Partnering with China’s No. 1 in the tire industry, STEPeng Robotics helps Zhongce Rubber achieve intelligent tire lettering.
2021-12-29
In October 2021, STEP signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongce Rubber and Gude Intelligent to implement an intelligent laser marking solution for rubber tires. Please follow the photographer’s lens to the site and see the actual results of the implementation.
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Faced with a series of challenges in recent years—including rising labor costs, poor working conditions in rubber tire manufacturing, and an aging workforce—the rubber tire industry is under increasing pressure from a severe labor shortage crisis. To address these challenges, Zhongce Rubber has introduced the STEP robot-based intelligent tire laser-marking workstation through Gude Intelligence, thereby implementing process iterations and achieving highly efficient tire production.
In 2020, Zhongce Rubber collaborated with STEP and Gude Intelligent to jointly develop an intelligent solution for laser marking on tires. This solution primarily consists of the STEP SR50/2180 six-axis robot, a 3D laser vision system, a laser engraving system, and a Mecanum-wheel omnidirectional centering mechanism.
This solution employs a brand-new process that replaces the conventional production methods involving pre-embedded period labels, steel slips, and vulcanized hollow barcodes. The workstation features a fast production cycle, clear and aesthetically pleasing lettering, a smooth and even surface, and no adhesive edges. While meeting the requirements of the production process, this approach significantly enhances the product’s appearance and quality grade.
Meanwhile, compared to previous mold-based processes, this solution allows for flexible, DIY personalized customization—for example, engraving anti-counterfeiting QR codes or customizing small-batch, personalized logos.
Traditional tire marking plates and steel tags are time-consuming and labor-intensive, with high material costs. The marking plates need to be stopped and replaced every week, and the operation process easily damages the molds. Moreover, the installation positions and precision are rough, leading to gaps and misaligned edges. As a result, the tire marking plates produced exhibit uneven surfaces, excess胶边, damage, and burrs, seriously affecting the tires’ appearance and quality. For vulcanized tire identification steel tags, each tire requires manual placement once, resulting in a heavy workload. At the same time, since the steel tags tend to shift and become skewed on the mold, this causes improper positioning and issues such as distorted lettering, failing to meet quality standards. Frequently, the steel tags stick to the tires, and when removed during scraping, they can easily scratch the tires. Both tire marking plates and vulcanized tire identification steel tags suffer from drawbacks such as rough lettering and susceptibility to counterfeiting.
The intelligent laser engraving solution for tires eliminates the issue of cycle tags overflowing, reduces the rework rate, and enhances product appearance. It completely eliminates material, labor, and correction costs associated with traditional cycle tag and steel ticket processes, boosts the utilization rate of vulcanizing machines, and achieves cost reduction and efficiency improvement. The system can automatically interact with the production MES system, automatically generate data, seamlessly integrate MES and WMS systems, and elevate the level of digitalization and intelligence.
After more than a year of stable operation, Zhongce Rubber is highly satisfied with the performance of its intelligent laser-tattooing solution for tires. The company recovered its equipment investment in less than a year and has now rolled out the solution across all of its group’s factories.
About the Central Policy
Zhongce Rubber is a tire manufacturer ranked among the top ten globally and number one in China. It is also listed among China’s Top 500 Manufacturers and has an annual production capacity of 55 million tire sets. Zhongce operates 11 large-scale production bases both domestically and internationally, including Chaoyang, Jiande, Jintan, Xiaoshan, Anji, Yonggu, and Qingquan. Under the Zhongce umbrella are well-known tire brands such as Chaoyang, Weishi, Haoyun, Quannuo, Yado, and ARISUN.
Contact Us
Email:
market@stepelectric.com
Address:
No. 1560, Siyi Road, Jiading District, Shanghai Municipality