Chapter 64

A report from Toyota's China research team was sent to the desk of the head of Toyota's technical department, along with a video and a CD-ROM.

"What is this?" Mamito Abe picked up the thick file bag from the table, looked at his secretary and asked strangely.

Miri Fukuen opened the notepad in her hand, checked it and said: "It was a report sent back by the Chinese mainland Motor Factory Expansion Research Group, and it was sent urgently. ”

"I remember, the person in charge of the research team is that kid from Izumita, right? Although we are from the technical department, since it is a business matter, we should report to the strategic division, right? How did you get the documents to me? ”

Abe Mari still has some impressions of Izumita, and in his eyes he is a relatively down-to-earth and good subordinate. He worked in the headquarters of the technical department for a period of time, and later was delegated to the production technology reserve department under the technical department as a deputy, which was also deeply appreciated by his boss Yakushiji. Such a person who rarely makes mistakes in his work should not make the mistake of sending the wrong document.

"It was Izumi who sent it over through the direct flight from the imperial capital of China to Tokyo today, and asked someone to send it over, so it shouldn't be a mistake. According to his authority, the highest classification tag was used, and no one had seen the contents of the file bag before. ”

"Oh? That's right. "Abe Mari is a little cautious.

Since the documents were assigned to him by a Toyota employee who had returned to China, and the highest level of secrecy was used, it was obviously impossible to make a mistake.

Looking at Junichiro Izuta's style, is there something special about China?

"Alright, you go out first." Mari Abe sat down in his seat, picked up the thick document bag and began to confirm the sealing label, and said to the secretary Misato Fukuen, without raising his head.

Misato Fukuen bowed slightly, stepped on his high heels and gently exited his office.

In the spacious office, the sunlight shone through the window on Maruto Abe's body, and the warm sunlight lifted his spirits. He unsealed the bag and poured out a thick stack of papers, as well as a videotape and a CD.

Unlike VCDs, which are commonly used in China, due to copyright and market standards, before the popularization of Blu-ray DVDs, videotapes still had some market residues in countries such as the United States and Japan. And from Izumita's point of view, this is also a kind of clearance. After all, content in digital format is easier to tamper with, and videotapes are more indicative of the reliability of the image.

"What are you doing with this Izumita?"

Mari Abe swept the tape and disc aside, picked up the file and opened the cover.

"Toyota's plan to increase the rate of automation?"

Mari Abe read the title of the document softly, and as he flipped through the pages of the document, his expression became more and more cautious.

The document was thick, but he read it quickly. From the beginning of the careful reading, to the ten lines at a glance, to the skipping of large paragraphs, until the very end of the document, Abe Mari suddenly stopped his gaze.

"Principle? This bastard! Abe slammed the papers out, looking at the stack of papers that had been smashed almost red.

In this document, Junichiro Izumida describes an excellent prospect for him. There is no need for new hardware investment, no need to add new positions, no need for new training. A single system upgrade of the robotic arm on the production line can increase the degree of automation by at least 20%.

As Toyota's head of technology, Mari Abe certainly knows what that means. It can not only reduce the number of employees on the production line by 20%, but also means that the product yield rate is improved, the production cost is greatly reduced, the production speed is greatly improved, and the flexibility of the production line can be greatly enhanced......

Don't underestimate this 20%, for an international company like Toyota, this is a qualitative leap.

However, to Abe's annoyance, Izumi seems to have played a joke on him. After describing such a prospect, it has been vague about the specific technology used. It is only said that it is a technology that can perform image recognition applied to the robotic arm system by the partner companies of Toyota's partner companies.

God is pitiful, Abe Mari is able to be the minister of the technical department, of course, it is extremely level. But he has been engaged in the field of engines, mechanical design, and mechanical manufacturing. The technical details of the cloud and mountain fog cover that even Izumi Tian himself saw were even more fantastical in his eyes.

Why the robotic arm is able to identify solder joint defects on its own, and why the operator needs to train the software - the mere word training makes Abe find a little ridiculous. The software program still needs to be trained, is it not the electronic chip in the robotic arm, but the circus pet such as a lion and tiger?

If it weren't for Izumita's long-term work achievements, Abe Mari would really think of him as a fool who had been deceived by the Chinese.

