Accelerating the Industrialization of Domestic Processing Centers

The machining center is the fastest growing and the largest proportion of all types of CNC machine tools, and it is also the most widely used category of equipment in manufacturing. Some economically developed countries regard the development of machining centers as the primary task for the development of CNC machine tools, and its development is directly related to national economic construction and national defense security. Luo Baihui, head of the International Mould, Hardware and Plastics Industry Suppliers Association, said that at present, the market share of China's domestic processing centers is very low, accounting for less than 1/3 of the total, and less than 1/4 of the total amount, as soon as possible to reduce domestic processing centers and international The gap in level is the top priority for China's machine tool industry. The key to improving the market share of domestic processing centers lies in improving the comprehensive competitiveness of domestic processing centers in the international market.

The development track of China's machine tool industry began in the 1980s. Beijing Machine Tool Research Institute and other units developed a vertical machining center and formed a commodity. In the early 90s of last century, Beijing Machine Tool introduced the vertical machining center technology of American tk company, the Beijing Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Technology introduced the Cincinnati company's saber vertical machining center technology and developed it on its own, basically mastering the design and manufacturing technology of the machining center. The future production and application of machining centers lay a solid foundation. By the end of the 1990s, the number of production centers in China was still small, only about 300 units per year. Before and after 2000, a group of overseas multinational machine tool groups were optimistic about the Chinese market and began to establish wholly-owned or joint ventures in China for production and processing centers, and achieved local manufacturing and local sales. At present, the scale of the formation of Taiwan's Hangzhou Youjia Machine Co., Ltd., Ningxia Little Giant Machine Co., Ltd., Dalian Yida Riping Machine Tool Co., Ltd. and DMG Shanghai Machine Tool Co., Ltd. and so on.

Entering the 21st century, with the rapid increase in China’s comprehensive economic strength, the processing center market has entered a period of rapid development, and the demand for processing centers for automobiles, parts and components, general machinery, aerospace, and molds has increased dramatically. The Center selected the domestic and foreign numerical control systems, functional components and other accessories to speed up the pace of industrialization, greatly improve the quality, cost-effective have advantages, and gradually obtained the recognition and recognition of domestic users. At the same time, the company has increased the investment in product development research. A group of domestic high-end machining centers that are in urgent need of long-term import, such as high-speed machining centers and five-axis machining centers, have made breakthroughs, and some have entered mass production.

From 1996 to 2005, the production of China's machining centers (data about 200 companies in the gold-cutting machine tool industry compiled from the statistical data of the machine tool industry) and the number of imports (according to customs data) show that in 1996, domestic processing centers and import processing centers The number of units, which is only a few percent, gradually increased to 39.4% by 2005. Compared with 2000, the number of imported processing centers increased by 4.8 times in 2005, while the production of domestic processing centers increased by 8.2 times. In particular, the rapid growth of domestic processing centers in the last three years indicates that the development and manufacturing technologies of domestic processing centers have gradually matured, especially the use of vertical machining centers by the users. It can be seen that in the three years after the "10th Five-Year Plan", the demand for processing centers in China has grown rapidly. By 2005, the demand for processing centers in China has reached about 15,000 units, about 6 times that in 2000.

The market share of domestic processing centers: about 31%, based on the number of units, accounting for approximately 22.3% of the total amount. Among them, the market share of vertical machining centers: accounting for approximately 30% of units, accounting for approximately 22.6% of the total amount; horizontal machining center market share: accounting for approximately 32% of units, accounting for approximately 15.4% of the amount; Longmen machining center market Occupancy rate: about 50.8% according to the number of units, about 42.8% of the amount; the market share of other processing centers: about 28.6% according to the number of units, accounting for about 11.4% of the amount.

There are more than 20 major companies in China's production and processing centers (excluding joint ventures and wholly-owned enterprises). The production scale of the enterprises is not large, and the largest production enterprise has only 50 sets per month. There are only 2 enterprises with an annual output of 400 or more. The annual output of 100 to 300 companies accounts for about 35%. The annual output of 100 or less accounts for about 60%. Nearly 45% of the companies produce less than 30.

The machining centers produced in China can be divided into four categories: vertical machining centers, horizontal machining centers, gantry machining centers, and other machining centers.

The vertical machining center has the largest output, accounting for 3/4 of the total machining center output. Among them, about 70% of the production volume of the vertical machining center is less than 600mm. Most of the domestic vertical machining centers adopt the c-type structure, and the x/y stroke is realized by the movement of the worktable. It belongs to a wide range of products. This type of vertical machining center has formed a certain amount of production volume. Compared with similar foreign products, it has a certain price/performance ratio advantage, and there is still a gap in the quality stability, reliability, and delivery time. High-speed vertical machining centers, most of which are made in China, add high-speed electric spindles to the existing vertical machining centers. Compared with foreign countries, the gap is significant. Foreign high-speed vertical machining centers have widely adopted the gate structure and moving column structure, that is, the worktable or the y-axis only moves or is fixed. This structural machine has good dynamic rigidity and is suitable for high-speed machining. Precision vertical machining center, basically no domestic product.

Horizontal machining centers account for about 11% of all machining centers. Among them, the table width <600mm accounts for more than 30% of the horizontal machining center production. The domestically produced horizontal machining center is basically of general accuracy, there is no temperature compensation and accuracy compensation system, and there is a big gap with foreign countries on the technical level. At present, China's demand for precision horizontal machining centers and high-speed horizontal machining centers are mostly dependent on imports.

