Present Situation and Challenge of Machine Tool Industry in China

Machine tool industry is a strategic industry related to national economy. It is not only the master machine of equipment manufacturing industry, but also the key equipment of processing and manufacturing. Almost all metal cutting and forming processes need to be realized by machine tools. Domestic machine tools have been making progress and pushing forward. Compared with ten years ago and twenty years ago, domestic machine tools have made too much progress. State-owned machine tools only care about getting state subsidies. Private machine tool enterprises let us see hope.

Due to the late start of China's industry, there is a certain technical gap with developed countries, the same is true for machine tool industry. Fortunately, no matter the country or the machine tool enterprises, they never give up to challenge the cutting-edge technology. After the "made in China 2025" was put forward, the machine tool industry also set the goal of "cutting-edge".

With the strong support of national policies, China's machine tool industry has developed rapidly, and has become the world's first consumer and first importer of machine tools for many years in a row. The demand for machine tools is increasing, and the total output value of machine tool industry is also increasing. In terms of policy, the Chinese government has listed the development of large-scale, precision, high-speed CNC equipment and functional components in the metal cutting machine tool industry as one of the important national revitalization goals, which will also promote the rapid development of the industry.

Developing trend

Industrial automation is the foundation of "industry 4.0", and the most representative indicator of industrial automation is the popularity of robots. At present, there are only 21 robots for every 10000 people in China, which is quite different from developed countries such as Japan and South Korea. Compared with the global average of 55 / 10000 people, there is also a big gap. Therefore, accelerating the development of industrial automation is the task of China's processing and manufacturing industry Urgent.

From 2015 to 2018, China's CNC machine tool industry gradually increased. In 2018, China's CNC machine tool market reached 338.9 billion yuan, an increase of 10.73% over 2017. In 2014-2017, the number of finished products in China's CNC machine tool industry increased gradually. In 2018, the scale of finished products in China's CNC machine tool industry reached 25.4 billion yuan, an increase of 6.00% over 2017.

From the data of the Bureau of statistics, the profits of machine tool industry have increased rapidly this year. The reason may be related to the low base in previous years. Among them, metal cutting machine tools, cutting tools, bamboo and wood machinery and other special equipment, forming machine tools have a high growth rate. While the profit margin of main income is higher in cutting tools, bamboo and wood machinery and other special equipment and functional parts, while the profit margin of metal cutting machine tool industry seems to be not low, but the profit margin is only 4.92%, which is the lowest among the main sub industries, so it can be seen that the general machine tool industry is really difficult.

Challenge

Machine tool industry is an industry with large import and export deficit in the machinery industry. In 2017, the deficit was US $3.47 billion, including US $5.5 billion for metal cutting machine tools, US $2.16 billion for CNC machine tools and US $3.24 billion for machining centers. It can be seen that the overall competitiveness of high-end machine tools is weak.

The differentiation of enterprises in the machine tool industry is fierce. First, the situation of enterprises in the general-purpose metal cutting machine industry is poor, but the operation situation of special equipment enterprises is relatively good. We must speed up the supply side structural reform. Second, although the technology accumulation of key state-owned enterprises is deep, most of them are relatively difficult.

After the "made in China 2025" was put forward, the machine tool industry also set the goal of "cutting-edge". In the process of moving towards the goal, machine tool enterprises also need to solve the talent problem, innovation problem, transformation and upgrading problem, ecological problem and the trade war initiated by the United States. At present, the impact of trade frictions between China and the United States is extensive but varying in degree. The confidence of enterprises in export and foreign trade, orders in the second half of the year, profits will inevitably be damaged; Chinese orders and manufacturing industries will be transferred or unavoidable.

In the face of the trade war, we should calmly analyze, do a good job in forecasting and predicting, keep our heads clear and turn pressure into power. In order to ensure the safety of the industry and the development of the enterprise, we should aim at the core weak links of the industry, strive to improve the ability of independent innovation, make up for the shortcomings, improve the quality, improve our own strength and enhance the core competitiveness.

Although there are many difficulties and severe challenges, the machine tool industry has made rapid progress in recent years. At present, it has basically met the processing equipment required by power generation equipment and ship manufacturing industry, and the manufacturing equipment required in the aerospace field has also made breakthrough progress. Among the four major processes of the automobile industry, the domestic stamping line and coating line have entered the world's advanced ranks, and the localization of welding line, general assembly line and engine cylinder head processing line is also in rapid progress. Therefore, we should never underestimate ourselves, we must firmly continue to promote the confidence of autonomy.