It has been the world’s largest producer and consumer of machine tools for 15 consecutive years, but the domestic share of high-end CNC machine tools is less than 10%.
The industrial machine tool represented by high-end machine tools is the cornerstone of national manufacturing modernization. On September 6, 2024, the mobilization and launching ceremony of "Industrial Machine Tool+"100-line enterprise production and demand docking was held in Changzhou.
The reporter learned from the meeting that China has been the world’s largest producer and consumer of machine tools for 15 consecutive years, but the localization share of high-end CNC machine tools is less than 10%. Experts from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and China Academy of Engineering have said that focusing on high-performance manufacturing has become the key to enhance the competitiveness of the industrial machine tool industry. Jiangsu is the province with the largest number of machine tool enterprises in China, and it has the obligation and ability to follow the national industrial machine tool industry and embark on a new road.
The domestic market is huge, but the "high-end" has fallen.
Why is industrial mother machine important?
"Industrial mother machine is a machine for manufacturing machines, a basic and strategic equipment of the country, with a strategic position beyond economic value, at the core of industrial modernization industrial chain, with strong foundation, high complexity, long accumulation, product diversity and other technical characteristics." Guo Dongming, academician of China Academy of Engineering, chairman and chief scientist of Changzhou Longcheng Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing, explained that the industrial machine tool is a knowledge-intensive product integrating materials, mechanics, machinery, electronics and computers, and it is a typical progressive innovation field, and the technological upgrading cycle of each generation is about 20 years.
Combing the development of China’s industrial machine tool industry —— After the founding of New China, the machine tool industry has been planned and laid out. Since 2009, China has been the world’s largest producer and consumer of machine tools for 15 consecutive years. According to the data of VDM German Machinery Industry Network, last year, the output value of machine tools in China reached 25.3 billion euros, accounting for 31% of the world; Machine tool consumption is 23.7 billion euros, accounting for 29% of the world.
However, despite the huge market, domestic industrial machine tools have long been in an embarrassing situation of "low-end melee, mid-end competition and high-end loss", and the bottleneck of industry being controlled by people has never been broken. According to the data of China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute, the domestic market share of high-end CNC machine tools in China is less than 10%, which corresponds to the high import of high-end CNC machine tools. In 2022, the imported CNC machine tools cost about 2.5 billion US dollars, and the export amount is about 1.5 billion yuan.
At the same time, western countries have long strictly restricted the export of high-end CNC machine tools. In recent years, with the changes in the international situation, its control of high-end machine tools such as high precision and multi-axis linkage has become more and more stringent, and the situation of being "stuck in the neck" in China is very serious.
"For the manufacturing requirements of high-performance equipment products such as high-end CNC machine tools, simply aiming at geometric accuracy can no longer meet the requirements of high-performance manufacturing, and we must seek geometric and performance integrated manufacturing with the goal of ensuring precise performance." Guo Dongming said that focusing on "high-performance manufacturing" has become the key to enhance competitiveness. Specifically, material properties need to include the use of difficult-to-machine materials such as super-sticky, super-hard and super-brittle. Geometric mechanisms need to ensure structural rationality, reliability and tolerance of key geometric dimensions and shapes. Working conditions need to meet complex and extremely demanding working environments and working conditions for a long time, and manufacturing processes need to ensure the machinability of products, the accuracy and efficiency of processing and assembly.
Jiangsu’s industry is developed, and it has the conditions of "pursuing high".
On the afternoon of September 6, the reporter came to Aipaier (Changzhou) CNC Technology Co., Ltd., and Zou Jianhua, the general manager of the company, revealed excitedly: "We have just been rooted in Changzhou for 4 years, and we will usher in an industrial breakthrough. The self-developed five-axis machining plane for turbine blades has broken the monopoly of foreign technology and will be put into production soon!"
Zou Jianhua told reporters that the aero-engine with the most technical content and industrial value in turbine machinery (dynamic fluid machinery) is known as the "crown of modern industry", and its related blade manufacturing is more demanding on the cutting performance, high stability and high precision of the mother machine because of its high power, high torque and high speed, and it is known as the "jewel in the crown", and what they want to do is to "take off this pearl".
