Major trend of transformation and upgrading of machine tool industry

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the actual operating conditions of key companies and more comprehensively and accurately predict and predict the development trend of the industry, the business survey project of the China-Burgsea Business Climate Index officially started in April 2011. During the first quarter of 2011, the start of the project was recognized and affirmed by relevant companies during the launch of the China Business Economic Index. The first survey sites of Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Hisense Electric Co., Ltd. have achieved relevant research results. Released one after another.

The establishment of a business survey site for the China Business Economic Prosperity Index not only enables better understanding of the industry's operational status from a microscopic perspective, but also establishes long-term relationships with representative and characteristic enterprises within the industry, so that the macroeconomic outlook of the China-based economy The data can be closely integrated with the micro-management of business operations, further enhancing the scientific, authoritative, guiding, and practical aspects of the China Business Economics Index. In order to make the report of the business climate research point of the Sino-Benchen Business Climate Index more detailed and in-depth, the “Sankei Shimbun” specially set up a “Seminar Report from the Sino-Benchen Business Climate Index Company Survey Site” to track and report on related company dynamics in a timely manner. stay tuned!

Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co., Ltd. is China's largest machine tool manufacturer and development and manufacturing base for CNC machine tools, and it is also one of the first corporate survey sites of China Business Economics Index. We recently went to the survey and interviewed Chairman Guan Xiyou of the company.

The machine tool industry enters the era of Boli

With fierce market competition and rising production costs, these factors have contributed to the small profits of the machine tool industry. For this reason, breakthroughs in core technologies and strategic planning of companies are particularly important.

Reporter: You put forward a point of view some time ago, saying that the brilliance of the machine tool industry has come. Why did you come to this conclusion?

Guan Xiyou: First of all, the rising prices of raw materials, labor costs are getting higher and higher, which means that product costs continue to increase. At the same time, the world's strongest companies have entered China with high-tech strategies to build low-cost products. Competition for homogenization has intensified, and China has become the main battlefield for the success or failure of the world's machine tool industry. This will expose us to fierce market competition. Therefore, we have a basic judgment that in China, the era of small profits in the machine tool industry has arrived.

Reporter: What gaps do we have in the competition with international machine tool companies?

Guan Xiyou: The first is the gap in core technology. Since 2002, China has become the world's largest consumer of machine tools; in 2009, China became the world's largest machine tool producer for the first time; it is also the largest importer and the largest consumer; in 2010, it continued to maintain three one. This looks beautiful, but there is a problem behind it. The share of imported machine tools has not decreased, and the total volume has also reached a new high. The historic task of the machine tool industry is to replace imports. It should be said that this task has not been completed. In the medium-to-high-end market share, we did not fight back much. The increase in domestic machine tool output value is due to the increase in market demand. In the past five years, the proportion of China's machine tool consumption in the global market has been increasing. In 2010, the global market was close to US$60 billion, and the Chinese machine tool market achieved US$28 billion. The share of imported machine tools ranges from $6 billion to $8 billion, and has been stable for many years. This also reflects that our core competitiveness is not strong. In addition, the situation in which key spare parts rely on imports has not changed much. Coupled with factors such as raw material price increase and exchange rate, the price advantage of domestic machine tools has not been obvious. What we have seen is that the market competition has been very fierce.

There is also a gap in strategic planning awareness. The future of the machine tool industry is closely related to many industries. For example, what opportunities do the development of strategic emerging industries bring to the machine tools? What are the requirements for the machine tool to accelerate the renewal of automobiles and consumer electronics? What are the changes or changes in the world's industry? Some industry reports looked at are historical data. Only looking behind, or only in the industry, can never keep up with the needs of the market. Compared with developed countries, we lack strategic research institutions that serve the industry and lack targeted and operable value information. The Economic Times publishes the China-Su- eral Economic Development Index of the equipment manufacturing industry on a quarterly basis. This is a very meaningful event and it is a reference for companies.

Intelligentization and customization have become the development trend of the industry

For the development of the industry, scientific research and the market are equally important. While studying technology leadership, we must also pay attention to the satisfaction of market demand. This has become an effective way for companies to seek differentiated development.

Reporter: From a technical point of view, what is the development trend of the international machine tool industry?

