In the past two decades, China's mold manufacturing technology has made a qualitative leap. The mold industry has grown rapidly from small to large. With the development of the Chinese automobile industry, independent brands have entered the mid-to-high end, and new energy vehicles have emerged. Mould Power.
   The world's mold powers are seven countries: China, Germany, the United States, Italy, Australia, Singapore, and Japan. Today we analyze the mold advantages of each country:
   01 German mold technology is superb
   Germany has always been known for its superb processing skills and the production of precision machinery and tools, and its mold industry also fully reflects this feature. For the industrial sector with complex connotations, after many years of practical exploration, German mold manufacturers have reached a consensus: the entire industry must be coordinated, work together to tap the development potential, jointly promote the spirit of innovation, common technological progress, learn from each other, and make good use of The overall advantage can achieve the success of the industry. In addition, in order to meet the needs of the rapid development of new products today, not only large companies have established new development centers in Germany, but many small and medium-sized enterprises have also done so, taking the initiative to do research and development for customers. In terms of research, Germany has always been very active and has become an important foundation for its unbeatenness in the international market. In the fierce competition, the German mold industry has maintained a strong position in the international market for many years, and the export rate has been stable at about 33%. According to statistics from the German Tool and Die Industry Organization, the German Machinery Manufacturers Association (VDMA) Tool and Die Association, there are about 5,000 mold companies in Germany. In 2003, German mold output reached 4.8 billion euros. Among them, there are 90 (VDMA) member mold companies, and the output value of these 90 backbone mold companies accounts for 90% of the output value of German molds.
   02 Italian mold quality and efficiency
   The production technology level of Italian mold companies is first-rate internationally. According to Luo Baihui, executive secretary general of the International Mold, Metal & Plastic Industry Supplier Association, the application of high and new technology in mold design and manufacturing has become a strong guarantee for the rapid manufacturing of high-quality molds in Italy. In Italian mold companies, CAD / CAE / CAM, high-speed cutting processing technology, rapid prototyping technology and rapid molding technology have become commonly used technologies.
   1. The widespread application of CAD / CAE / CAM shows the superiority of using information technology to promote and promote the mold industry. In the application of CAD, it has gone beyond the primary stage of throwing away the drawing board and two-dimensional drawing. At present, the 3D design has reached 70% ~ 89%. The application of PRO / E, UG, CIMATRON and other software is very common. The application of these software can not only complete 2D design, but also obtain 3D models, which provides a guarantee for the integration of NC programming and CAD / CAM. 3D design can also be used to check assembly interference during design to ensure the rationality of design and process. The universal application of CNC machine tools guarantees the machining accuracy and quality of mold parts. Mold companies with 30 to 50 people generally have more than ten CNC machine tools. The parts processed by CNC machine tools can be directly assembled, which greatly reduces the number of assembly fitters. CAE technology has gradually matured in Italy. In the design of injection mold, CAE analysis software is used to simulate the plastic die process, analyze the cooling process, and predict the defects that may occur during the molding process. The CAE software is used in the design of the die to simulate the metal deformation process, analyze the distribution of stress and strain, and predict defects such as cracking, wrinkling and springback. CAE technology is playing an increasingly important role in mold design. After the application of CAE technology by Italian COMAU company, the mold test time has been reduced by more than 50%.
   2. In order to shorten the molding cycle and improve market competitiveness, high-speed cutting processing technology is generally used. High-speed cutting is a processing technology mainly characterized by high cutting speed, high feed speed, and high processing quality. Its processing efficiency is several times or even ten times higher than that of traditional cutting processes. At present, Italian mold companies widely use CNC high-speed milling in production. There are many three-axis linkages, and some are five-axis linkages. The number of revolutions is generally 15,000 to 30,000 r / min. Adopting high-speed milling technology can greatly shorten the molding time. After high-speed milling and finishing, the mold surface can be used with only slight polishing, saving a lot of time for grinding and polishing. Italian mold companies attach great importance to technological progress and equipment update. Equipment depreciation period is generally 4 to 5 years. Increasing the number of CNC high-speed milling machines is one of the key points of investment in mold enterprise equipment.
   3. Rapid prototyping technology and rapid molding technology are widely used. Due to the increasingly fierce market competition, product upgrades continue to accelerate, rapid prototyping and rapid molding technology emerged at the historic moment, and quickly gained widespread application. At the European and American mold exhibitions in Italy and other countries, rapid prototyping technology and rapid prototyping technology occupy a very prominent position.There are various types of rapid prototyping equipment such as SLA, SLS, FDM, and LOM, and there are also agencies and companies that provide prototype manufacturing services. .
