In 2019, at the invitation of Fuyao, Chairman Jin led a team of technical backbone staff to visit Chairman Cao Dewang at Fuyao's headquarters in Fuqing. Chairman Cao strongly supported the development of domestic industrial software and immediately stated that Fuyao had been vigorously supporting and cultivating domestic suppliers, especially the localization of industrial software — the most important software in manufacturing. As a Chinese enterprise, Fuyao would provide maximum support. After multiple rounds of consultation, the two parties selected FYSAM's robot aluminum part polishing programming as the first technical cooperation focus.
FYSAM is a German company acquired by Fuyao. It is a globally renowned aluminum trim and aluminum luggage rack manufacturer, supplying to Bentley, Volkswagen, Volvo, Skoda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Audi, GM, Porsche, Peugeot, Seat, and other well-known automotive brands. It has factories in Steinheim (Germany), Changchun, Fuzhou, and other locations.
After the acquisition, Fuyao Glass carried out large-scale optimization and transformation of the original production processes to improve efficiency. In the most critical grinding and polishing stage of aluminum part processing, although the German side had adopted robots, the robot processing programs still relied on manual teaching, which was extremely inefficient and lacked stability. There was an urgent need to adjust the grinding and polishing processes.
The enterprise had a vast array of equipment, and adding various hardware would incur extremely high costs. Ultimately, Fuyao adopted Trustrobot's HedraCAM Robot OLP intelligent programming software, optimizing the processes purely through software technology without adding any hardware costs. The project was officially launched in the first half of 2021. Through the unremitting efforts of both engineering teams, numerous on-site technical and process challenges were resolved, and the software delivery, production support testing, and project acceptance were successfully completed. Fuyao also trained a large number of on-site engineers across its factories worldwide. The software has now been adapted to various models of grinding and polishing robots at factories everywhere, significantly improving grinding and polishing efficiency.
On the production floor, the grinding and polishing processes are extremely complex. In particular, Fuyao's factories around the world supply components to OEMs globally, requiring the software to be compatible with a wide variety of completely different robot grinding and polishing equipment. The parts being processed are even more diverse, with small batches and frequent changeovers demanding high technical requirements from the programming and simulation software. HedraCAM integrates a wealth of advanced and easy-to-use grinding and polishing technologies. The project product managers and development team worked alongside Fuyao's craftsmen on the front lines, going into the workshops to process various sample parts for experimentation and iterative software upgrades. Only through such relentless refinement in real production conditions can CAM software truly address customer pain points and meet the technical demands of front-line production.
Trustrobot developers conducting on-site testing of newly developed features
Fuyao subsequently deepened its collaboration with Trustrobot on multiple robot processing projects, including cutting and glass polishing. In the context of thin profit margins and intense competition in Chinese manufacturing, enterprises undertaking workshop equipment upgrades can learn from Fuyao Glass's frugal and pragmatic approach — avoiding or minimizing hardware additions by adopting advanced CAM intelligent software, achieving cost reduction and efficiency gains through improved process workflows at a fraction of the cost.
Fulfilling orders for an international manufacturer like Fuyao places extremely high demands on software — it must support 24-hour production across factories worldwide, testing the software's ease of use, stability, and internationalization. We are pleased to have met this challenge. After years of real production validation, HedraCAM has proven to be exceptionally stable, reliable, and fully aligned with customer requirements. Looking back on this project, its greatest significance lies in this: through this crucible-like challenge, both the HedraCAM software and our team truly leveled up. The team's confidence was greatly enhanced, and HedraCAM began to lead international peers in robot programming and simulation technology.