The Gains and Losses of the Machine Tool Industry
2026-03-11
The machine tool industry is often referred to as the “mother of industry,” meaning, in simple terms, a machine that makes other machines. It is a concentrated reflection of a nation’s industrial strength; however, for us, it remains a weak link.
The machine tool industry is often referred to as the “mother of industry,” meaning it produces the machines that, in turn, manufacture other machinery. It is a concentrated reflection of a nation’s industrial strength; however, for us, it remains a weak link.
Why has it taken more than six decades since the founding of the People’s Republic of China to finally produce a domestically built large passenger aircraft? The primary reason is that our engine technology has yet to reach the required standard; even the engines on the C919 are still imported. One of the core components of an aircraft engine—the turbine disk—is made from high-temperature nickel-based superalloys, which must withstand extreme conditions of high temperature, high pressure, and high rotational speeds. The materials used must be both exceptionally tough and highly heat-resistant, and the biggest challenge in manufacturing such components is forging them under immense pressure. Yet producing a forging press capable of delivering these performance characteristics has long been a formidable hurdle for us. Now, China Second Heavy Machinery Group has unveiled an 80,000-ton die-forging press, which means that one of the key bottlenecks in the production of aircraft engines may finally be overcome.
In 2011, Jinan No. 2 Machine Tool Group customized five large-scale stamping production lines for three Ford Motor Company plants in the United States. Each line comprises multi-link presses with a total weight of 6,100 tons and is equipped with dual-arm feeding systems, depalletizers, cleaning machines, oiling units, and other auxiliary equipment, achieving an efficiency three times that of conventional production lines.
A machine tool of this caliber is typically owned by only one country—sometimes even by the entire world—and is regarded as a national treasure of the manufacturing sector. It can be said that we have achieved certain successes in specific fields, and these are the fruits of our machine-tool industry.
However, it is far from encouraging that such accolades are by no means widespread; there is not much we can truly boast about. Although China has achieved considerable progress over the more than three decades of reform and opening-up—starting with the large-scale introduction of foreign technologies and collaborative production of various CNC machine tools, and later even culminating in the domestic development of five-axis linkage machining centers—the core, cutting-edge technologies underlying high-precision products simply cannot be replicated through imitation. Moreover, we remain lacking in talent, research capabilities, and independent innovation.
Comparing the following set of data will better illustrate the issue:
In 1980, at the outset of China’s reform and opening-up, the country had a total of 2.83 million machine tools, with roughing lathes accounting for 43% and finishing machines for 10%. Over the subsequent three decades, by 2008 China’s machine-tool industry had grown to approximately 5,382 enterprises, with a total stock of about 7 million machine tools (compared with roughly 2.4 million in the United States and 1.4 million in Japan). Yet roughing machines still made up more than 40% of the fleet, while finishing machines accounted for less than 10%. In contrast, in many foreign countries finishing machines—primarily high-efficiency, automated, and CNC-equipped units—typically comprise 20% to 30% of the total, indicating that China’s share of finishing machines has not increased but instead declined, thereby underscoring the continued backwardness of China’s machine-tool industry.
Over the more than 60 years since the founding of the People’s Republic, three generations have poured their youth and energy into this endeavor. Just look at the seismic transformations that have swept the global machine-tool industry: in less than six decades, the U.S. machine-tool sector overtook the then-world hegemon, the British Empire; within another six decades, Germany’s machine-tool industry surpassed the United States; and in yet another six decades, Japan rose to become one of the world’s top three. Shouldn’t we feel a bit ashamed?
Looking back at the path we have traveled, it goes without saying that the thirty years lost before the reform and opening-up were a significant setback; yet the achievements of the subsequent thirty years are indeed plain for all to see—though they are by no means without their share of problems. Although the machine-tool industry has benefited from government-issued development plans, the content of these plans often lacks grounding in reality and tends to be overly abstract and vacuous. For example, the “Special Plan for the Development of CNC Machine Tools” formulated by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2006 stipulated that by 2010, domestically owned intellectual property rights should account for 75% of all CNC machine tools, the self-sufficiency rate for supporting functional components should exceed 60%, and domestically produced CNC machine tools should capture more than 50% of the domestic market—targets that, in practice, seem rather elusive and unattainable. A review of the past three decades of industrial policy reveals numerous missteps: policies have frequently ignored the actual conditions of the domestic machine-tool sector, remaining mere paper exercises that prove impossible to implement; there has been a conspicuous lack of rigorous, science-based approaches, with no accurate analysis or statistical assessment of market demand, thereby running counter to the inherent laws of industry development.
In addition to policy missteps, the industry faces two major challenges:
First, there is insufficient emphasis on talent development and independent R&D; for a long time, the industry has relied on imitation of foreign technologies, resulting in a lack of core technologies.
The achievements of the past three decades are undeniable; however, the industry has long been stuck in the outdated paradigm of “introduction, digestion, and absorption,” showing little drive for innovation and relying solely on imitation. As a result, the machine tool sector has remained mired at the lower end of the industrial value chain, with little prospect of breaking free. Furthermore, neglect of vocational and technical education and of cultivating technical talent within enterprises has led to a severe imbalance between supply and demand for skilled workers and substantial brain drain. In addition, during the restructuring process, many research institutes with strong R&D capabilities were transformed into enterprises, significantly weakening their research capacity. Consequently, numerous technological bottlenecks have proven difficult to overcome, leaving China heavily reliant on imports for high-precision, cutting-edge machine tools and core components, and rendering efforts to catch up technologically little more than empty rhetoric.
Second, the industry is severely imbalanced, with a lack of unified planning and coordination across different segments. This is primarily manifested in the misalignment and significant disconnect between the development of machine tools, CNC systems, functional accessories, and cutting tools.
Over the past three decades or so, the industrial structure of China’s machine tool sector has been dominated by the production of low- and mid-range products. Meanwhile, the faster-growing segment of CNC machine tools has long relied on imports for core technologies and critical components, which has hindered technological innovation and overall industrial advancement. Domestic machine tool products generally suffer from quality issues, with poor stability, reliability, and consistency. The root causes lie in a pervasive impatience and short-term orientation: few are willing to devote themselves to in-depth research, with most companies prioritizing quick returns. At the same time, there is a widespread shortage of skilled technical personnel, leaving the industry lacking in sustained momentum.
Looking back over six decades of development, we must remain clear-headed and fully recognize the gravity of the challenges at hand; blind optimism is neither prudent nor advisable. Our status as a global leader in machine tools stems primarily from our sheer scale and vast market. However, transforming “Made in China” from large to strong is a daunting, system-wide undertaking that demands greater attention from the government to the machine-tool industry—the “mother of all industries”—and calls for the government to assume a robust role as organizer and planner, mobilizing all available resources, coordinating efforts, and promoting balanced development. With the rise of intelligent and green manufacturing, we must seize this historic opportunity, adhere to market principles, draw on past experience and lessons learned, and swiftly make tangible progress in talent cultivation and technological innovation, thereby advancing the machine-tool industry toward the high- and mid-end segments.
Keywords:
Machine tool,Spindle,Workpiece
Contact Information
Email: billows2014@163.com
Website: en.billows.com.cn
Address: No. 003 Shanglin Road, Fengdong New Town, Xixian New District, Xi'an.China