Although the brands of companies such as Haier and TCL have been completely localized, if you buy them out, the salesperson will tell you that the compressor is from Japan, and if you buy a refrigerator, the salesperson will still tell you that the compressor is also from Japan. Industry insiders believe that China's machinery manufacturing is almost 30 years behind Europe and America.
Joint venture worries
In April 2006, the merger plan between XCMG Group, a leader in China's construction machinery industry, and Carlyle was basically finalized. Carlyle Asia Investment Company acquired 85% of the shares of Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of XCMG Group, for $375 million. Although the intervention of Sany Heavy Industry in June caused setbacks in the holding process, it announced the temporary end of the plan that many economists in China were concerned about for Caterpillar to dominate the Chinese mechanical engineering industry.
In March 2005, Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest mechanical equipment manufacturer, acquired a 40% stake in Shandong Heavy Industry at a surprisingly low price. Since then, there have been reports in the construction machinery industry that the tough Caterpillar has formulated a massive acquisition plan with the aim of "eating away at China's construction machinery". XCMG Group, which has been the "big brother" in the construction machinery industry for many years, is certainly one of its established goals.
If Carlyle's acquisition of XCMG is successful, it would be like dealing Caterpillar a blow to the head. But for Carlyle, the ultimate goal is to sell XCMG at a better price, so XCMG's development will still be unknown.
Since the 1990s, large multinational corporations have entered the domestic machinery industry market, mainly concentrated in the fields of automobiles, electrical appliances, cultural office equipment, instruments and meters, general machinery, and engineering machinery, which account for about 80% of foreign direct investment in the machinery industry.
The President of the Machinery Industry Federation, Yu Zhen, stated the changes in foreign investment as follows: "The basic premise is to maintain its control in investment activities in China, and it is particularly noteworthy that multinational companies are particularly keen on acquiring advantageous enterprises in high growth industries in China." Currently, it can be seen that in the oil nozzle and oil pump industry, after Bosch acquired the leading enterprise in China's oil nozzle and oil pump industry - Jiangsu Wuxi Weifu Co., Ltd., almost all of China's oil nozzle and oil pump industry was acquired and controlled by multinational companies, and the technology center established over the years was also revoked and merged; In the bearing industry, four years ago, the first listed company in the national bearing industry, Northwest Bearing Co., Ltd., had already formed a joint venture with FAG, the world's third-largest bearing company in Germany. Two years later, the joint venture became a wholly-owned German enterprise. …
Technological black hole
In addition to facing external enemies, China's machinery manufacturing industry also has many problems of its own.
Once upon a time, imported machinery for enterprises became a promotional gimmick. A food company in Guangdong boasts that it has introduced multiple automated production equipment from Japan and Taiwan, with exquisite craftsmanship and excellent product quality that has won the favor of consumers
Such examples are everywhere. Chinese people have also unconsciously accepted this reality: only foreign imported production lines and equipment are reliable and guarantee products.
After the slogan of "revitalizing the nation" industry emerged, some famous brands gradually emerged in China, such as Haier and TCL in home appliances. Although the brand has been completely "localized", when it comes to the core components of the product, most of them come from abroad. When buying an air conditioner, the salesperson will tell you that the compressor is from Japan, and when buying a refrigerator, the salesperson will still tell you that the compressor is also from Japan.
Industry insiders believe that there is a huge technological "black hole" in China's machinery industry, with the most prominent manifestation being a high dependence on foreign technology. In recent years, more than 60% of China's annual equipment investment of over trillions of yuan for fixed assets is imported. Even the national high-tech industrial development zones, which serve as windows, have 57% of their technology sourced from abroad.
Engineer Liu Yanren, who specializes in metallurgical machinery design, told "Xiaokang": "In metallurgical machinery, in recent years, there have been 30-40 production lines for plate and strip in China, and even more profile lines. The total investment can be said to be astonishingly large, but these equipment and systems all come from Germany, Japan, and Italy." For example, he saw in a large steel plant in Hebei that the condensing rolling equipment came from Germany's Westmark company, and the zinc crossing equipment came from Italy's Danieli company.
