Interpretation of “Made in China 2025”: Promoting the Development of High-End CNC Machine Tools

　　“Made in China 2025” identifies CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment as “strategic areas that must be accelerated to achieve breakthroughs.” It emphasizes the need to strengthen forward-looking planning and achieve breakthroughs in key technologies, proactively seize opportunities in future technological and industrial competition, and elevate our position in the global division of labor and enhance our voice in international discourse. The formulation of this strategic goal is determined by the strategic characteristics and stage-specific features of the CNC machine tool and basic manufacturing equipment industries. We should earnestly study and grasp its essence, and thoroughly implement it in practice.

　　1. CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment possess industrial characteristics that are strategically crucial and highly competitive.

　　1. Anchoring China’s equipment manufacturing industry’s global competitive position

　　CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment are the “mother machines” of the equipment manufacturing industry. The technological level and product quality of a country’s machine tool industry serve as important indicators for gauging its overall development in equipment manufacturing. In “Made in China 2025,” the CNC machine tool and basic manufacturing equipment industries have been identified as one of the strategic areas of critical competition for China’s manufacturing sector. The primary reason for this designation lies in their “anchoring” role in determining a country’s position within the global division of labor, particularly in the manufacturing sector and especially in equipment manufacturing: CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment form the foundation for value creation in manufacturing and serve as the pivotal point for industrial upgrading. They are also at the heart of building fundamental manufacturing capabilities. Only by possessing robust foundational manufacturing capabilities can a country produce advanced equipment products and thereby achieve the manufacture of high-value goods.

　　2. Strategic needs supporting national defense and industrial security

　　In the realm of national defense and security, CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment hold strategic significance that transcends mere economic value in the production of advanced defense equipment. Many critical components in modern defense systems feature materials, structures, and manufacturing processes that are highly specialized and pose significant processing challenges. These requirements cannot be met using conventional machining equipment or traditional manufacturing techniques; instead, multi-axis linkage, high-speed, and high-precision CNC machine tools are essential to satisfy the stringent processing demands. Even in today’s globally integrated world, developed countries continue to impose technological blockades and restrictions on China. In terms of industrial security, as China’s domestic manufacturing sector accelerates its upgrade, industries characterized by high technological content and high added value—such as equipment manufacturing—are facing increasingly fierce competition from developed nations. Construction machinery, electrical machinery, and transportation equipment are currently at a critical juncture in their efforts to penetrate high-end international markets. However, domestically produced machine tools still lag behind in several key areas—including machining accuracy, reliability, efficiency, automation, intelligence, and environmental friendliness—resulting in an overall weaker industrial competitiveness.

　　3. An important support for meeting the needs of users’ domain transformation and upgrading.

　　Currently, the downstream user demand structure in the machine tool industry is showing a trend toward high-end development. Many industries are undergoing extensive and profound structural adjustments and upgrades, creating an urgent need for machine tools that feature high quality and advanced technological levels. Overall, market demand for mid- to high-end CNC machine tools is rising rapidly, with users increasingly seeking CNC machines that offer high speed, high precision, multi-functionality, flexibility, multi-axis linkage, intelligence, high rigidity, and high power. For example, the automotive industry is demonstrating a development trend characterized by large-scale production, diversified product lines, and rapid model updates. The accelerated growth of new-energy vehicles is driving the demand for processing equipment that continues to evolve toward greater precision, efficiency, and intelligence. In the aerospace industry, driven by the sharp increase in demand for civil aircraft and the generational advancement of military aircraft, next-generation aircraft are evolving toward lighter weight, higher reliability, longer service life, enhanced stealth capabilities, multiple configurations, rapid response, and low-cost manufacturing. These emerging technologies urgently require more advanced machining equipment to support them, prompting aerospace manufacturing equipment to move toward automation, flexibility, digitalization, and intelligence. For instance, in the "Two-Aircraft Special Project," which aims to achieve breakthroughs in aircraft engine manufacturing, typical components such as engine blades, entire engine casings, and bladed disks are gradually shifting toward larger dimensions, more complex surface geometries, lighter structures, and higher manufacturing precision. In particular, the widespread use of new lightweight materials—such as high-strength, high-temperature-resistant alloys—has led to increasingly complex geometric configurations and difficult-to-machine features in these integral structural parts. This poses new and higher demands on CNC machine tools capable of delivering high torque and exceptional precision. Furthermore, for large structural components of gas turbines and for large-scale equipment requiring mobile or portable multi-axis CNC systems for remote maintenance, the approach of using small, reconfigurable, base-free machine tools to process large workpieces presents even greater challenges to the structural design, process specifications, and energy-efficient machining technologies of next-generation CNC equipment.

