How does the reality and history of the machine tool industry come out of the woods?

The machine tool industry is mainly tools, measuring tools and functional components (including accessories). Although there are some special support for 04, it is weaker than machine tools. High-end products mainly rely on imports because their quality affects the precision and finish of final finishing.

As the basic components and functional components of the machine tool industry, it is controlled in Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and other developed countries. It not only involves safety, but also makes a lot of profits outflow. Do we not need to think deeply?

Affected by the thought of "the hero of GDP" and also the inheritance of the factors of the planned economy era, China's mainstream machine tool enterprises have entered a "big and complete" business model.

The leaders and decision-makers of enterprises play a decisive role in the rise and fall of a machine tool enterprise. In a country with a tradition of "management" in China, enterprises are also the top leaders, and defeat is also the number one leader. I wonder if it is right?

Case 1: An attempt to find another way

The original Yingkou Machine Tool Plant, Anyang Machine Tool Plant and Weihai Machine Tool Plant have been insolvent and are on the verge of bankruptcy. Some have been reformed and privatized by enterprise leaders and capable employees. They have saved the enterprise by means of “phoenix nirvana and rebirth”. On the basis of this, Yingkou Guanhua, Anyang Xinsheng, Huadong CNC and other enterprises were revived. How to consolidate the results? Some have already encountered reefs.

Case 2: Effective exploration of the forging machine industry

The forging machine industry seems to be better than the gold cutting machine industry and sees a little hope. According to relevant material data, sales in the top ten Jiji, Yangli, Yawei, Tianjin Forging, Yang Forging, Jinfangyuan, Taian Hualu, Hubei Sanhuan, Hexing, Xuzhou Forging, there are 9 enterprises The output value is positive growth, and both have profits, and a few companies' profits are negative.

Due to its high technical content and strong competitiveness, Jiji has achieved a significant increase in profits and taxes. It should be said that it stands out in the machine tool industry. The reason is that the author believes that since the establishment of the factory, the Jiji Plant has been dominated by presses and gantry planers. In the past few decades, in addition to changing the Longmen planer to gantry milling after the reform and opening up, it has always adhered to its own development direction. The press introduced Wilson's press technology from the early stage of reform and opening up, and carried out digestion and absorption innovation. At that time, FAW and other automobile user factories technically required the use of different guide pillars and guide bush structures from Wilson. Jiji finally developed R&D and modified designs according to user requirements. The presses provided were welcomed by users such as FAW, and opened the automotive industry. market.

At the same time, Ji Er has cooperated with other well-known foreign companies for decades. He has accumulated invaluable experience in the design and manufacture of presses for decades, and passed on from generation to generation through management personnel, technicians and skilled workers. Technology can be passed down and developed. They have undergone various tests and have not lost their way in the wave of “bigger” and “diversified”. Although the leaders of the enterprises have been under tremendous pressure, they still adhere to the concept of scientific development.

In the wave of joint ventures, Jiji did not merge with domestic and foreign companies, and relied on its own strength to develop into a world-class press company, competing with Schueler and Weingarten in Germany. Ji Er won the tender for the Ford auto body press production line in the United States, and its beats have become the world's advanced level. This kind of machine tool enterprises that can “lead technology and lead the market” is too few.

I saw the hope of the machine tool industry from Ji Er. Of course, the National 04 special project is also indispensable for its support. The development of any thing is the internal cause and the external cause is only a condition. Because the forging industry has such an example of leading the way, it has played an irreplaceable role in leading the development of the industry. This does not mean that there is no shortage of forging industry, such as large-tonnage screw presses, high-speed fine-punching machine tools, multi-station spinning equipment, etc., which should be imported, which should be normal. However, users can not forgive the many forging equipment factories including the top ten. The quality, performance and fine management of the production process are still far from the advanced enterprises such as Komatsu and Amada in Japan.

