To talk about the current situation and development of China's tool industry, it is difficult to avoid mentioning the names of peers and not commenting on them.This article is entirely my personal views and hopes on the development of China's tool industry.There must be limited knowledge, incomplete information, and improper comments, but there is absolutely no malice.If the relevant peers have different or opposite opinions on their comments, please don't be angry, please send me an email, and I will revise it after verification.Here, I also ask all officials not to reprint and spread. This article is only for internal discussion among peers in the industry.
1. Not a strong prosperity
Speaking of China's tool market, the mood of all of us is very complicated: on the one hand, the tool market has been advancing by leaps and bounds in the past ten years, and sales have been rising steadily, showing a scene of increasing disputes but also prosperity, so that tool people have a useful place in their own homes; on the other hand, the level of competition is so clear–foreign (referring to industrially developed countries) tools basically only compete with foreign tools, and domestic tools basically only compete with domestic tools!This seems to be a laminar flow phenomenon described in fluid mechanics.In most fields, the technical level of domestic tools is too different from that of foreign counterparts, and they are not even eligible to participate!
With the rapid development of precision manufacturing industries such as automobiles, aviation, military industry, molds, refrigeration, and electric power in China, the requirements for the quantity and quality of metal processing tools have also increased rapidly.Although my country has not yet developed the habit of industry statistics, industry insiders estimate that China's tool market is about 20 billion yuan (there is a global tool market of about 25 billion US dollars)!The domestic high-end tool market is about 5 billion yuan, and so far, the high-end market is basically occupied by imported tools.
China's tool market is one of the few that can truly be called a global market.Not to mention that all the well-known and large-scale tool companies in the industry have set up offices in China or found agents for sales. Even small German companies with only 20 or 30 employees have sold their tools to China!Tool products from Germany, Japan, the United States, Israel, South Korea, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain and other countries can be seen everywhere on the market.
These imported tools basically occupy high-end customers in various machining industries.Just take a look at the engine manufacturing workshops of major automobile companies, the machining workshops of aircraft engine manufacturing companies, and the steam turbine manufacturing workshops. It is difficult to see traces of domestic tools in those high-efficiency and high-precision machining tools.Our tool company is still too far away from the word “powerful”!
Most of the domestic tools are used in medium and low-demand customer groups, such as agricultural machinery, motorcycles, agricultural vehicles, general machinery and low-end machine manufacturing industries.The added value of products in these industries is relatively low, so the requirements for machining accuracy have to be relaxed in order to use cheap machines and tools with correspondingly reduced accuracy and efficiency.Although the amount of use in these fields is large and the market is not small, the price of a single tool is extremely low, as if they are selling raw materials.Isn't it?Speaking of China, the amount of tool materials such as high-speed steel and cemented carbide ranks among the forefront in the world, but it is not strong.There are no influential Chinese tool brands in the world tool market.
2. The pattern of a flock of chickens and fewer cranes
But when it comes to the number of Chinese tool companies, there are indeed many, just like China's automobile industry.Although many state-owned tool companies have been closed, many private tool companies have also emerged.There are hundreds of tool factories in Xixiashu Town, Changzhou alone, which is exactly like the Danube Valley region, the “hometown of knives” in southern Germany.The origin of Xixiashu Tool Factory Group was first related to Chongqing Tool Factory. Many private tool companies have been derived from Shaanxi Hard Factory, Zhuzhou Diamond, Chenggong, Hagong and other factories.In addition, there are dozens of people who have come out of the Japanese Shanghai Nagoya and Dalian Fuji to start a business, and even there are four or five small companies derived from the young Arnold company!