Guan Xiyou: Just as the slogan of the China International Machine Tool Show held recently was “intelligent and customized”, this is an international trend in the development of machine tools. Intelligence is the strength of imported machine tools, and customization is the strength of domestic machine tools. The core of intelligence is the integration of motion control technology and contemporary information technology. Compared with developed countries, we must also see our advantages - proximity to customers, and Shenyang Machine Tool puts forward "technical effectiveness" to the market. Customer-centric and personal development and personal services. For example, raw material suppliers and product purchasers participate in the entire process of Shenyang machine tool manufacturing during the R&D phase. For example, starting from commercial design, any extra features are removed. Sales not only sell products, but also provide customers with the best solution. Profits not only increase profits, but also create value together with partners. Strategic coordination, domestic machine tools should pay attention to local advantages, because China's market demand is different from other developed countries in the world, and the market is on our side, we must make full use of advantages.

The market needs high-tech, low-cost products. Over the past five years, the convergence of machine tools has been very obvious. In addition to brands, their technology is almost the same. In other words, the pace of technological development of the world's strongest players is slowing, which gives us a chance to catch up. Intelligence itself is also personalized. We cut into the core technology from the perspective of customer's individual needs, and the results are highly recognized by the market. This time, all of our new products at the Beijing International Machine Tool Fair are like this, including our understanding of the new production line, understanding of stand-alone automation, and understanding of unit intelligence. Since then, Shenyang Machine Tool has embarked on the road to differentiation with other companies. .

Innovation becomes the main profit model

The research and development of core technologies still rely on independent innovation. This is the consensus of many companies. The basic research on common technologies and key technologies is not only the actual needs of the industry, but should also be a conscious action of the company.

Reporter: How should we cope with the arrival of the Boli period of the machine tool industry?

Guan Xiyou: In the face of such an industrial environment, innovation will become a major profit model. How to find the "blue sea" of profit and value space? I think that domestic machine tool companies must change the "follow" tactics of the past and dare to step into the core manufacturing parts, such as numerical control systems, electronic devices, and key components. In the past, we devoted 100% of our energy to the manufacturing process. As a result, the controllable costs only accounted for less than 10% of the entire machine. The bulk of the profits were taken away by foreign companies. This kind of situation needs to change at least from Shenyang Machine Tool, and it is necessary to control the cost structure through the breakthrough of core technology. For this reason, profound changes will be made to the organization and manufacturing methods of Shenyang Machine Tools.

Reporter: Intensifying the research on core technologies requires continuous huge R&D investment. Does this eat up some of the profits that could have been in your pocket?

Guan Xiyou: Technology research and development can not look at the immediate, depends on the long-term. Some people say that if you do not engage in innovation, you will not be able to live well, why bother to invest in R&D but may not be effective for a long time? I think that the key common technologies and basic research are needed by every enterprise and people must always do it. . Shenyang machine tools should be responsible. The country has handed over to us the innovation system and the construction of the CNC machine tool. If the Shenyang machine tool can't accomplish this historical task, the Chinese machine tool industry will have no future. Therefore, "looking forward" for the enterprise is also for the industry.

The research and development of core technology is very difficult and long for a single company. Our approach is to integrate global innovation resources for my own use. In China, we formally formed the "CNC Machine Tool Industry Technology Innovation Alliance" jointly with 8 companies and 6 institutes. The high amount of R&D investment over the years has created a research and development team with a sound technical system. We are confident that we have the ability to step out of a road with the Chinese characteristics of "top-down." In the next step, the coverage of the Shenyang Machine Tool Strategic Alliance will be further expanded, with the establishment of a technology alliance in the upstream links and the establishment of a marketing and after-sales service alliance in the downstream links. Strategic alliances, as a new type of business operation paradigm in the context of globalization, control of strategic alliances, institutional development in alliances, application of information technology, construction of credit system, prevention of risks in strategic alliances, etc. We conduct more in-depth practice and exploration. Creating a strategic alliance with a synergy effect will enable companies to have greater room for improvement. This is also a new choice for the group companies to “seek the same road and embark on a new journey” at a new stage of development.