The output of the Gantry Processing Center accounts for approximately 7% to 8% of the total machining center production. The domestically-made other processing centers mainly refer to bed-type machining centers, and their output accounts for 6% to 7% of the total output of the processing centers.

The technological gap between machining centers at home and abroad At present, the general trend of foreign processing center technology development is high speed, precision and multi-function (multi-axis and composite machining). Product Development Heavy cutting machine types for difficult-to-machine materials, intelligent multi-axis control nc devices for complex-shaped machining, and integrated multi-axis control cam systems. The gap between China's machining centers and foreign countries is as follows.

- The gap in speed. The spindle speed of foreign high-speed machining centers is generally 12,000 to 15,000 r/min, and the rapid stroke is 40 to 60 m/min. High-speed spindles for air hydrostatic bearings and magnetic bearings have begun commercialization, and spindle speeds can reach 50,000 to 70000 r/min, or even up to 100,000 r/min. The number of machining centers using linear motor drives and high-speed ball screws has increased. High-speed ball screw driven, feed acceleration up to 1.5 ~ 2g, fast stroke up to 90m/min.

- The gap in precision. At present, foreign precision machining centers have adopted a series of measures to compensate for and stabilize the accuracy, positioning accuracy can be controlled within 0.006mm, and some are close to the machining accuracy of the coordinate boring machine.

- The gap in functionality. Multi-function is mainly to meet the needs of multi-variety, small-batch, variable-type and variable-volume production, reduce the number of parts installed, improve the processing accuracy and efficiency, and shorten the parts manufacturing cycle. Multi-axis machining, that is, five-axis linkage processing, is widely used in the large-scale parts processing and large-scale mold processing in the aviation industry. It is also a requirement for the processing of complex curved surface parts and the processing of new scientific parts. Composite machining, that is to say, multi-process and multi-work processes are concentrated on one machine tool. Recent developments in foreign countries include milling and machining centers, bar processing centers, bar-milling machining centers, and double-spindle machining centers.

- The gap in manufacturing technology. The Haas Company in the United States uses flexible manufacturing systems, flexible units, and numerically-controlled machine tools to process parts in different production areas. The equipment investment costs are relatively high. In the equipment, there are twelve fms and fmc, among which fms is six, and more than 400 parts can be processed. The main products of Cincinnati British Machine Tool Company are also vertical machining centers, with an annual output of about 1,500 machine tools. The machine processing equipment in the factory is basically a CNC machine tool, and there are nearly 50 CNC machine tools, which are classified according to the types of parts in different production. Processing in the area.

- The gap between high-end machining centers. The high-end five-axis machining centers for processing aircraft body parts in the aviation industry basically rely on imports, especially the five-axis vertical machining centers and gantry machining centers that are in urgent need of spindles a and b, and are still in the blank for aircraft fuselages and engines. High-power, high-torque machining centers for difficult-to-machine material parts have yet to be developed. The five-axis vertical machining center for engine turbine blades and impeller machining is also in need of improvement. There is no domestic product for the precision machining center and coordinate boring and milling machining center for engine casing machining. Small and medium-sized precision machining centers for electronic products and precision boring and milling machining centers for vertical and horizontal conversions of a wide range of applications are also urgently needed for research and development. Accelerating industrialization At present, the market share of domestic processing centers is very low, accounting for less than 1/3 of the total, and less than 1/4 of the total. The key to improving the market share of domestic processing centers is to improve the comprehensive competitiveness of domestic processing centers in the international market.

First, we must realize the industrialization of processing centers. Speeding up the pace of industrialization is one of the measures to shorten the gap between domestic processing centers and foreign countries, and it is also an important measure to increase the international competitiveness of domestic processing centers. At present, it is imperative to increase investment in equipment, introduce first-rate manufacturing technologies and first-class enterprise management technologies for the production of CNC machine tools, and rely on equipment and management to improve the output, quality, and delivery time of processing centers. Through several years of efforts, a batch of production enterprises with an annual output of more than 500 sets have been formed in the country.

Second, it is necessary to enhance the ability of independent innovation and accelerate the development of new products that are urgently needed in the country. Enterprises should set up R&D centers, introduce talents for science and technology, and accelerate the research and development of new products. We must also actively cooperate with institutions and research institutes to overcome the common core technologies of CNC machine tools, such as temperature compensation and positioning accuracy of machining centers. At present, there are urgently needed domestic products such as precision horizontal machining centers, high-speed precision horizontal machining centers, spindle vertical-horizontal conversion precision boring and milling machining centers, spindles with a-axis and b-axis oscillating large five-axis vertical machining centers and five axes. Gantry machining center, 5-axis precision vertical machining center, etc. In particular, precision horizontal machining centers with a wide market demand must unite universities and colleges to organize scientific research to accelerate the development, form products, and reach the level of similar foreign products.

Third, it is recommended that the government establish a new product development and use fund for high-end CNC machine tools. The new product development fund will enable domestic processing centers to mature as early as possible and put them into mass production. The use of funds can enable users to reduce the risk of using domestic processing centers.

Fourth, the industrialization task of the vertical machining center is urgent. Vertical machining centers, especially large-scale 3 to 4-axis universal vertical machining centers, have a large share of machining centers. The universal vertical machining center is the focus of competition in the current market. Luo Baihui said that compared with similar foreign products, China's products have a similar level, and domestic brands must win in the market competition. The key lies in cost-effectiveness, quality stability, delivery time and comprehensive services. The modernization of manufacturing technology and management technology is the road that must be followed to achieve industrialization of domestic processing centers. It is also a measure to increase the cost performance, product quality, and delivery time of vertical machining centers.