Along with the comprehensive improvement of product complexity and intelligence, relying only on manual has been far from being able to achieve product upgrading and quality assurance, for this reason, Foton has planned a blueprint for quality digitisation, relying on high technology and digitalisation, to create a perfect quality assurance system, for different product characteristics, process efficiency, process traceability, real-time status monitoring and other high-tech means, to achieve product innovation and Quality Assurance. At present, Foton has already cooperated with Huawei to gradually transfer the functions of quality management and control from offline to online, carry out digital control of quality processes, and comprehensively improve the efficiency and accuracy of quality management. It is reported that Foton has invested 30 million yuan in quality digital construction, and will invest hundreds of millions of yuan in the future to build digital Foton.
It is understood that at present, Foton Trucks relies on the perfect product development verification process (FCVDS) to achieve the delivery of each product after computer simulation, more than 5,000 DV tests of components, three high tests (high temperature, high cold, high plateau), and 385 reliability, durability, and other vehicle performance tests to cover various scenarios of use. The company has established overall testing capability at the leading level of domestic commercial vehicles and invested RMB 2 billion to set up Foton’s X-Lab testing centre, which has been officially put into operation in June 2023. It includes 15 test chambers and one R&D test track for NVH, EMC, new energy, intelligent network, structural durability, chassis, transmission, bodywork, ring simulation, and benchmarking and evaluation, etc. The test chambers are equipped with advanced domestic and international test equipment. Before any product is developed, new technology pre-research will be carried out, and only when the maturity level is available will it be applied in the development of the whole vehicle. A DFMEA database that continuously strengthens the preventive capability of new product design, with consistent standards, two levels of sharing, and a coherent value chain has been completed. The first mass-produced all-aluminium frame light truck product in China took root in Foton, and Foton Trucks composite cargo box won the first prize of China Lightweight Design. Through Foton PDIC power transmission integration intelligent co-development, Foton has created the leading “A Super Power Chain”, which greatly improves the reliability of the products and saves about 5,000 yuan of maintenance cost for users in the whole life cycle.
It is reported that Foton will continue to invest more in the process on the basis of ensuring that the annual R&D expenses will not be less than 5% of the sales revenue, and the annual quality pain points and difficulties in quality consistency assurance will be included in the technical reform project, and the investment in the process equipment for quality improvement in 2024 will be more than 300 million yuan.