"Keeping a close eye on the’ stuck neck’ link, we focus on the overall solution of aero-engine blades." Zou Jianhua introduced that the company has invested more than 20 million yuan in research and development, successfully broke through a number of basic technologies and key common technologies of high-temperature alloy aero-blade CNC machine tools, and established a research and development platform and talent training base for CNC equipment. In terms of high rigidity, high precision and high reliability of machine tools, it is comparable to top international brands, and its work efficiency is 25% higher than that of Haas four-axis machine, which was widely used before, while its price is less than 1/3 of that of foreign imported brands.
Zou Jianhua admits that this enterprise founded in Shenzhen landed in Changzhou, which is precisely because of its industrial ecology.
Jiangsu is an important R&D and production base of industrial machine tools in China, and it is also the province with the largest number of machine tool enterprises in China. In 2023, the operating income of industrial machine tools enterprises above designated size in the province exceeded 100 billion yuan, accounting for about 1/5 of the whole country. Exports are even more outstanding. In the first half of 2024, the export volume of high-grade CNC machine tools in Jiangsu Province accounted for 40% of the country.
"Our province has taken the initiative to connect with the national industrial machine tool industry development action plan and has included industrial machine tools in the’ 1650′ industrial system for key cultivation." Li Jian, the second-level inspector of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said that last year, our province issued a policy document for the high-quality development of the industrial machine tool industry, further accelerating the key technology research, innovation platform construction, product promotion and application, and enterprise gradient cultivation.
At present, the industrial chain of Jiangsu industrial machine tools is relatively complete, with six upstream and downstream links, including basic components, functional components, tool accessories, control system, whole machine manufacturing and complete equipment integration, covering four major fields, including cutting machine tools, forming machine tools, special machine tools and additive manufacturing equipment, and has cultivated more than 70 "little giant" enterprises specializing in industrial machine tools.
Taking Changzhou as an example, Xue Qinglin, deputy director of Changzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, counted that the scale of the industrial machine tool industry in Changzhou has exceeded 40 billion yuan, and there are a number of internationally renowned enterprises such as Emmanuel, George Fisher and Henglun, and Xixia Villa "Tool Town" is even more famous throughout the country.
It can be seen that Jiangsu has the "family background" and the will to lead the industry to new heights.
All parties jointly tackle key problems and seek technological breakthroughs.
So, how to take the road of high-performance manufacturing? What is the key to technological breakthrough?
At present, the industry has reached a consensus that the lack of "four characteristics" of industrial machine tools, such as process adaptability, reliability, accuracy retention and accuracy stability, is the main reason for the weak competitiveness of domestic high-end machine tools.
Besides external reasons, the deficiency of "four natures" also comes from some internal factors, such as top-level design, long-term planning and macro-control at the industry level, disjointed high-end supporting facilities and weak investment, lack of core technology and lagging product iteration, scattered innovation resources and insufficient talent reserve.
No matter from the national or Jiangsu level, the key to "breaking the game" is first of all technological innovation and concentrating on breaking through the "stuck neck" link.
"Compared with imported machine tools, the gap in accuracy retention of domestic machine tools is the most obvious." Wang Yongqing, executive director of Longcheng Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing, brought a solution of "quick evaluation" during the activity. The laboratory is currently establishing an intelligent monitoring and operation and maintenance platform for industrial mother machine clusters based on cloud and edge collaboration to realize remote monitoring, big data analysis and intelligent operation and maintenance of high-end machine tool equipment clusters.
Technology breaks down and needs to be blessed by innovative carriers. Longcheng Laboratory is an innovative platform with high-end machine tools and manufacturing technology as its core, which was established in cooperation with Dalian University of Technology and General Research Institute of Mechanical Science.
In Jiangsu, there is more than one such innovation platform. During the event, the latest innovations of various platforms were displayed-
Ou Yi, a researcher at South Institute of Technology and deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Generic Technology for CNC Machine Tool Functional Components of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released a controllable loading technology that can simulate a variety of complex actual working conditions at the same time. Based on this technology, he invented complete sets of equipment such as precision retention, reliability and life, and surface detection, which filled the gap in the industrial chain.
