Recently, Kangmai, the largest wheel supplier of commercial vehicles in the world, took part in the Wuhan Commercial Vehicle Exhibition which was held on November 4, 2017 with the latest products. In this exhibition, AutoZoom magazine had the honor of interviewing Kang Mike Haman, vice president of international sales Mai. For the current product development trends and technology lines, Mike Harman talked about his future commercial vehicle industry trends in judgments, and from his point of view of China's domestic parts business peers did an evaluation.
Mike Harman, Vice President, International Sales
Interview site
PreSet® wheels debut at Wuhan Auto Show
Pre-adjusted bearing technology
"Car aspect": Mr. Mike first asked us to introduce the exhibition of this Wuhan Commercial Auto Show, the Group has brought the latest technology and products?
Mike Harman: As a supplier to the wheel end, the Conrad Group is of course our heavyweight product and the PreSet® wheel on display at this show is the most advanced wheel end technology available on the market. It is suitable for both disc and drum applications Brakes, the application range covers buses and trucks, carrying 14T-30T tractor range, and various types of trailers.
We bring the tapered roller bearings, can be used for many types of commercial vehicles, can effectively improve the reliability of vehicles and extend the service life of vehicles.After our research found that Chinese commercial vehicle users on the longer life of high reliability zero With more and more components in demand, Commemorative innovates in the design and manufacturing process to develop semi-tolerance, high-quality wheel-end bearing products that maximize the useful life of the vehicle while extending their useful life.
In addition, there are various types of brake drums, aluminum castings and other products, follow-up if you are interested can learn more about it.
Kangmai booth - 2017 Wuhan Commercial Vehicle Show
"Car aspect": You just said that PreSet® wheel technology is the most advanced, then it is the main advanced where? What is the difference with the ordinary wheel?
Mike Harman: The PreSet® hub uses pre-adjusted bearing technology to achieve high-precision setting of bearing play by tightly controlling all key dimensional tolerances on the hub, bearings and precision spacer.
The difference between the PreSet® wheel hub and the traditional wheel hub is that it is smarter, easier and less error-prone than conventional wheel hubs. Conventional hubs use hand-held tools to install bearings and oil seals. When the assembly is mounted to the axle axle , The operator adjusts the bearing clearance manually according to a series of complicated steps. This approach leads to higher possibility of calibration errors, which can damage the hub, bearings and oil seal if not properly calibrated, greatly affecting the life and safety of the hub. In the same position, the PreSet® hub is assembled by the operator after the self-locating hub assembly is mounted on the shaft tube by simply tightening the shaft nut to the specified torque, eliminating the need for any manual adjustments to the assembly or bearing.
PreSet® wheels not only reduce installation errors but also reduce the risk of component damage during installation, both of which are important reasons for premature oil seal failure.
PreSet® Wheel Hub - 2017 Wuhan Commercial Vehicle Show
Later came home, Kang Mai spending huge sums to expand the Chinese market
North American market, the most advanced mature products will be introduced into the country
"Car aspect": At present, Camry in the Chinese market is what kind of development? What are the next strategic plan?
Mike Harman: Conma, a subsidiary of Anshine Industrial Group, has doubled its sales almost every year since entering China in 2011. To date, we have delivered 1 million wheels for the OEMs.
Most domestic commercial vehicle companies are our customers, including FAW, Dongfeng, Futian, JAC, JMC and many other local enterprises.
Next, Kang Mai will continue to invest heavily in China to ensure that the best value delivered to customers, with the same quality and international standard of the same products and services to Chinese users, China's commercial vehicle market to provide the best performance, the lowest End-of-Products at Costs of Use. Recently, we have a state-of-the-art, proven product in the North American market to be introduced soon.
At present, Weifang plant has been put into use the most advanced automatic casting production line and robot machining production lines, to carry out precision wheel manufacturing, and use their own intellectual property rights, using the same technology and equipment in North America in Nanjing factory hub assembly Assembly.
Kangmai booth - 2017 Wuhan Commercial Vehicle Show
Lightweight and power-driven technology is an important trend in the future development
"Car aspect": Could you talk about the current R & D trend of the wheel end products? What do you think of wheel motor technology? What are the technical barriers to commercialization?
Mike Harman: In the field of commercial vehicles, both lightweight and electric drive are important trends in the future development of technology, of which the lightweight technology is mainly realized through the selection of new materials and the design process, and under the premise of ensuring the strength and safety of automobiles Potentially reducing the curb weight of a car, thereby improving the car's power, reducing fuel consumption and reducing exhaust pollution.
Electric drive technology is the main technical route of China's new energy vehicles, wheel motor is one of the research and development direction, at present, our company is also developing this technology, waiting for the technology to mature and then put on the market.A wheel hub motor technology is the biggest characteristic of the power, transmission and Brakes are integrated into the hub to simplify the mechanical part of the electric vehicle.
Technical barriers to electric drive products mainly in two aspects, first, the battery technology has not yet exceeded, because heavy truck itself is too heavy, you need a lot of batteries to pull; Second, the cost is too high, including the cost of the battery, the cost of research and development, These problems need to be solved.
Highly praised China's domestic parts business
Maintaining a good 'zero-relationship' to have research and development strength
"Car aspect": As an international peer, you are willing to evaluate our local Chinese parts companies?
Mike Harman: In my opinion, China's domestic parts and components enterprises in the technical innovation is more prominent, they have a very strong competitive edge, is our excellent competitor.
"Car aspect": What do you think about the relationship between OEMs and component suppliers that we often refer to in our country?
Mike Harman: As a OEM, or more willing to work with international companies like us, because we have a strong R & D innovation in a vehicle during the initial stage of product development, we will participate in advance to the OEM design and development , Specifically for their new models to match and develop more suitable parts products.
Of course, this is also related to the product category, some low-end product suppliers, their OEM relationship with the OEM is only the supplier relationship, can not enter the product development level.