   Many Italian mold companies use rapid prototyping technology and rapid prototyping technology for mold manufacturing, that is, the use of rapid prototyping technology to manufacture prototypes of product parts. Then quickly mold based on the prototype. Many plastic mold manufacturers use rapid prototyping silicone rubber molds for a small number of plastic parts, which is very suitable for the trial production of products.
   The Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and mold manufacturing industry is one of the 10 special machinery manufacturing industries of the Italian Machinery Manufacturing Alliance.The Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and mold manufacturing industry has more than 500 European patents, with a high degree of specialization, leading technology and diverse products. At the same time to provide customers with a variety of value-added services. According to Luo Baihui, Italian mold companies have annual sales per capita of more than $ 100,000. At present, the output value of the Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and mold manufacturing industry accounts for 16.5% of the total output value of the 10 industries of the Machinery Manufacturing Alliance. At the same time, the export destination of Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery and mold products is still dominated by the European Union, with the export value accounting for 47% of the total export share.
   Italian mold companies have advanced technology and advanced management, and the large, precise and complex molds they produce have played an extremely important role in promoting the development of the automotive, electronics, communications, home appliances and other industries, and have also brought good mold companies. Economic benefits.
   03 American mold faces change
   There are about 7,000 mold companies in the United States, and more than 90% are small enterprises with less than 50 employees. Due to the high degree of industrialization, the American mold industry has already become a mature high-tech industry and is at the forefront of the world. American mold steel has realized standardized production and supply, CAD / CAE / CAM technology is widely used in mold design and manufacturing, and advanced equipment is provided for processing technology, inspection and testing. The development of large, complex, precise, long-life, high-performance molds has reached the leading level. However, since the 1990s, the United States economy has faced major adjustments and changes in the post-industrial era, and also faces strong international competition-from cost pressure, time pressure and competitive pressure.
   04 Japan masters core technology
   Japan's mold industry has maintained its position as the world's largest mold power and mold power. At its peak in 1998, its total domestic mold output reached 1,985.4 billion yen. However, in the 10 years since then, although the annual output value has risen or fallen, the overall situation has been stagnant, and it has not recovered or exceeded the level in 1998, and the number of mold manufacturing enterprises has been decreasing year by year. According to Luo Baihui, Secretary General of the International Mold, Metal & Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, in addition to controlling core technologies in many areas, Japan also holds the most lucrative links in the industrial chain, leaving only joint ventures in most other markets worldwide. The profit of the assembly process, this "industrial nation" economic model is also a place for Chinese companies to learn. At present, it is necessary to be vigilant that international hedge funds and capitalists exaggerate losses by drawing public opinion, and take the opportunity to withdraw funds, which will have a serious impact on the development of the global economy.If Japanese capital is taken away, the global industry associations will be greatly affected. Shock.
   Due to the impact of the global financial crisis and a major earthquake, the use of Japanese molds by major automotive and semiconductor industries will decline. At present, the orders of many enterprises are only 20 to 40% of their best years. Many factories are under-operated. They only start operations for 3 to 4 days a week, and some have begun to close down. The number of enterprises has been decreasing month by month. Faced with this situation, people in the Japanese mold industry are very worried about the loss of talents, especially the older and more experienced talents to flow abroad. The brain drain will bring disadvantages to the future development of the Japanese industry. How to actively deal with the current difficulties has become a major issue in the Japanese mold industry. Japan's mold industry and even relevant government departments have already given a lot of consideration to the future development direction of the mold industry.
   From the point of view of the people, there are 6 main development directions that Japan has proposed.
   ① Adopt as many high-tech as possible to improve the level of digitalization and information;
   ② Open up new fields of mold use, such as various new energy, new materials and medical, aerospace and other fields;
   ③Extend the mold industry chain;
   ④ Carry out diversified operations;
   ⑤ update knowledge;
   ⑥ Do a good job of development and integration of production, education and research.
   At the government level, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan has organized a "Simplified Shaped Material Technology Strategy Research Committee" and issued a "Simple Shaped Material Technology Strategy" which is a guide. The goal of implementing this technology strategy is clear, "to grasp the lifeline of the world's manufacturing industry by mastering the important technology of plain materials."
