Story & photo by Randy S. Peregrino
JAC Motors tagline, “Forget Normal,” is not only about offering vehicles equipped with unmatched high-tech features and affordable price points, but also about its vision to change the way consumers look at cars. Aside from that, the Chinese state-owned company is also keen at establishing its credibility as a car manufacturer. We recently toured its headquarters in Hefei, China, and was awed by its technologically advanced plant facilities.
Established in 1964, Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Corp. Ltd., or better known as JAC Motors, is a comprehensive automotive manufacturer in China. Aside from manufacturing, sales, and service of commercial and passenger vehicles, including powertrains, it also covers its research and development.
Xingang Base
Our first stop was the main production base of JAC light commercial vehicles. This new 3,900-acre port base not only houses the primary production of light commercial vehicles. Consisting of three phases, one is for lights trucks, another is for commercial cars and SUVs, and the third one is for passenger vehicles. Each of these phase factories has its stamping, welding, coating and general assembly, as well as three-parts factories of the frame, front axle and chassis. Solar panels were installed in order to utilize renewable and eco-friendly energy.
The welding workshop alone already covers 24,000 square meters of the area. Impressively, the factory section has 101 robots equipped for automatic transportation of internal logistics and welding. There’s also the Whole Process Torque Value System section for tightening accuracy and torque control. Then the Vacuum Filling Machine section where all kinds of vehicle lubricants on site are stored and transported in a centralized way.
High-speed circular test track
Next was the super-elevated runway. Completed in 2018, this 5.2-kilometer long, three-lane test track is intended to accommodate vehicles running continuously (24 hours without interruption) at high speed of up to 160 km/h. According to JAC, the design adopted the international mainstream McConnell curve and based on the six-dimensional motion sensitivity of the human body. The run will ultimately determine the test vehicle’s reliability and stability. There, we also did a couple of shotgun laps to passenger cars and were able to experience the tilting curves.
JAC/NIO Factory
We also toured the high-end EV manufacturing base. This JAC and NIO automobile partnership established the first full aluminum body production base, as well as the most advanced and intelligent assembly plant. With a total project investment of about 2.3 billion yuan, the targeted annual production capacity is 100,000 (expandable to 150,000) pure electric vehicles.
Currently, the project mainly produces ES8 high-performance smart electric seven-seater SUV model. The four-process workshops under the factory are stamping, body, painting and general assembly. The stamping section is equipped with seven straight-line seven-axis robots achieving unmanned production. The car body section, meantime, processes laser welding, aluminum spot welding and edge coating equipped with 261 ABB robots.
The all-aluminum body ES8 alone has seven kinds of connection processes. These are hot melt self-piercing riveting, self-punching riveting, aluminum spot welding, cold metal transition arc welding, structural adhesive, laser welding, high-strength core pulling riveting. The external assembly line, which mainly completes the overall assembly have 17 stations. There’s a gluing Kuka robot from Germany, 16 ABB robots for FO 050 station (controlled by four loading robots, eight riveting robots, two rotating screw robots, and two aluminum spot welding robots) through PLC program and operates in one go.
JAC Passenger Vehicle Factory
Next, we toured the 1 million-sq-m factory, which started operation in 2006 with a total investment of 2 billion yuan. Currently, the first mass-produced model JAC S4, and the brand-new hatchback car JAC J7, which appeared in the Chengdu auto show in September, are all produced in this factory. Likewise, the JAC Volkswagen ventured brand, SOL, is also produced in this factory.
There’s the Blue Light Automatic Detection (Stamping and Welding Plant), which is the latest investment and has the world’s advanced level of workstations. Its primary detection and monitoring are for parts of JAC J7, JAC Volkswagen SOL, JAC S4, JAC S7, and other models. Torque on-line monitoring system (TLD) Torque Control (Assembly Plant), meantime, has the system equipment that meets the quality requirements of German Volkswagen. Its primary role is for the on-line torque monitoring, torque tracing, and data analysis of JAC J7, JAC Volkswagen SOL, JAC S4, JAC S2, JAC S7, and other models in production.
Then, we saw the Rain and Water Leakage Detection Probe (General Assembly Plant), where rain and water leakage detection are done. This system was introduced and used by German Volkswagen experts at the end of 2018. The automobile body spray test is a crucial stage to test the rainproof sealing performance of the automobile body.
JAC R&D Center
Visiting the R&D plant validated JAC’s commitment to achieving customer satisfaction. The EMC (Electro Magnetic Compatibility) laboratory alone performs a test to avoid undue electromagnetic disturbance to other electrical appliances during operation. Then there’s NVH laboratory where the quality of riding comfort, interior noise and details are tested. As a critical factor in vehicle ride comfort, it is also an important indicator of vehicle quality.
Completed in 2015 and covering an area of about 6,000 sq m, with more than 50 million yuan invested. There are four parts, namely: acoustic performance laboratory, acoustic quality evaluation room, modal stiffness laboratory, and vehicle silencing drum laboratory (including two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive).
Automobile safety laboratory
Perhaps, the most crucial visit was the automobile safety laboratory of Jianghuai Automobile Technology Center. Started operating in August 2015, the building area boasts more than 13,000 sq m of space with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan. It has more than 20 sets of world-class and domestic leading test systems, such as traction system, lighting system, high-speed camera system, test dummy, sensor and data collection system.
With a test capacity of more than 150 vehicles per year, this facility saves more than 8.5 million yuan in the cost of outsourcing test and development every year. It is also designed mainly for the passive safety test and verification of the whole vehicle and system components in the R&D stage. All kinds of low-speed (below 25 km/h), medium speed (between 25 km/h and 50 km/h) and high-speed (above 50 km/h) tests in the whole vehicle development process are being done based on the requirements of national standards, American standards, European standards, and NCAP standards.
Image credits: JAC Motors, Randy S. Peregrino