China Bearing Development Essay: Infinite Flashes on the Road

China is one of the first countries in the world to invent rolling bearings. Judging from archaeological relics and materials, China's oldest bearings with modern rolling bearing structure prototypes appeared in Xuejiaya Village, Yongji County, Shanxi Province, from 221 to 207 BC (Qin Dynasty). In the year 1280 (Yuan Dynasty), cylindrical rolling bearings were also used on ancient Chinese astronomical instruments. Although China has historically been at the forefront of world civilization in the field of rolling bearing technology, it is very backward in the old Chinese bearing industry. Since the founding of New China, especially since the 1970s, under the strong push of reform and opening up, the bearing industry has entered a new era of high quality and rapid development. In the 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the bearing industry in China has achieved brilliant achievements that have attracted worldwide attention!

Bearings (referred to as "rolling bearings") are widely used and demanding parts and components for the mechanical industry. They are called mechanical joints. Due to the wide range of applications, the variety and complexity of bearing types are determined. Due to strict requirements, the importance of bearing quality and performance is determined. The bearing manufacturing industry is a precision basic part manufacturing industry, its accuracy is measured in 0.001 millimeters (mm), and the manufacturing tolerance of general mechanical parts is generally only 0.01mm. The noise and vibration of the motor largely depend on the quality of the bearing; the swing and temperature rise of the spindle of the high-precision machine tool are closely related to the quality of the bearing. The bearing performance in the de-rotation device of a communication satellite directly affects the communication effect; failure of key bearings in aerospace and aviation can cause serious accidents. In a word, the precision, performance, longevity, reliability, and various economic indicators of the mainframes in various fields such as industry, agriculture, national defense, science and technology, and household appliances are closely related to the bearings, and the development of the bearing industry is also related. China's major technical equipment manufacturing level and mechanical equipment export capacity.

Bearings are playing an increasingly important role in the national economy and national defense construction. Before the establishment of new China, the bearing manufacturing industry was almost blank. Bearings required for mechanical equipment support and maintenance are basically dependent on imports. At the time, there were only some bearing factories and shops in Wafangdian, Liaoning, and Shenyang, Shanghai, and Changzhi, Shanxi Province. However, there was not a single factory capable of independently producing four components of bearings (internal casing, rolling elements, and cages). In 1949, the annual bearing capacity of the country was only 138,000 sets. Over the past 50 years since the establishment of China, the bearing industry has developed rapidly. The number of bearing types has grown from low to high, product quality and technological level have been from low to high, and industry scale has grown from small to large.

The development history of the bearing industry can be roughly divided into three stages:

(1) The foundation laying phase (1949-1957)

Wafangdian Bearing Factory resumed production in 1949 and became China's first independent bearing manufacturer. During the period of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Wafangdian Bearing Factory moved part of the company to Harbin in the north and completed the construction of the Harbin Bearing Plant in April 1951 and put it into production. In 1953, Shanghai's bearing industry formed Qin Fuxing Axle Collar Factory, Shanggong Bearing Factory, Rongtai New Machinery Factory and Jinxing Iron Works' 4 central factories and more than 10 satellite factories. With the aid of the former Soviet Union, Luoyang Bearing Factory, one of the 156 key projects in the country, broke ground and started construction in the end of March 1954. In 1957, it began trial production of 136,000 ordinary bearings. At this point, China's bearing industry Wafangdian, Harbin, Luoyang, Shanghai, the four major production bases initially formed, laid the foundation for the development of bearing manufacturing. In 1957, the national bearing output exceeded 10 million for the first time.

(B) The formation phase of the system (1958-1977)

This stage is in the period of development of the five five-year plans for the national "1st-five" to "fifth-five" period, bringing new opportunities to the bearing industry. In the mid-term of “1·5th”, Luoyang Bearing Factory passed the national inspection and acceptance in July 1958 and was successfully completed and put into production. The Shanghai bearing industry began to form a bearing industrial base with local characteristics; Wafangdian and Harbin Bearing Factory are substantial and complete, achieving greater development of. At the same time, Luoyang Bearing Research Institute, the Tenth Design and Research Institute, and other scientific research and factory design institutes directly under the Ministry of Construction were established. In this period, the bearing manufacturing industry has developed new products for key hosts. It has begun to produce needle-joint bearings, magneto-magnetic bearings, spindle bearings and precision bearings for automotive universal joints, and trial-produced railway locomotives, rolling mills, and heavy machinery. Some of the necessary bearings for the main engine, oil industry and aviation generators, tanks, etc.

