Although the development of construction machinery is good, China's mechanical parts rely on imports to meet the demand for mechanical parts.

At present, China's construction machinery industry is in a high-level operation stage, and construction machinery enterprises are showing a thriving situation. However, supporting parts are like a rope that wraps around the neck of the enterprise, making it restless. Recently, I visited Ma Chuanwei, Secretary General of the Engineering Machinery Parts Branch of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, and asked him to talk about the current problems in China's engineering machinery parts industry and analyze its development prospects.

 

At present, China's construction machinery, especially small construction machinery, has broad market prospects. The market for small excavators is very clear, and it is expected that by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan, the market demand for small excavators may reach 50000 units. In addition, the market for small construction machinery such as telescopic forklifts, skid steer loaders, and two end loaders is also in the process of cultivation and will have significant development. But so far, the pumps, valves, hydraulic components and other supporting parts required for small construction machinery are basically all imported. Foreign accessory companies, on the other hand, must first meet the needs of their domestic enterprises, secondly meet the needs of foreign-funded enterprises in China, and thirdly consider the needs of local enterprises in China. The constraining effect of this situation on China's construction machinery production enterprises will become increasingly apparent. This year, among China's construction machinery enterprises, there are those who have paid foreign supporting parts companies for a year and a half but still cannot receive goods, such as Hefei Zhenyu; Everything is installed, just waiting for a valve, but Japanese companies are unable to supply it for a long time, such as Yuchai Machinery; Last year's Xu excavator placed an order with a Japanese company at the beginning of the year, but by the end of the year, the goods had not been delivered, resulting in zero output of the excavator. Not only can the supply period not be guaranteed, but the price of the complete hydraulic system purchased from abroad is generally non-negotiable; Combined with factors such as inadequate pre-sales and after-sales service, it greatly restricts the development of domestic construction machinery enterprises.

 

Given the overall development level and current specific situation of China's construction machinery, Ma Chuanwei suggests that small excavators and other small construction machinery components should be used as a breakthrough to promote the overall development of China's construction machinery component industry.

At the annual conference of China's construction machinery supporting parts industry, Ma Chuanwei and the relevant person in charge of the supporting parts branch suggested that manufacturers should shift their focus from only focusing on small excavation supporting parts to taking into account other small construction machinery supporting parts, using small excavation supporting parts as a breakthrough point to drive the comprehensive development of other small construction machinery supporting parts.

To achieve the comprehensive development of small construction machinery accessories, including small excavators, achieving static pressure transmission is an important link. At present, most of the hydraulic components required for static pressure transmission in small construction machinery such as small wheel loaders, excavator loaders (busy at both ends), skid steer loaders, telescopic arm forklifts, and small tonnage forklifts rely on imports. Internationally, most loaders under 3.0 tons in advanced countries have achieved static pressure transmission, while in China, almost all loaders with an annual output of over 100000 units are hydraulic transmission. At present, the only company in China that can produce static pressure transmission components is Shandong Longtai. This private enterprise can produce static pressure transmission loaders weighing less than 3.0 tons, but it is only in the beginning of production and is not yet mature. It still produces complete machines.

In addition to the constraint factor of key technology, Ma Chuanwei believes that another important aspect of the gap between Chinese construction machinery components and foreign products is their reliability. Small batch production of ten or eight pieces is reliable, but a large quantity becomes unreliable. The reliability of products is related to management, process equipment, and process routes. Overall, the main factors affecting the reliability of Chinese components are the quality of raw materials, especially steel. Domestic construction machinery enterprises are generally not large in scale, and when they request special purchases from steel mills, others ignore them. There is also a gap in technology and equipment compared to foreign countries, which have flexible production lines and strict control over each process. There are also issues with heat treatment. The reliability of the parts produced in this way is poor, which leads to the inability to improve the quality of the host. The engineering machinery products produced by foreign companies usually have a first failure time of 1000 hours, while our products only have 400 or 500 hours. If the reliability issue is not resolved, even if it is sold at a lower price, users will not buy it.

If we achieve these, the current situation of mechanical parts in our country will be greatly improved, the demand for imports will gradually decrease, and it will drive the rapid development of our economy.