　　4. It is a strategic high ground for the new technological revolution.

　　The elements of the new round of technological revolution—such as intelligent manufacturing, the energy internet, and next-generation information technology innovations—provide a driving force for technological breakthroughs in China’s equipment manufacturing industry. They also offer a massive market opportunity, particularly for high-end equipment manufacturing. The machine tool industry serves as an important intersection of information technology and industrial technology; it is highly sensitive to new technologies and acts as a major source for the diffusion of emerging technologies. Driven by the wave of the new technological revolution, the machine tool industry is witnessing a clear trend toward integrated innovation. World-leading companies are accelerating the integration of new technologies into the machine tool sector, and networked and intelligent technologies are being increasingly incorporated into machine tool products. An increasing number of internationally renowned machine tool component manufacturers and complete-machine enterprises are speeding up the integration of new technologies into CNC machine tools.

　　5. The strategic fulcrum for the global manufacturing landscape adjustment

　　As we enter the post-crisis era, developed economies are increasingly focusing on the development of their own real economies: some are continuously promoting the integrated development of emerging technologies to drive the high-end transformation of industrial technologies; others are restructuring industrial value chains to bring more high-value-added production and manufacturing links—and the corresponding job opportunities—back home. The United States has successively launched initiatives such as the "Advanced Manufacturing Partnership" and the "National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing," aimed at fostering advanced manufacturing and technology. Germany has unveiled its Industry 4.0 blueprint, which centers on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and leverages smart factories as its key platform, positioning Industry 4.0 as the technological foundation for a new round of industrial revolution. Japan has released a blueprint for industrial structure, identifying ten cutting-edge technology sectors and using these as a basis to strengthen its domestic manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, regions such as the United Kingdom, South Korea, India, and Taiwan in China have also introduced proactive strategies and policies to accelerate the integration of emerging technologies into equipment industries, including CNC machine tools. The machine tool industry has long been a critical strategic focus for major countries and leading enterprises. As the global manufacturing landscape undergoes significant shifts and adjustments—particularly in high-strategic industries such as automotive, aerospace, and high-end equipment manufacturing—the machine tool industry will serve as an important strategic fulcrum, playing a pivotal role in shaping future competitiveness. Therefore, China should place greater emphasis on the machine tool industry, proactively plan for key strategic areas, and secure a favorable position in the global manufacturing competition.

　　II. The trend of industrial upgrading is evident.

　　1. Break through key core technologies and develop a batch of landmark products.

　　In the aerospace field, we have independently developed heavy-duty forging and pressing equipment such as an 800-MN large-scale die-forging press and a 120-MN aluminum alloy plate tension stretching machine. These developments have filled a domestic gap in the technology for the integral forming of large, critical aerospace components, providing strong support for the next-generation development of military aircraft and the design and manufacture of large commercial airliners. Among these achievements, the 800-MN large-scale die-forging press has already enabled the integral forming of more than 30 types of key titanium alloy components for the aerospace industry. Furthermore, the high-quality aluminum alloy thick plates produced by the 120-MN-class aluminum alloy wide and thick plate tension stretching machine have been applied to primary load-bearing structural components such as aircraft wings, thereby breaking China's reliance on imported aluminum alloy thick plates for large aircraft.

　　In the automotive manufacturing sector, a large-scale, high-speed, and highly efficient CNC fully automated stamping production line has won bulk orders for production lines at U.S. auto assembly plants in international bidding competitions against world-class companies, earning recognition and respect from its international peers. Currently, this automotive body panel stamping line holds over 70% of the domestic market share in China and has exceeded 30% of the global market share, thereby strongly promoting the localization and self-reliance of China’s automotive equipment industry.