Industrial mother machine needs software support. Nina Dai, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Advanced Composite Technology and Equipment Innovation Center, introduced a set of simulation software and CAM software system independently developed by the center, which can realize real-time simulation and prediction of path planning of fiber reinforced composites and printing process of porous components of composite materials in aerospace manufacturing, and provide software support for fiber reinforced composites …
Miao Changxing, the first-class inspector of the First Division of Industrial Equipment of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, revealed that the major national science and technology project "High-end CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment" has been launched first this year, and it is expected that after three years, another batch of "innovative fruits" will be produced.
Strengthen the adaptation between supply and demand and accelerate the independent upgrading.
In addition to technological breakthroughs, it is another upgrade path to break the foreign blockade and promote the high-end machine tool equipment from "usable" to "durable" and then "easy to use" by taking the user’s process demand in key areas as the traction, intensifying efforts to promote the pairing research between the supply and demand sides of industrial mother machines and promoting the popularization and application of independent innovative products.
For the demand side, it is very willing to apply autonomous equipment. "Compared with manual grinding chamfering, the gear shaft chamfering machine has the advantages of reducing labor intensity, consistent product chamfering shape and isolating environmental hazards, so we need to realize chamfering mechanization and automation." Zhu Baizhi, director of Nanjing High-speed Gear Manufacturing Co., Ltd., said frankly that domestic enterprises are more willing to use domestic solutions with higher cost performance than foreign high technical costs and "tough" parts replacement requirements.
By concentrating limited resources, it has become the focus of all localities to take the lead in making breakthroughs in key areas such as aviation, aerospace, aviation development, and new energy vehicles, and to strengthen the docking between supply and demand in a targeted manner.
Changqing Technology, located in Changzhou, is a high-tech enterprise engaged in the development and application of lightweight composite materials, mainly providing supporting products for the interior decoration of rail transit vehicles and the interior and exterior decoration of buildings. Recently, with the continuous recovery of the global rail transit market, the company has received many processing orders for complex products at home and abroad, but there is a gap in production equipment, and enterprises urgently need to buy a five-axis industrial mother machine with higher precision. Under the matchmaking of the local industry and information department, the enterprise indexes through the list of supply and demand, and soon finds an independent brand manufacturer.
For the supplier, through the "pairing" adaptation, the traditional process is accurately and efficiently modified, which not only saves the cost, but also significantly increases the order. Yun Yun, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Desu Intelligent Machinery Co., Ltd. revealed: "The company’s orders have increased by more than 20% compared with the same period last year."
In order to promote the supply and meet the needs. The list of production and demand released at the meeting contains more than 2,000 items of supply and demand. The supply list includes key industrial machine tool enterprises, supply capacity and products, application scenarios, etc. The demand list includes key user enterprises, required technologies and products, application scenarios, etc.
Industrial development needs to form a more unified and powerful ecology. At the meeting, 35 units jointly launched the Initiative of Promoting the Application Development of "Industrial Machine Tools+100 Enterprises", which consolidated development consensus from six aspects: strengthening pairing research, strengthening technology supply, strengthening demand traction, strengthening exchanges and cooperation, strengthening financial support and strengthening industry self-discipline, and accelerated the construction of an industrial machine tools application ecological community. According to industry insiders, under the background of the country’s promotion of large-scale equipment renewal, coupled with the "industrial mother machine+"production and demand docking activity that lasted for more than three years, it is expected that the industry as a whole will increase its market demand by 100 billion yuan.
Guo Dongming suggested that according to the regional industrial advantages, we should increase policy support, guide the development direction of enterprises, build a number of industrial machine tool industrial clusters with distinctive industrial characteristics and clear enterprise tracks, and promote China’s industrial machine tool industry to truly become "world-class".
Reporter Fu Qi Wan Xiaozhen Qinghai Daily reporter Zhang Hongxu