Understanding Car Talk｜Jiang Ping: Xiaopeng P7 can be delivered in as soon as two weeks, and the Zhaoqing factory will benchmark Toyota quality

Text: Zhang Yipeng, original author of Understanding Chedi

"Building a factory is not easy." He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors, just spoke at the "Walking with Peng" open day , which denies this view.

Two years ago, the location of the Zhaoqing factory was still a fish pond, and the area 80 meters deep below the fish pond was entirely a cave. This news shocked the "Xpeng people" who were immersed in the joy of starting construction. A basin of cold water. After spending more than RMB 100 million to fill the caves, a new problem arose. They found that the terrain of this thousand acres of land was more than one meter lower than the surrounding areas, and in some places even reached a two-meter drop. So, buy soil and fill it up!

He Xiaopeng knows that no one in this world will pity anyone else, he can only rely on himself and the team. Now the Zhaoqing factory has been built, but everything has just begun. He needs someone to guide the Zhaoqing factory to mature and grow.

"In May last year, he joined Xpeng Motors as the company's vice president. He is mainly responsible for the company's manufacturing sector and realizing Xpeng Motors' production goals of intelligent manufacturing. He is now mainly responsible for the construction and development of the manufacturing center. Operations, while comprehensively organizing the launch of Xpeng Motors' models and leading the team at Xpeng Motors' Zhaoqing base. "Jiang Ping, who has worked for Guangzhou Automobile Group for 30 years, is exactly the person He Xiaopeng needs.

Xpeng Automobile’s Zhaoqing factory is located in the Zhaoqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone, not far from Baiyun Airport and Guangzhou South Railway Station. The factory has five major workshops: stamping, welding, painting, final assembly, and Pack. It has flexible production capabilities for 4 types of models on different platforms, and has a total of 264 intelligent industrial robots.

Official information shows that the overall planned area of ??the factory is 3,000 acres, but in the early stage, only 903 acres were officially put into use. According to the plan, the annual production capacity of the factory can reach 100,000-150,000 vehicles.

“The difference in production capacity of 100,000-150,000 vehicles/year mainly depends on whether we work overtime. We can increase production capacity to 150,000 vehicles/year when market demand is high.” He added, the fastest The factory will be able to achieve a production capacity of 15-20 vehicles/hour in July. "As for the manufacturing side, market demand is the biggest good news, so as long as there are orders, we will spare no effort to meet the demand. The entire delivery period of Xpeng P7 is about 2 to 3 weeks, and we will do our best to achieve it. This goal. ”

The Zhaoqing factory was defined as a digital smart factory at the beginning of the project and was built in accordance with Industry 4.0 standards. In this way, the factory can have an advanced MES manufacturing execution system, Internet of Things technology and monitoring technology throughout the entire production process. Together, they can realize production information visualization, equipment information visualization, process information visualization, quality information visualization, etc.

To give a few specific examples, such as a complete five-step process line, the finished product accuracy can reach 0.01 mm; the automation rate of the welding workshop can reach 100%; the visual robot can ensure the accuracy of each key part. Welding splicing quality, accuracy can reach plus or minus 0.7-1 mm.

According to Jiang Ping, the battery factory in Zhaoqing base has achieved full automation, and the full-process AGV intelligent logistics can meet the needs of flexible manufacturing. "The helium inspection process can make the entire battery pack completely sealed. Even if the vehicle is flooded, the battery pack can still be intact after disassembly."

In terms of quality management system, the Zhaoqing factory has the most advanced equipment There are more than 1,700 inspection items, and 100% of the off-line vehicles must undergo simulated road experiments, including calibration and verification of highways, cobblestone roads, autonomous driving and autonomous parking, etc. The testing of new energy vehicles is different from traditional fuel vehicles. The project also includes potential testing, charging port insulation testing, dynamic implementation inspection, etc. In terms of water tightness, it is necessary to ensure that it does not leak under heavy rain levels.

Along with the hard core of the factory, a voice also came from the industry, "When will Xpeng G3 move here?"

Jiang Ping said that in order to let Xpeng Motors The products are put on the market as soon as possible, so Haima is chosen to be the OEM. How to do it in the future depends on market demand. "We are communicating with both Haima shareholders. OEM has the advantages of OEM, and our own production also has the characteristics of our own production. We must make a balance based on the development process and market demand. As for the specific time of relocation, it must be based on the best interests of both shareholders. We will consider it under favorable circumstances.”

The Zhaoqing factory is already at an advanced level in terms of hardware, but this is far from enough. An excellent automobile factory must take into account hardware, software, management, and systems at the same time to achieve closeness. Perfect quality control and production capabilities. Jiang Ping believes that Toyota does this best. "We use Toyota as the benchmark, including Xiaopeng (He Xiaopeng) and President Xia (Xia Heng), all require us to benchmark Toyota's quality. However, as an intelligent manufacturing and management, we have our own unique set."< /p>

In Jiang Ping’s view, flexible manufacturing, vehicle software control systems and intelligence are the characteristics of the Zhaoqing factory, and they are also the most essential differences between Xpeng Motors and traditional car companies in terms of production and manufacturing. He hopes to achieve intelligent linkage through digitization, automation, traceability, flexibility and visualization.

“For example, AVM ultrasonic radar, ADAS calibration, etc., through these calibrations, our vehicles can have intelligent autonomous driving capabilities. Intelligent cars must have a visual system and a brain nervous system, so that they can To sense and judge things in the surrounding cars, we need to calibrate these systems to ensure that the vehicle is safe and reliable during the process of autonomous driving. "

However, in the process of intelligent manufacturing, "people" are important. Still key.

According to Jiang Ping, the Zhaoqing factory currently has more than 600 efficient and high-quality members, 78% of whom are from mainstream OEMs, 74% have more than 5 years of work experience, and more than 97% of them are engineers. Bachelor degree or above.

“For example, there is a colleague in the front row who is responsible for quality. He comes from BYD and has more than ten years of experience. The engineer next to him also comes from Guangqi Honda. In addition, our logistics manager Some of the employees have worked in Haima for more than ten years, and some of them are engaged in welding work from General Motors. In terms of academic qualifications, some of them graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology, and some graduated from other 211 universities. "He believes that everyone is from the southeast. Northwest and different car companies, it is very important to unify them in the culture of Xpeng Motors.

According to the established plan, Xpeng P7 will start mass production at the Zhaoqing factory in the second quarter of 2020, and will officially start external delivery at the end of June. Jiang Ping repeated one sentence many times throughout the interview, "Develop according to market conditions." This statement may seem official, but it is actually very frank. For new forces, market demand will often determine more things. After forming the "New Big Three" with Weilai and Ideal, Xpeng Motors' next actions in the capital market will become very critical. The Zhaoqing factory will also gradually transform from a product "foundation" to enhance the quality awareness of Chinese-made cars. new role.