China SKD61 Automotive Mold
In fact, the establishment of China's automobile mold industry can be traced back to the beginning of the development of China's automobile industry. FAW, Dongfeng, and other vehicle companies all had supporting mold factories at that time, but the molds produced were only for the purpose of self-sufficiency. In addition, according to Chang Shiping, Deputy General Manager of Tianjin Automotive Mold Co., Ltd., before 2000, the "old three types" model had been unified in the Chinese automotive market for many years, limiting the pace of automotive enterprises to innovate, and the development of the automotive mold industry was naturally constrained. Moreover, in the era of car profits, the development cost of car molds can be almost negligible. Therefore, multinational corporations are more willing to import automotive molds.
With the increasing demand in China's mold market year by year, on the basis of existing large state-owned enterprises such as FAW, Dongfeng, Tianqi, and Chengfei, some private, joint venture, and even foreign-owned enterprises have also flooded in, resulting in an annual sales revenue of about 3 billion yuan for molds in China. It is understood that over 50% of the mold and fixture equipment required for over ten new car models launched in China in the past three years have been developed and manufactured by Chinese enterprises. At present, some backbone enterprises in China have undertaken the development of some of the most complex complete vehicle molds for B-class sedans, and have achieved the ability to transition from local components and mid to low-end sedan molds to full vehicle components and mid to high-end sedan molds.
Chang Shiping believes that in addition to actively developing automotive molds in China, multinational corporations objectively contribute to the rapid development of the overall level. From the trend of the international car market, the price reduction of automobiles is still continuing, touching the nerves of every complete vehicle enterprise. Although the automotive mold industry in Europe and America has a high level of technology, its profit margin is constantly shrinking due to the decrease in car prices, resulting in insufficient development momentum and a significant decline in recent years. In order to minimize costs as much as possible, many European, American, and Japanese companies have begun to shift their mold development outward in order to seek further development.
Due to the close connection between vehicle and mold production, as well as the huge automotive market in China, multinational companies such as Toyota and Volkswagen have been attracted to establish their own mold production plants in China. This not only significantly reduces costs, but also ensures their high technical requirements for molds.
There is still a gap with international standards
Chu Kexin, Chairman of the China Mold Industry Association and General Manager of FAW Mold Manufacturing Co., Ltd., put forward his own views on the current problems in the industry. He said that according to the international development situation, automotive molds have entered a stage of specialization and standardization. The automotive molds in developed countries are mainly provided by professional manufacturers, with a commercialization rate of over 70%. There are also a large number of professional enterprises producing standard mold parts, providing hundreds of standard parts. At present, China's mold production capacity is mostly concentrated in the mold branches established by various vehicle factories, and some even directly built in the vehicle factories. The self production and self matching rate is still as high as 70%, and standard parts are mostly arranged by a mold enterprise. Improving the commercialization rate of molds as soon as possible and accelerating the production and supply of standard parts will be the top priority for the future development of molds in China.
