Breaking the Silence Dilemma, Leading Industry Standards — Intelligent Spring Flocking Production Line Reshapes the New Ecology of Auto Parts Manufacturing
Reporter: Mr Dai — When the electric tailgate of a car opens and closes smoothly without a trace of harsh metal friction noise, it is a flocked torsion spring that silently provides "noise-canceling protection" behind the scenes. Recently, with the gradual implementation of the group standard "Requirements for Flocking Materials for Automobile Tailgate Springs", China's first intelligent spring flocking production line integrating AI intelligent control, green environmental protection technology and precision flocking technology has achieved large-scale mass production. It not only solves the long-standing industry pain points such as uneven quality and excessive noise, but also promotes the transformation of the flocking industry from "decorative function" to "core function" through technological innovation, seizing the technological high ground in the global auto parts segment.
Different from the limitations of traditional flocking production lines with "extensive processing and low-standard output", this newly upgraded spring flocking production line takes "precision, intelligence, greenness and efficiency" as its core, achieving three major breakthrough innovations and redefining the industry benchmark for spring flocking. As one of the participating units in formulating the standard, the production line upgrading practice of Guangdong Sibeixiu Flocking Technology Co., Ltd. has become a vivid model for the industry transformation — its independently developed intelligent flocking system has increased the daily output of automobile tailgate spring flocking from the industry average of 300 kilograms to 1,000 kilograms, with products accounting for 65% of the national market share and an annual output exceeding 10 million pieces, firmly occupying a leading position in the global industry.
"Traditional production lines either have uneven flocking and easy fluff shedding, or excessive VOC emissions, and full-surface flocking causes a lot of material waste," introduced Xu Dequan, Chairman of the company. The core breakthrough of the new production line lies in the dual upgrading of "precision flocking + intelligent control". Relying on the AI algorithm embedded control unit, the production line can real-time sense parameters such as the diameter and pitch of the spring, automatically adjust the electrostatic voltage, adhesive layer thickness and fluff supply. Through the coordination of the multi-pole array flocking head and the closed-loop air flow feeding system, the fiber vertical implantation rate is increased to 98.5%, and the flocking uniformity error is controlled within ±3%, completely solving the industry problem of flocking dead corners of spiral springs.
More innovatively, the production line has pioneered the "local flocking process", breaking the redundant mode of traditional full-surface flocking. Through the process optimization of spring compression and fixation, precision glue spraying and directional flocking, flocking is only performed on the friction surface of the spring outer ring. This not only ensures the noise reduction effect — reducing metal friction noise by more than 88% with a measured noise ≤ 5dB, but also saves more than 30% of adhesive and fluff consumption, significantly reducing production costs. At the same time, the production line fully adopts water-based adhesives instead of traditional oil-based adhesives, reducing VOC residues to an extremely low level. Equipped with a fluff recovery system, it realizes "zero pollution and low energy consumption" green production, perfectly complying with the trend of environmental protection upgrading and lightweight development of the automobile industry.
The large-scale commissioning of this intelligent production line coincides with the promotion and implementation of the group standard "Requirements for Flocking Materials for Automobile Tailgate Springs", forming a two-way empowerment of "technological innovation + standardization". It is reported that the standard was initiated and formulated by Ningbo Automobile Parts Industry Association and relevant enterprises, and officially approved in October 2025. It aims to solve the industry pain points of lack of unified standards and uneven product quality, standardize the performance indicators, test methods and environmental protection requirements of flocking materials, and promote the industry transformation from "wild growth" to "standardized development".
"The implementation of the standard provides a basis for the promotion of high-quality technologies, while the innovation of the production line provides practical support for the implementation of the standard," said a relevant person in charge of Ningbo Automobile Parts Industry Association. The emergence of the intelligent spring flocking production line not only improves the quality stability and reliability of flocked springs, extends the service life of the automobile tailgate system, but also promotes the extension of flocking technology from automobile tailgate springs to more automotive interior fields such as seats and instrument panels, expanding the industrial application boundary.
From manual flocking to semi-automatic processing, and now to intelligent large-scale production, the iterative upgrading of China's spring flocking industry is backed by the tide of high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. According to industry data, as of the end of 2024, the domestic ownership of automatic flocking machines has exceeded 18,000 units, with medium and high-end intelligent equipment accounting for 57% and the comprehensive equipment efficiency increased to 88%. The breakthrough of this intelligent spring flocking production line has further narrowed the gap between domestic equipment and the world's leading level, with its export share gradually expanding and products being exported to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions, demonstrating the core competitiveness of "Made in China" in the field of segmented equipment.
Industry experts said that with the popularization of new energy vehicles and the improvement of consumers' requirements for riding comfort, the market demand for spring flocking will continue to grow. In the future, with the in-depth integration of intelligent technology and environmental protection processes, spring flocking production lines will upgrade towards "digital twin, remote operation and maintenance, and full life cycle management", not only providing better auto parts solutions for the automobile industry, but also promoting the expansion of the flocking industry to emerging fields such as electronic equipment and medical supplies, opening a new development stage of functional flocking.
