As labor costs continue to rise, adopting automated production, reducing labor-intensive processes, and increasing technological content have become an inevitable development path. In recent years, Changniu Machinery has increased its investment in automation upgrades. By replacing manual labor with machines, the company promotes transformation and development, effectively improving production efficiency, enhancing product quality, and reducing labor costs.
On March 28, the truss equipment of the crankshaft balancing shaft automated production line technical upgrade project was delivered to the company for installation. After several days of debugging by the manufacturer and trial production in the workshop, the equipment has now basically met technical and production requirements. The working principle of the truss equipment is as follows: the robotic arm moves to the loading conveyor position to pick up raw materials, then moves to the milling and drilling machine. The unloading gripper removes the processed part, while the loading gripper installs the blank workpiece. After exiting the milling machine, the robotic arm transfers the finished part to the unloading conveyor, and this cycle repeats continuously.
Previously, the machining process of balancing shafts in the balancing shaft workshop required separate milling of end faces and machining of center holes, both performed through manual clamping by operators. Due to high daily output, workers faced heavy labor intensity. In particular, the center hole drilling process suffered from repeated positioning errors, resulting in excessive deviation in coaxiality, which affected subsequent dimensional control of the vane plate. After introducing new automation equipment, operators only need to transport multiple balancing shafts to the material storage system once. Product clamping and transportation are fully handled by the automated line, significantly reducing labor intensity. By integrating end-face milling and center hole drilling into a single process, product dimensional accuracy has been significantly improved. In the future, the entire balancing shaft production line will be further integrated through technical upgrades to achieve full-line automation, reducing operators from 4–5 people to 2, greatly lowering labor costs.
Equipment automation is a major trend in manufacturing development in this century. Changniu Machinery is also accelerating its pace toward automation. The introduction of new equipment has brought new changes to the company’s development, reducing the workload pressure on on-site operators and improving operational efficiency. As a traditional manufacturing enterprise, only through continuous innovation, keeping pace with the times, and improving efficiency can the company achieve greater and longer-term development in the future.
