China's Machinery Industry: Leapfrogging from "Repair and Maintenance" to "High Precision and Cutting edge"
Looking back at the beginning of the last century, China's industrial foundation was very weak. Since the founding of New China, under the leadership of the CPC, the machinery industry has undergone tremendous changes from small to large, from repair to manufacturing. Nowadays, China's machinery industry has a complete range of product categories, a complete industrial system, strong market competitiveness, and huge production capacity.
Industrialists are the foundation of the country. The machinery industry holds an extremely important position in the national economy, serving as a fundamental and strategic industry. It is the foundation of a country's industrialization and modernization, and an important indicator of its competitiveness. After the founding of the CPC, it took the revitalization of industry as an important mission. In the process of reform and opening up, and in the trials of international competition, the machinery industry has been forging ahead. After achieving sustained high-speed development for ten years at the beginning of this century, it has continued to maintain a stable development trend in recent years. The total scale of China's machinery industry now ranks among the top in the world and is moving towards a larger and stronger direction. The achievements have attracted worldwide attention, and new momentum is poised to emerge. At present, the development of China's machinery industry has entered a critical period of climbing hills and overcoming obstacles, enhancing core competitiveness, upgrading and moving towards the mid to high end level.
The industrial system is becoming increasingly perfect
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, mechanical manufacturing was mainly focused on maintenance, with low manufacturing capabilities and a heavy reliance on imports for products. Although the foundation of modern mechanical industry was initially established in the 1960s and 1970s, electromechanical products were still a typical scarce material. After the initial results of market-oriented reforms, productivity developed rapidly, and mechanical products gradually met the basic needs of various aspects.
Nowadays, the mechanical industry has greatly improved the equipment capabilities of various industries in the national economy. Starting from the maintenance of old agricultural machinery, agricultural machinery has developed a large number of high-level agricultural machinery through technology introduction, independent development, and technological transformation. Wheel tractors ranging from 120 horsepower to 180 horsepower have replaced imports and are exported abroad. Metallurgical machinery can provide the technical equipment required for the entire process of modern steel enterprises. Mining machinery has evolved from producing only a small amount of small-scale equipment to today, and China has become one of the few countries in the world that can produce large-scale open-pit mining equipment in complete sets.
The product level and localization rate of power equipment continue to improve, and the main power equipment has reached the international advanced level, not only meeting domestic demand but also achieving large-scale exports. Significant breakthroughs have been made in large-scale oil, gas, and petrochemical equipment, and China has mastered the research and development technology of world-class 7000 meter and below drilling rig series, which have been exported as complete sets. The localization rate of millions of tons of refining equipment has reached over 90%, and the localization rate of millions of tons of ethylene, PTA and downstream equipment has reached over 80%.
During the 13th Five Year Plan period, China's machinery industry has produced a total of 1.93 million large and medium-sized tractors, 590.91 million kilowatts of power generation equipment, 760000 sets of industrial robots, and 135.89 million vehicles. At the same time, the mechanical industry has initially formed a relatively complete modern industrial system. Currently, the domestic market share of China's machinery industry in terms of value has exceeded 85%, and the domestic market share of domestic machinery enterprises has also reached over 70%.
Without a sound industrial system, there can be no industrial security in our country. Relying on the advantages of the Chinese domestic market, the machinery industry has not only rapidly grown in scale, but also accelerated the development of a modern industrial system.
Continuous enhancement of innovation capability
多年发展经验表明，市场可以换技术，但市场换不来关键技术。自主创新，向关键设备和重大技术装备的技术高峰攀登，是我国机械工业数十年来的不懈追求。
上世纪六七十年代，机械工业自主设计制造了万吨水压机、九大设备等一批至今仍在发挥作用的重大装备，形成了“七事一贯制”的工作经验。1983年，国务院成立重大技术装备领导小组后，重大技术装备的发展一直是机械工业的重中之重。
新世纪以来，一批具有较高技术含量的重大技术装备陆续实现突破。自主设计制造的超超临界火电机组性能指标达到国际先进水平，风电设备已能批量生产具有世界先进水平的兆瓦级陆上风电机组，以华龙1号和CAP1400为代表的三代核电成套装备制造体系的成套设备的国产化率达85％以上；冲压设备企业制造的汽车覆盖件冲压线已跻身世界先进行列，出口到美国等发达国家；3000吨级履带式起重机、扬程百米以上的高压混凝土泵车等高端设备已居世界先进之列。
机械工业不仅供国内之需，而且大量产品出口到海外。这背后，离不开创新驱动战略的推动、行业技术创新体系的加强。一大批国家工程研究中心、国家工程技术研究中心和国家工程实验室陆续建成。据介绍，截至2020年底，机械工业6000多项科研成果获国家及行业科学技术奖，已挂牌运行和正在筹建的创新平台有241家。
不走创新驱动发展道路，新旧动能就不能顺利转换。把创新作为牵动经济社会发展全局的“牛鼻子”，是我国机械工业发展的动力之源。
国际地位稳步提升
据全球权威调研机构Off－Highway Research数据显示，2020年三一重工共销售98705台挖掘机，占据全球挖掘机市场15％的份额，一举夺得挖掘机全球销量冠军。这也是中国挖掘机产业历史上第一次站上全球销量榜首。
谁能想到，就在本世纪之初，国内挖掘机市场95％仍被国外品牌垄断，到如今国产挖掘机市场占有率达到90％以上。从产品与世界先进水平无法相比，到同台竞技甚至弯道超车，改革开放后，特别是进入新世纪以来，我国机械工业生产能力不断增强，规模实力日益强大，国际地位稳步提升。
机械工业许多重要产品已从新中国成立初期的少量生产或不能生产，跃居世界首位并多年保持第一。汽车、轿车、载重汽车、新能源汽车、摩托车、发电设备、输变电设备、变压器、电动机、机床、数控机床等，为国民经济发展和世界机械工业发展作出重要贡献。
越来越多的中国机械产品、机械工业企业开始走向世界。2020年，我国机械产品出口达到4670亿美元，是1953年的3.3万多倍。党的十八大以来，机械产品贸易顺差快速波动上升，至2020年顺差高达1494亿美元。同时，机械工业企业开展国际产能和装备制造合作的意识、能力和水平不断增强，已经成为国际市场竞争中的一支劲旅。
今天，中国机械工业的成绩令人振奋，但与世界先进水平仍存在明显差距，需要正视并采取有力措施，解决突出的短板。中国机械工业联合会主要负责人表示，“十四五”时期，机械工业要统筹发展和安全，推进产业基础高级化、产业链现代化；以推动高质量发展为主题，以深化供给侧结构性改革为主线，坚持创新驱动发展；贯彻落实制造强国战略部署，推动机械工业实现更高质量、更有效率、更可持续、更为安全的发展，为构建新发展格局提供有力的装备支撑。
Information source: Economic Daily