There are many tool factories, but most of them are “low-level duplication”, and look at：
The export volume of high-speed steel drill bits is huge, but they are basically put on the shelves of foreign DIY shopping malls-for household manual work, but high-end high-speed steel twist drills on old car engine production lines still rely on imports.；
Cemented carbide tools have been made a lot, but they focus on low- and medium-end end mills and drill bits for easy-to-cut materials. High-end tools such as high-speed milling cutters, hard milling cutters, graphite milling cutters, 3D milling cutters, high-performance drill bits for steel parts and difficult-to-process materials, reamers and other high-value-added tools have to rely on imports.；
There are also many companies doing PCD/CBN tools, but most of them only make some cheap blades and simple reamers, milling cutters, precision PCD/CBN reamers with guide strips or adjustable or stepped or molded, etc. Basically have to be imported, and even for grinding, they have to be sent to Germany.；
Boring tools and tool holders are just as sad, we can only make old-fashioned low-precision products.Most of the tool holders are only made of BT/SK. The high-speed tool holders positioned on both sides have only recently been put into trial production by the company. We are still in the initial stage of high-precision hydraulic chucks, hot-rising chucks and deformation chucks.Similarly, the micron-level adjustable boring tool may not have been drawn on the drawing yet.；
Where's the tap?Domestic products are basically not seen among mainstream tool users.What you see is OSG, YAMAWA, EMUGE, Guhring, Titex, Dormer, etc.；
Then cemented carbide bars should always be mainly domestically produced, because China is the largest producer and exporter of WC powder (the main raw material of cemented carbide bars).Neither is it!Most of the materials used by mainstream domestic cemented carbide tool manufacturers are still imported.We are still unable to manufacture bars with spiral internal cooling. Even for conventional solid bars, the performance has only begun to stabilize in the last two or three years.。。
Our tool industry should be very basic, but unfortunately, the progress in the past two decades has been too slow.We have many companies in various tool fields, but the product level is not high.Although there are also some companies in various tool fields that have established a group of chickens, there are too few such companies.
3. The main force of dysplasia
We all know that China's tool industry was originally all state-owned enterprises, and the foundation is not bad.The problem is that with the rapid development of China's industrialization, these enterprises should also develop rapidly and keep pace with the times, but due to institutional reasons, their pace of progress is too slow, and they have been standing still for many years.
Although the country has not invested much, and the equipment is mostly the most advanced in the world, due to the shortcomings of the system, excellent tool talents cannot be cultivated or attracted, and the tools produced can only be medium and low-end.Take the above factory as an example. It invests hundreds of millions at every turn (it's really enviable). The imported five-axis linkage CNC CNC grinding machines and PVD coating furnaces are all the best in the world, but their products are difficult to see among mainstream users.In fact, most of the other state-owned tool companies such as Harbin Yigong, Chengliang, Shaanxi Hard, Hanjiang, Zigong, Southwest Tools, etc. are the same.
Due to the poor development of the main force, Chinese knives can only rely on substitutes—private companies!There are two types of private enterprises of this kind. One is a small workshop with low-level repeated investment. Most of these enterprises are derived from domestic tool factories.The other category is companies derived from multinational tool companies with relatively high starting points.
4. The heavy responsibility of the prairie fire
Nevertheless, through years of training and hard work, there are still some tool companies in China that have not only laid a good foundation, but also have ambitions.These companies attach great importance to technology and quality, and the quality of their products is stable, and they are gradually replacing imported products.I regard these companies as the prairie fire of Zhenxin China's tool industry, and they are the romantic figures in China's tool industry today.
Cemented carbide bar：
Zhuqiang and Jinlu are undoubtedly the leaders in the field of bars in China. The general solid bars and linear inner cold hole bars are basically close to the international standard, but what is missing are spiral inner cold bars with high technical content and added value and high-end bars with grains less than 0.3 microns.If the technical threshold of the above-mentioned products can be broken through, the global bar market will have another pattern.
Indexable blade：
In the field of indexable blades, Zhu Drill is an independent force and the pride of our people.If there is a second place, it is only floating on a fraction of it.Ten years ago, when I saw that the blades of Zhu Drill were full of chip-free grooves and uncoated, I was indefatigable, and felt that it was taking up resources and not doing much.Now there are blades for turning, grooving, threading, milling, and drilling, with many products and complete specifications.Seeing the huge changes in the past few years, I am very happy for Zhu Zhanren.Ordinary blades can replace imports, but if you want to make achievements in difficult-to-process materials, high-speed cutting, and large-feed processing, you still need to work hard.
