WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.760 Long story short, I have just two and a half hours to film this sponsored tour of the high-sense TV factory behind me. 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:10.600 Before my dust cover's turned to glass slippers, my head turns into the Great Pumpkin, and I get shipped back to Canada. 00:00:10.600 --> 00:00:15.800 We've got to get through back-plane prep and assembly, backlight installation, mainboard and power supply installation, 00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.800 panel mounting, QA and validation packaging, good grief! 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:23.300 Even miracles take a little time, and the longer we stand here, the less we're gonna have! 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:25.700 Ah! That's another five seconds! Let's go, go, go! 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:40.500 This is gonna be cool. The production line we're about to see has seven first-of-their-kind automated machines. 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:49.500 A third of it is assisted by AI or machine learning in some capacity, and it has a total automation rate of over 70%. 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:57.000 Whoa! This level of automation isn't just to save on labor costs, but also to improve quality. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.500 These back panels being loaded onto the assembly line used to be done by squishy humans, 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:06.000 but as you guys might have seen in our recent video taking delivery of a high-sense, 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:12.500 116-inch RGB backlight TV, panel sizes have gotten kind of out of control, 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:19.500 which means that when you've got people lifting these backplanes, there's a significant risk of deformation. 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:24.500 Since they switch to this automated system that grabs them, shakes off the protective corner pieces, 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:30.000 then places them onto the line, they've reduced their defects by over 90%. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:36.000 Next door, the backplanes are treated for any static build-up, then they're flipped over to prepare them for the next step. 00:01:39.500 --> 00:01:49.000 Now, you probably think of major components like the panel, power supply, and processing chips as the big drivers of cost for large TVs. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:55.500 But here's the thing, for televisions to be one of the only seemingly inflation-proof consumer goods, 00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:58.500 manufacturers need to dig deeper than that. 00:01:58.500 --> 00:02:05.500 Behind me is an automated glue dispenser that relies on an AI model to control flow rates, pressure, movement speed, 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:13.500 and more to apply hundreds of glue points for LED light bars, and this results in a savings of 9% on glue. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.000 Nice. After a quick trip through the spray-gluing machine and a pass under this UV-curing lamp, 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:25.500 we're going to apply our LED strip and lens arrays that are going to serve as our backlight. 00:02:25.500 --> 00:02:32.500 This is one of the few steps that is still manual, but if what we've seen so far is anything to go by, it probably won't be for long. 00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:38.500 The glue theme that we've kind of established so far continues behind me with their automatic primer coating machine. 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:44.000 The backplane is going to be joined to our front panel by a foam tape to reduce light leakage, 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:48.000 but that requires a primer to be sprayed in order to improve adhesion. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:53.000 By using machine vision to verify their coatings in real-time and an AI model to make adjustments, 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:59.500 they were able to reduce their primer consumption by 58% while also dramatically reducing defects. 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:05.000 Unfortunately, this machine is patent-pending, so if you're watching this video right away, it's going to be blurred. 00:03:05.500 --> 00:03:10.500 But once they get their patent, we're hoping to replace that blurred footage, so come back in six months. 00:03:10.500 --> 00:03:17.500 As TVs get bigger and bigger, maintaining efficiency and backlight uniformity are major challenges, 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:25.500 so behind me, HighSense is applying a reflective film to the backplane to make the absolute most out of any light from the backlight LEDs. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:30.500 They're also using automated spring-loaded applicators to apply the sheet more evenly, 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:34.500 which reduces the risk of dark spots in the finished product. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:41.500 You'll still need your diffusion layer and optical sheet, and of course, even the best processes are imperfect. 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:48.000 So that's where this station comes in, where they're using machine vision and AI to analyze the backlight for uniformity. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:55.500 HighSense somewhat sheepishly admitted that industry norms used to be to have a person look into the backlight and go, 00:03:55.500 --> 00:04:03.500 yeah, that looks pretty even, so it makes sense that this change resulted in a major improvement to inspection accuracy. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:09.500 By the way, you might have noticed this is a white backlit TV, whereas HighSense's cutting edge is RGB backlighting. 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:14.500 We're going to be taking a closer look at their RGB backlight technology a little bit later in the video. 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:21.500 Now that our backplanes are validated, it's time to apply the foam tape that's going to seal them to the panel. 