Evolution of key technologies of CNC machine tools

From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the 20 years before the reform and opening up (1949-1978), the development of China's machine tool industry can be divided into the foundation stage and the large-scale construction stage.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's machine tool industry began to enter a period of rapid development. During the "First Five-Year Plan" period (1953-1957), under the guidance of Soviet experts, the First Ministry of Machine Industry (abbreviated as "First Ministry of Machine Industry") planned and laid out a group of backbone machine tool enterprises known as the "Eighteen Arhats" according to professional division of labor, and also established a group of machine tool research institutions known as the "Seven Institutes and One Academy" represented by the Beijing Metal Cutting Machine Tool Research Institute (the predecessor of the Beijing Machine Tool Research Institute). By 1957, the output of machine tools, tools, abrasives and machine tool accessories by enterprises directly under the First Ministry of Machine Industry accounted for more than 90% of the country. The domestic self-sufficiency rate of related product output reached about 80%. The machine tool industry became an independent industrial sector, laying the foundation for subsequent development. This period was the foundation stage of China's machine tool industry.

During the period from 1958 to 1978, China's machine tool industry entered a large-scale construction stage. In the early 1960s, a campaign for high-precision precision machine tools was launched. Through research and development, 26 types of high-precision precision machine tool technologies in 5 categories were mastered, and the accuracy, quality and process level of machine tools were generally improved. In the "Third Line Construction" that began in the mid-1960s, 33 machine tool enterprises were relocated and built in Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, western Henan, and western Hubei, which improved the regional layout of the industry. Among them, providing complete sets of equipment for China's Second Automobile Works (hereinafter referred to as "Second Automobile") became another industry-wide "campaign" that integrated the technical capabilities of the machine tool industry and demonstrated its development level, greatly improving the industry's technical level and capabilities. At the same time, the country strongly supported the development of large, heavy and super-heavy machine tools to meet the needs of national economic construction.

The development of CNC machine tools in my country started very early. After the embryonic stage before 1949, the machine tool industry in my country laid the foundation and developed rapidly during the "First Five-Year Plan". In 1958, the first domestic CNC machine tool was successfully developed, which marked the beginning of the development of CNC machine tools. As shown in Figure 8, this process can be divided into: initial development stage, continuous research and industrialization development stage, high-speed development and transformation and upgrading stage.

Figure 8 Development history of CNC machine tools in my country

In the initial development stage, this is a relatively closed technology research and development period. When my country's machine tool industry was still in the period of foundation development, the United States developed the world's first 3-axis linkage digital control milling machine in 1952, and machine tools began to develop towards CNC. In 1958, Beijing No. 1 Machine Tool Factory and Tsinghua University jointly developed China's first CNC milling machine, only 6 years later than the world's first CNC machine tool. By 1972, my country could provide a few varieties of CNC machine tool products such as CNC wire cutting machines, non-circular gear shaping machines and split cone milling. From the successful development of the first domestic CNC machine tool to the mid-1970s, my country's CNC machine tools were in the initial stage of technical research and exploration, and only a small number of product trial production work was carried out, and key technology research and industrial development and production of CNC machine tools had not yet been fully carried out. In the mid-to-late 1970s, the development and production of CNC machine tools was fully launched. In 1975, Qiqihar No. 2 Machine Tool Factory completed the development of the first domestic CNC gantry milling machine. Due to the limitations of the domestic and international situation at the time and the lack of technical exchanges with advanced industrial countries, the research and development of CNC machine tool technology between each other was basically in a closed state.

It can be said that the earliest research and development of CNC machine tools in China was almost synchronized with the world. Although it started early, the initial CNC machine tool technology research and industrial development were basically in a closed state. From 1958 to 1978 before the reform and opening up, the research and development of key technologies and industrial development of CNC machine tools were slow. Compared with the United States, Japan and European advanced industrial countries, which had achieved CNC upgrades of machine tool products in the late 1970s and early 1980s, my country's CNC process of machine tools only began in the late 1970s, and this upgrade process has gone through many twists and turns. It was not until more than 30 years later that the CNC upgrade of machine tool industry products was fully realized.