　　In the field of power-generation equipment, a 36,000-ton black vertical metal extrusion press has enabled the domestically produced, high-end heat-resistant steel large-diameter, thick-walled seamless steel pipes—essential for 1,000 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power units—to be manufactured independently. A large-scale open-type heat treatment facility has produced Asia’s largest forged rotor forgings for nuclear power plants, establishing a mass-production capability for large rotors. Furthermore, specialized heavy-duty CNC vertical turning and milling composite machines, CNC heavy-duty bridge-type five-axis linkage turning and milling composite machines, ultra-heavy-duty CNC floor-standing milling and boring machines, ultra-heavy-duty CNC horizontal boring and turning lathes, and dedicated CNC axial groove milling machines—all developed specifically for third-generation nuclear power plant reactor and conventional island equipment—have successfully addressed challenging machining tasks related to nuclear pressure vessels, crane baskets, heat exchangers, turbine casings, and generator rotors. These machines have already been installed and put into operation on multiple nuclear power equipment units.

　　2. Optimize and adjust the product structure, and steadily improve the technological level.

　　First, the level of mid- to high-end equipment has been rapidly improving. Currently, more than 10 types of equipment—including large-scale automotive body-in-white automatic stamping lines—have reached internationally leading levels and are fully capable of replacing imported products. Over 20 product categories, such as high-speed gantry five-axis machining centers, have essentially attained advanced international standards and are now able to substitute for imported counterparts. Precision horizontal machining centers have developed core technologies for flexible manufacturing systems with independent intellectual property rights. High-speed and multi-task CNC machining centers in the high-end segment have completed phased R&D, though they still lag somewhat behind international advanced levels in terms of functional performance and reliability. Second, the advancement of CNC systems is progressing steadily. China has made significant strides in the research and development of mid- to high-end CNC systems. Since 2010, over 35,000 domestically produced mid- to high-end CNC systems have been successfully applied in key sectors such as aerospace, energy, shipbuilding, and automotive, achieving import substitution. A series of high-performance CNC systems featuring multi-channel and multi-axis linkage have broken foreign technological monopolies; their key technical indicators have largely reached the level of mainstream international high-end CNC systems, enabling them to power a wide range of high-speed and precision CNC machine tools. High-end CNC systems have begun small-scale applications in major defense enterprises. Standardized CNC systems that have been developed have entered mass production, increasing their domestic market share from 10% to 25%. Several industrialization bases have emerged, among which Guangzhou CNC Equipment Co., Ltd. has established a production capacity of 100,000 CNC systems per year, ranking second globally in output. China’s CNC systems have initially acquired the capability to compete with similar foreign products and have started exporting CNC systems on a large scale. From 2010 to 2014, the cumulative export volume of various CNC systems exceeded 9,600 sets, including nearly 700 sets of five-axis linkage CNC systems. Finally, the quality of functional components has been steadily improving, and their product portfolios continue to expand and diversify. Domestic functional components are now being mass-produced and matched with machine tool mainframes; tool products have largely acquired the capacity to supply modern cutting tools for the automotive industry. The demonstration and mass production of CNC systems, functional components, and tools alongside CNC machine tool mainframes are helping to form a complete industrial chain and driving structural adjustments within the machine tool industry.

　　3. Independent innovation has been significantly enhanced, ensuring sustainable development.

　　In recent years, research on the foundational and common technologies for machine tool manufacturing has been continuously strengthened, with product development and technological research advancing in parallel. The maturity of several key technologies—such as reliability design and performance testing for machine tool products, as well as multi-axis linkage machining technology—has significantly improved. Research findings in digital design technology have been put into practical application in the design of high-precision CNC coordinate boring machines and vertical machining centers. Moreover, software and hardware systems—including real-time dynamic comprehensive compensation for multiple errors and embedded CNC system error compensation—have undergone demonstration applications across multiple enterprises and product lines, leading to a noticeable enhancement in the precision of CNC machine tools.

