinshida keenly seizes development opportunities, combines its own development reality, gives full play to the advantages of core motion control technology, and expands its business territory to the field of industrial robots.

"Industrial robots are known as the 'crown jewel of the manufacturing industry' and are key development areas at home and abroad." Zhou Guangxing, vice president of Xinshida, said that mainland China has become the world's largest industrial robot market for 10 consecutive years, and it is expected that demand will continue to grow rapidly in the future.

In the early days of Xinshida's involvement in the field of industrial robots, it faced many difficulties and challenges. At that time, some foreign companies started earlier, and the process technology was more advanced and mature, occupying an advantage in China's industrial robot market. With the determination of "grinding a sword in ten years", Xinshida has concentrated on tackling key technologies, repeatedly tested finished products, and developed the first industrial robot in 2010. After making a breakthrough, the company has increased its development efforts, strengthened its R&D team, built a smart factory, and improved after-sales support, forming an all-round layout with competitiveness in the industry, and the annual shipments of industrial robots have been rising.

Building a smart factory is an important measure for Xinshida to respond to the development plan of the high-end equipment industry and develop the industrial robot business. After several years of construction, in December 2020, the Xinshida Robot Smart Factory was officially put into operation. Up to now, the factory has successively obtained certifications such as "National Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Factory" and "The First Batch of Benchmark Intelligent Factories in Shanghai". Chu Wenbin, deputy director of the product department of Xinshida Robot, introduced that Xinshida intelligent factory is the first factory in Shanghai to realize "robot manufacturing robots", and only 9 employees are arranged in the factory to monitor the operation of the automated production line and carry out a small part of manual intervention. From the assembly, transportation, welding to sample inspection of parts and components, almost all of them are completed by robots, and on average, a robot comes off the assembly line every 12 minutes.

In order to effectively promote the coordinated development of the robot industry chain in the Yangtze River Delta region, Xinshida actively establishes a close link relationship with suppliers, explores extensive cooperation, and promotes technological innovation with the integration of the industrial chain. In July 2022, Xinshida became the "chain master" enterprise to build the first "Made in the Yangtze River Delta" robot project. In the past two years, Xinshida has led 12 upstream and downstream enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta to collaborate in research and development, clenching their fingers into a fist, forming a joint force, jointly building an industrial ecology, and promoting the application of domestic robot parts in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Today, Xinshida has 9 series of more than 80 industrial robot products, with an annual output of more than 20,000 units and a cumulative shipment of more than 40,000 units, which have formed large-scale applications in many industries such as automobiles, new energy, consumer electronics, and metal processing.

Adhere to independent research and development

Over the years, Xinshida has adhered to innovation-driven, focused on R&D investment, strengthened the construction of R&D team, and regarded independent R&D as the foundation of the enterprise. Since its listing, the company has invested more than 2 billion yuan in R&D. In 2023, the company's R&D investment will reach about 233 million yuan, accounting for nearly 7% of operating income. At present, the company has more than 1,000 R&D personnel, accounting for about 40% of the total number of employees.

The update and iteration of the robot control cabinet is one of the achievements of Xinshida's insistence on independent research and development. Liang Rui introduced that Xinshida launched the first generation of robot control cabinet in 2012, which is as large as a bedside table. The control cabinet is the brain of the robot, and its large size means that it occupies a large space, which is not conducive to the movement and operation of industrial robots. The company's R&D team is determined to solve this pain point, and after years of painstaking research and dozens of program adjustments, it has successively launched the second and third generation control cabinets. In September last year, the fourth-generation robot control cabinet independently developed by Xinshida came out, which was nearly 70% smaller than the first generation, reduced the wiring in the cabinet by about 30%, increased the heat dissipation efficiency by nearly 40%, and leakage current was less than 10 milliamperes. At present, the fourth-generation robot control cabinet has been applied to photovoltaic, metal processing and other industries.

Xinshida's R&D personnel have been working day and night to tackle difficult problems, and technicians have conducted thousands of tests, and have achieved a series of R&D results. The company has developed auxiliary feed pump units with independent intellectual property rights, independent "robot control system + drive system", fully computerized elevator serial control system and other products that help the digital and intelligent development of the manufacturing industry, and some of the research and development results have been applied to national key construction projects.

In addition, the company has participated in the preparation and revision of a number of national and industry technical standards, and has more than 1,100 patents and software copyrights. At present, Xinshida has R&D centers in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi'an and other places, and a number of subsidiaries have obtained the certification of national specialized and special new "little giant" enterprises and Shanghai specialized and special new enterprises.

Looking forward to the future, Liang Rui said that Xinshida will adhere to the development goal of independent and controllable, increase technology research and development, narrow the gap with the international leading level, and strive to achieve more robot products "Created in China". (Economic Daily reporter Zou Tong)