Dalian machine tools can reach 95% of the international level, but the remaining 5% is not something that a single enterprise or even an industry can achieve. China's high-end CNC machine tools still cannot meet domestic needs. Since 2009, China has been the world's largest machine tool manufacturing country for three consecutive years, but it is also the world's largest importer of machine tools. It can be seen that this situation of being large but not strong has entered a stage where a breakthrough is needed.
　　Constraints of the "Mother of Industry"
　　Machine tools are the "mother of industry." The level of industry depends on the equipment manufacturing industry, and the level of the equipment manufacturing industry depends on machine tools. The large but not strong machine tool industry constrains the overall improvement of China's industrial level.
　　At a time when China is vigorously promoting the adjustment of its economic structure and the transformation of its development mode, key areas and key projects have a large demand and strong dependence on high-end CNC machine tools, high-efficiency cutting tools, and precision measuring instruments.
　　The aviation industry officially launched the large aircraft project in 2008. Currently, the prototype of the large aircraft project, C919, has been successfully developed. C919 is expected to make its first flight in 2014, obtain an airworthiness certificate in 2016, and be put on the market.
　　The aviation industry's requirements for machine tools are extremely high, encompassing almost all the achievements of modern machine tools, including high-speed, precision, high-efficiency, compound CNC machine tools, five-axis machining centers, and other key manufacturing equipment, as well as modern high-efficiency cutting tools.
　　China is one of the world's major shipbuilding countries. The modern shipbuilding industry cannot do without large, high-end machine tools, such as heavy and super-heavy gantry boring and milling machines, CNC floor-type boring and milling machines, five-axis CNC boring and milling machines, crankshaft turning and milling centers, large crankshaft grinding machines, and a large number of other high-end, large, and heavy CNC machine tools.
　　China has become the world's largest automobile producer and the world's largest automobile consumer market. The automobile industry has always been the most important user of machine tool tools. Automobile manufacturing is characterized by mass production and requires a large number of high-speed, high-efficiency, and high-reliability CNC machine tools.
　　Energy shortages have always been a bottleneck restricting the development of China's national economy. To this end, China's power industry will implement a diversified energy supply strategy. The development of the power industry requires a large number of high-reliability, large-specification, and high-rigidity CNC machine tools, such as heavy CNC gantry boring and milling machines, heavy CNC floor-type boring and milling machines, heavy vertical and horizontal lathes, blade machining machine tools, and special blade root groove machining machine tools.
　　Various industries, including agricultural machinery, engineering machinery, textile machinery, and railway transportation, all rely on an increasing demand for higher-end machine tool products during the process of adjusting their structures, transforming their development methods, and carrying out industrial upgrading and technological transformation.
　　The 5% Problem
　　Industry statistics data from the China Machine Tool Association in 2011 show that the import growth of China's machine tool products is relatively rapid, with imports reaching US\$20.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29%. All imports are mid-to-high-end machine tools.
　　"Due to changes in international machine tool market marketing strategies, with high technology taking the lead, low-priced mid-range machine tools armed with high technology quickly occupied the Chinese machine tool market, posing a severe challenge to domestic machine tool enterprises." said Guan Xiyou, chairman of the Shenyang Machine Tool Group.
　　In the machine tool industry, CNC machine tools are generally classified by the number of axes: three axes or less are low-end, three to five axes are mid-to-high-end, and five axes or more are high-end. For industry, the difference between traditional and modern production equipment is marked by traditional machine tools and CNC machine tools, which has become an industry consensus. The single-machine intelligence and automation of machine tools, namely CNC machine tools, is the direction of the machine tool industry. Its high precision, high fineness, high speed, flexibility, and intelligence are hallmarks of modern industry. Modern equipment manufacturing is developing towards extreme manufacturing, which means increasingly larger, smaller, and more complex, with highly integrated production processes.
　　The level of equipment manufacturing is viewed through the lens of Northeast China, and the level of machine tools is also viewed through the lens of Northeast China. Northeast China is the region with the most concentrated and strongest machine tool enterprises in China. Interviews with three representative machine tool companies in Northeast China—Shenyang Machine Tool Group, Dalian Machine Tool Group, and Qiqihar Heavy Duty CNC Equipment Co., Ltd.—revealed that the main shortcomings of the machine tool industry are: First, the gap in accuracy, stability, and reliability. For example, foreign five-axis CNC machine tools can operate continuously for 1500 hours without failure, while domestic products can operate for about 1000 hours, a difference of 1/3.
