Domestic molds enter the international market and participate in global market competition

Despite the arrival of the post crisis era, the industry prospects and market in China remain promising. The hardware mold industry is facing significant challenges. With the reform and opening up, the global manufacturing industry has shifted its focus to China, providing strong impetus for the development of China's mold industry and placing increasingly high demands on mold manufacturers. Luo Baihui pointed out that Chinese mold manufacturing enterprises must focus on improving product quality and reducing manufacturing costs, in order to achieve the strategic transformation from a "mold country" to a "mold power".

Although the scale of molds in China is second only to Japan and the United States, most of them are concentrated in the mid to low end fields, with relatively low technological level and added value. On the contrary, many mid to high end molds still rely on imports. In the future, we will focus on the core competitiveness of our products, both domestically and internationally. If China's mold industry wants to continue to develop, I'm afraid both our enterprises and the government need to make great efforts in technological research and innovation, "said Zhang Chengjun, General Manager of Blue Light Mold and Blue Light Precision (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. in Chang'an Town, Dongguan City.

Chang'an is the capital of molds in China. As far as I know, due to the impact of the financial crisis, life is not easy now, and enterprises in other places are not doing much better, "said Liu Weigao, a mechanical industry analyst at Jinyuan Securities.

And Zhang Chengjun's explanation to the author is that the main reason for this situation is that the enterprise lacks core competitiveness, the product level is not high enough, and it is greatly affected by the financial crisis. The mold industry is different from other industries. It was not greatly affected at the end of last year, but it was clearly affected from January to April this year. Since May, the market has slowly rebounded. Our company still has confidence in the future.

Confidence not only comes from the important position of the mold industry itself in the manufacturing industry, but also from the rigid demand of the huge market.

The rapid development of the automotive industry has brought great opportunities for the development of China's mold industry. Chinese made automotive panel molds, dashboard molds, bumper molds, and automotive electronic molds are increasingly being used in the production of automotive components. At the same time, with the rapid development of the automotive industry, automotive molds and welding fixtures have gradually been effectively combined and matched, and the trend of integrated automotive body molds and fixtures has been strengthened. This can reduce the matching cycle and lower user costs.

Ten years ago, China's automotive mold industry was mainly dominated by mold teams from FAW, FAW, FAW, Tianqi, Nanqi, Chengfei, and Taiwan. Today, there are dozens of automotive mold companies, and a group of rapidly rising private enterprises have reached a considerable scale. Both technically and in terms of production capacity, these enterprises have greatly surpassed the iconic enterprises of that year.

From the distribution of automotive stamping molds nationwide, it can be seen that Chinese automotive molds have developed from a spark in the past to a widespread presence throughout the country today. In the past three years, more than half of the molds and fixtures required for dozens of domestic and joint venture brands of cars listed in China were developed and manufactured by Chinese mold companies. Many OEM (original equipment manufacturer) manufacturers of sedans have entrusted the production of the most complex vehicle molds for B-class sedans to Chinese mold companies.

At present, there are over 100 domestic automobile body mold manufacturing enterprises with a certain scale, of which 20 have an output value exceeding 100 million yuan. The number of large CNC machine tools exceeds 800, approaching or surpassing Germany, the United States, and Japan.

Before 2002, domestic mold companies mainly produced truck and van molds, while sedan molds were only at the level of producing structural component molds; The production capacity of welding clamp enterprises is also limited to the production of internal component welding fixtures and component assembly fixtures. From 2003 to 2007, domestic mold companies gradually began producing vehicle white body molds, and welding companies also had the production capacity from chassis assembly four doors, side panel assembly to white body main welding line, and had approached the international advanced level in major technologies.

Many domestic enterprises have achieved 3D solid processing of stamping dies, and the main job of mold workers is to develop processing programs in the computer room. This greatly improves the quality of the mold, enhances efficiency, and shortens the manufacturing cycle. In recent years, with the continuous introduction of advanced machining methods such as high-speed multifunctional CNC machine tools and high-strength cutting tools, rapid development has been achieved in the application fields of unmanned high-speed machining, precision machining of mold surfaces, five axis linkage machining, and computer virtual machining. Advanced technologies such as simulation and virtual reality have begun to be applied in the early stages of mold clamp development.

Due to the rapid development of the industry, the improvement of technology and management in China's mold industry has also entered the fast lane, and has the ability to challenge the mold manufacturing industry in developed countries. Five years ago, the value of China's imported and exported molds was 5.8:1, while in 2007, the ratio was 1.45:1. The export value of molds exceeded 1.4 billion US dollars, indicating that the era of China's mold industry entering the international market on a large scale has arrived.

International leading automobile manufacturers such as Toyota in Japan and Volkswagen in Germany have specialized personnel in stamping, welding, final assembly, and painting processes. They work together with the body designers at the R&D center to conduct a process analysis of the product.

From body design to tooling manufacturing, a unified principle is followed, with a very high degree of integration, which is very conducive to comprehensive control of body quality, cost, and cycle. Most of China's mold and welding clip industries are fighting independently, making it difficult for mold manufacturers and welding clip manufacturers to communicate with each other. Many problems are stuck in the production preparation stage of automobile manufacturers, seriously restricting the product quality and output cycle of white body.

Due to the limitations of mold materials and the special structure of molds, there is still a certain gap in the stamping technology level of domestic automotive body molds compared to the same industry abroad. This is mainly reflected in the experience and expertise of process designers. The types of vehicle models that domestic process designers are exposed to are much different from those of foreign process designers, which leads to some constraints on process design thinking.