Reporter: In November 2010, Shenyang Machine Tool Co., Ltd. will do 45 years of general machine tool business as an OEM project for global investment. This is a major strategic adjustment for the company. At present, how effective is the implementation?

Guan Xiyou: At the “China CNC Machine Tool Show” in Nanjing in 2010, the Shenyang Group launched a new series of five CNC products and announced its entry into the market with its own innovative CNC machine tools. After the product launch, the market is very much recognized. In 2010, our annual sales of new products led by “new five-category” products exceeded 4,000 units, and revenue exceeded RMB 3 billion. However, after the success of the "New Five" products, companies face problems such as insufficient production capacity. To this end, in November 2010, we brought general machine tool OEM projects to global investment, resulting in the formation of 78,000 ordinary machine tools, a general machine tool industry cluster with a total scale of 5.5 billion yuan, and 200,000 tons of casting and forging capacity. After vacating production resources, we will concentrate our resources on market demand and profitable products. We will focus on the new five major categories of numerical control products and push forward the level of products on the scale to strive to form a scale of 10 billion yuan in the next three years.

Transforming from machine tool manufacturers to industrial service providers

Creating excellent soft power is the key to getting rid of “big but not strong” companies. This requires the establishment of a sound production, marketing and service system to complete the transition from integrated manufacturing to industrial service providers.

Reporter: What are the new development goals of Shenyang Machine Tool?

Guan Xiyou: In 2008, we re-planned the medium and long-term development strategy for 2015. In view of the actual development of Shenyang machine tools, we propose that by 2015, the economic scale will reach 30 billion yuan, realize the goal of being “big and strong, and being the best in the world”, become an internationally first-class machine tool manufacturer, and become a world-class innovative multinational. the company. In fact, from a large perspective, no matter if it is the first of its kind in terms of output and scale of operation, this is no problem, but it is difficult to be strong. Analysing the strengths and weaknesses of our analysis, all our measures are now centered on "strong", mainly referring to research and development capabilities, marketing capabilities, corporate organizational culture systems, and so on. We must use soft power to build true power.

At present, the eyes of machine tool companies all over the world have gathered in China. Due to the development of Chinese industry, machine tools are in the best market period in the next decade. The new starting point for industrial projects and the upgrading of traditional industries will bring about the emergence of machine tool demand. Rapid growth. We must grasp the best market period and realize the transition from traditional integrated manufacturing to industrial service providers.

Reporter: After the international financial crisis, the competition in the international machine tool market has become more intense. What new considerations does Shenyang Machine Tool have for “going global”?

Guan Xiyou: In foreign countries, we have also changed our past strategy and started to brand our own brands. In 2009, Shenyang Machine Tool began to establish a sales network in the world and establish its own brand. This is a great change for us. To establish a solid brand in a new area will bring many essential changes to the company. To enter the international market, employees are highly demanded. Managers with international operating experience are required. Foreign language, business environment, laws, and regulations are well-accepted. The basic conditions for sending employees to go abroad are foreign language clearance, which leads to the structure of the company. Profound changes in sex. In addition, our overseas product after-sales service network is still under construction. Only in the future will the product sales and service system be well established and customers will dare to buy your products.

Reporter: To realize the goal of “big and strong”, what adjustments should be made to Shenyang's machine tools on an existing basis?

Guan Xiyou: The overall strategic transformation of the company is from traditional integrated manufacturing to industrial service providers. There are three core tasks: the strategic adjustment of product structure, the construction of global marketing and service system, and the strategic transformation of business structure.

The strategic adjustment of product structure has three implications. First, we must strive to eliminate ordinary machine tools within five years. Second, we must use our own core technologies to create new advantages for CNC machine tools, and at the same time, build our own industrial chain for the society and rely on brands. The impact will form a large-scale social industry chain; the third is to break through core technologies and master the key technologies of product intelligence and motion control systems. This will be a new path for us to take the lead in China.

The construction of a global marketing and service system is mainly to build a platform for industrial service providers. The past has been used as a supporting service link to create a main business system. After five years, it expects service revenue to account for 20% of the total turnover. In addition to services, our business structure also needs to be changed. We must develop financial services, in addition to providing customers with technical solutions, but also provide financial support for customers.