Zhang Xiaoping, General Manager of DC Precision: How to Take the High-End Lithium Battery Online Inspection Equipment Market

Sources of articles:Shenzhen Dacheng Precision Equipment Co., Ltd.Popularity:455Publication time:2019-07-04

"Build a century-old enterprise and become a world-class manufacturer!" This is the great vision of Shenzhen DC Precision Equipment Co., Ltd. (DC Precision) and is also the motto that drives General Manager Zhang Xiaoping.


"This vision encourages the enterprise and me. It binds us to share difficulties and joys together. Also, it shows our confidence in the company, and our high expectation in the new energy industry." Zhang Xiaoping explained to the GG Lithium Battery. 


The power battery manufacturing line is moving towards automation, intelligence and digitalization, and the online detection equipment becomes popular as it improves product quality and production efficiency and reduces production costs. The demand and requirement of power battery enterprises for online detection equipment are also improving.


In an increasingly competitive environment, DC Precision's share in the domestic lithium battery electrode detection market continues to rise, accounting for more than 65% now. Our customers include BYD, EVE Energy, ATL, Zhuhai Yinlong, Tianjin Lishen and many other leading domestic power battery enterprises, and our services have been highly recognized by customers.


What drives DC Precision's rapid growth? To find the answer, GG Lithium Battery had an in-depth communication with Zhang Xiaoping, general manager of DC Precision, to get to know DC Precision's history and strategy. The hot topics of lithium battery equipment industry were also discussed in the conversation.


Tears and smiles abound during its long journey to take the 65% market share


GG Lithium Battery: DC Precision was established in 2011. What was the domestic lithium electrode detection industry like at that time? What brings you to the industry?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: In 2011, consumer electronic batteries developed rapidly and EV power batteries emerged. Most high-end battery factories in China realized that real-time online detection of surface density and thickness of electrodes is of great value for improving product safety and consistency, so such equipment were widely used in new production lines.

 

Due to the immaturity of relevant testing equipment at that time, the testing technology commonly used in the film industry was adopted in the lithium battery industry. However, it did not completely meet the requirements of lithium battery and was difficult to customize. In addition, foreign testing equipment was expensive, and failed to meet the special needs in the battery production process. Therefore, DC Precision was established to produce special testing equipment for lithium batteries.


GG Lithium Battery: You have been in the lithium battery electrode detection industry for many years. What do you like to share with us most?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: Over the years, lithium battery has represented the rapid growth of new energy sources. DC Precision has been growing with this trend after solving numerous tough problems. This painful and happy experience inspires us and promotes the domestic new energy industry. Looking back, we do not regret it at all as we have dedicated ourselves to this industry.


GG Lithium Battery: DC Precision's Online Thickness Gauge Series takes 65% in the market this year. What do you think is DC Precision's core competitiveness?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: DC understands the production process of lithium battery, and tailors testing equipment for lithium battery. Also, we cooperate with customers to jointly solve various testing difficulties in the production of lithium battery.


Innovation drives the leading product technology


GG Lithium Battery: in views of DC Precision's latest lithium battery coating thickness and surface density measuring equipment, what are the advantages over similar products in the industry? What special technologies does it use?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: Traditional lithium battery manufacturers focus on the consistency of areal density in a large coating area inside electrodes. With the popularization of detection technology in recent years, this is no longer the main issue. Due to the inherent characteristics of extrusion coating, the first 3 – 10 mm in the coating film tends to be thick, causing quality problems, and it gradually becomes a pressing issue. However, the light spots of most detection equipment were above 30 mm before, so it was difficult to detect the problem in the electrode edge.

 

Therefore, we have developed the thickness and surface density measuring equipment, to monitor the edge of the coating head. The equipment has perfectly solved the problem. The laser thickness measuring module and the ray surface density measuring module reduces the light spot to 1mm through fitting correlation, so that all the edges can be precisely detected.


GG Lithium Battery: At present, domestic equipment can compete with American, Japanese and Korean equipment in terms of professionalism, but we lag behind in stability and durability. What’s your opinion on this?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: The main feature and advantage of domestic equipment is that it can quickly respond to various customer requirements. It will take some time to improve product stability as we are busy   upgrading functions to meet customer needs. However, the core components of DC Precision's testing equipment are made of fine materials, the process flow is sound, and the quality is strictly controlled before delivery. Each test equipment must run continuously for one week without any problems before it leaves the factory, so as to ensure the reliability and stability of the core components and core functions. DC Precision owns the largest portion in the domestic lithium battery testing equipment market and has a professional after-sales team. Users should rest assured to use our products.


GG Lithium Battery: Compared to other brands, DC Precision's online thickness gauge costs a bit more, but many customers choose your product. In your opinion, what should we do to avoid price war in the industry?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: Price war usually only exists in the low-end market. Under the current environment of the domestic lithium electricity market, lithium battery enterprises are committed to improving the energy density of their products, and this will pose higher requirements for raw materials and production equipment. DC Precision has been working closely with leading domestic enterprises to predict the manufacturers’ requirements, and relying on a strong research and development team to develop new equipment. This ensures that DC Precision's products are always ahead of our competitors in terms of technology, and this is what we do to avoid the price war.


Predict new trend to seek greater prosperity. 


GG Lithium Battery: It is said that subsidies will be greatly reduced next year. What impact will this have on testing equipment? What do you think of the power battery testing equipment market next year?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: The news will force lithium battery companies to improve product performance. Only batteries with lower cost, higher energy density and more stable performance can survive. This requires better raw materials, better production equipment and more suitable formula. Testing equipment can help customers check the raw materials, production equipment and technology in real time, and this puts forward higher requirements for testing equipment in terms of accuracy and stability. We believe that the market of power battery testing equipment next year will be slightly larger, and the technical requirements will be more pressing.


GG Lithium Battery: What's the biggest challenge in electrode detection in the near future?


Zhang Xiaoping: In the next one year or two, the challenge in electrode detection lies in the traceability of detection data. Due to the special production process of lithium battery, the defects detected by the equipment is not easy to mark, and this leads to low efficiency and low spatial resolution. To trace back the battery cell One By One, the whole industry needs to work together.


GG Lithium Battery: What is DC Precision's plan for next year?

 

Zhang Xiaoping: We will invest more in research and development to perfect our edge in precision, reliability, operation convenience, data visualization, and MES seamless docking.



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