Due to inherent weaknesses, China’s machine tool industry has long lagged behind the international mainstream in the development of mid-to-high-end machine tools. At present, China’s machine tool industry is in a relatively difficult period of adjustment and transformation.

It is reported that although some Chinese enterprises have developed mid-to-high-end CNC machine tools, most of them are assembled on the basis of domestic machine tool structures and imported key functional components. This does not fully indicate that China has mastered the overall R&D and manufacturing technologies for mid-to-high-end CNC machine tools and their key functional components. Therefore, compared with foreign machine tool enterprises, there is still a considerable gap among domestic manufacturers.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises have continuously promoted industrial innovation and upgrading. High-speed, precision, multi-functional, intelligent and green technologies represent the overall trend of CNC machine tool development. However, prominent problems remain. Constrained by R&D capabilities, China currently relies on imports for about 80% of mid-to-high-end CNC systems, 90% of high-end CNC systems, and 85% of high-end CNC machine tools.

1. Small scale of domestic CNC functional component manufacturers
According to statistics, there are more than 70 functional component manufacturers in China with fixed assets exceeding 10 million yuan, accounting for less than 10% of the total.

2. Heavy dependence on imports for core components
From 2002 to 2008, China was the world’s largest consumer and importer of machine tools. Despite the rapid development of the industry, it cannot be ignored that the production of key components in China is still controlled by foreign countries, resulting in low profits and a lack of core competitiveness.

3. Lack of high-tech content threatens industrial security
Data show that in 2012, the numerical control rate of metal-cutting machine tools in China was 25.8%, and that of forming machine tools was only 5.8%. Compared with developed countries such as Japan, the United States and Germany, where the numerical control rate reaches 60%–70% in output and 80%–90% in value, the level in China is still very low, which inevitably affects the processing accuracy and efficiency of downstream enterprises.

4. Adaptability and satisfaction far below market demand
There is a clear gap between domestic and foreign functional components in product performance. China’s development capacity is relatively weak, and the launch of new products is slow. Most functional components rely on joint development, production or joint ventures with foreign partners, and some can only be assembled. Although the situation has improved significantly in the past two years, China is still in the process of developing high-tech and new-type functional components, and their market prospect remains challenging.