China’s CNC industry is developing rapidly. The average annual growth rates of domestic CNC machine tool production and consumption from 1998 to 2004 are 39.3% and 34.9% respectively. Nevertheless, the development momentum of imported machine tools is still strong. Since 2002, China has become the largest consumer of machine tools and the largest importer of machine tools in the world for three consecutive years. In 2004, the consumption of machine tools in China reached as high as US $9.46 billion. The gap between domestic CNC machine tool manufacturers and foreign countries in the research and development of high-end and large CNC machine tools is more obvious, with more than 70% of this Class a equipment and the vast majority of functional components are dependent on imports.
It can be seen that the domestic CNC machine tools, especially the high-end CNC machine tools, are still lack of market competitiveness. The main reasons are that the research and development depth of domestic CNC machine tools is not enough, the manufacturing level is still backward, the service consciousness and ability are lack, the CNC system production and application are not promoted effectively, and the CNC talents are lack. We should see clearly the situation, fully understand the shortcomings of domestic CNC machine tools, strive to develop advanced technology, increase technical innovation and training services, so as to shorten the gap with developed countries.
Recently, with China’s economic development, it has also attracted the attention of some major machine tool manufacturers in the world. In 2000, Mazak, the largest machine tool manufacturer, set up a joint venture factory for CNC machine tools in Yinchuan, China. It is said that the manufacturing level is quite high. It is known as an intelligent and network chemical factory, which is synchronized with the world.
At present, the state has formulated some policies to encourage people to use domestic CNC machine tools, and manufacturers are also trying to catch up. CNC aluminum processing is the most popular machine tool in China. In a purchase plan, 80% of the machine tools are imported, so domestic machine tools can not meet the needs. This trend will not change in the next five years. However, as far as the current domestic needs are concerned, China’s CNC machine tools can meet the orders of medium and low-grade products. We should see clearly the situation, fully understand the shortcomings of domestic CNC machine tools, strive to develop advanced technology, increase technical innovation and training services, so as to shorten the gap with developed countries.
According to the relevant report of the United Nations, a new round of economic recession in Europe and North America has dragged down the recovery of the global manufacturing industry. In the third quarter of 2012, the global manufacturing industry grew by 2.2% year on year, and its growth rate was the lowest since 2009. In particular, CNC aluminum processing and the economic growth of developing countries are slowing down. Developed countries as a whole have experienced the first decline in industrial output since 2009. Among them, Germany’s industrial output dropped by 1.7%, Italy’s by 6.2%, France’s by 1.9%, Britain’s by 0.9% and Japan’s by 4.6%.
While the growth of manufacturing industry in the world’s major economic systems has slowed down or declined one after another, the development of related industries has maintained a high growth rate. According to relevant data, the scale of the international machine tool market has more than doubled in the past 20 years, reaching about US $86 billion in 2011. Since the turn of the century, the consumption of machine tools has increased by nearly 10% annually (in US dollars).
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