The author visited an electrical appliance factory last year. The factory used a medium and small forging press of a factory to stamp small parts of precision electrical equipment. The precision requirement is very high (of course, rely on the mold). After buying it, the vertical rail plate is not strong. As a result, the heat is generated and deformed. The manufacturer sent people to repair it many times and did not fix it. In the end, the user had to buy Aé„„mada five or six presses at a high price. Who is this strange? And this factory is strong, and after the reform and opening up, it has made great achievements from scale to variety, especially the author is impressed that the body is Steel plate welded components, with thousands of tons of corner scraps, all used for casting ductile iron crankshafts, not only of good quality, but also become typical of energy-saving materials. But the wise man cares and sometimes has a loss, indicating that the press industry still has room for development.

Current status of tools: high-end tools are basically imported

The tool industry is mainly tools, gauges and functional components (including accessories). Although there are some special support for 04, it is weaker than the machine tool.

The importance of tools in machining is not recognized by the top. The machine tool is called a machine tool (MachineTool) in foreign countries. Without a tool, the machine tool is useless at all. Whether a machine tool can achieve efficiency and processing performance, the tool accounts for a considerable proportion.

Although the tool is not as expensive as a machine tool, it is a consumable. The author saw that the workshop has 40 or 50 CNC machine tools in the CNC workshop of Xi'an High-voltage Switch Factory, and the annual cost of cutting tools is 8 million yuan. The high-end tools used by users, especially the tools matched with CNC, are basically imported from abroad, such as Shangao, Sumitomo, Wilt and other famous tool companies, which basically monopolize the high-end market in China. It is a big country that produces tungsten powder and exports. Great country.

We are a major abrasive producer, such as corundum, silicon carbide, etc. These are energy and pollution intensive industries, so there are still opportunities to survive in the market. In 2013, sales of superhard materials increased by 12.3% compared with 2012, and some exports However, some high-end products also rely on imports because their quality affects the precision and finish of the final finishing.

The status quo of measuring instruments: automatic measuring instruments are basically monopolized by foreign companies

The measuring instrument is a weak link. The high-end instruments in the measuring room, such as roundness meter, surface finish meter, coordinate measuring machine, gear comprehensive checker and dual-frequency laser interferometer, are all computerized and digitized. Some of its measuring sensors have reached the nanometer level, and can be processed by data. The analyzed objects can be analyzed to find the weak links in the processing. As for the long gratings and circular gratings, they are basically monopolized by the German company Dr.Heidenheim. .

In particular, the automatic measuring instrument is a blank, basically monopolized by Marposs (Italian), CarlMahr (De) and Reinishow (English) in developed countries. In the mid-1960s, the company introduced a complete set of pneumatic measuring instruments and built a new Zhongyuan measuring instrument factory, but did not keep pace with the times and continued to innovate. There is no "eye", no measurement how to judge whether the workpiece is qualified, real-time online measurement and data processing, and there is no problem in the processing process. How to improve the production process?

Status of functional components: quality and quantity cannot compete with foreign manufacturers

Comrade Liang Xunqi, a former director of machine tool tools, and several old experts in the machine tool industry proposed the concept of functional components shortly after the reform and opening up. The functional components include machine tool accessories. This concept has been widely recognized by industry and government leaders.

Although we have some professional manufacturing companies, such as the rolling screw pair produced by Nanjing Craft Equipment Factory with a long history, we can't match the famous foreign manufacturers in terms of quality and quantity, not to mention the professional factories. There are some famous machine tool groups, such as Dalian Machine Tool, Shenji, Hanjiang, which are all research and development of water testing functional components, but it is still not a climate. According to an industry expert, the total production of rolling parts in our country is not as good as that of a Taiwanese company.

As for the high-speed, high-precision, high-load precision and ultra-precision bearings for machine tool spindles, they are basically supplied by SKF of Sweden, FAG of Germany, Seiko of Japan, and Timkin of the United States. Before the reform and opening up, the Harbin Bearing Factory had a high-precision bearing factory specializing in the manufacture of machine tool spindles. When I was working in the machine tool factory, I personally assembled the C-class bearings (high-precision grade) of the model 3182112 produced by the factory. The quality is good. Now that they are not producing, isn’t this really sad? What is the specialization of socialization? Functional components are necessary for industrialized production. In addition, the industrial chain of production machine tools is also very long, such as hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic control systems, cutting oil, lubricants, who is a domestic high-quality supplier?

