Abstract:Ball screws play a vital role in the high-end equipment manufacturing industry. Due to its advantages in transmission accuracy, efficiency, life, etc., ball screws are widely used in CNC machine tools, robots, aerospace and other fields. With the rapid development of these fields, the demand for ball screws is also increasing. At the same time, domestic ball screw manufacturers are also constantly improving in terms of technology research and development, production scale, etc., providing more high-quality products and services for the market, which further promotes the growth of the ball screw market. Data shows that from 2019 to 2022, the size of China's ball screw market showed a growing trend, increasing from US$3.5 billion in 2019 to US$4.75 billion in 2022.
1. Definitions and Classification
Ball screws are ideal for converting rotary motion into linear motion, or for converting linear motion into rotary motion. It is mainly composed of screw, nut, steel ball, pre-pressed sheet, reverser, and dust preventer. At present, according to different characteristics and applications, ball screws can be divided into four categories: self-lubricating ball screws, silent ball screws, high-speed ball screws and heavy-duty ball screws.
Second, industry policies
1. Competent authorities and regulatory system
The ball screw industry adopts a management system that combines the macro-control of government functional departments with the self-discipline and norms of industry associations. The competent authority of the industry is the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is mainly responsible for formulating industrial plans and industrial policies and organizing their implementation, guiding the formulation of technical regulations and industry standards for the industrial industry; is responsible for macro guidance for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, and formulating relevant policies and measures to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of the state-owned economy in conjunction with relevant departments; and carries out planning, policy and standard formulation and organization and implementation of high-tech industries involving high-end manufacturing and new materials, as well as monitoring the daily operation of industry.
The internal self-discipline management organization of the ball screw industry is the China Machinery Industry Federation, which is mainly responsible for investigating and researching the economic operation and enterprise development of the machinery industry, reflecting the opinions and requirements of industry enterprises to the government, and providing suggestions and consulting services for government departments to formulate industry technical and economic policies, trade policies and industry structure adjustment; Members and social intermediary organizations provide industry development guidance and industry information services.
2. Industry-related policies
Ball screw is a commonly used transmission element in industrial precision machinery, and it is the core component of CNC machine tools. In recent years, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other national departments have continuously implemented relevant policies to promote the development of high-end equipment manufacturing industry, thereby providing strong support for the development of the ball screw industry. In February 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments issued the "Action Plan for the Development of Intelligent Testing Equipment Industry (2023-2025)", proposing that by 2025, intelligent detection technology will basically meet the needs of manufacturing processes in the user field, the supply capacity of core components, special software and complete machine equipment will be significantly improved, and the demonstration and large-scale application of intelligent testing equipment in key areas will achieve remarkable results, and the industrial ecology will be initially formed, basically meeting the development needs of intelligent manufacturing.
Third, the development process
Ball screws originated at the end of the 19th century, and in 1940, the United States first used ball screws for automobile steering devices, making them officially commercialized. In 1952, the first CNC machine was introduced, which provided the power for the specialized production of ball screws. In 1970, various types of planetary ball screw products from major manufacturers in Europe and the United States matured. At present, ball screws are gradually evolving to "high-speed, high-precision and high-reliability transmission", and the main share of the high-end market is occupied by European and American brands. Domestic ball screws started late, and only began to carry out a large number of ball screw-related research in the 50s of the 20th century, and developed the first set of ball screw pairs in mainland China in 1964. With the strong support of national policies, the rapid development of ball screws in mainland China, and the domestic manufacturing standards in 1991 have been fully in line with international standards. At present, the low-end products in the mainland have basically the same as similar overseas competing products, while there is still a significant gap between high-end products and overseas giants, which also leads to a high degree of dependence on foreign high-end products. It is expected that with the strong support of national policies in the future, the localization rate of ball screws will continue to increase.
Fourth, industry barriers
1. Technical barriers
Ball screw is a high-end precision transmission component, and its manufacture requires a high degree of technical accumulation and process control. There are high technical requirements in materials, heat treatment, processing and assembly, etc., which require enterprises to have corresponding technical strength and experience. In addition, ball screws are widely used, involving CNC machine tools, automated production lines, medical equipment and other high-end equipment fields. The high technical content in these fields requires enterprises to have high technical reserves and innovation capabilities. As a result, new entrants will face high technical barriers.
2. Financial barriers
The production of ball screws requires a large amount of capital investment, and the production of ball screws requires precision processing equipment and testing equipment, but due to the high price of these equipment, enterprises need to have greater financial strength. At the same time, ball screw enterprises of a certain scale need to continue to invest in research and development and improve their technical level in order to form their core competitiveness. In addition, companies need to spend a lot of money on marketing, supply chain construction, etc., so new entrants will face high financial barriers.
3. Brand barriers
Ball screw is a high-precision, high-quality transmission element, and its brand and quality have an important impact on the working efficiency and service life of mechanical equipment. In a highly competitive market environment, brand recognition and reputation have become an important identification for enterprises to distinguish their own products from competitors' products, but because it takes a long time and large investment to establish brand recognition and reputation, it is difficult for new entrants to establish brand recognition and reputation in a short period of time, thus forming a higher brand barrier.
Fifth, the industrial chain
1. Analysis of the industry chain
From the perspective of the industrial chain of the ball screw industry, the upstream refers to the raw materials and parts of the ball screw, mainly including steel, lead screw, nut, ball, etc., the midstream refers to the manufacture of ball screw, and the downstream refers to the ball screw application field, mainly including CNC machine tools, robots, aerospace, injection molding machines, intelligent vehicles, intelligent manufacturing, etc.
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