Prospect and development status of machining industry: transformation and upgrading of lean production

At present, as the leading industry of China’s national economy, the mechanical processing industry is still the main support for China’s economic growth; As an important support for economic and social development, the mechanical processing industry is the main channel of urban employment in China and the concentrated embodiment of international competitiveness. However, from the current performance, there is still a big gap between the development of China’s machining industry and that of the western manufacturing powers.

The road of lean transformation and development of China’s mechanical processing industry is obstructed frequently, and there is a long way to go. As early as 1987, the report of the United Nations Commission on Environment and Development clearly put forward the concept of “sustainable development”. In this regard, according to its own development status, the Chinese government has applied this concept to the specific practice of transformation and upgrading of China’s manufacturing industry with foresight, and proposed to promote the quality and efficiency of development by changing the development mode, adjust and optimize the industrial structure, promote innovation driven development, speed up the improvement of various systems and mechanisms, properly respond to changes in the external environment, and promote long-term, stable and healthy development.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the development of China’s mechanical processing industry can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage is from the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the reform and opening up, which is the period when the mechanical manufacturing industry has formed a relatively independent and complete system. During this period, China’s mechanical processing industry mainly exists in the form of OEM; The second stage is from the reform and opening up to the early 1990s, which is a period of rapid development of traditional industries represented by transport machinery (such as automobiles) and construction machinery (such as rotary drilling rigs) in China’s machinery processing industry, mainly in research and design (ODM); In the third stage, since the early 1990s, China’s machinery manufacturing industry has entered a new period of structural adjustment and industrial upgrading in an open and competitive environment. The proportion of high-tech products has increased significantly, which is characterized by independent brand (OBM).

However, the severe economic situation has brought unprecedented problems to the manufacturing industry. Implementing the transformation and upgrading of lean production, optimizing the adjustment of industrial structure, enhancing the vitality and stamina of the industry, and promoting the machinery manufacturing industry to embark on a higher quality, more distinctive and more dynamic lean development path are the needs of the machinery processing industry to enhance its competitiveness. At the same time, the machinery industry has exposed many problems after the rapid development of the previous years. For a long time, the construction capacity and resource investment of domestic construction machinery enterprises’ R&D platforms have been seriously insufficient, mainly relying on imitation and borrowing, leading to the situation of excess equipment ownership and low-end capacity. Correspondingly, multinationals are making huge profits in the small volume market of high-end products. Driven by the market situation of overcapacity of construction machinery, lean transformation and upgrading has become the general trend of the industry.

Therefore, reducing costs, improving efficiency, implementing transformation and upgrading, enhancing competitive strength, and taking the road of lean reform are the needs of self revolution in the machinery industry, the needs of the economic situation, and the needs of sustainable development.

At present, the path of lean development will continue to change. The transformation and upgrading of China’s mechanical processing industry is of great significance and imminent.

As long as we follow the five development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, adhere to the sustainable development direction and follow the lean development path of transformation and upgrading, the mechanical processing industry will certainly become larger and stronger, and realize the transformation of the mechanical manufacturing industry from production oriented to production service oriented, from extensive management to lean management, and from low-end manufacturing to high-end manufacturing.