   05 Rising Star of China Automotive Mould
   In recent years, the structure of China's mold industry, whether it is the organizational structure, product structure, technical structure, and import and export structure, has been developing in a rational direction. In order to update and improve equipment levels, mold processing enterprises need to import billions of yuan of equipment every year. The investment in innovation and development is still insufficient.The improvement of comprehensive research and development capabilities in the mold industry has lagged behind the improvement of production capabilities.The main problems are reflected in the weak innovation capabilities; the overall efficiency is low; the degree of specialization, standardization, and commercialization is low. Poor collaboration; backwardness of mold materials and mold-related technologies; corporate organizational structure, product structure, technical structure, and import-export structure are all unreasonable; compared with the international advanced level, the management of mold enterprises lags far behind technology. According to Luo Baihui, Secretary-General of the International Mold, Metal and Plastic Industry Supplier Association, the development trend of China's mold industry in the next ten years is: mold products are developing in the direction of large-scale, precision, complex, economic, and rapid development; the technical content of molds continues to increase. The mold manufacturing cycle is continuously shortening; mold production is developing in the direction of informationization, non-graphics, refinement, and automation; mold companies are developing in the direction of integrated technology, sophisticated equipment, product branding, management informationization, and international operation .
   At present, the mold processing enterprises with a mold output value of over 100 million yuan nationwide are mainly concentrated in the field of automobile cover molds. For example: FAW Mould Manufacturing Co., Ltd. for automobile cover molds, Wuxi Guosheng Precision Mould Co., Ltd. for precision stamping molds, Haier Mould Company for large plastic molds, Tongling Sanjia Technology Co., Ltd. for plastic profile molds, rubber tires In terms of molds, Guangdong Julun Mould Co., Ltd. and Jieyang Litianyang Mold Co., Ltd., Hong Kong Longji Group and Panqi Industrial Co., Ltd. in mold standard parts. Among the mold enterprises with hundreds of millions of yuan, foreign investment accounts for a considerable proportion.
   The mold is the "mother of the machine". Automobile molds are the "pioneers" of automobile manufacturing. Automobile molds are classified according to their functions and can be divided into five categories, such as stamping molds and injection molds. As a cold stamping die for car body large cover molds, it is the most iconic craft equipment product in automobile molds. Due to the complex manufacturing process technology of large-scale outer cover molds, high requirements for size and surface accuracy, and high-precision CNC equipment such as five-axis high-speed machining centers, its manufacturing technology has long been controlled by multinational professional companies. Most domestic car companies rely on imports for large-scale exterior body molds. According to Luo Baihui, secretary general of the International Mold, Metal & Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, in Jinqiao, Pudong, Shanghai, a domestic top-level car outer cover mold base is quietly rising. A few days ago, I learned from Shanghai Secori Auto Mould Technology Application Co., Ltd. that the company has been working hard and working hard. In just 6 years, it has achieved the goal of "improving the mold by punching" to "simultaneous punching mold." The product positioning is mainly based on large-scale body outer cover molds, supplemented by multi-station stamping molds, thermoforming ultra-high-strength steel plate molds, and progressive mold stamping molds. Ability to develop large cover parts for passenger cars. In 2010, 293 standard sets of molds were independently developed and manufactured, with an output value of 100 million yuan.
   06 Singapore focuses on IT mold
   Singapore is a small country with a population of only 3 million. In the 1980s and 1990s, the government attached great importance to and supported the development of precision molds and introduced a number of policies to promote rapid growth of the mold industry and promote the rapid development of the Singapore economy. Singapore has more than 1,000 various types of molds and precision machining related companies, with an annual output value of more than 4.5 billion yuan, which has a very important influence and role in the Asian mold industry. There are more than 10 listed in the mold enterprises. More than 65% of the molds produced by enterprises in Singapore are used for IT electronics related industries. The molds produced are not large, but they are all high-precision and high-level molds. Singapore mold companies are mainly concentrated in semiconductor frame / package molds, metal stamping molds, plastic molds, silicone rubber molds and other fields.
   07 Australian automotive stamping die has space
   Australia's economic development has been rapid in recent years, and it will continue to grow in the coming years. However, as a basic industry, the mold manufacturing industry, especially the manufacturing capacity of stamping molds, cannot keep up with the needs of economic development. For this reason, it is urgent to import stamping mold manufacturing technology and capabilities from abroad, and China's mold industry has a great advantage in this regard. The outlook is promising.
   Most of the software used in the design and manufacture of Australian automotive molds are ug, pro-e, catia and euclid, which are basically the same as those used by Chinese mold companies and can be shared. Cae analysis software and simulation molding analysis software have similarities. This has provided us with good conditions for China-foreign cooperation.
   The Australian Mold Association, the Adelaide Mold Office, and the Melbourne Mold Association all have great hopes for the Chinese mold market and manufacturing companies. This will create favorable conditions for China to export molds to Australia.