　　III. The path to high-end industrial development is long and arduous.

　　China’s machine tool industry occupies an important position in the global machine tool industrial system and the global machine tool market, yet it still cannot be considered a powerhouse in the field of machine tools. Compared with the world’s leading machine tool nations, China’s machine tool industry still has certain gaps, particularly in terms of competitiveness in the mid-to-high-end segment. Moreover, influenced by complex domestic and international economic conditions, China’s machine tool industry is returning to a “new normal,” making it imperative to accelerate the industry’s transformation and upgrading toward the mid- to high-end sectors.

　　1. International competitiveness remains to be enhanced.

　　According to statistics from the consulting firm Gardener, in the global machine tool market, China's machine tool exports in 2014 totaled 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for less than 5% of the world's total machine tool consumption. By contrast, Japan and Germany each accounted for more than 10%. Meanwhile, a significant portion of domestically needed mid- and high-end CNC machine tools still relies on imports—for instance, in the automotive sector, imported equipment accounts for over 40%.

　　2. The development of key components in the machine tool industry urgently needs to be strengthened.

　　Domestically produced functional components—whether in terms of variety, quantity, or quality level—cannot yet meet the requirements for supporting main equipment. The market share of domestically produced mid-range functional components still has room for improvement; high-end products largely rely on imports. The competitiveness of the supporting functional components industry needs to be rapidly enhanced.

　　3. Process validation and demonstration applications need to be further strengthened.

　　From prototype development to actual production application, CNC machine tools require extensive experimental verification and continuous improvement in areas such as manufacturing processes, reliability and precision retention, and engineering implementation. At the same time, process validation by end-users is also essential. However, process validation and application demonstrations remain a weak link in the development of China's CNC machine tool industry.

　　4. Pressure from industrial development remains persistently high.

　　Global machine tool production and consumption continue to show a shrinking trend. According to data released by the U.S.-based Gardner Company, global machine tool consumption in 2014 totaled $75.3 billion, representing an increase of only 0.3% over 2013. Global machine tool production has declined for three consecutive years, with the global output value falling to $81.2 billion in 2014—a decrease of 3.1% compared to the previous year. China’s CNC machine tool industry continues to face sustained pressure and remains in a downward trend overall. In 2014, domestic metalworking machine tool production fell by 2% year-on-year; among them, cutting machine tool production dropped by 1.7%, while metal forming machine tool production declined by 3.3%. At the same time, domestic demand for imported machine tools has not declined but has instead risen. In 2014, total imports of machine tools reached $17.78 billion, up 10.8% year-on-year. Of this amount, imports of metalworking machine tools totaled $10.83 billion, an increase of 7.6% over the previous year. This indicates that the domestic machine tool industry is struggling to meet the high-end demands of enterprises. The domestic machine tool sector is facing a double burden of cyclical and structural pressures, and there is an urgent need to find new breakthroughs for its development.

　　IV. Accelerate the implementation of a strategic approach aimed at driving significant transformation and strengthening the industry.

　　1. Focus development on leveraging our competitive advantages.

　　Based on enhancing the independent innovation capabilities and market competitiveness of domestically produced CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment, we will focus superior resources on the two key sectors— aerospace and automotive—concentrating on core equipment and critical technologies. Our primary goal is to address the bottlenecks in key technologies such as the performance reliability, stability, and completeness of the developed equipment.

　　2. Promote demonstration applications of advanced products

　　Increase investment in user-demand-driven demonstration bases that are representative and capable of centrally validating the application and implementation of key technologies and core equipment for machine tools and fundamental manufacturing equipment. Selectively support comprehensive, highly flexible, and intelligent projects that are strongly market-oriented, with a particular focus on enhancing the efficiency and intelligence of equipment.

　　3. Meet the new strategic needs of the nation.

　　Accelerate the development of CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment to meet the needs of national strategic development. Further concentrate on core equipment for key national projects, develop major products, and achieve breakthroughs in critical technologies. Strive to enhance the technological level of CNC equipment and break free from the constraints imposed by our reliance on imports for strategically important equipment.

　　4. Build a complete machine tool supporting industry chain.

　　Encourage and support enterprises across the industrial chain—such as those involved in CNC machine tools, basic manufacturing equipment mainframes, CNC systems, and functional components—to establish long-term, stable strategic partnerships. Foster enduring supply relationships between CNC systems, functional components, and machine tool manufacturers, thereby building a complete and integrated supply chain for CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment.