China’s automobile industry has gained a rapid development. In 2009, annual output reached 13.79 million. And China is one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world. However, some important parts such as bush bearings, axle guides, thrust washers, and auto mold parts mainly depend on imports which bring a golden opportunity and a big challenge for Chinese bearing manufacturers and the automotive mold manufacturing industry.
At present, China’s resource-efficient bearing manufacturing technology, which is an independent intellectual property, is more material-efficient and energy-efficient than conventional bi-metal bearing manufacturing technology. It requires less investment and less usage of equipments. Thus, it is an excellent opportunity for development. Until the end of the patent license of “Automotive mold self-lubricating composite metal embossing die V block” in 2009, China had completed the restructuring of the traditional and existing sintering bi-metal manufacturing technology of sliding bearing through twenty years’ accumulation and efforts. And then China realized the form of making various categories of bearings made of steel – copper alloys. There are bushing bearings, thrust bearings, sliding bearings with special shapes, and sliding bearings with solid lubrication, etc.
The rate of utilization of the steel and copper alloy materials has reached nearly one hundred percent. Since then, the manufacture of sliding bearings have changed from the rough shaping of the material removal into a net shape processing which has high efficiency, light weight, and low-cost and so on. The method of making clean shapes helps save material and energy so that it can provide sliding bearing accessories for the development of China’s automotive industry.
The automatic mold industry is known as “the mother of the automotive industry.” To some extent, the mold industry is a sign to measure the level of development of car manufacturers or even the national automotive industry. Despite years of development, China’s automotive mold technology and capabilities have made a lot of progress, still lagging behind in the world’s automotive manufacturing industry. According to statistics, about 90% of automatic prints are not “Made in China”. And most luxury car molds depend on imports.
There are many suggestions to follow: first, create a resource-efficient sliding bearing manufacturing industry with independent intellectual property. This is not only in accordance with national policy, but also in line with policies for important parts of the development of the Chinese car industry. In addition, this is an important choice for the development of the automotive parts manufacturing industry.
Second, we must take the opportunity of domestication of automotive parts to lay a solid foundation for the revival of our own car brand.
