Machine tool expert Chen Xunjie told Chinamac Journal that technical skills of China's machine tools needed to be improved in order to compete in the global market. Dramatic output and sales growth cannot offset the surging demand for imported machines tools, he said.

Statistics showed that the total output value of metal processing machine tools (metal cutting and molding) reached US$11.19 billion in 2007, an increase of US$7 billion, or 59.8 %, compared with the pervious year, ranking third in the world after Japan and Germany.

The total machine tool consumption value of China during the same period also jumped to US$16.61 billion, up 28.4% year on year, representing 24% of the world’s total of US$ 69.78 billion. China continues to be the world’s biggest consumer of machine tools.

Although China's machine tool self-sufficiency ratio rose to more than 50% in 2007 and the output of CNC machine tools has reached 123,000 units, demand for imported machine tools from China's major rivals, i.e., the US, Germany and Japan, remains high.

For instance, about 15,700 units of machining centers were imported in 2007, an increase of 26.5% compared with the pervious year, and about 2.4 times the local output in the same year.

Chen Xunjie, former senior consultant of China Machine Tool & Tool Builders' Association, pointed out that the gap indicated that imported products were preferred and local machine tools makers needed to work harder to improve the level of technological skills and the quality of their products.

China's position in the world market of machine tools

Chen compared the differences between China's machine tool industry and its rivals to find out China's current status in the world market:

In 2007, China's machine tool industry (metal cutting and molding) employed 220,000 people with an output value US$11.19 billion, compared with Japan's 38,000 people in the industry and US$15 billion in total output value, and Germany's 67,000 people and US$12 billion.

In the same year, there were about 5 million units of machine tools (metal cutting and molding) in China and the output of automobile was 8.887 million units, compared with Japan's 1.3 million units of machine tools and 11 million units of car output, and the US' 1.9 million units and 12 million units respectively.

Some figures showed that China has been trying to catch up with its counterparts during the past decades.

While Japan and the US had already possessed more than 6,000 automatic lines of machine tools in the 1970s, China only recorded about 400 of such lines in 1980. Even in 2007, manual machine tools were still very common in China.

Besides, half of China's 600,000 units of CNC machine tools in use in 2007 were of low-grade. The distribution of low, middle and high grade machine tools in China was 50:48:2, compared with 0:50:50 in the US and 0:60:40 in Japan.

In terms of CNC machine tool output, the distribution was 70:29:1 in China, 0:80:20 in Japan and 0:60:40 in the US.

Most of China's high-end CNC machine tool systems, accessories and parts last year were imported, while manufacturers in the US, Germany and Japan could use domestic parts in productions.

Meanwhile, China is comparatively lacking professionals in such areas as scientific research, technology, design and production in CNC machine tool industry.

The US had built 30 million automatic lines of machine tools for use in bearing production as early as in 1948, and invented the world’s first CNC machine tool for military manufacturing in 1952, while China still has not reached this technology level.

Advice for the industry

In order to raise competitiveness in the global market, Chen urged local manufacturers to focus on researches and analysis, taking into account users' preference, production requirements and market demand.

There should be national surveys conducted on a regular basis to gauge the situation of supply and demand, so that a development plan for China's machine tools can be mapped out, he said.

Chen suggested that manufacturers should focus more on technology development, quality assurance, high-tech CNC machine tool systems, parts and cutting molds, while adequate training for employees is another important factor for the industry to stay competitive in the long run.