The design of spiral sand washing machine for stamping process in foreign countries is a highly specialized position with clear division of labor. It requires teamwork to complete this complex design process of sand washing machine, which generally includes product preliminary process analysis, process scheme prediction, model construction, feasibility analysis of process, and repeated optimization of model.

Taking the overall side panel of a sedan as an example, a typical side panel mold usually involves 5-6 processes. Four years ago, Toyota in Japan changed the side panel from 5 processes to 4 processes and increased efforts in mold and product development, achieving a major leap in the industry. The current research direction is to complete the stamping process of the overall side panel through three processes for the production of E-type crushers. This not only requires improvement in stamping technology, but also requires collaborative research and development of synchronous engineering. When designing the overall side panel of a car, the feasibility of the stamping process should be fully considered.

Some advanced enterprises internationally have a high level of welding and assembly development capabilities, and have formed a collaborative network consisting of a few enterprises with advanced vehicle welding and assembly technology platforms as the core, and numerous small and medium-sized welding and assembly enterprises with high levels of specialization. Major foreign automobile companies such as Toyota in Japan, Volkswagen in Germany, Peugeot in France, and General Motors in the United States have been using 3D digital process planning and simulation software for nearly a decade. There is a lack of unified digital information management methods for the process planning of large-scale and highly automated welding assembly lines in China, and the planning capability for such highly automated welding assembly lines has not yet been formed.

At present, the equipment of China's car body in white manufacturing industry is close to the world's leading level in terms of quantity and progressiveness. According to incomplete statistics from manufacturers of E-type crushers, taking the automotive mold industry as an example, the number of large-scale CNC machine tools in China has exceeded 800. However, due to our late start and insufficient accumulation, there is still a significant gap between the manufacturing technology of water cone crushers and the international advanced level. To transform our country from a mold powerhouse to a mold powerhouse, the industry needs to make persistent efforts.

The automobile mold industry in our country has backward supporting facilities, and the types and properties of materials are unstable. These issues include: low variety and quality of standard parts; The gap in manufacturing technology level leads to higher processing costs than foreign manufacturers; Edge technologies such as induction hardening/laser hardening/nitriding/titanation need to be developed; Insufficient data feedback and stamping process experience accumulation after debugging, and lack of effective measures to integrate the debugging and repair process of the fitter into the early design stage; Lack of systematic management programs and the ability to gradually upgrade.

Two oil crises promoted the first lightweighting of automobiles; Protecting the Earth's environment has promoted the second lightweighting of automobiles. The realization of automobile lightweighting and meeting the requirements of automobile safety regulations have promoted the application of high-strength steel. Japanese and European car manufacturers have been using high-strength steel plates for a long time and have a wide range of applications. According to the materials, a Japanese automobile company used 15% high-strength steel in 1980, exceeded 30% in 1990, and reached 50% in 2000. The application of high-strength steel plates for domestic automotive parts is limited to structural and beam components, with material tensile strength mostly below 500mpa. The highest stamping part for newly developed vehicle models can reach 980mpa. How to quickly accumulate the technology for manufacturing high-strength steel plate stamping parts is an urgent problem we need to solve.

In the United States, the mold industry is considered the cornerstone of American industry; In Japan, the mold industry is highly regarded as the driving force for entering a prosperous society. In China, the "Equipment Manufacturing Industry Adjustment and Revitalization Plan" previously passed by the State Council also made improving the technical level of molds and their manufacturing equipment a key content. The mold project special in the 16 major national science and technology special projects for basic equipment functional components (key components) also reflects the important position of the mold industry in the manufacturing industry.

In addition, a series of stimulus plans from the central government to boost domestic demand have also brought opportunities to the mold market. Some viewpoints point out that in order to make achievements in the fields of automobiles, aviation, medical equipment, and new energy, seize the business opportunities of the 4 trillion yuan total investment construction project, turn national strategies and emerging industries into tangible orders for the mold industry, it is necessary to segment the market, target customers, diversify operations, take mold manufacturing as the core, extend the product chain, actively provide equipment and products for downstream industries of molds, and meet the growing market differentiation.

Despite the promising prospects, the mold market itself is also a globalized competitive market. At present, mold manufacturers from developed countries have also settled in China. This will undoubtedly intensify the competitive situation in the Chinese mold market. Compared to foreign countries in the past, China's biggest advantage was undoubtedly its low-cost labor force. Professor Juyi Hashimoto from the Japan Policy Research Institute believes that generally speaking, compared to Japanese molds, Chinese molds have "1/3 of the cost and 1/2 of the quality". But with the promulgation and implementation of the New Labor Law, labor costs have increased, and the advantages of Chinese enterprises have gradually disappeared. Luo Baihui emphasized that "the mold industry should pay attention to structural adjustment, vigorously develop high value-added products, take the route of precision, specialization, and strength, and create new growth points in the 'blue ocean'." Japanese and American companies spare no effort to enhance their competitive advantages in the high-end mold field, while China must also improve product quality and rely on technological upgrades to reduce production costs, which has been a consensus in the industry.

It is reported that Chang'an Town also attaches great importance to this point and believes that there will be significant progress through efforts. But now there is also a problem, research and innovation require a lot of investment in manpower and material resources, which is still very difficult for private enterprises. However, private enterprises occupy a large part of the Chinese mold market. We hope the government can see this and provide us with a platform that requires government support in both technology and funding, "said Zhang Chengjun. In the face of crisis, dual cooperation from the government and enterprises is needed to jointly address the industry problems faced by the hardware mold industry.