During the "2/5" period, in order to adapt to the development of agricultural mechanization, 38 bearing factories (points) were built in Chengdu, Hangzhou, Hefei, Wuxi, Jinan, Yantai, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming and Changsha. The first peak period of development of China's bearing industry. These bearing factories have since become the key enterprises in all provinces and cities.

During the “3rd and 5th” period, that is, from the mid-1960s onwards, the investment in the construction of China's bearing industry was focused on the third-line regions far from coastal industrial development. In the third-line construction, successively in the southwest, northwest and central south regions, a number of bearing plants were built in Guizhou Hongshan, Guiyang, Lanzhou, Gansu Hailin, Shaanxi Haihong, Ningxia Northwest, Qinghai Haishan and Hubei Xiangyang, further improving the enterprise. Layout. Among them, Xiangyang Bearing Factory is mainly engaged in the production of automotive bearings. In the “fourth five-year” period of the “fourth five-year” period, the bearing industry was able to meet the demand of “the top of the big mines” and the second automobile factory developed synchronously. Emerging automotive bearing production base.

A group of local medium and small bearing factories have also been established one after another, forming the second peak period of China's bearing industry. In the climax of the establishment of factories in the early 1970s, the country has more than 600 rolling bearing manufacturers. During this period, short cylindrical roller bearings, spherical roller bearings, tapered roller bearings have developed rapidly, bearing specifications are becoming more complete. By the beginning of the “5th Five-Year Plan” period, China’s bearing manufacturing industry has gradually established five unique production bases, including Wafangdian, Harbin, Luoyang, Xiangyang Bearing Factory and Shanghai Bearing Industry, as well as small and medium-sized bearing companies. And established a comprehensive scientific research and factory design institutions and some industries in the process equipment and test equipment professional factory, formed a rational layout, scientific research and production and logistics support a more complete bearing industrial system. According to the statistics of 171 major enterprises in 1977, the total industrial output value reached 1.01 billion yuan (the same price for 70 years), the output of bearings was 120 million sets, the employees were 147,000, and there were 48,000 main production equipments, and the original value of fixed assets was 1.49 billion yuan. The total labor productivity of the entire staff was 6821 yuan/person/year, which was a greater improvement than the previous development period.

(III) High quality and rapid development stage (1978-1999)

The opening of the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee in 1978 unveiled a new page in the history of China. The wave of magnificent reforms surged in the motherland. Under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory, the bearing industry continued to advance reforms, expand openness, speed up development, realize the liberation of productive forces, significantly increase the overall technical and economic strength, and increased its influence on the international market. The appearance of the industry has undergone historic changes. The third wave in the history of bearing industry development.

During the “6th Five-Year Plan” period, the bearing industry implemented the “Three Up and One Up” policy of the Ministry of Machinery. Through technological transformation and technology introduction, the production layout was further improved, the production capacity of short-term products was enhanced, and economic efficiency was improved. At the same time as the introduction of technology, it carried out technical exchanges and cooperation with brand-name bearing companies such as SKF in Sweden, NTN in Japan, NSK, and TIMKEN in the United States. During the development of sealed bearings, articulated bearings, linear motion bearings, combined bearings, rotary bearings, harmonic transmission bearings and other new products, bearing design gradually approaching (or partially reached) advanced level of similar foreign products. The 777/650 rolling mill bearing produced by Wafangdian Bearing Factory has reached the international advanced level in life and won the national silver prize for high quality products. The B, C-class 3182120-3182122 and 2268120-2268122 machine tool spindle bearings produced by the Harbin Bearing Plant won the National Silver Award for Quality Products. Luoyang bearing plant design B3-706 and B3-707 precision optical coordinates boring spindle bearings, won the National Gold Award for quality products.

During the “July 5th” period, under the impetus of reform and opening up, the industry reorganized and restructured its industries, adjusted its industrial structure, and vigorously implemented technological transformation. This helped the company to maintain the rapid development of bearing industrial production. At the end of the “July 5th” period, according to the statistics of 290 major enterprises in 1990, the total industrial output value (90 years of constant price) was 6.97 billion yuan, the output exceeded 590 million sets, and the original value of fixed assets was 4.42 billion yuan. A notable feature of this issue is the significant increase in bearing exports. Compared with the end of the “6th Five-Year Plan” period, current foreign exchange earnings from bearing exports have increased 16-fold, with an average annual increase of 76%. At the time, it was the best historical level in 90 years, and the export earnings were as high as 182 million U.S. dollars.

