1. Overview of the development of overseas mold industry

1) Japanese mold industry

At present, Japan's mold manufacturing technology is still in a position. According to the industrial statistics of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, there are about 10,000 mold production factories in Japan, of which more than 91% are less than 20 people, that is, the Japanese mold industry is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly relying on professional division of labor to complete high-quality mold design and processing. Due to the good professional division of labor in Japan, the overall manufacturing level of small and medium-sized mold enterprises is high, making the mold "Made in Japan" a brand and a symbol of quality. In recent years, Japan's plastic molds, powder metallurgy molds, die-casting molds have grown significantly, while stamping dies and forging molds have shown a relative decreasing trend.

It is understood that Japanese molds are currently facing five major issues - shortening delivery time, reducing manufacturing costs, improving mold quality and accuracy, labor shortage and meeting the challenges of Asian countries. In response to this situation, many Japanese mold manufacturers are actively expanding equipment investment. In terms of processing, a large number of unattended processing units are used, or online control through computers. In the design and manufacturing department, almost all of them use CAD/CAE/CAM technology for motion simulation analysis and DNC (direct digital control) processing. The technology development of molds is mainly developed to high precision, high speed, long life, complex, large-scale, integrated and high-performance.

2) American mold industry

More than 90% are small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Due to the high development of industrialization, the American mold industry has long become a mature high-tech industry and is in the forefront of the world. American mold steel has achieved standardized production and supply, mold design and manufacturing generally apply CAD/CAE/CAM technology, processing technology, inspection and testing supporting advanced equipment, large, complex, precision, long-life, high-performance mold development has reached the leading level

But since the 90s, the U.S. economy has faced major adjustments, major changes in the post-industrial era, and also faced strong international competition - from cost pressures, time pressures and competitive pressures.

3) German mold industry

Germany has always been known for its exquisite processing technology and the production of precision machinery and tools, and its mold industry also fully reflects this characteristic. For the complex industrial field of mold, after years of practical exploration, German mold manufacturers have formed a consensus: that is, the whole industry must be coordinated, work together, tap development potential, jointly carry forward the spirit of innovation, common technological progress, learn from each other's strengths, and give full play to the overall advantages in order to achieve the success of the industry. In addition, in order to meet the needs of today's rapid development of new products, not only large companies have established new development centers in Germany, but also many small and medium-sized enterprises have done the same, taking the initiative to do research and development work for customers. Germany has always been active in research and has become an important basis for its unbeaten 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%. Metalworking WeChat, the content is good, it is worth paying attention to. According to the statistics of the German Machinery Manufacturers Association (VDMA) Tooling Association, there are about 5,000 mold enterprises in Germany, and the output value of German molds reached 4.8 billion euros in 2003. Among them, there are 90 (VDMA) member mold companies, and the output value of these 90 backbone mold enterprises accounts for 90% of the German mold output value.

4) Singapore mold industry

Singapore is a small country with a population of only 3 million, in the 80s and 90s of the last century, the government attached importance to and supported the development of precision molds, and introduced many policies, so that the mold industry has grown rapidly and promoted the rapid development of Singapore's economy. Singapore has more than 1,000 various types of molds and precision machining related enterprises, 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 mold companies listed. More than 65% of the molds produced by enterprises in Singapore are supporting electronics-related industries, and the molds produced are not large, but they are high-precision, high-level molds. Singapore mold companies are mainly concentrated in semiconductor frame/packaging molds, metal stamping molds, plastic molds, silicone rubber molds and other fields.

2. The overall situation of China's mold industry

Since 1997, molds and their processing technologies and equipment have been successively included in the "Catalogue of Industries, Products and Technologies Encouraged for Development" and "Catalogue of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment", and the preferential policy of VAT refund has been implemented for some key professional mold factories; In 1999, relevant mold technology and products were included in the "Guide to Key Areas of High-tech Industrialization (Catalogue) Prioritized at Present" issued by the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology. The above measures have effectively promoted the rapid development of China's mold industry.

1) The total amount of mold industry is growing rapidly

In 2005, the total output value of China's mold industry has leapt to the third place in the world, reaching 61 billion yuan, and the total output value of mold industry reached 72 billion yuan in 2006. The total output value of China's mold industry (with an average annual growth rate of more than 16%), the number of enterprises, the number of employees, and the total labor productivity are all increasing year by year.

2) The import and export ratio is gradually becoming reasonable, but it is still a large annual net import of molds in the world. The growth rate of China's mold product imports is decreasing year by year, and the export volume is increasing year by year, and the ratio of import and export has dropped from 6.6:1 in 1999 to 2:1 in 2006. Export molds are still mainly medium and low-grade, while imported molds are mainly medium, and the main gaps are concentrated in high-tech molds such as precision, large, complex, and long-life.

3) The technical level is constantly improving, but there is still a big gap compared with foreign countries. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, China's mold technology has developed rapidly. At present, China has been able to produce precision multi-station progressive molds with an accuracy of 2 microns, with a life of 1~200 million times. In terms of large-scale plastic molds, we are now capable of producing molded case molds for 48-inch TVs, plastic molds for large-capacity washing machines, and molds for automobile bumpers and integral instrument panels. In terms of precision plastic molds, China has been able to produce camera plastic molds, multi-cavity small modulus gear molds and plastic molds. In terms of large-scale precision and complex die-casting molds, China has been able to produce escalator integral pedal die-casting molds and automobile rear axle gearbox die-casting molds. However, there is still a big gap compared with foreign countries, and the precision and complex stamping dies and plastic molds, car cover molds, electronic connectors and other electronic product molds urgently needed by China's manufacturing industry still rely heavily on imports.

