Hisense | Acrylic and PC Touch Panels for Home Appliances

1. Customer and Project Background

1.1 Hisense Brand Overview

Hisense is one of China's leading home appliance brands and a global benchmark in the display industry. Its business covers home appliances, smart terminals, and whole-home intelligent devices, with products sold in more than 160 countries and regions worldwide. For its supply chain, Hisense maintains strict full-process standards for quality management, process accuracy, cost control, and delivery efficiency.

1.2 Project Background

For a premium home appliance brand such as Hisense, touch panels and decorative panels on the product surface are key carriers of both user interaction and visual presentation. Whether used for washing machine touch buttons, microwave display windows, or functional identification panels on smart TVs, these parts directly affect daily user experience through their assembly precision, marking clarity, durability, and appearance quality. They also represent the brand's manufacturing capability and premium positioning.

In 2018, Hisense launched a multi-category high-end home appliance development project and needed to customize acrylic and polycarbonate touch panels and display panels for multiple product lines, including high-end washing machines, smart TVs, and microwave ovens. To optimize its supplier structure and support stable mass production of new products across multiple categories, Hisense conducted an on-site audit of Spar Panel and requested sample development.

At the same time, Hisense reported several recurring quality-control issues with existing supporting suppliers, which could not meet its unified global quality standards for high-end home appliances:

• Unstable panel forming tolerances caused misalignment and uneven gapsbetween the panel and the appliance front-control housing, making the parts unsuitable for standardized automated assembly.

• Functional icons and operating text printed on the panel surface showed insufficient abrasion resistance. After frequent touch and cleaning, the ink quickly peeled, blurred, or faded, affecting normal product use.

• Adhesive lamination was poorly controlled, causing bubbles, local hollow areas, and edge lifting after panel assembly. Under long-term pressing, the bonding failed and affected both touch sensitivity and panel flatness.

Hisense expected Spar Panel to respond quickly to the sample request, address these recurring production and quality issues, and establish a stable long-term mass-production process once the samples passed validation. The solution also needed to align with the launch schedule of multiple new home appliance categories while meeting Hisense’s global standards for quality control and compliance.

2. Technical Challenges and Solutions

Key Process Issues and Implementation Methods for Acrylic/PC Home Appliance Panels

After receiving the custom panel requirements from Hisense, Spar Panel analyzed samples from previous suppliers and studied the use scenarios of multiple home appliance categories such as washing machines and microwaves. We identified three major production challenges:

• Precision forming and automated assembly compatibility:The project required integrated CNC machining of irregular outlines, functional openings, and display windows. Dimensional tolerances had to match the housing structures of different appliance categories and prevent dimensional fluctuation during batch production.
• Screen-print durability under high-frequency use:The panel surface required brand logos, functional icons, operating text, and parameter markings. These graphics had to withstand frequent touch and daily cleaning without peeling, blurring, or fading over the full appliance lifecycle.
• Long-term adhesive lamination reliability:The entire back surface of the panel needed industrial adhesive lamination. The adhesive layer had to remain flat and bubble-free, with no edge lifting or debonding under long-term pressing and normal household temperature/humidity variations.

During the customized production process, Spar Panel focused on these three core technical challenges and developed production-ready solutions. After multiple rounds of sample validation, we selected Mitsubishi high-transparency acrylic and Lexan polycarbonate (PC) substrates, combined with an integrated process of precision CNC forming + appliance-grade abrasion-resistant screen printing + stable adhesive lamination. The samples passed the full inspection of Hisense's R&D and quality control departments on the first submission.

2.1 Precision CNC Forming and Automated Assembly Control

During batch CNC machining of acrylic and PC panels, common problems include dimensional tolerance fluctuation, edge chipping, burrs, and hole-position deviation. Based on its high-volume appliance production standards, Hisense required strict control of the outer contour, functional openings, and display-window cutting accuracy across multiple panel categories. Each panel had to fit tightly with the front-control housing; otherwise, assembly misalignment and uneven gaps would reduce automated assembly efficiency and damage final product appearance.

To address these risks, Spar Panel customized ultra-fine-tooth tungsten carbide milling cutters based on the structural requirements of washing machines, microwave ovens, and other appliance products. Through repeated testing, we optimized toolpaths and layered cutting parameters to reduce stress deformation during machining and prevent burrs and edge chipping at the source. All key processes used a shared cross-registration reference system with the screen-printing process, ensuring that printed graphics and machined holes were accurately aligned.

Finally, full-panel machining tolerance was stably controlled within ±0.05 mm, which was better than the brand's required standard. Each panel could match the standardized automated assembly line of the complete home appliance product.

2.2 Screen-Print Abrasion Resistance and Graphic Clarity for High-Frequency Use

Home appliances are used frequently in daily household environments. Their panels experience repeated pressing and contact, as well as wiping with wet cloths and cleaning agents. Ordinary screen printing may show ink wear, edge bleeding, fading, or blurred graphics after long-term use.

Hisense required the printed icons and text to remain sharp, clear, and uniformly colored, while matching the brand's global visual standards. The printed layer had to stay intact under daily high-frequency touch and cleaning conditions throughout the appliance lifecycle.