　　Second, the gap in the composite performance of machine tools is relatively large. Currently, five-axis linkage machining centers on the market are mostly used in aerospace, nuclear power, etc., with a single unit price of four to five million yuan. Five-axis linkage CNC is a technology controlled by Europe, the core of core technologies, and Europe strictly prohibits its leakage. Five-axis linkage must be guaranteed not to be used for military purposes before it can be imported. Shenyang Machine Tool, Dalian Machine Tool, and Qiqihar CNC can produce three-axis machines, and they can also produce five-axis machines, but their performance is somewhat inferior to imported products. High-end machine tools used by domestic enterprises and important scientific research units in aerospace and other fields are basically all imported.
　　Third, the gap in CNC systems. The CNC system is the core of CNC machine tools. Siemens and Liebherr of Germany and Mazak and Fanuc of Japan possess the highest level of CNC systems. The price of Liebherr's 16 software packages is close to the price of the machine tool itself; the software and machine tool are sold together and not separately, and the software profit is very high. Currently, the CNC systems used in mid-to-high-end machine tools by domestic machine tool enterprises are basically imported from abroad.
　　Fourth, the gap in other key supporting components. Jiang Huaisheng, vice president of Dalian Machine Tool, said that Dalian Machine Tool can reach 95% of the international advanced level, but the remaining 5% is not something that a single enterprise or even an industry can achieve. This includes steel raw materials, standard parts, screws, nuts, etc., requiring an improvement in the overall level of national industry. In addition, the current processes and testing methods also do not reach the world's advanced level.
　　"We need to tackle CNC systems like we did with the two bombs, one satellite, and high-speed rail."
　　"Through a comprehensive analysis of the basic characteristics, main contradictions, and significant changes in the domestic market of the current stage, it is not difficult to judge that the machine tool industry is at a critical turning point in achieving a major strategic transformation." Wu Bailin, executive vice president of the China Machine Tool Industry Association, gave his judgment on the current industry situation.
　　He believes that, first, from the perspective of national development strategy, the serious dependence on imports of high-end machine tool products is related to national defense and economic security. Second, strategic transformation has become a necessary choice for the survival and development of the industry. In recent years, the development of enterprises in the industry has laid a solid foundation for the implementation of a strategic transformation from large to strong across the entire industry. "It can be said that the transformation from large to strong has become a common aspiration and inevitable choice for the industry."
　　At the Sixth Fifth Standing Council (Enlarged) Meeting held in October 2011, the China Machine Tool Industry Association passed the "Work Points for the Machine Tool Industry during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (Trial)", proposing to "focus on improving the supporting capabilities of mid-to-high-end CNC systems and functional components" as one of the key tasks of the industry during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan; and clearly put forward three landmark goals for the industry's transformation from large to strong during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan: First, to make breakthroughs in providing equipment and services for key industries and core manufacturing fields; second, to significantly increase the domestic market share of mid-to-high-end CNC machine tools and mid-to-high-end CNC systems and functional components; and third, to form several world-renowned brands and leading enterprises.
　　Some entrepreneurs and experts in the machine tool industry suggest: Lay a solid foundation, focusing on solving the essential mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, optical components and functional components, NC systems, tools, measurement, accessories, etc., and their functional support; focusing on improving and enhancing processing technology, machine tool precision, efficiency, automation, reliability, stability, and durability; and attaching great importance to numerical control systems, increasing investment in original innovation of numerical control systems. It is understood that Japan's Fanuc Corporation invests approximately 2 billion RMB annually, having made continuous investments for over 20 years.
　　Numerical control machine tools are the "two bombs, one satellite" of the equipment manufacturing industry. We must tackle numerical control systems with the same determination as we did with the "two bombs, one satellite" and high-speed rail projects, organizing top experts from dozens of disciplines, including electrical engineering, mechanics, materials science, motor engineering, computer science, and production technology, to concentrate superior forces on tackling key problems. Like many entrepreneurs in other industries, many entrepreneurs in China's machine tool industry possess an unyielding fighting spirit, having honed their skills through years of hard work. While deeply feeling the immense pressure, they are full of confidence in the future.
　　In 2011, Shenyang Machine Tool Group Corporation achieved sales revenue exceeding 18 billion RMB, rising to the top of the world. This is the first time a Chinese company has reached the top of the world machine tool industry, while in 2002, the company's sales revenue was only 800 million RMB.
　　"Being the world's largest in scale is only a short-term goal. In the future, Shenyang Machine Tool will also strive to be the world's best in terms of brand and management." Said Guan Xiyou, chairman of Shenyang Machine Tool. (According to the International Metalworking Network)