This year, there is a 'plug-in car' that has to be mentioned, do not sell off, directly reported the name - BMW 530le.
Not because it is so popular, but the production process of this car is very interesting, low-cost, innovative, and the most important thing is that its flexible production is very special, it is worthy of the industry to understand.
Recently, with a curious heart, the reporter walked into the Brilliance Tiexi factory in Shenyang, the New Dadong factory and the high-voltage battery center of the powertrain factory, trying to unveil the intelligent flexible production plant that gave birth to the new BMW 5 Series. secret.
From Changan, MG, Geely, Lectra, WEY, to BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Toyota, Ford, regardless of their own brands or joint venture brands, each is vying to launch such models.
However, in the opinion of the reporter, this year's performance in this field should be the most outstanding, BMW, specifically BMW Brilliance.
In the first half of this year, BMW sold 6295 vehicles in China, while Mercedes-Benz's PHEV models sold only 840 units, and Audi's two PHEV models sold only 330 units. The gap is obvious.
Compared with the sales volume in the first half of last year, the BMW hybrid car has increased by a factor of five. According to this growth rate, China is likely to become the world's largest new energy vehicle market.
The increase in sales is not unrelated to the overall quality of BMW Brilliance 530Le.
For the evaluation of this car, although most people give high scores on vehicle performance, driving experience and safety, it is the vehicle production process that determines these criteria.
Stamping, welding, painting, assembly, any process in the four major production processes of the car is not well handled, and ultimately will affect the quality of the vehicle.
Perhaps it is forced by the 'double points' policy, or the market needs, many domestic and foreign car companies have chosen to transform production 'plug-in car'.
As the first BBA to launch new energy, BMW has obvious advantages and ambitions. In 2025, BMW will launch 25 new energy models worldwide, including 12 pure electric vehicles, and plan to occupy The electric vehicle market has a 15%-25% share.
To achieve this goal, BMW's new energy vehicle production capacity and supporting industry layout in China is particularly important.
Under the support of 'Industry 4.0' technology, Brilliance BMW's Tiexi and Dadong two-vehicle factory can realize the co-line flexible production of new energy vehicles and traditional power vehicles. This highly flexible production method not only improves the production line. The utilization and production efficiency also reduce the investment in plant equipment and hardware, and save a lot of energy consumption.
With the ability to achieve parallel production, the equipment can be smoothly integrated into the existing production process by simply modifying the equipment in the body shop and the assembly shop.
According to BMW Brilliance engineers, the production of the parallel line is mainly reflected in the final assembly. At the assembly line of BMW Brilliance Dadong Factory, there is a 'special' station for installing power batteries for new energy vehicles. This station is in the fuel class. It will be automatically ignored, and when it encounters a new energy model, it will actively identify and intercept, and push the battery pack prepared in advance under the rear seat of the car.
At present, the new BMW 5 Series long-axis version of the fuel car, the new energy model has been able to achieve true parallel production, rather than a single production line.
In addition, flexible production is also reflected in innovative digital applications, digital quality monitoring methods and big data analysis and application throughout the entire production process, through digital identification systems, every part of the car and each machine Sub-jobs can be tracked and analyzed to ensure consistent quality for every new energy vehicle that is driven down the production line.
In the measuring room of the stamping workshop of Tiexi and Dadong factories, three stamping parts on the production line, the first, middle and last stamping parts of each production batch will be collected for analysis to ensure the stability of the press shop production. The laser scanner can scan the surface of the body parts to obtain point cloud data. By comparing with the 3D digital model, the body size can be obtained, and 210,000 points per body can be scanned every second.
In the paint shop, a 100% ADD automatic inspection system is used to detect the body surface after the spraying, to check whether there is a defect in the body surface caused by the external environment. By ADD automatic detection system, the surface of the vehicle body The defect recognition rate has increased from 65% to 98% of the original manual recognition rate, ensuring high recognition of defects and accuracy of detection.
It must be said that the BMW Brilliance Smart Factory has already brought flexible production to all aspects, including the power battery center that has just been established.
In the power battery center, the assembly of the battery module is also highly automated – the worker feeds the material at the beginning of the module production line (sending the battery into the production line), and after a few minutes, the assembled battery module is taken from the production line. The end is off the line, and then assembled into a battery pack by hand.
A new generation of high-voltage battery platform developed by BMW Brilliance has been applied to the new 5-series hybrid model. Compared with the previous generation, its energy density has increased by 70% to 111Wh/kg, which is the energy density of the currently-mixed hybrid models. The largest battery, in pure mode, can provide a cruising range of 61 kilometers, the highest speed of 140 kilometers / hour.
According to the engineer, the BMW Brilliance Power Battery Center efficiently integrates the highly automated module assembly line and the artificial battery pack assembly line to achieve higher production capacity. At the same time, the standard battery module and the matching housing It means that the performance and quality standards of high-voltage batteries are unified. The modular and innovative design of this high-voltage battery has become the basis for electric drive of various models and is also a necessary condition for responding quickly to customer needs.
In addition to battery production, the Power Battery Center also integrates R&D, quality, test room, procurement and supply chain management functions. Therefore, the center can bring products to market faster and fully exploit the potential of electrification of power systems.
On May 28, 2018, the second phase of BMW Brilliance Power Battery Center was successfully laid. The second phase of BMW's new fifth-generation power battery will be used in BMW's BMW brand's first pure electric vehicle – the new BMW iX3 concept. The car's production models provide more competitive battery technology.
During the two-day factory visit, the reporter had a deeper understanding of BMW Brilliance's overall layout and production capacity in the field of new energy vehicles. In fact, it was also known before, including the establishment of power battery center, product planning, etc. Like other joint venture car companies, BMW Brilliance is simply doing the layout. It may not be a big one in this field for a while. After all, the fuel car is still its main product, but after this visit, it was discovered that it is in technology. Whether it is reserve or layout scale, it can be seen that BMW Brilliance's efforts in new energy, especially in the first and second phases of the power battery center and innovation in the production of new energy vehicles, are commendable.
However, there is also some doubt. For example, this 'parallel production' method will save a lot of cost. It is also suitable for the current mixed-mix models, but it is also suitable for pure electric vehicles produced in the future. After all, pure electric and There are still some differences in the production process of fuel vehicles. If you want to make a relatively large transformation in the future (to pure electric), you may need to make more changes in the production process to face the future market demand.