Concerns raised: learning from history can be known as

The tools, blades, gauges and functional components used in the mid- to high-end mainframes have to be turned to foreign suppliers. Some comrades said that the current economic globalization, these high-quality features and accessories can be purchased globally, which cannot be said to be unreasonable. But in a step-by-step observation, these basic components and functional components of the machine tool industry are controlled in developed countries such as Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Not only do they involve safety, but they also cause a lot of profits to flow out. Do we not need to think deeply?

As for the CNC system and its servo drive that are compatible with CNC machine tools, it has not become a climate. In the late 1950s, we researched and developed CNC systems in parallel with the world. After the reform and opening up, it also adopted the methods of introducing technology and co-production, which laid the foundation for further independent development, and the effect has not been satisfactory so far. I believe that leaders at all levels and related companies have done their best, but they have not succeeded. Some trial production, industrialization can not, the author can not understand, CNC system control in Germany, Germany, Fanuc hands, but also talk about machine power?

Reality is the continuation of history and the beginning of tomorrow. Learning from history can be used to know how to make a difference. It should be said that after the reform and opening up, the government's "tangible hand" has given tremendous support to the machine tool industry in both material and financial terms, but it still seems to be no match for the "invisible hand" of the market economy. Under the circumstance of further comprehensive and deep reform of "the market allocation of resources plays a decisive role", the machine tool industry will face a more severe situation. The leaders of enterprises must have a response plan, pre-planned, and not pre-emptive.

The analysis of the above phenomena is puzzling. I have been in the past few years, leaving the machine tool industry for thirty or forty years. Ideological and technological lag behind the modern machine tool manufacturing industry, out of an old machine tool worker complex. Ask questions, teach leaders, experts, professors and entrepreneurs.

One of the thoughts: mainstream enterprises step into the "big and complete" business model

Affected by the thought of "the hero of GDP" and also the inheritance of the factors of the planned economy era, China's mainstream machine tool enterprises have entered a "big and complete" business model.

Enterprises such as Shenji Group and Dalian Machine Tool Group are representatives of the products of the "Heroes of GDP" era, while well-known foreign machine tool companies are taking the path of small and medium-sized "specialized, new, refined and strong". For example, DMG Group, which is one of the top ten companies in the world, was reorganized by three well-known companies, Deckel, Maho and Gildé„„meister, each of which is three or four hundred people.

The author has visited the Studer company of Swiss high-precision mirror grinders several times a few decades ago, and it is not as many as three or four hundred people. Because the Swiss land is very expensive, there is only a four-storey factory building, and the assembly workshop is located on the fourth floor. After 40 or 50 years, Studer still ranks first in the world.

Recently, a machine tool expert who has just visited Studer from Switzerland said that it is still in this production pattern, or is assembled on the fourth floor, but the technology has developed rapidly. From manual, semi-automatic, automatic, numerical control, to grinding centers, one step at a time.

Why is the gold content of their products so high? To win the highest loyalty of the world users including Chinese users and even machine tool companies as users, China's well-known machine tool companies use the Studer grinding machine to grind the spindle, the quality is good, become a trump card . In the "precision machine tool battle" in the 1960s and 1970s, Beijiji took the Studer cylindrical grinding machine as the catching target, and successfully developed the MG1420 high-precision grinding machine with a cylindricity of 1-2 μm and a finish of 14 grades. High-precision coordinate boring machine is famous. Five or sixty years have passed, and some have become people's memories. Now why some aspects are not as good as the past, why are good techniques and good traditions not well inherited?

Machine tool enterprises in Taiwan are also the way to develop in developed countries, so they are also very competitive. The author asks professors, experts, and entrepreneurs to think. The machine tool industry is mainly multi-variety, single-piece, small-batch, batch production, and there is no objective regularity of its own development. The governance structure and governance capacity of this "big and complete" business model is also a problem. This is by no means saying that GDP growth is not required, but not "the hero of GDP". Different industries have different development rules. At present, the reform of the machine tool industry structure is facing a very difficult situation. From people's guiding ideology, personnel composition, and business model have been solidified, people's enthusiasm can not play, where is the reform "pushing hand"?

Thinking 2: People decide the rise and fall of the machine tool industry

The guiding ideology and quality of people, especially leaders, determine the rise and fall of the machine tool industry.