For this requirement, Spar Panel selected appliance-grade industrial screen printing inks with high abrasion resistance and strong adhesion. We strictly locked the specified Hisense Pantone color references and controlled batch-to-batch color difference within ΔE≤2. Screen mesh and curing parameters were optimized to ensure crisp printed edges with no bleeding. After printing, each batch was validated through cross-hatch adhesion testing, abrasion cycle testing, and household cleaning-agent resistance testing. We simulated daily use through tens of thousands of cycles to ensure the printed layer would not peel, fade, or blur after long-term touch and cleaning.

2.3 Long-Term Adhesive Lamination Stability

If adhesive lamination is poorly controlled, panel bonding may show bubbles, hollow areas, adhesive overflow, or edge lifting. Daily pressing can further worsen these problems, leading to uneven appearance, reduced touch sensitivity, local debonding, or panel lifting.

To eliminate these risks, Spar Panel selected 3M 9495 300LSE industrial adhesive, which is highly compatible with acrylic and PC substrates for different appliance use scenarios. The lamination process was completed manually in a Class 10,000 clean workshop, ensuring complete bonding across the panel back surface with no bubbles, no adhesive overflow, and no edge lifting or hollow areas.

After lamination, each panel underwent full flatness inspection. We also conducted reliability cycle tests simulating long-term pressing, as well as high/low-temperature environmental testing, to verify adhesive stability under daily household use. These measures prevented edge lifting, debonding, and bonding failure over the panel lifecycle, while maintaining surface flatness and use stability.

3. Project Results

Through full-process optimization and appliance-grade quality control, the project successfully met Hisense's customization standards across multiple home appliance categories and achieved stable mass production delivery. This cooperation verified Spar Panel's full-process customization capability for home appliance panels and demonstrated our ability to support process adaptation and large-scale production across multiple appliance scenarios.

For home appliance panel projects, high-precision machining, long-term use stability, batch-to-batch consistency, and global environmental compliance are core competitive factors for leading brand customers.

Cooperation and Delivery Results

Quality and Compliance Results

Through this in-depth cooperation with Hisense, Spar Panel developed five core capabilities for multi-category home appliance panel projects:

• High-precision integrated panel forming:Mature acrylic/PC precision machining experience, with stable tolerance control within ±0.05 mm, supporting standardized automated appliance assembly.

• Abrasion-resistant screen printing customization:Able to meet long-term durability requirements in high-frequency use scenarios.

• Closed-loop full-process quality control:A complete inspection system from incoming substrate inspection to final product release, ensuring batch consistency in large-scale appliance production.

• Flexible production capability:Supports both new product prototyping and 10,000+ piece mass production, matching the rapid product iteration cycle of the home appliance industry.

• Global compliance support:Full-process production follows ISO 9001:2015 quality management requirements and supports RoHS and REACH environmental compliance for the home appliance industry.

For Spar Panel, this case was not only a successful mass-production delivery project across multiple home appliance categories. It also helped us build mature experience in multi-scenario panel customization for the appliance industry and establish a standardized production and quality control system suitable for leading global home appliance brands.

4. Product and Application Scenario Display

5. FAQs

Q1: What materials can be customized for home appliance panels, and which appliance categories can they support?

A: We mainly support three material types for custom home appliance panels: acrylic (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC, Lexan), and PET. These materials can be used for washing machines, microwave ovens, water heaters, integrated stoves, air conditioners, refrigerators, and other smart small home appliances. All substrates are selected to meet the environmental, weather-resistance, and abrasion-resistance requirements of the appliance industry. We can recommend the most suitable material based on your product application scenario.

Q2: What CNC machining accuracy can acrylic home appliance panels achieve, and are they suitable for automated assembly?

A: We use high-precision CNC machining equipment to control full-panel machining tolerance within ±0.05 mm. All key processes use a shared cross-registration reference system, ensuring accurate alignment between printed graphics and machined holes. The finished panels can match the standardized production requirements of automated home appliance assembly lines.

Q3: How do you ensure that screen-printed graphics on high-frequency-use appliance panels remain abrasion-resistant and do not fade?

A: We use appliance-grade industrial screen printing inks with high abrasion resistance and strong adhesion, strictly lock the specified brand colors, and optimize screen mesh and curing parameters to ensure sharp printed edges. After printing, we perform cross-hatch adhesion tests, abrasion cycle tests, and household cleaning-agent resistance tests. Through tens of thousands of simulated use cycles, we verify that the printed layer will not peel, fade, or blur after long-term use.

Q4: How do you ensure batch-to-batch consistency during large-volume home appliance panel production?

A: We have established a dedicated closed-loop quality control system for home appliance panels. The control process includes first-article sign-off, standardized hourly patrol inspection, and full final inspection. Each batch is checked for dimensional accuracy, print quality, and lamination quality. At the same time, production parameters, dedicated equipment, and production teams are fixed to ensure consistent performance, appearance, and accuracy from the first piece to the 100,000th piece.

Q5: Do the custom home appliance panels meet environmental compliance requirements for global markets?

A: Our production follows ISO 9001:2015 quality management requirements. For applicable products, substrates, inks, adhesives, and related materials can support RoHS and REACH environmental compliance requirements, and corresponding test reports and compliance documents can be provided to support global market access for home appliance products.

6. Contact Us

Spar Panel is a China-based source manufacturer specializing in custom panels. We have provided long-term stable support for international brands, with consistent delivery performance and reliable quality.

If you have custom requirements for home appliance acrylic touch panels, white goods functional panels, or screen printing + CNC composite process panels, please contact us and provide your drawings. We will offer a customized quotation and sample development service.