Poor overall service capacity, domestic machine tools increase market competitiveness

After the rapid development of the domestic machine tool industry in recent years, the production of medium-to-high-end CNC machine tools has continued to increase substantially, and it has been able to provide corresponding products for key manufacturing fields such as aerospace, automobiles, ships, energy and power, and rail transit. In spite of this, domestic machine tools are still unable to fully enter the above-mentioned manufacturing fields, and only some machine tool products are used in certain processing links. The reflection from the front-line user companies shows that the domestic machine tool companies have poor comprehensive service capabilities, and they have always been disadvantaged in the service competition with foreign companies, which has become a major factor affecting domestic machine tools to increase their market competitiveness.

The comprehensive service that manufacturing companies hope to obtain is a personalized service given by the machine tool supplier to the user's own technological level and processing requirements. “We need more specialized specialized machine tools, as well as processing technology solutions and technical support. We also hope that the machine tool can be repaired in a timely manner.” An Jianxin, Chief Equipment Engineer, Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd., Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. Among them, we can perceive that the integrated services required by users should include a tailored machine tool, a production line or a production system (unit), a set of processing technology, machine tools, fixtures, and auxiliary equipment (tools). Tooling, inspection and measurement, software programming, logistics delivery, system planning and control, and other processing solutions, as well as follow-up and timely after-sales maintenance and updated processing technology solutions.

The quality of the machine tool is affected by the stability of the product is the premise to provide services, or a failure of the machine after the three failures, even if provide the best technology program, and then timely maintenance, will disrupt the production of beats, causing loss to the user. The poor stability and reliability of some domestic machine tools seems to have become the most troublesome problem for many users.

In Chongqing, a gear enterprise once purchased a large-scale gantry machine. According to Mr. Wang, the person in charge of the company’s equipment procurement, after the machine tool produced by a state-owned enterprise in the northeast was in place, the worktable could not work stably and the machine tool was delayed. Can not be put into use, the final discovery is that the size of the table beyond the design, can only be replaced. Wait until the machine tool can be used, and the time has passed more than six months. Even so, in the subsequent use, this machine often suffers from mechanical failures, and the machine never works continuously.

In Xi’an, Shaanxi, Xi’an Haohang Numerical Control Co., Ltd. is one of the hundreds of mechanical processing companies that provide spare parts processing services for many local aerospace and military enterprises. The general manager Wang Chun told reporters: “Most domestic machine tools are stable in machine tools. There is a clear gap between the nature and the imported machine tools, we have used a German brand machine tool for 8 years, in addition to the replacement of the corresponding wear parts, the number of machine tool failures are few, and the only two domestic brands of CNC machine tools There are different performances. One of them is running well, while the other is not flattering. At the same time, such a big difference in the installed machine tools makes us stop looking at domestically-made machine tools in future purchases."

Similar experience has not only existed in one user company, but some domestic machine tools have been criticized by users for their reliability and stability. At present, from certain categories, domestically-manufactured CNC machine tools have reached the international advanced level in terms of technical indicators. However, due to problems in product reliability and stability, users are skeptical about using domestically-made machine tools to replace imported equipment, affecting domestically produced machine tools. In-depth promotion of high-end users such as aerospace, electronics, and military.

The ability of domestic companies to provide process solutions is seriously lacking. With the rapid development of China's manufacturing industry, the requirements of domestic manufacturers for machine tool equipment providers have also gradually changed. Manufacturing companies have pushed many of the technical issues and management issues on the site to the machine tool manufacturers, and the role of machine tool manufacturers as service providers has changed. In terms of user services, foreign advanced machine tool companies not only provide equipment and maintenance, but also provide users with solutions and technical services, and can develop processes and equipment in tandem with the development of user products.

In this field, China's machine tool suppliers are still at a low level, and the traditional service model that simply provides machine tools still occupies a large proportion. There is still a big gap between the level and capability of providing users with a complete set of high-efficiency processing solutions and advanced foreign standards.

This trend is more evident in the automotive industry. Hou Ruoming, head of the Planning Department of China FAW Group, stated that the best and most advanced automobile manufacturing processes and equipment in the world are all in China, but none of them are made in China. Domestic machine tools not only do not have the ability to provide complete line equipment, but also a single machine tool cannot provide corresponding process solutions. For example, Zhengtian Automobile Brake Co., Ltd., located in Wenling, Zhejiang Province, owns hundreds of DMG machines, and the processing technology of its components. All of them are provided by DMG and a few domestic CNC machine tools can only be used for rough machining of certain parts, showing a clear gap.

In addition to the automotive industry, in the manufacturing fields of aerospace, energy and power, domestic machine tools lacking process capability are also difficult to establish in the core manufacturing process. Domestic machine tool companies cannot provide process solutions for difficult-to-machine materials, and thus cannot meet the needs of enterprises. . Therefore, the domestic machine tool companies must strengthen their input in researching the changes in user process requirements, be proactive in familiarizing users with the manufacturing processes of various parts and components, and deeply understand the requirements of users for the purchase of machine tools, and develop targeted new technologies for users. The equipment will further enhance the market competitiveness of domestic machine tools by improving the ability to provide users with solutions.

After-sales service is not under ideal conditions, as one of the comprehensive service capabilities of the machine tool companies, after-sales service should be the most domestic machine tool companies should do well. However, the actual situation is exactly the opposite. In recent years, various bad habits concerning the after-sales service of machine tool companies have been exposed.

Long service intervals and delays in maintenance services are common problems. A lot of users said in the interview that most of the first time they purchased a machine tool would still choose a domestic machine tool, not only considering the high cost performance of domestic machine tools, but also taking into account the short delivery cycle of domestic machine tools, easy installation and commissioning, maintenance cycle after failure It will also be faster and easier than imported machine tools. The actual situation is not the case. After a domestically-produced grinding machine purchased by a gear enterprise in Chongqing was in place, no one had ever installed and commissioned it; a home-made machine tool purchased by an aviation company in Xi’an needed to replace a screw, which was eventually resolved through high-level negotiation between the two parties. Another time was A small problem that takes only one hour to repair is also delayed for six months before it is repaired.

In addition, “relationship service” is also very popular in the industry. Users have a good relationship with the sales personnel of a machine tool company, and they can often get timely arrangements when problems occur. Otherwise, they may not be repaired after several months. Some users even complained that in order to repair the machine tool as soon as possible, they had to promise a certain amount of “hard work” to the maintenance staff. In this case, the problem could be resolved quickly.

Industry experts said that the lack of professional service teams and staff shortages are the main reasons for this phenomenon. But no matter what, after-sales service has not seriously affected the credibility of domestic machine tools, making a lot of sales into a hammer trading, domestic machine tool market competitiveness will therefore fall into the doldrums, cast a shadow over the future development prospects. The experience of some international advanced machine tool companies in service teams and personnel training is worth learning from. On the one hand, foreign machine tools and tools companies have a dedicated technical service team, clear division of sales and services, and mutual cooperation. On the other hand, some leading machine tool manufacturers have established enterprise universities such as Mori Seiki University, Sandvik Coromant College, Agie Charmilles School of Service, etc. They can both train their own employees to improve their professional skills and The business capabilities allow them to better serve their customers; they also improve the quality of customer training, extending from training machine operators to training manufacturing experts.