Best discusses the current status and future evolution of the MIM industry
time:2023-05-09Views:1965 Author:Best Seiko
With the increasingly important status of Chinese manufacturing in the world, the factories of internationally renowned manufacturing companies in China have gradually transferred orders from foreign MIM companies to domestic MIM industries for production. However, due to the development level of Chinese MIM companies Because of the unevenness, it is difficult for more MIM product customers to distinguish the strength of the product development capabilities and mass production capabilities of domestic MIM companies. This article mainly analyzes the current status of the domestic MIM industry from this aspect, and puts forward its own views on the future evolution of the MIM industry from many years of front-line experience. At present, the binder technology of domestic MIM companies is divided into wax-based binder system (PW system) and polyoxymethylene binder system (POM system). The PW system is an earlier technology system in China, but the technical level is weaker than the POM system. In addition to a few domestic MIM companies with rich experience, the debonding principle, the degree of debonding equipment excellence and the quality stability of product mass production are effective. The ability of independent development and stable mass production, other enterprises are in technical difficulties. Such enterprises generally adopt a simple strategy of multi-development products and multi-middle selection (most MIM products are difficult to develop successfully and stable mass production). The adoption of this strategy will bear the following potential risks: 1. Due to low product development efficiency and success rate, high quality Customers will abandon the follow-up high-quality orders to such suppliers; 2. Development of multiple MIM products by themselves requires a large upfront investment. Since the average R&D investment for each product is 30,000-50,000 yuan, more difficult products may be more Up to 100,000-200,000 yuan, so such MIM companies must have a certain research and development reserve. 3. Compared with the new MIM enterprises adopting the POM system (MIM enterprises newly launched since 2006, except for a few enterprises, most of them adopt the POM system MIM production line with mature production technology), in terms of development capacity, mass production, and operating efficiency. There is a clear gap between them. Although PW has a certain cost advantage in terms of feeding cost, if combined with factors such as product production efficiency and quality stability, there is no advantage in overall cost. With the growing MIM market, the MIM industry will compete in the market like traditional industries, and it will open branches in major customers to respond to customers' JIT (Just In Time) requirements. In this case, compared with PW system, POM system has very obvious technical advantages due to its standardization of various processes and the stability of feeding system. Each technology from laboratory technology to industrialization will undergo four stages: "industry introduction period → high belt growth period → mature period → weakening period". MIM technology has been conducting laboratory technology research in China since 1985. From 1997 to 2000, the scientific research institutions represented by the May 3 Research Institute, Beijing Iron and Steel Research Institute and Central South University successively set up MIM companies as a symbol. The MIM industry has entered the "industry introduction period". In the next 5-6 years, Dozens of small-scale MIM enterprises with different MIM technology levels derived from the above scientific research institutions have appeared one after another. From 2000 to 2006, the industry's MIM enterprises have made continuous growth in the domestic MIM market through continuous efforts. After 2006, the MIM production system using polyoxymethylene binder feed (such as CATAMOLD polyoxymethylene feed from BASF, Germany) as a raw material has gradually become the mainstream technology for MIM project investment in China. At the same time, with JTC in 2006 Breakthroughs have been made in the localization of imported equipment and the localization of imported polyoxymethylene feed, which has solved the high feed cost that plagued the MIM production line of the POM system. Since then, the development trend of the MIM industry has become more rapid, and industry development has entered a "high-speed development period." After the MIM industry enters the "high-speed development period", there will be a large number of MIM companies investing in the previous period. After 3 to 5 years of development, the industry concentration phenomenon will appear again in the MIM industry. This should be the industry maturity The embodiment of MIM industry began to enter the "industry maturity". In this critical three-year to five-year "high-speed development period", companies investing in new MIM projects need to pay attention to the following points in order to put them in an advantageous position: 1. Choose a POM system MIM production line with a high degree of standardization; 2. Choose the MIM production line technology route that "rich practical experience" cannot play a central role in the operation process (because the production process of the PW system is unstable, it requires rich first-line practical experience to solve various problems. "Personnel-rich practical experience" is the key to the project investment, so the technical operation system of the project is relatively fragile, which will lead to the project "being up and down". 3. Select the MIM production line of the POM system with high production efficiency; 4. Choose to cooperate with professional organizations in the industry (such as JTC) to jointly deal with technical difficulties in the production process, which can not only quickly solve technical problems in product development and mass production, but also focus on customer service and market development. (In general, although MIM technology can choose a POM system MIM production line that is more suitable for large-scale production, compared with other traditional industries, MIM technology has a higher technical content and requires certain technical experience as a support for operations. <Influence MIM production line The factors of operation can be divided into common factors, important factors, key factors, and core factors according to their importance. "Many years of technical experience" is the core factor in the PW system MIM production line, and in the POM system MIM production line. 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