At present, the process equipment of machine tool companies is much better than in the past. For the blessing of the "precision machine tool battle" of the last century, each of the "18 Arhat Factory" was equipped with a Swiss Dixi horizontal coordinate boring machine, placed in the tool workshop, and became the housekeeping treasure of all enterprises, and it is extended to the present. After retiring, the author visited the Dalian Machine Tool Group and learned that during the Cultural Revolution, the tool workshop had been on fire, and the Dixi horizontal coordinate boring machine was later repaired by the brother factories. It is still in use. The coaxiality of the processing hole after turning the turntable is still about 0.01mm, which is a miracle. The original Dixi horizontal coordinate boring machine operators carefully maintained, carefully operated experience passed down from generation to generation, good horses must have good riders, in order to exert their power. Seeing people thinking, the author can't be calm for a long time.

Nowadays, there are many college graduates, master students and doctoral students. The technical team has been greatly enhanced compared with the past. Advanced methods such as CAD 3D design have become common tools for designers. The drawing board and T-square have been eliminated, and the R&D capability can be said to be The development and improvement of the leap is very gratifying.

The author recalls the years when the colleagues in the industry fought together in the 1960s. For example, Zhou Qinzhi, an academician of the Engineering Institute of Shanghai Machine Tool Plant, was the director of the Laboratory Research Laboratory. His academic qualifications were not the highest, but his level was very high. He made a proposal that was very advanced at that time. If the frequency division is replaced by a tape, the speed ratio of the workpiece can be changed arbitrarily, which has revolutionary significance for the worm wheel grinding and gear processing machine.

Today, the problem was solved by CNC, and his dream was realized. He has a large number of technicians and technicians engaged in machine tools, hydraulic parts, electronic control electronics, etc., I call it "Four King Kong", everyone has stunts, can "wen" can "wu", mostly old workers He has been studying at night school for a long time, and the wind and rain are unimpeded. Although the past cultural level is not too high, the level of English is not low and his thoughts are active.

Among them, the mill technician Zhang Meihua (later the director of Shanghai No. 3 Machine Tool Plant) has been studying the super-precision grinding process for a long time and achieved great success. Later on this basis, the design and development of the MG1432 high-precision cylindrical grinding machine was successfully carried out. The "independent intellectual property rights" has become one of the leading products on the machine. Of course, there have been many improvements and numerical control. Due to the historical situation at the time, the “7.21” university (equivalent to the current higher vocational school) of Shanghai Machine Tool Plant cultivated a large number of such talents and established the status of Shanghai Machine Tool Plant as the “Pearl”. Now entering the 21st century, it seems that I can't find such an image.

The machine tool industry as a working machine is not exactly the same as the IT industry. It needs to rely on long-term experience to accumulate and develop. Therefore, there are not a large number of scientific and technological workers like Zhou Qinzhi and Zhang Meihua. There are not a large number of technicians and commissioning technicians who have the key types of technical know-how. (At present, the assembly workers will not even scrape, and the contact stiffness of components and components will be guaranteed.) How to ensure the consistency of accuracy? Overtaking the world level has become an empty talk.

Let's take a look at foreign machine tool factories. The key types of work and assembly and debugging technicians are all old technicians who are over 50 years old and have stunts. How about us? We have already retired or transferred jobs. This is a great waste of talent. The machine tool industry has not learned from decades of experience to train a qualified technician and technician!

The leaders and decision-makers of the enterprise play a decisive role in the rise and fall of a machine tool enterprise, or because of personal complacency, or lack of understanding of market demand, or fame and fortune, or because of some temptation to resist, quick success, opportunistic, or incomprehensible Confidant, correctly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your own company, cause decision-making mistakes, and become a miserable one. As mentioned above, the bankruptcy of Shen San after the reform and opening up, the depression of Jiyi and Nanjing machine tools, now Qiyi (Qizhong) and Qiji face difficulties and the split of Hangji. Recently reported in the newspaper: a good gold square, the business owner sold to Trumpf Holdings 72% and realized. From these phenomena, there are leaders' responsibilities, and even some enterprises are still making mistakes in decision-making in the face of difficulties.