According to the statistics of the Machinery Industry Federation, the contribution rate of new products in industrialized countries is currently 52%, while in China it is only 5.9%. There are few products with core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, and there are more cloned products. This result not only weakens the ability of independent innovation, but also easily leads to accusations of infringement. Even if self-developed technology appears, it is easy to be accused of plagiarism. The recently developed "CM1 Dolphin" maglev train by China has not yet been put into trial operation, and has been accused by some German media and companies of "copying German maglev technology".
Zhong Dajun, director of the Beijing Military Economic Observation and Research Center, once said that the backbone of the entire industrial manufacturing equipment is foreign products, which exposes the weakness of China's industrialization. The mechanical manufacturing industry is the backbone and backbone of a country. If China does not strengthen and straighten its waist in the future, its entire economy and national defense will be weak.
30 years behind
Someone once initiated a discussion online about how many years China's machinery industry lags behind European and American countries, and many people believe that there is a gap of at least 30 years. This gap is particularly evident in the engine.
The importance of the engine as the "heart" of machinery cannot be overstated, especially for the automotive industry that China is vigorously promoting.
Our country's automotive industry has been developing for many years, but it has not been able to use its own designed "heart", which has caused a lot of frustration among many automotive industry professionals. However, several automobile companies have started to focus on designing their own engines. Chery is one of them, and its successful development of ACTECO engine has enabled Chinese cars to start making technological profits. Not long ago, Chery ACTECO engine won the "2005 China Creation Award".
However, Engineer Liu Yanren, who focuses on the engine industry, told "Xiaokang": "Although the engine has been awarded, the news also indicates that Chery Engine Factory, which produces ACTECO engines, adopts the latest technology and has production lines imported from Germany and Italy, representing the highest industrial level in the country. It adopts a grid structure and fully enclosed air conditioning to ensure that high-precision equipment is produced under stable and clean conditions. ”Liu Yanren said that this news discouraged him.
The power used by large construction machinery - diesel engines - is also not optimistic. Ship dealer Lao Zhu mentioned the hulls he has been dealing with for many years, saying, "When it comes to domestic diesel engines, the first thing that comes to mind is that they are bulky and leak. Later, two more ships were introduced, and their main engines used the Weichai WD615 series, which felt very good. ”
Industry insider Zheng Luo (pseudonym) told "Xiaokang" that WD615 was the driving force behind the introduction of Steyr products in the late 1970s. After the Ministry of Machinery Industry imported products from Austria at that time, the engines were handed over to Weifang Engine Factory in Shandong. After nearly 20 years of digestion and absorption, the production capacity of WD615 series has reached 200000 units. Zheng Luo stated that when this product was introduced from Austria, it was no longer the latest product in Austria at that time, and it is precisely this type of product that is still the mainstream product of heavy-duty trucks in China.
The market did not exchange for technology
More and more industry insiders admit that after 20 years of joint ventures, Chinese automotive companies have not yet formed core technologies. The same applies to other industries. Statistics show that currently, China mainly imports complete sets of foreign equipment and production lines, with insufficient introduction of patents and proprietary technologies. In 2004, the total amount of technology import contracts in China was 13.86 billion US dollars, of which complete sets of equipment and production lines accounted for 52.3%, and proprietary technology accounted for only 29.8%.
Why hasn't the market acquired the necessary technology? Jia Xinguang, Chief Analyst of China Automotive Industry Consulting and Development Corporation, once gave an example that in the early stages of the joint venture of Beijing Jeep Co., Ltd., the Chinese side held a farewell party for an American engineer who was about to return to China. At the farewell party, the American asked the following question: "Didn't you say you wanted to learn technology? Why didn't anyone ask me?" Jia Xinguang believes that bringing a car model does not mean transferring technology. Some key areas still need to be learned and someone needs to guide them. However, a considerable number of companies only focus on formal aspects such as joint ventures and introductions.