In the latter part of the "8th Five-Year Plan" period, the State Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Electrical and Mechanical Services issued the "Notice on Opinions on Revitalizing Certain Basic Machinery and Basic Components" to clarify that the bearing is the country's specific revitalization of basic parts. The bearing industry took this opportunity and developed the "Brief Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Development of the Bearing Industry" in a timely manner. The industry sang the main melody of "revitalization" and enabled the high-quality and rapid development of the bearing industry. The industry takes demand as the goal, enhances the supporting capabilities for key hosts, and cooperates with the introduction of localization of equipment to develop and produce a batch of alternative imported products. For example, for the Baosteel Phase I project, the supporting rate of domestic products required by the main equipment is 34%, and the number reaches 80%. The railway passenger car bearings developed by the industry solve the long-term key problems of quality, reaching the same level in the early 1990s. The level of the product; Cylindrical Roller Bearings for the mud pump was awarded the National Excellent Gold Product Award. The quality of metallurgy, mining, rolling mills, oil drilling rigs, and military-specific bearing products also increased significantly. Also developed a batch of new processes and special equipment and instruments, such as the spherical bearing rubber cap developed by Tianshui Axis Instrument Factory, the demagnetization cleaning machine for bearing parts, and the special equipment for railway bearings MK7675 CNC double-end surface grinder manufactured by Wafangdian Bearing Factory. .

During the "9th Five-Year Plan" period, the bearing industry decided to develop "three cars" (automobiles, railway passenger wagons, engineering farm vehicles), "three machines" (metallurgy, mining, petrochemical machinery, precision machine tools, motors) and "three highs" (High value-added, high-tech, high-precision and high-efficiency special equipment) Bearings and equipment are specific revitalization products, focusing on resolving contradictions between supply and demand, technical difficulties, expanding export-oriented foreign exchange capacity, and improving economic efficiency of bearing products and special process equipment. Due to the impact of the country’s large economic environment in recent years, large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises in the industry have encountered great difficulties, and thus the implementation of the “9-5” project is still not satisfactory. In particular, the task of technological transformation in the following two years is still quite arduous. . However, some assessment indicators have made great progress, such as the total industrial output value (90 years of constant price). By 2000, the target is 209 years. The total industrial output value has reached 20 billion yuan, which is 95.7% of the assessment indicators. In the past 20 years of reform and opening up, the bearing industry has achieved a historic leap. Its main symbols are:

The old planned economic system was gradually broken down and a new market economy system had been initially formed. The bearing industry had established a relatively complete industrial system. With the rapid economic development, the comprehensive economic strength has rapidly increased. Calculated at a constant price of 90 years, the total output value of bearing enterprises in fixed-point enterprises was 1.93 billion yuan in 1978 and reached 12.74 billion yuan in 1997, an increase of 5.6 times. The average annual growth rate was 10.4%, which is the most economic development of the new China Bearing Industry. Fast time. (In terms of total sales, it will increase by 10.7 times in 20 years, with an average annual increase rate of 13.8%). During this period, due to the rapid development of township and township enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises, the bearing production capacity has been steadily increasing. The industry's total industrial output value in 1997 reached 20 billion yuan. Based on this estimate, the average annual growth rate in the two decades reached 13.2%. The total industrial output value of fixed-point enterprises in 1980 (the constant price for 90 years) was only 2 billion yuan, but it reached 8.04 billion yuan in 1991, indicating that the bearing industry had earlier achieved its strategic goal of quadrupling the total industrial output value. The investment in fixed assets has increased substantially, and the production capacity and technical level have reached a new level. In the “Five-Year Five-Year Plan” period of “6th Five-Year Plan”, “July Five-year Plan” and “Eighth Five-Year Plan”, the central government, provinces, cities, and local governments invested 7.4 billion yuan in the technological transformation and infrastructure of the bearing industry (of which “6. "Two hundred million yuan, "July and Fifth Year" 1.9 billion yuan, "eight-and-a-half" 5.3 billion yuan), "Nine-Five-year" proposal 4.2 billion yuan, so that the production capacity has increased rapidly, and the level of technology has increased significantly.

The bearing industry has greatly enhanced the supporting capabilities of the main engine and major technical equipment. It has provided high-quality new products for national defense construction and the development of new and high technologies; the share of bearing exports is relatively high. In 1997, the total bearing output of the industry was 780 million sets. The foreign exchange generated was US$430 million, accounting for 17.6% of output value, and 43.3% of production volume, and the internationalization of the bearing market was significantly improved.