Indexable tool：
There are many manufacturers who make such tools, especially entry-level ones.However, it seems that only Zhuzuan has a long product line, stable quality, and strength.As a representative of indexable tools, the quality of the milling cutter disc best shows the strength. In the modern engine production line, I seem to have never seen a domestic milling cutter disc!In addition to Zhuzuan, Sentai Inge is also working hard, but the product range is not complete.Unfortunately, it is difficult to see other heroes in this field!
Hardened tool：
This kind of knife finally breathed a sigh of relief for the Chinese knife people!It should be Arnold and Zhu Drill that can represent the highest level of China's overall cemented carbide tools.Arnold's drill bits, reamers, end mills and combination tools are already the benchmark in the industry, especially Arnold's drill bits have been widely used in precision manufacturing industries such as automobiles and aviation in China to replace German products imported in the past.Arnold's high-performance drill bits for processing steel parts have surpassed their German counterparts in performance on many occasions.”To achieve the ultimate drill bit" is Arnold's pursuit.
The hardening tools of Zhu Drill have also developed rapidly in recent years, and the quality has improved significantly.Thanks to long-term industry accumulation and proud hardware facilities, as long as the company's system does not become an obstacle to future development, Zhuzuan's leading position in the industry should be difficult to shake within ten years.
Super hard tool：
There are not many domestic manufacturers that produce super hard tools, and the ones that are doing relatively well in the market are Zheng Zhuan, Weishi, Yamada, Zhongtian and others.The scale of several companies is not very different, and most of the products are similar, that is, they are mainly blades, and they also do some welding reamers, milling cutters, etc.The performance of welding blades basically reaches the international level and can replace imports.However, those high-value-added precision reamers with guide strips, forming milling cutters with high-speed tool holders such as HSK, stepped reamers, etc. are still in the exploration stage, and it will take at least many years of hard work to mature products.Among them, the most promising to become the best are Weishi and Zheng Zhuan. Weishi is known for its technical resources and formal management, while Zheng Zhuan has good hardware equipment and market development capabilities.
Tap：
Taps are the tool products that make me most angry.Dignified China can't find a decent tap manufacturer, which is worthy of my evaluation and guidance here.Almost all taps used by mainstream domestic machining companies are imported.The key is that so far there is no tap manufacturer that can show us a little hope of following OSG, YAMAWA, EMUGE, Schumacher and other companies.In the field of taps, there has been no romantic figure in China.
Tool holders and boring tools：
Tool shank and boring tool products are also China's weaknesses. Even the production of HSK has been a matter of recent years, and the quality is not stable and the specifications are not complete.We have just gotten involved in the production of high-precision chucks, mainly hot-sleeve chucks, including Shanggong and Sentai Inge.It seems that only Sentai Inge is starting to get involved in the hydraulic chuck.Most of the knife clamp systems seem to be still at the level of the 1950s and 1960s of the last century.
There are many manufacturers of ordinary low-precision boring tools, but high-precision boring tools with high added value seem to be missing.I think the only one who has hope to make achievements in this field is Sentai Inge!In recent years, the company has made essential improvements in product quality, product appearance and product types.
Complex tools：
In the field of complex tools, this refers to hob, broach, spline machining tools, etc. Several old state-owned tool factories such as Hanjiang have finally played some roles, so that they have not been completely forgotten in China's tool industry. Forgotten.Because the market for such tools is not very large and the investment is large, there are not many new entrants.
Complex tools with high value-added, such as cemented carbide hob, coated ultra-long broach, precision broach, etc., can only rely on imports at present.In particular, the amount of cemented carbide hob is relatively small. Domestic companies just can't provide it, and can only import it from Germany, Japan, etc.
EST MAY BE THE MOST PROMISING COMPANY IN CHINA TO CREATE ACHIEVEMENTS IN THIS FIELD. IF IT CAN FOCUS ON MAKING COMPLEX TOOLS, IT IS BELIEVED THAT IT CAN BECOME A POWERFUL OPPONENT FOR NACHI, SAACKE, FETTE, GLEASON, SMOC AND OTHERS.It seems that in recent years, EST's product line has been very long, and it also makes drill bits and milling cutters, and it is all-in-one for high-speed steel and cemented carbide!The company is not big, but the energy is scattered, can it be balanced?