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:27.500 This is also automated, which HighSense boasts they are the first in the industry to do. 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.500 Now it's time for a big moment, panel assembly. 00:04:31.500 --> 00:04:39.500 This is yet another process that has become simply impractical to do by hand with modern monstrous TV panels. 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:48.500 The old way involves two operators with suction cups attempting to line up the panel at the backplane and stick it down exactly the same every time. 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:59.500 Breakage was a real problem. This new way brings the fresh panels in on a conveyor, moves them over to an automated peel machine to remove the protective covering 00:04:59.500 --> 00:05:10.500 that's on the back of the panel, picks them up and places them onto the backplane with better than 0.02mm precision. 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:16.500 Now we're looking up at those same robots that we were just in front of. 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:22.500 At this station, the source board gets folded up and then covered with the front plastic bezel. 00:05:22.500 --> 00:05:29.500 Next behind me, these two robots affix the front bezel with screws. 00:05:29.500 --> 00:05:41.500 And this is a lot cooler than you might realize. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that I was here in China being told that screws, especially little ones, were still too hard to do economically with robots. 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:50.500 Not anymore, and not only is it more economical, but this is apparently responsible for a 44% reduction in the defect rate at this step. 00:05:51.500 --> 00:06:00.500 The final step for what they call module assembly is these foam rollers pressing down the panel on the backplane to secure the foam tape. 00:06:01.500 --> 00:06:06.500 With the foam secured, the TVs are flipped onto these soft carrier pads for the rest of assembly. 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:15.500 Now it's time for our strawmans to get a brain or a main board with a processor and also a power supply. 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:22.500 You might have noticed that each of those boards only got one screw securing them to the back panel. 00:06:22.500 --> 00:06:28.500 That is not because Hisense went to the Linus school of how to install printed circuit boards. 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.500 This is why I usually only put half the screws and radiators. 00:06:31.500 --> 00:06:35.500 It's because the rest of them are going to be installed next door right here. 00:06:35.500 --> 00:06:38.500 Why it made sense to divide these into two steps? 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:42.500 I don't know, but that doesn't matter because I don't design assembly lines. 00:06:42.500 --> 00:06:47.500 Now next, we've got a very rare animal indeed, a manual step. 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:55.500 Sorry, I'm not even going to try to do the accent. The point is that they do have a robot for speaker placement, but it is currently undergoing maintenance and trials, 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.500 so they still have a person manually placing the speakers, but not for long. 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:02.500 Now it's time to install cable and wiring harnesses. 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:07.500 As you can see, this requires three people in order to keep up with the speed of the production line. 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:14.500 Hisense says that the handling and delicate installation of these parts is still best done by human hands, 00:07:14.500 --> 00:07:20.500 but they are researching ways to automate this and who knows, it might not be that far off. 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:26.500 Now we're at the end of the lines, or are we? 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:30.500 For space efficiency, Hisense has the production line laid out in a U shape. 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:35.500 I asked Hisense if I could ride on one of the TVs to the other side and they said yes, 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:39.500 and then it turns out they misunderstood my question. They couldn't imagine anyone could ask something so stupid. 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:44.500 I tried for you guys, I tried. Next, Hisense invited me to participate in the production line. 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:53.500 They asked me to do the internal inspection step, so I'm supposed to mark all the various connectors and tapes and screws. 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:56.500 So this one, this one. 00:07:56.500 --> 00:07:59.500 Oh, all the screws. No! 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:04.500 There's not enough time! Which I guess was kind of their point. 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:08.500 I guess that's why Hisense replaced this technology with this technology. 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:15.500 They're using AI and machine learning to constantly update their capabilities to detect even the smallest errors. 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:23.500 If an error is identified, hey, human hands are still the king, it gets fixed right next door, then the back covers get installed. 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:29.500 Kind of a cool element of Hisense's culture is that no matter what position you apply for, if you get a job, 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:40.500 you'll spend a day here on the final inspection line so that you can get an appreciation for what goes into these devices that you're marketing or selling or whatever it is you're doing. 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:50.500 Before heading into QA, every panel is burned in for 10 minutes on the line to help eliminate any of those first part of the bathtub curve failures. 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:54.500 At this point, our TV is basically assembled and it's time for QA. 00:08:54.500 --> 00:09:07.500 This station behind me uses precision 3D machine vision and an 8-axis plug-in and plug-out robot with ultra-high precise force control in order to satisfy Hisense's customers. 