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In the field of robot core component manufacturing, local enterprises are quietly enhancing the resilience of the industry chain through focus and innovation. Yongkang Zhonghuan Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was established in 1995. Since 2000, it has been specializing in the production of intercooler chambers and industrial heat exchange aluminum casting heads. It is an aluminum casting company that integrates molds, blanks, and machined products. Now, it is also committed to the production and manufacturing of robot related accessories.

When talking about the foundation of the company, Mr. Hu from the technical team of Yongkang Zhonghuan Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. did not directly discuss market hotspots, but pointed to a set of high-precision components being tested in the workshop and introduced:

Hu Gong: Many people think that the robotics industry is cool, but its' bones' and 'joints' - that is, the structural components of the body - require ultimate reliability and consistency. The strategy of Zhonghuan Machinery is "deep focus". We do not excessively pursue horizontal expansion, but vertically explore several key categories, such as robot joint shells and precision bases. Through long-term accumulation of process data and mold iteration, we have established our own moat in terms of yield and dimensional stability of these segmented products. The company has formed collaborative research and development relationships with multiple domestic robot manufacturers, intervening from the design end to jointly optimize the structure to improve performance and reduce costs.

As a new field of Yongkang Zhonghuan Company, robot cast aluminum parts are constantly being learned and improved by the company's technical team, providing better services for more customers who trust Zhonghuan.

Hu shared a research and development case that made the team feel proud. The breakthrough point of this battle was not the traditional casting process, but the challenge from materials science. They once received an order for a carbon fiber reinforced aluminum based composite arm for high-speed Delta robots. The customer requests a 30% reduction in weight while increasing dynamic stiffness by 15%. This is a completely new topic for our traditional single metal casting experience. ”

Hu Gong: Faced with a blank space, our customers trust us very much, and we have not given up. The team has adopted a dual wheel drive model of "open collaboration and independent research and development". On the one hand, they collaborate with top domestic material research institutes to gain a deep understanding of material properties; On the other hand, the company has formed an internal team to tackle challenges and invest the majority of its annual research and development budget into this area. The most difficult stage is to solve the problem of uniform fiber distribution during the solidification process of the material. We have gone through hundreds of small furnace experiments, adjusted more than ten casting schemes and electromagnetic stirring parameters, and for a whole month, the samples we made always had internal defects. In the end, the team innovatively developed a "low-pressure precision casting and directional solidification composite process", and designed a dedicated temperature control system to perfectly solve the problem, with product performance far exceeding customer expectations. This process has forced us to step out of the comfort zone of the 'processor' and take a big step towards the integrated design capability of 'material process structure' upstream.

With this diligent research and development spirit and technological accumulation, the orders for robots from Zhonghuan Company have continued to grow in recent years. Hu said that this is inseparable from the company's usual efforts. The foundry industry requires time and technology to settle, and as a company, upgrading is the way out. In the current state, the goal of Zhonghuan has always been to refine and strengthen the field of robotics, broaden the scope of its industry, and serve the needs of customers well, keeping up with the pace of the times. At the same time, the rapid growth of enterprises cannot be separated from the good policies of the government and the development of digitalization.

Nowadays, the country advocates for artificial intelligence and intelligent manufacturing. In recent years, industrial robots have been thriving domestically. With the gradual recovery of the economy, the demand for robots in China and even the world has been increasing every year, mainly used in areas such as loading and unloading, welding, and spraying. Now, Zhonghuan has a complete production technology for robot parts, and will provide the best solutions for different customer needs. The demand for robots is also increasing. When talking about the company's future development goals, Mr. Hu said:

Hu Gong: For the future, the short-term goal is to become an irreplaceable core structural component strategic supplier for some domestic mid to high end robot brands. In the medium to long term, we hope to extend beyond 'integrated manufacturing' and provide lightweight and structural optimization design services based on our component characteristics, shifting from 'manufacturing according to drawings' to' joint design and manufacturing '. ”

The future of intelligent manufacturing in China requires both machine innovation that looks up at the stars and countless "invisible supporters" like Zhonghuan Machinery who are down-to-earth and deeply rooted in the foundation. Their story is a vivid interpretation of perseverance, research, and following the trend.