After 1978, with the country's reform and opening up, my country's CNC machine tools entered a new development period, initially established an industrial system and promoted industrialization. In the early 1980s, through the introduction of CNC systems, machine tool host technology, and joint design with foreign companies, my country began to develop and produce CNC machine tools. For example: Qinghai No. 1 Machine Tool Factory cooperated with Japan's FANUC according to the arrangement of the Ministry of Machinery Industry and successfully developed the first domestic horizontal CNC machining center XH754 (1980); Beijing Machine Tool Research Institute and Beijing No. 3 Machine Tool Factory successfully developed the first domestic JCS-FMC-1/2 horizontal/vertical processing flexible unit, and the first rotary body processing flexible manufacturing system in my country developed by Beijing Machine Tool Research Institute and Japan's FANUC was put into production; Nanjing Machine Tool Factory cooperated with Germany's TRAUB to produce TND360 CNC lathes, which were applied in batches; the first domestic microcomputer CNC system CNC-4D developed by Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics was successfully applied in batches to the CNC transformation of XK5040 milling machines in aviation enterprises (1983). During the Sixth Five-Year Plan period (1981~1985), China adopted the method of "importing technology" directly from foreign countries for CNC machine tools. Through license trade, cooperative production, purchase of prototypes, etc., 183 CNC machine tools and related technologies were introduced, 81 new varieties of CNC machine tools were developed, and the total number of available varieties reached 113. This became a watershed in the transformation of my country's CNC machine tools from exhibits and prototypes to commodities.

During the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period (1986-1990), the state arranged a special project on scientific and technological research on CNC machine tools and a "one-stop CNC project" with the main content of "digesting and absorbing" imported technologies, including the digestion and localization of 5 types of machine tool hosts and 3 types of CNC systems.

During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period (1991-1995), with "independent development" as the focus, we supported the technical research and product development of domestic CNC systems, and successfully developed high-end CNC systems such as the Zhonghua Type I (jointly developed by Beijing Zhufeng Company and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics), the Huazhong Type I (Wuhan Huazhong CNC) and the Blue Sky Type I (Shenyang High-end CNC National Engineering Research Center), which were at the internationally advanced technological level at the time.

During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period (1996-2000), the focus was on promoting the "industrialization" of CNC machine tools. In terms of technology, popular CNC systems based on industrial PC platforms began to become practical, and open networked multi-channel and multi-axis linkage technology was mastered; in terms of products, the focus was on developing six major product categories, including CNC lathes, machining centers, CNC grinders, CNC electrical machining machines, CNC forging and pressing machines, and CNC heavy machine tools, to form host mass production capabilities and key supporting capabilities. By 2000, my country's CNC machine tool varieties had reached 1,500, and a 5-axis linkage CNC machining center had been developed and put on the market. However, during this period, the CNC rate of the output value of the machine tool industry has been hovering around 20%, and the CNC rate of output has been less than 10%; in terms of industry, the pace of industrialization development of domestic CNC machine tools facing market competition has accelerated, and they have begun to enter the market competition stage.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's machine tools entered a stage of rapid development and transformation and upgrading, and CNC technology and products were rapidly popularized and upgraded.

During the "15th Five-Year Plan" (2001-2005), with China's formal entry into the WTO in 2002, my country's CNC machine tools entered a period of rapid development, and the output of domestic CNC machine tools increased by more than 30% year by year. Domestic 5-axis linkage machining centers and 5-face gantry machining centers provided key equipment for national key construction projects such as energy, automobiles, and aerospace. During this period, the key project of "high-precision CNC machine tools" was also implemented in the national "863 Plan", supporting the development of high-precision CNC equipment urgently needed in some key areas such as aviation and automobiles.