Imitation without digestion and absorption is also helping the machinery industry go astray. The ratio of the total cost of technology introduction and the cost of digestion and absorption for large and medium-sized state-owned industrial enterprises in China is 1:0.06. The proportion of technology introduction and digestion absorption by South Korean and Japanese enterprises reaches 1:5 to 1:8.
In addition to inadequate digestion, technological barriers are also becoming a huge obstacle for China's import path. Currently, intellectual property has become a weapon for developed countries, including the United States, to maintain a gap with developing countries. More than one Western media outlet has suggested that the West can only effectively respond to China's rise by continuing to lead in innovation. Engineer Song Yu from a research institute in Beijing said, "Europe and America are carefully maintaining a decades long gap in technological level with China
The result of this is that one embargo list after another, especially high-precision working mother machines, are strictly prohibited from being sold to China by developed countries such as the United States. Deng Du told "Xiaokang": "We need NATO approval to buy large gear grinders from Germany, and we need to assure them that they are for civilian use
Even within joint ventures, multinational corporations strive to maintain this gap through the blockade of core technologies. After working in a joint venture for several months, Liu Yanren has gained a deep understanding of this: "Technical personnel are not easily allowed to go to the factory." The reason is that some core components are monopolized by foreign parties, and Chinese technical personnel are not allowed to see them.
By using various regulatory measures to ensure the country's leading power, in addition to the political attempt to "contain" China, this also meets the requirements of Western companies, because only by maintaining technological leadership can they earn more profits from China.
Where is the fulcrum of state support?
Industry insiders generally believe that the formation, importance, and investment of technological black holes are closely related. An industry insider sighed, "The country has neglected the development of the machinery industry in the past twenty years, as evidenced by policies, funding, and even the name. From the Ministry of Machinery Industry to the Machinery Commission to the Ministry of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering to the Machinery Bureau, every level has been downgraded and ignored
The persistent nature of the mechanical industry determines the obstacles it encounters in its development. Zheng Luo said to "Xiaokang": "Mechanical equipment work requires huge investment and patience to wait for the blooming results
Due to the time-consuming process and multiple pressures such as research and development, material procurement, production, marketing, talent loss, competition from foreign companies, and difficulties in the low-end market, many experts believe that policy support should be given, and research institutions and enterprises should be given certain industry incentives and opportunities for free development.
Lu Guanqiu, Chairman of Zhejiang Wanxiang Group, once told the media that China should support the development of the machinery manufacturing industry as a special industry and provide preferential treatment, such as reducing value-added tax and lowering income tax rates appropriately. If the current low profit situation continues, China's machinery manufacturing industry is indeed very dangerous. Taking our group as an example, the current situation is that we rely on money earned from other industries to support our manufacturing industry
The property incentive system is an aspect that many experts highly emphasize. Zheng Luo told "Xiaokang" that "a large engine factory once conducted extensive research and development, either taken away by the state for free or copied by other enterprises for free." Some scholars have stated that "state-owned enterprises have basically not implemented property incentives for innovative talents." On the one hand, the intellectual property rights of innovative achievements have not been effectively protected; On the other hand, the contributions of innovators have not been recognized by property rights.
Recently, the State Council issued relevant policies to accelerate the revitalization of the equipment manufacturing industry, clearly proposing the key development of sixteen major technological equipment. A considerable number of experts are full of expectations for the future of Chinese machinery.
Many experts also remind us that now is an excellent period for the development of the machinery industry, and the opportunity has passed, with endless troubles ahead.
Yu Zhen told the media that since 2002, the machinery industry has entered a new period of sustained high-speed growth. The accelerated development of China's heavy chemical industry is a phenomenon of a specific period. If we cannot solve this mechanical manufacturing problem well at this stage, once demand falls, it will be even more difficult for domestic equipment manufacturing industry to develop. At the same time, foreign multinational corporations are taking advantage of the trend of economic globalization and our accession to the WTO to strive for control in China. If we slack off a little, future domestic enterprises will only be relegated to the lower ranks.
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