3. Brief situation of major domestic mold production places

The main domestic mold production bases are in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Anhui.

1) Major provinces and cities and characteristics

Guangdong - the domestic mold market leader, foreign-funded enterprises as the main body. Guangdong Province has more than 10,000 mold manufacturing enterprises, employing 300,000 people, and the number of enterprises, employees, total industrial output value and total export value rank first in the country. Guangdong is the most important mold market in China today, and it is also China's larger mold export and import province. More than 40% of the national mold output value comes from Guangdong, and the numerical control rate of mold processing equipment and the performance of the equipment, mold processing technology, production specialization level and standard degree are ahead of other provinces and cities in China.

Zhejiang - plastic molds account for a large proportion, private enterprises as the main body. The mold industry in Zhejiang Province is mainly concentrated in Ningbo City and Taizhou City. Ninghai, Yuyao, Cixi and Yinzhou in Ningbo mainly produce plastic molds, Beilun mainly produces die-casting molds, and Xiangshan and Zhoushan mainly produce casting and stamping molds. The main mold manufacturers in Taizhou are concentrated in Huangyan and Luqiao, and plastic molds account for the majority.

Shanghai – The information industry and the automotive industry are dominated by molds. There are more than 2,000 mold enterprises in Shanghai, with more than 100,000 employees, an annual output value of nearly 6 billion yuan, and an average annual growth rate of more than 20%. Shanghai mold industry will face six major industries and key industries, especially the information (IT) industry and the automotive industry, and vigorously develop precision magnesium alloy die-casting molds, precision injection molds, overlay molds for the automotive industry, die-casting molds for large parts, and multi-station progressive dies for precision stamping parts in the IT industry.

Jiangsu - foreign capital and private enterprises are the main forces. Jiangsu molds are mainly concentrated in Suzhou and Kunshan. At present, Suzhou has more than 1,000 mold factories of various types, more than 1,000 mold processing points, and annual mold sales of about 5 billion ~ 6 billion yuan, and the mold industry has become one of the emerging industries in the city. Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong have many wholly-owned and joint ventures, and there are many private mold enterprises.

Anhui – a rising new force. At present, Anhui Province has a number of well-known mold products in China, such as washing machines, air conditioners and other large injection molds, refrigerator blister foam molds, motor stator and rotor laminated high-speed progressive punching dies, etc., some of which have a market share of more than 30%. Mold standard parts and mold material bases have also been formed. In addition, the development of Shandong, Fujian, Tianjin, Liaoning, Chongqing and Hebei in recent years has also been relatively good.

2) The annual output value of mold exceeds 100 million yuan, and the geographical distribution of enterprises.

During the "Tenth Five-Year" period, first the Pearl River Delta region, then the Yangtze River Delta region, and then the Bohai Rim region, currently accounting for about 80% of the country's molds concentrated in these three regions. According to metal processing reporters, at present, mold enterprises with a mold output value of more than 100 million yuan in the country are mainly concentrated in the field of automobile cover molds. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, the "leading" enterprises of various molds were gradually formed. 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. (mold shares) for plastic profile molds, Guangdong Julun Mould Co., Ltd. and Jieyang Tianyang Mould Co., Ltd. for rubber tire molds, Hong Kong Longji Group and Panqi Industry (Dalian) Co., Ltd. for mold standard parts, etc. Among the hundreds of millions of yuan of mold enterprises, foreign capital accounts for a considerable proportion.

4. Existing problems in China's mold industry

In recent years, the structure of China's mold industry, whether it is enterprise organizational structure, product structure, technical structure and import and export structure, is developing in the direction of rationalization. In order to update and improve the level of equipment, mold enterprises need to import billions of yuan of equipment every year. Industry insiders believe that the investment in innovation and development is still insufficient, and the improvement of comprehensive research and development capabilities in the mold industry has seriously lagged behind the improvement of production capacity, and the main problems are reflected in the following aspects.

1) weak innovation ability;

2) Low overall efficiency;

3) Low degree of specialization, standardization and commercialization, poor collaboration;

4) Backward mold materials and mold related technology;

5) The organizational structure, product structure, technical structure and import and export structure of the enterprise are not reasonable enough;

6) Compared with the international advanced level, the management of mold enterprises is more backward than the backward technology.

5. The development trend of China's mold industry

In the next ten years, the development trend of China's mold industry is: mold products will develop in the direction of large, precision, complex, economical and rapid; The technical content of the mold continues to improve, and the mold manufacturing cycle is constantly shortened; Mold production is developing in the direction of informatization, no drawing, refinement and automation; Mold enterprises are developing in the direction of technology integration, sophisticated equipment, product branding, management informatization and business internationalization. The development of mold technology focuses on the following aspects.

1) The mold structure is becoming larger, more precise, more complex and the life is increasing;

2) CAD/CAE/CAM technology is widely used in mold design and manufacturing;

3) Promotion and application of new technology in mold design and manufacturing;

4) Improve the level of mold standardization and the utilization rate of mold standard parts;

5) Develop high-quality mold materials and advanced surface treatment technology;

6) Develop new forming processes and molds, and cultivate new concepts and models.