1. Introduction

Jiangsu Tailong Reducer (Group) Co., Ltd. (“Tailong Reducer”) is a leading enterprise in China’s general reducer industry, with products widely used in traditional industrial fields such as hoisting and transportation, building materials and cement, metallurgy, and mining. Facing the manufacturing upgrade and the booming development of emerging industries like robotics and high-end equipment, Tailong Reducer has set a strategic transformation goal to advance into precision reducers, especially high-end fields such as RV reducers and harmonic reducers for robots. However, the core technology barriers for precision reducers are extremely high, with performance entirely dependent on micron-level accuracy of gear tooth profile, helix, and meshing clearance parameters. To achieve this breakthrough, Tailong Reducer partnered deeply with Xi’an AEH Industrial Metrology (“AEH”). Leveraging AEH’s independent gear measurement technology and full measurement chain solutions, Tailong Reducer built a closed-loop precision inspection system covering design validation, process control, and finished product evaluation, successfully elevating product accuracy and stability to internationally advanced levels and achieving a leap from traditional manufacturing to high-end intelligent manufacturing.

2. Case Background

Entering the precision reducer field for robotics, Tailong Reducer encountered unprecedented testing technology bottlenecks:

• First, extremely complex evaluation parameters: precision reducers require measurement not only of individual gear dimensions but also of meshing characteristics of gear pairs, including transmission error, backlash, tooth clearance, and meshing contact patterns. These parameters must be measured on precision rotary tables simulating actual working conditions, posing high technical difficulty and cost.
• Second, micron-level precision competition: transmission error requirements for robot joint reducers reach arc-second levels (1 arc-second = 1/3600 degree), with shape and positional deviations of tooth profiles and helices controlled to levels far stricter than traditional industrial reducers.
• Third, lack of data support for process optimization: small deformations during gear machining and dimensional changes after heat treatment are unclear. Without high-precision in-machine measurement and feedback, process adjustments rely mainly on trial cutting and expert experience, leading to long trial cycles and poor consistency. Existing general measurement equipment cannot meet these demands, becoming the biggest obstacle to industry upgrading.

3. Key Approaches

1. Concept Integration: Establishing a new R&D and manufacturing standard of “defining transmission performance by measurement accuracy.”

The project established the consensus that “without top-notch measurement, you cannot make top-notch reducers.” This means precision measurement is moved forward and integrated throughout the entire process—from gear tool inspection, gear blank machining, heat treatment deformation analysis to assembly performance testing. The goal is to quantify and control every geometric factor affecting transmission performance, aligning deeply with AEH’s mission to turn precision manufacturing ideals into deterministic reality.

2. Hard-Core Implementation: Deploying a synergistic inspection network combining gear measurement centers and high-precision CMMs.

To meet inspection needs at different stages, Tailong Reducer introduced AEH’s combined solution:

• Gear Measurement Center: Core equipment for authoritative precision traceability of finished gears and tools. It integrates a high-precision rotary axis and probe system, automatically completing precise measurements of all individual deviations such as tooth profile, helix, pitch, and radial runout per international standards (e.g., ISO 1328), generating intuitive error charts that directly guide gear grinding machine parameter corrections.
• High-Precision Coordinate Measuring Machine: Equipped with Renishaw SP25 high-speed scanning probe, it measures key structural parts such as reducer housings and planetary carriers for hole position, flatness, and perpendicularity with high accuracy. Its data is correlated with gear measurement center data on a unified software platform to evaluate housing precision impact on gear meshing quality.
• Composite Measurement Technology: For complex features like root fillets and counterbores, automatic switching between contact and optical probes on the same CMM enables “one setup, comprehensive evaluation.”

3. Software-Driven: Building a digital analysis and process closed-loop from gear profile to assembly.

• Specialized Gear Evaluation Software: AEH’s AC-DMIS software integrates gear measurement modules capable of processing data from gear measurement centers and advanced gear profile analysis of CMM scanned point clouds. It supports multiple international and domestic standards and can customize evaluation items and report formats per Tailong’s requirements.
• Process Data Correlation and Optimization: All gear inspection data (including pre- and post-heat treatment comparisons) are recorded in the EMRP intelligent quality management platform. SPC tools monitor process stability of key gear parameters and correlate batch deviations with specific machines, tools, and heat treatment furnaces to quickly identify variation sources. For example, data analysis revealed a batch’s helix angle deviation strongly correlates with temperature drift of a grinding machine, guiding preventive maintenance.
• Transmission Performance Prediction: Based on high-precision gear pair inspection data combined with housing measurements, virtual meshing and transmission error simulation can be performed in software to predict performance before actual assembly, reducing ineffective trial assemblies.

4. Lessons Learned

The successful establishment of Tailong Reducer’s precision inspection system is a vivid example of a traditional Chinese manufacturing giant upgrading its industry relying on cutting-edge measurement technology. It proves that entering the high-end equipment manufacturing field requires investing not in more expensive machining tools but in precision measurement and analysis capabilities that understand and control the “micron world.” This is the essential path to elevate manufacturing experience into scientific laws and achieve predictable manufacturing.

The direct result of this project is that Tailong Reducer’s key gears for robot RV reducers consistently meet or exceed China’s Grade 4 accuracy standard, with an overall 30% improvement in transmission accuracy and stability, winning verification and orders from many leading robot manufacturers. More profoundly, this system enabled Tailong Reducer to accumulate an unprecedented, high-confidence gear manufacturing process database in China’s independent precision reducer field. This not only provides “golden data” for future product iterations but also contributes valuable empirical evidence for China’s core robot component industry’s independent technological breakthroughs and standards formulation. The “Tailong-AEH” model clearly points to a feasible path leveraging “precision measurement” to drive the entire high-end manufacturing industrial chain upgrade.