Posted on 03/26/2005 3:20:04 AM PST by endthematrix
Domestic demand for machine tools will reach a record high this year as the country steps up efforts to achieve its goal of becoming a leader of the world's manufacturing industry. Wang Liming, vice-president of the China Machine Tool and Tool Builders' Association, announced yesterday in Beijing that the country's spending on machine tools is expected to hit about US$10 billion in 2005.
Last year, the figure was US$9.46 billion, making China the world's largest machine tool consumer and importer for three successive years.
Robust growth in the aerospace and aviation, automobile, power equipment manufacturing, ship-building, metallurgic and petrochemical equipment manufacturing sectors, as well as many other industries has lead to sustained high demand for machine tools, especially advanced computer numerically-controlled (CNC) machine tools.
The strong growth has made China a lucrative market for the world's machine tool manufacturers, contributing much to the development of the global machine tool manufacturing industry.
For instance, China imported US$8.65 billion worth of machine tools last year, recording an increase of 45.24 per cent over the previous year, Wang said at a press conference yesterday before the 9th China International Machine Tool Show.
Scheduled to run between April 11 and 17 in Beijing, the show will welcome more than 1,000 machine tool and tool manufacturers and suppliers from 26 countries and regions around the world to showcase their latest products and technology over an exhibition floor space of 72,000 square metres. About half of the exhibitors will be from abroad, demonstrating the enthusiasm of foreign manufacturers for the Chinese market.
While maintaining the sustained growth of imports of advanced machine tools and tools from abroad, China has also made great progress in the development and manufacturing of CNC machine tools.
Last year, the country turned out 51,861 units of CNC machine tools, representing a rise of about 50 per cent over the previous year, he said.
Domestically-made CNC machine tools play an important role in accelerating the development of the country's manufacturing industry.
And domestic machine tool manufacturers, after years of development and co-operation with overseas partners, have enhanced their production, technological and financial capabilities.
As a result, a number of leading domestic machine tool companies have begun to enter the international market through exports and the merger & acquisition of some well-known foreign machine tool firms.
Figures from the association show that Chinese machine tool companies had purchased seven well-known foreign machine tool firms by the end of November last year.
Mergers & acquisitions have not only helped domestic machine tool companies introduce more advanced technology and equipment from their acquisitions, but have also brought them wider access to the world market as well as marketing and research & development expertise.
gee, I wonder how many types of advanced military weaponry China expects to make with these wonderful machine tools...oh, I forgot, they're really in it to become a capitalist democracy contributing to the betterment of the world.....
I thought China didn't import anything....
Just wait until their own internal capability of building the machinery that builds machinery comes online, and they supply their own industry. That will come as soon as they have sufficiently reverse-engineered the imports, and can start building their own knock-offs of foreign technology.
All we can do is to continue to invent things more rapidly than they can apply the older technology, leaving them always a generation or two behind. Of course, all this new technology gets pretty hard on us too, as the obsolescence factor overtakes us in our daily lives.
If you need an example, consider digital transmission of TV signals. In a few years, analog TV cannot be used without some kind of expensive interface.
They have a huge political transition to manage, and that's where the risk lies. But on the plus side, they're smart and they work hard. Instead of bashing the Chinese, we need to put our own house in order. We need to straighten out our entitlement mess, starting with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; straighten out our schools and raise a generation that can compete; and straighten out our regulatory and legal systems.
Or we can sit on our cans and complain about the Chinese.
I agree. The falling dollar is helping I'm sure. This article fell into my lap and I had to post it. Also, there is nuthin' wrong with a little Commie bashing. You want America to export, but not into the hands of our adversaries.
Who's behind this? The Bush administration of course. It's the Bush/Powell, Jr. edict that all of our TV's become obsolete in two years. It's his way of generating consumerism.
I mostly agree with you but I just can't give up complaining about communists.
We've known it was coming for quite some time now. At least 3-4 years if memory serves.
Yeah, so? The only reason they are doing it is so the FCC can sell more channels. Now we can have 800 channels instead of 200 on our tv. Big whip.
Interesting. China is importing the Good Stuff.
A visit to your local Wholesale Tool showroom, or Harborfrieght catalogue will show lathes and drill presses amd milling machines made in China, flooding our domestic market, probably by the millions.
They are utter garbage.
I nearly got thrown out of one place for laughing uncontrollably at one the the lathes they are selling here. Loose, wobbly compounds, DIE CAST handwheels, molding sand and metal chips shaking out of the castings, etc.
I would not trade my old South Bend for their whole showroom, unless I owned a marina and needed mooring anchors.
That their own machines are not good enough for their industrial base confirms a lot of suspicions.
Carolyn
But I could be wrong.
I was watching a fascinating interview on Charlie Rose last night. His guest (whose name I won't even try to post) was a professor at Singapore University and a former Ambassador from Singapore to the U.N. One of his assertions was that even at the peak of China's power (under Ghengis Khan?), China had few territorial expansionist ambitions and only made war upon its immediate neighbors.
Another of his assertions was that China would no doubt move more and more in the direction of democratization as those are the rules by which the world currently plays and which have served China well in becoming a more modern and prosperous society.
Possibly, but remember, the history of China, from its dynasties, thru it's current communist dictatorship, has never had anything resembling a republic or democracy, and was and is, suspicious of outsiders. Historically, they were unable to tackle anyone other than adjacent neighbors because they never had a navy, nor much of an air force, or modern satellite,missile and space technology. Now, they are working on all of these systems (thanks partly to Boy Clinton and clan of traitors)...time will tell, however we will need to maintain constant vigilance and verification of their activities. One other element that is a positive sign is the continued growth of Christianity in China as well.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
As China becomes more and more a part of the New World Order (actually, there is nothing new about it because it was instituted by Roosevelt in 1945), they will increasingly find it advantageous to democratize because this is the net effect of global capitalism.
As to China's history of not having a significant navy or air force explaining their relative lack of expansionism, those factors certainly didn't stop Alexander the Great, Timor the Lame, or Attila the Hun.
But you are correct, only time will really tell.
I own an old American made craftsman table saw. This tool will outlive me and probably still be going 50 years from now.
And then there's my Chinese compound slide miter saw. At 45 degree cuts, it might hit 43 or 49 degrees, depending on its mood. The blade woobble can be interesting, too.
The Chinese should stick to polishing chopsticks and let the professionals manufacture machines.
A visit to your local Wholesale Tool showroom, or Harborfrieght catalogue will show lathes and drill presses amd milling machines made in China, flooding our domestic market, probably by the millions.
They are utter garbage.
I've seen their stuff, and as near as I can tell, the word "steel" doesn't translate properly into Chinese.
Very, very little remains of the US machine tool industry and oddly enough much of that is focused on the lower end, making tools that wear out in 5-6 years.
The great machine tool factories of New England that fought Americas wars are now empty shells with their roofs caving in. A growth rate of 50% - if true - in domestic machine tool production is incredible. I don't think the US matched that in any year of WWII.
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