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:11.500 They even have a robot here that can push buttons turning the TV on. 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:14.500 Nobody tell my wife about either of these innovations. 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:21.500 The rear covers get screwed on, the labels get engraved, then we're off to a particular passion of mine. 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:30.500 Packaging. After automated testing and validation, the TVs are brought back downstairs to be wrapped, padded, and boxed. 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:40.500 This is yet another area where automation is not only a huge time saver, but a huge backache saver. 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:48.500 Hisense estimates that the average weight of a consumer TV has reached 54 kilograms. That is well over 100 pounds. 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:52.500 The solution? Have the robots move them around. Way better. 00:09:55.500 --> 00:09:59.500 What a ride, man. There's even more that we didn't get a chance to show you. 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:11.500 Like the system that monitors materials supply levels at the stations and then uses these autonomous vehicles to scurry over with more sprues or connectors or cardboard sleeves or whatever. 00:10:11.500 --> 00:10:22.500 And we didn't even touch on the monitoring system that shows machine health for the entire facility in real time, advising them proactively when things might need maintenance. 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:33.500 I couldn't show you guys all that because they're in the process of applying for some patents, but bottom line, I think we've seen enough to know that humans were basically obsolete in a cutting edge production environment. 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:42.500 Let's go somewhere that we're still needed then. The R&D Center, where we can take a closer look at the RGB backlight technology in Hisense's cutting edge TVs. 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:52.500 I've discussed Hisense's RGB mini LED backlight technology a couple of times on this channel, both when they launched at CES and when I unpacked their 116UX at home. 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:56.500 But I've never gotten a chance to see under the hood. 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:00.500 Before we take a closer look, though, let's do a brief history of backlight technology. 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:06.500 Originally, backlights were designed to as evenly illuminate the back of an LCD panel as possible. 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:13.500 This made them nice and thin compared to old school CRTs, but they weren't the best at producing blacks. 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:20.500 They were really more like gray. That's because even the best LCD allows a significant amount of light to pass through. 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:28.500 The solution? Full array local dimming, which places many smaller lights across the entire back of the panel. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:35.500 These can be brightened or dimmed in zones according to the type of content in front of them, dramatically increasing perceived contrast. 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:49.500 Over the years, they leveled up a lot with smaller LEDs, more numerous zones, and high energy blue backlights that can excite quantum dot films to achieve image quality that gives even self-emissive display technologies a run for their money. 00:11:49.500 --> 00:12:02.500 But what if, instead of a single color backlight, whether it's white or blue, you could have an RGB backlight, allowing you to shine red light directly behind a red pixel for the most vibrant sports car you've ever seen? 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:06.500 That is where RGB mini-LED comes in. 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:13.500 Now, it's still early days for this technology, and there is room for it to improve, especially by adding even more zones to the backlight. 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:21.500 But HighSense has been on the forefront of development, and when we measured the 116UX, we were absolutely blown away by its color gamut. 00:12:21.500 --> 00:12:29.500 Bottom line, RGB mini-LED results in incredible color saturation and unreal brightness that really makes HDR content pop. 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:38.500 And it's so cool to see this side-by-side with the fully assembled unit so you can really see how the image sausage is made. 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:41.500 All this fire scene looks so good, right? 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:50.500 HighSense's rise to prominence in North America has been more recent, but they've actually been around since these were current, 56 years to be precise, 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:57.500 and are now a major player in everything from TVs, laser TVs, and projectors to cloud services to fridges. 00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:05.500 In fact, this was one of their early acquisitions, which they pointed out to me when we walked in, actually still works. 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:19.500 Ah, refreshing. They asked me to highlight their ongoing goal of becoming a world-class provider of multi-scenario display solutions and to highlight their construction of China's first zero-carbon factory. 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:30.500 You can learn more about HighSense in the video description. And while you're down there, hey, maybe leave a nice little comment to show your appreciation for them opening up their factory so we can all understand a little bit better where our shiny gadgets come from. 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:38.500 Speaking of shiny gadgets, if you want something else to watch, maybe check out my unboxing and first look at the 116UX 116-inch RGB mini-LED TV. 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:42.500 It is out of this world.