Hicorp Quality Inspection Department: Boosting "Physical Examinations" for New Products

      "Our Hicorp Quality Inspection Department has 'three mosts' for measuring tools: the latest, the most accurate, and the most comprehensive. This is our goal and the innovative path we are currently taking," said Chen Bingwen from the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department. Their innovation project recently won the first prize in the "Five Small" Innovation Activity category at the third-quarter innovation review meeting.

      he Path of Change: Go Out and Bring In

      Quality is one of the cores for an enterprise to survive and develop. With the launch of the new generation of intelligent  roving frame HCP2030, higher requirements were placed on quality inspection work - all components and parts must undergo quality inspection, posing an unprecedented challenge to the Hicorp quality inspection team. "Take the expanding sleeve, a small workpiece on the HCP2030, as an example. One set of roving frame has about 400 pieces, and as of now, nearly 100 HCP2030 machines have been produced, which means almost 40,000 inspection tasks, a huge workload," said Xu Xianxiao, manager of the Quality Inspection Department.

      "The inside micrometer we use to inspect inner bore dimensions not only requires calibration but also requires stable arm movement. After full inspection of the workpiece, it is a great test of our physical strength, endurance, and professionalism," Chen Bingwen was also troubled by this. "Sometimes, if we're not careful and make a mistake, we have to measure from the beginning again, which also requires us to be fully focused."

      Facing the challenges of a huge number of workpieces to be fully inspected and a significant increase in the workload of quality inspectors, the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department began actively seeking "new paths". At the beginning of this year, the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department collaborated with the Procurement Department to carry out the "Go Out, Bring In" activity, jumping out of the inherent thinking frame to look for more efficient quality inspection tools and conducting on-site inspections of suppliers' production bases. "After going out to see, we found that some of our suppliers are already at the forefront of intelligent inspection, which is very worthy of our reference. After visiting and learning, I felt enlightened and had a sense of analogy," said Xu Xianxiao. "We also invited relevant technical personnel to our site to provide professional explanations and guidance based on our actual situation."

      The Path of Innovation: Using New Tools to Boost Efficient Quality Inspection

      Seeing is believing, and realizing that "to improve inspection efficiency, advanced quality inspection tools must be introduced," the quality inspection team immediately took action to make quality inspection work more intelligent and simpler. They first targeted the inspection work with a large workload and decided to improve the inspection efficiency of inner bore dimensions and shaft diameters.

      "When looking for new quality inspection tools, it doesn't mean that just because others use something good, we should buy it. Based on our actual needs, we need to compare and screen multiple options," said Chen Bingwen. During the purchase process, they did not blindly follow the trend but compared and screened multiple options based on their actual needs before finally selecting pneumatic measuring instruments as the quality inspection equipment. The working principle of pneumatic measuring instruments is based on fluid mechanics laws, which can convert the change in the measured dimension into a change in compressed air flow or pressure, and then indicate it by an indicating device to measure the dimensional error of the workpiece, thereby achieving efficient, non-contact, and high-precision measurement.

      In large-batch inner and outer diameter inspections, the simple "plug-and-pull" action replaced the original complex operations, greatly improving inspection efficiency. At the same time, the use of pneumatic measuring instruments also reduced the dependence on the professional skills of quality inspectors. Even personnel without experience in using measuring tools can quickly get started with accurate inspection work after simple training. This change not only achieved standardization and specialization of workpiece inspection but also made quality inspection work more "user-friendly," achieving a combination of three effects.

      Compared to using traditional measuring tools, with pneumatic measuring instruments, the inspection time for each workpiece can be reduced by 3 to 4 seconds. Based on the number of workpieces received in the warehouse in 2024, the quality inspectors can save up to 111 hours of inspection time per year, with direct economic benefits exceeding 4,000 yuan. "More importantly, the inspection results are more accurate and precise, which can also free quality inspectors from arduous repetitive labor and allow them to have more energy to devote to inspection work, further providing a guarantee for product quality improvement," said Chen Bingwen with confidence.

      Looking Ahead: Continuous Innovation, Creating a New "Intelligent Inspection"

      The successful introduction and use of the new tool, pneumatic measuring instruments, greatly inspired the work enthusiasm of the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department. They know that innovation is the driving force for enterprises to keep moving forward. Therefore, on the path towards the goal of "the latest, the most comprehensive, and the most accurate," they are never satisfied and continue to explore more advanced inspection equipment and technologies.

      Currently, the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department has begun the application evaluation of articulated arm coordinate measuring machines and invited multiple articulated arm measuring machine manufacturers such as Faro (USA) and Hexagon (Switzerland) to the company's inspection site for live demonstrations and technical exchanges. This initiative aims to further promote the intelligent upgrade of quality inspection work and improve the efficiency and accuracy of large-piece inspection.

      The introduction and use of new equipment, new tools, new materials, new technologies, and new processes are important measures on the innovation path of Hicorp people. Innovation is not "building behind closed doors" but embracing new changes and trying new initiatives. We must dare to break conventions, go out, bring in, and accelerate the pace of innovation on the path of learning, selecting, and applying. Undoubtedly, the Hicorp  Quality Inspection Department has shown us a new solution for tool innovation with their insight, sensitivity, courage, and daring to be the first.

      Looking ahead, the Hicorp Quality Inspection Department will continue to be led by new ideas, new tools, and new technologies, jump out of the "old circle," embrace new changes, continuously introduce and apply advanced quality inspection technology and equipment, and strive to create a new model of intelligent quality inspection. On the inevitable path of building the "Hicorp Smart Factory," they will always take a "new" approach and go all out to provide solid quality assurance for the sustainable development of the enterprise and customer satisfaction.