In a flash, half of 2020 has passed. It’s midyear stocktaking time again. So in the first half of this year, how about the development of the machine tool industry? Let’s start with a set of data.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that from January to June, the total profit of industrial enterprises above designated size across the country was 2,511.49 billion yuan, down 12.8% year-on-year (calculated on a comparable basis), and the decline was 6.5 percentage points narrower than that in January to May. Among them, the general equipment manufacturing industry, where machine tools are located, fell 1.1 percent.

According to the statistics of the National Statistical Bureau, from January to May 2020, the operating income of enterprises above designated size in the machine tool industry decreased by 9.4% year-on-year, which was 3.5 percentage points narrower than that in January to April; The total realized profit decreased by 6.3% year on year, which is 6.1 percentage points narrower than the decline in January-April.

Overall, in the first half of 2020, the development of industrial enterprises is not easy, especially the machine tool industry, which is greatly affected by the economic environment, and many enterprises feel the pressure of development. Let’s talk about the machine tool industry that is not easy and very strong in 2020.

The old pressure has not solved its own chronic disease

Machine tool manufacturing industry, from design to research and development, production, each link needs time accumulation and continuous grinding. China’s machine tool start is not late, there is inherent weakness in itself, and under the fierce market competition, there are some domestic machine tool enterprises eager for quick success, completely ignore the precipitation of technology and culture, so that the industry for a long time to stay in the “big but not strong, low-end manufacturing” level.

On the basis of this, the development of domestic castings, components and core functional components is relatively lacking, and high-end core components are still dependent on imports. In terms of industry ecology, the construction of industrial chain and the construction of cluster basic services are still insufficient.

In the market, affected by the big environment and fierce internal competition, small enterprises are basically trapped in the cycle of “homogenization competition – price war – profit decline – quality improvement is difficult – products are limited to the middle and low end – homogenization competition”. The product as a whole stays at the low-end level, lacking its own brand and competitiveness.

In terms of talents, there is a gap between the training and practice of relevant personnel; The treatment of industry practitioners needs to be improved; The reserve of high-tech and R&D personnel is insufficient, and the motivation for young people to enter the industry is decreasing.

In short, the problems that have plagued the development of the industry in 2020 still exist, and these problems also limit the upward development of machine tool enterprises.

Add new pressure fierce competition difficult to develop

In addition to these industry ills, this year some realistic pressures also make the development of the machine tool industry more difficult.

The first is market constraints. Since the first half of the year, affected by the epidemic, machine tools and related downstream markets have been impacted. In the later stage, although the domestic epidemic has stabilized, the epidemic situation abroad has not been effectively controlled, and it still has a great negative impact on foreign trade and international cooperation. On the whole, uncertainties at home and abroad have increased, and downward pressure on the economy has increased.

Second, the competition is fierce. From the perspective of the world machine tool market sales, the world’s overall machine tool market has declined in the first half of the year. The contraction of the market has made the fight between machine tool companies more intense, and to a certain extent, it has again depressed the profit margin of machine tool companies.

Finally, supply and procurement are difficult. Affected by the epidemic at the beginning of the year, many enterprises are in a state of production and shutdown, which directly affects the supply of spare parts/functional components of some complete enterprises. Although the domestic epidemic situation is stable and rapidly improving, it still has an impact on machine manufacturers that rely on overseas imports, as well as enterprises mainly engaged in foreign exports.

The old cliche is that innovation is a long way to go

Although it is a cliche, in the second half of 2020 and further into the future, machine tool companies want to break through the trend, seek opportunities in danger, and it is necessary to “change” and “new”.

For the entire industry, building a solid foundation and making up for shortcomings is a key move to deal with risks, and it is an important means to win the initiative. Around the “strong foundation”, the government needs to lead enterprises to take a series of actions. Such as improving infrastructure, improving industry standards, consolidating key spare parts, component technology foundation, and improving the overall level of products. Only on the basis of a solid foundation can we have stronger competitiveness and a broader market space.

For enterprises, to high-quality development is the general trend. Whether the product is for the low-end, or high-end market, customer requirements are increasing. The market is the most sensitive barometer, and more and more machine tool companies are also aware that “high-precision new” products can obtain market favor. Positive strain, active change has also become a true portrayal of many machine tool enterprises.

There is no shortage of bright spots in the pressure, in the first half of this year, the market is unfavorable, there are still many machine tool companies to achieve a contrarian breakthrough. It also shows that the toughness of domestic machine tool enterprises to adapt to market changes is improving. Let’s continue to look forward to the development of Chinese machine tools in the second half of the year.