Five years ago, Dongfeng Lear took the lead in pre developing "next generation seats" for the "next generation car". One set of intelligent seats will be released in one minute

Cars are becoming the mobile "third space" of today, with seats being the largest component in the cockpit space of cars. The value of all seats in a car accounts for 5% to 10% of the entire car

Cars are becoming the mobile "third space" of today, with seats being the largest component in the cockpit space of cars. The value of all seats in a car accounts for 5% to 10% of the entire car.

Recently, a reporter from Changjiang Daily walked into one of the most advanced car seat production workshops in China - the Dongfeng Lear Wuhan factory workshop located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone. A metal skeleton with seats moves along the assembly line. The robot waves its arms and tightens the bolts one by one. The workers successively install foam pads, "wear" the sheaths, and assemble a series of plastic accessories and safety parts. The ironing is neat... After about 40 stations, the "skeleton" gradually has "muscles" and "skin" and becomes a finished product. On average, one set of seats is taken offline every minute and is widely used in brands such as Dongfeng Honda, Landau, and Lutz.

Dongfeng Lear Wuhan Factory. Photographed by Zhou Chao, a journalist from Changjiang Daily

Among the 16 manufacturing bases laid out by Dongfeng Lear nationwide, Wuhan factory has the highest number of customers, projects, and annual output.

Benefiting from the growth of the new energy intelligent connected vehicle and high-end car market, the factory maintained double-digit revenue growth from January to August this year.

Five years ago, it was the first in China to research zero pressure seats

Intelligent high-end seat orders account for half

In the workshop of Dongfeng Lear Wuhan factory, workers are installing seats for the Lutes new energy vehicle. Photographed by Zhou Chao, a journalist from Changjiang Daily

At Dongfeng Lear Automotive Seat Research and Development Institute, the reporter saw a zero pressure suspension seat. Last July, Huawei released the all-new model AITO Wenjie M7, which is the first model in the industry to be equipped with zero pressure seats and independently developed by Dongfeng Lear.

The thigh and torso are at an angle of 113 degrees, and the highest point of the passenger's heart and legs are in the same horizontal plane, which can minimize the blood supply pressure to the heart. "Chen Xiumin, director of the Automotive Seat Research and Development Institute, introduced that the zero pressure posture can evenly release pressure from the spine, pelvis, and other organs, achieving lower blood pressure flow and obtaining a sense of floating. At the same time, the pressure of passengers is evenly distributed on the entire seat surface, providing better support and a better riding experience whether driving or parking. After the stable delivery of the seats, they quickly caused a trend in the industry and became one of the new configurations for many mainstream automotive brands to enhance the technological sense of new models.

In the workshop of Dongfeng Lear Wuhan factory, workers are inspecting the zero pressure suspended seats that are about to leave the factory. Photographed by Zhou Chao, a journalist from Changjiang Daily

As early as 5 years ago, this project entered pre research, "Chen Xiumin said. Dongfeng Lear is one of the few seat companies in China with research and development institutes, closely monitoring the global trend of automotive intelligence and networking. Previously, companies had predicted that in the era of smart cars, the cockpit would become the most important part of consumers' in-car experience, and ride comfort would be one of the primary considerations.

He introduced that in fact, zero pressure seats are not a completely new concept. About ten years ago, some companies proposed it, but most of it remained in the conceptual stage without actually launching products. He said, "There is no 'homework' to copy for new materials, new technologies, new processes, and design and manufacturing

Chen Xiumin recalled that from scratch, Dongfeng Lear independently developed drive control modules, seat frames, zero gravity filling layers, etc. Music headrests, rhythmic seats... In order to turn the mass production line from drawings into reality, a research and development team of nearly 80 people worked day and night, "just like fighting on the front line, sleeping in peace and clothing.

We regard research and development investment as the largest and most important investment, "said Chen Xiumin. Through long-term and sustained investment, innovation is paying off at Dongfeng Lear. In the new energy and intelligent connected vehicle tracks, multiple intelligent high-end seats are constantly receiving orders, accounting for 50% of enterprise orders.

At present, the research and development institute has more than 500 employees, and the number has doubled in the past 5 years, obtaining over 100 patents. Its research and development strength ranks first in China.

And just this year, the R&D Institute collaborated with universities such as Wuhan University and Wuhan University of Technology to establish the first electronic and electrical intelligent R&D center in the country, in order to achieve comprehensive and autonomous control from technology to products to intelligent control software.

The production line has been fully loaded for 5 consecutive months

Wuhan factory breaks the law and achieves a "hard start" in one month

Through the application of intelligent production equipment such as industrial robots and AGVs, Dongfeng Lear Wuhan factory has achieved automatic collection of production and operation data, and greatly improved production efficiency. Photographed by Zhou Chao, a journalist from Changjiang Daily

In the workshop of Dongfeng Lear's Wuhan factory, new employees wearing orange vests are being trained for employment.

At the beginning of the year, the factory set an industry record for new orders to climb production. Currently, the production line is operating at full capacity and the monthly production capacity has remained high for 5 consecutive months. "Zhang Xugang, the general manager of the Wuhan factory, introduced that an average car seat requires around 1300 parts, which is a great test of the supply chain and flexible manufacturing capabilities. To deliver new orders, many factories will prepare for 2 months or even half a year, But the Wuhan factory directly increased production from 0 to an average monthly production of 20000 sets of seats, achieving a "hard start" in one month.

In the ironing area of the factory, the reporter saw that the robotic arm was ironing the seat that had been "dressed" properly. After finishing the ironing, the robot accurately positioned and pulled up the headrest rod of the seat to check the smoothness of the rod frame. The robot also pulled out the safety belt and inserted the lock buckle, causing a series of movements to flow smoothly. This is just one corner of factory intelligent manufacturing. Ma Min, Director of Operations Management at Dongfeng Lear, introduced that through the investment and application of intelligent production equipment such as industrial robots and AGVs, combined with self-developed information systems, the Wuhan factory has achieved automatic collection of production and operation data, greatly improving production efficiency. "On the basis of achieving a 25% improvement in quality and efficiency, the enterprise is still self pressurizing and improving its climbing strength.

In the ironing area of Dongfeng Lear Wuhan factory, the robotic arm is ironing the seats that have been "dressed" properly. After being ironed, the robot accurately locates them. Photographed by Zhou Chao, a journalist from Changjiang Daily

Starting from the infrastructure construction of information systems, to the trial use of intelligent equipment, and then to the expansion and application of industrial intelligence, Ma Min told reporters that now, Dongfeng Lear is taking the Wuhan factory as a sample and gradually promoting the transformation of intelligent factories of 15 subsidiary companies.

(Reporter Li Jia, Changjiang Daily Correspondent Sun Yayun, Wang Meng)

Editor: Zhang Jing

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