Mamito Abe took a few breaths, and the anger in his heart finally went out. When his eyes fell on the two remaining items on his desk, he picked up the phone.

"Automated labs? Do you have a robotic arm made by SIASUN China? ”

……

Toyota's technical department has arguably the largest automotive technology R&D system in Japan, with annual R&D expenditures of 9,000 to 1 trillion yen, or tens of billions of dollars in U.S. dollars.

Every year, just trying to spend such a sum of money, the plan can fill an entire warehouse. Among them, in addition to the automotive technology itself, a considerable part of the resources are also invested in the progress of manufacturing technology. Among them, automated production technology is the top priority of research.

Toyota Automation Lab is located in an open area outside of Aichi Prefecture, some distance from the city, which is more suitable for the quiet and focused nature of scientific research.

Presiding over the work here is Professor Kentaro Wakabayashi. He is a well-known scientist who once taught in the Department of Automation at Nagoya University. Nagoya University is one of the top universities in Japan in the field of automation, and Toyota paid a lot of money to invite him from Nagoya University.

However, Professor Kentaro Wakabayashi has really lived up to expectations, and since he became the chief scientist of Toyota Automation Laboratory, he has increased the automation rate of Toyota's production line by a full five percentage points in ten years! The wealth created for Toyota before and after is more than a billion dollars.

In terms of input-output ratio, Kentaro Wakabayashi is the most popular kind of practical scholar in the company.

"Professor Wakabayashi, could you please take a look at this tape and explain to me what exactly the technical principle is?"

After Mari Abe pushes the tape into the player, a production line consisting of several robotic arms is shown on the TV. Outside the screen, Izumita's voice came out a little nervously.

"Minister A, what I would like to introduce to you next is the robotic arm system that has been improved by China Fengxin. I swear that this video has never been processed or shot intermittently, and it is a complete reflection of what I saw......"

In the picture, Izumida shoots from the beginning of the robotic arm production line. Seeing the process of parts starting from the blank state, going through welding, assembly, and gradually forming is indeed true as Izumida said.

Kentaro Wakabayashi carefully looked at the production process in the picture, and nodded incessantly: "The technology of the Chinese is not bad, but it is still far from the advanced level." Look at this, their control technology is not up to par, and it should be that the problem of multi-axis synchronization has not been solved. In addition, the program optimization of the manipulator is not in place, and the action is too large, which in turn causes the state to be unstable......"

"But from the running state of this production line, Chinese products can still be used to make motors." After all, their prices are much lower than the international level, which is a great advantage. ”

Abe nodded wordlessly and sighed: "Yes, the Chinese have made rapid progress in the manufacturing field over the years, which has made manufacturers in many countries feel the pressure." However, the key to this video is not here, Professor Wakabayashi asks you to pay attention, the key point is coming soon. ”

I saw that on the TV screen, the parts had reached the last robotic arm. Behind this robotic arm sits a Chinese who looks quite young. He stared at the computer in front of him with a meticulous expression, which in turn was connected to the last robotic arm by a data cable.

Izumida pointed the camera at the robotic arm's console, where the first part had been clamped by the robot and angled corrected.

It is evident from the picture that there are several previous errors in the welding of the robotic arm on this part. Those areas that lack welds are as obvious as cacti in the desert. But this kind of obvious is only for humans, and for machines without intelligence, they cannot understand the difference between the so-called "good product" and "defective product".

However, just as Kentaro Wakabayashi shook his head for this "defective" part, the last robotic arm seemed to have a soul, and the welding torch on the dexterous manipulator quickly clicked a few times on several missing solder points. Then the production line continues to turn, and the first part is finally produced.

Junichiro Izumita's camera immediately focused on the part that had just been produced, and he took a comprehensive 360-degree shot without dead ends. It was still a "defective" part just now, but at this time it has clearly become a "qualified product"!

Once the production line is running, the production speed is very fast. Izumita's camera then focused on the second part, a different missing weld joint, but the same was the last robotic arm, and he still accurately found the location of the missing weld, and completed the repair welding work in three or two clicks.

Kentaro Wakabayashi stood up in surprise, leaned on the screen with wide eyes, and muttered to himself.

"It can't be!"