Through the meeting, on the one hand, we learned that national funding support for the ‘Three Bases’ has increased from 200 million yuan to 500 million yuan; on the other hand, we gained a clear understanding of the industry's recent development and can readjust our investment plans. At the same time, we can also identify a group of potential customers.” A relevant person in charge of Hubei New Torch Technology Co., Ltd. shared many thoughts in an interview with our newspaper.

　　On June 19, the National Machinery Industry “Three Bases” (basic components, basic manufacturing processes, and basic materials) Work Promotion Meeting, hosted by the China Machinery Industry Federation, was held in Wafangdian, Dalian. Wang Ruixiang, Deputy Director of the Proposal Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and President of the China Machinery Industry Federation, emphasized that this year is a critical year for the transformation and upgrading of the machinery industry, and the “strengthening the bases” strategy has become the central task of the entire industry.

　　The “Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan for the Basic Components, Basic Manufacturing Processes, and Basic Materials Industries” was officially released at the end of 2011. The plan proposed key development areas for the “Three Bases” industry. At the meeting, Wang Jianyu, Director of the Machinery Division of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the “Implementation Plan for Innovative Development of the ‘Three Bases’ Industry” has been compiled, but due to various reasons has not yet been released. The next step is to accelerate the development of the “Three Bases” innovation project, establish a third-party evaluation system as soon as possible, and promote the implementation of key tasks.

　　Build Innovation Platforms and Implement Key Breakthroughs

　　Although the implementation plan for innovative development of the “Three Bases” industry has not been released, it has already become an important basis and decision-making reference for the current development of the “Three Bases” industry in the machinery sector.

　　Wang Jianyu revealed that the plan was formulated to comprehensively enhance the development quality of the “Three Bases” industry and resolve the structural contradiction of a weak foundation in the equipment manufacturing industry. Its specific goals are: First, comprehensively improve the industry's technological level and achieve breakthroughs in core technologies and industrialization technologies for a batch of key basic components, basic manufacturing processes, and basic materials. The performance and reliability of basic components will be significantly improved. Product service life will increase by 30% to 40%. The control level and stability of basic manufacturing processes will be greatly improved. The situation in which small-batch, high-performance materials required for industry development mainly rely on imports must be somewhat alleviated.

　　Second, build a specialized, large-scale supporting system with a high technological starting point that is coordinated with host development. The supporting capacity for basic components required by major equipment must be increased to over 75%. The level of basic manufacturing processes will be comprehensively improved. Basic materials required for high-end large-scale and precision castings and forgings and major equipment will basically meet domestic demand. The organizational structure of the “Three Bases” industry will become increasingly rational. Key basic components supporting national key projects and major equipment will basically be based on independent research, development, and manufacturing.

　　Third, modern manufacturing models will be promoted and applied, and digital R&D and design processes, green manufacturing processes, and equipment will be popularized and applied. The level of digitalization of production equipment and intelligence of production processes will be comprehensively improved, and the pace of product upgrading will accelerate. The utilization rate of raw materials and the energy consumption and pollution emissions per qualified product will decrease significantly. Labor productivity will reach the international advanced level and maintain growth.

　　Wang Jianyu stated that because “Three Bases” products involve a wide range of professional knowledge, complex technologies, and a weak industrial technology foundation, it is necessary to adopt the policy of specific scope, limited objectives, selective support, and concentrated breakthroughs. In the next step, regarding policy implementation, a operational model for key projects will be piloted. For example, establish an innovation consortium with the project undertaking unit as the main body, related units as cooperation partners, and service platforms as technical support. Industry associations, taking the “Three Bases” innovation project as the main line, will select key projects, establish innovation development consortia, and urge consortium units to organize and implement the innovation project well.

　　Consolidate the Industrial Foundation and Get Rid of Import Dependence

　　“A weak foundation has become the biggest shortcoming constraining the development of China's machinery industry,” Wang Ruixiang pointed out.

　　In terms of innovation, at present, the average contribution rate of new products in China's “Three Bases” industry is 5.9%, only one-tenth of that in industrially developed countries. High-end components required for major equipment and host products mainly rely on imports, large high-quality castings and forgings and special-purpose materials have a high degree of foreign dependence, and the development of core and key products cannot meet requirements.

　　The degree of foreign technology dependence of the “Three Bases” industry averages below 30% in developed countries, below 5% in the United States and Japan, but above 50% in China. Overall, some host machines and complete sets of equipment have hidden risks of “hollowing out.” For example, in the field of general fasteners, high-end high-strength fasteners used in automobiles, aerospace, rail transit, and high-speed railway trains, and stainless steel fasteners used in fine chemicals and petrochemical refining for high temperature and high pressure, largely rely on imports.

　　In terms of product quality and reliability, the contradiction of overcapacity at the low end and insufficient high-end supply capacity in China's “Three Bases” products is prominent. The service life of many domestic basic components is only one-third to two-thirds that of similar foreign products.

　　In terms of production processes and basic equipment, the low equipment level of thermal processing enterprises is particularly prominent; less than 1% of enterprises nationwide have equipment conditions equivalent to those of enterprises in developed countries. Forging processing is mostly based on manual and traditional equipment; high-precision and high-efficiency cold extrusion hydraulic presses, servo presses, high-speed punches, etc., are still in the early stages of development in China. The gap between domestic and international advanced levels in online measurement and computer-aided measurement for mold processing and enterprise management is more than 15 years.

　　Wang Ruixiang emphasized that accelerating the resolution of the structural contradiction of insufficient high-end and excess low-end caused by the serious interweaving of low-level capacity expansion and homogenization tendencies in the “Three Bases” industry, and reversing the passive situation caused by imitation and tracking in technology R&D and the difficulty of breaking through high-end core key products, have become urgent tasks for the transformation and upgrading of the “Three Bases” industry.

　　Regarding the focus of the next stage of work on strengthening the foundations of the machinery industry, Wang Ruixiang pointed out that, on the one hand, the entire industry should further unify its thinking, firmly establish the development concept of “equal emphasis on host machines and components,” handle the relationship between stabilizing growth and strengthening the foundation, and in terms of high-end mechanical basic components, accelerate the R&D of 11 categories of mechanical basic components such as high-speed, precision, and heavy-duty bearings, conquer key core technologies, achieve major breakthroughs in localization, and strive to approach or reach the international advanced level.

　　In terms of basic manufacturing processes, focus on developing 6 categories of advanced and green manufacturing processes, reduce energy and material consumption, improve the environment, improve product quality and efficiency, promote the application of advanced and green processing technology and equipment, promote the improvement of enterprise informatization levels and manufacturing processing quality and precision levels, and strive to achieve breakthroughs in 15 landmark basic manufacturing processes as soon as possible.

　　In terms of basic materials, the development focus is on high-quality structural materials and process materials required for key basic components. It is necessary to actively explore new models of production-demand cooperation, promote close cooperation between upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and form an effective supply chain. Actively encourage qualified host machine users to participate in development, use the overall advantages of the industry-university-research system, and strive to achieve breakthroughs in R&D and industrialization of special materials urgently needed for machinery foundations.