Five years ago, the domestic self-sufficiency rate of molds required by the Chinese automotive industry was less than 30%, and today it has increased significantly to over 80%. Not only that, Chinese mold companies can complete the research and development of a new car body in only 135 days, which shortens the cycle by about a month compared with international counterparts. The powerful mold rapid prototyping technology has effectively helped China become the world's largest automobile production and sales country for six consecutive years.

This is a typical example in the recent release of new industry information by China Mould Industry Association in Shanghai.

According to statistics from China Mould Industry Association, in 2016, China's mold market reached 223 billion yuan, supporting about 25 trillion yuan in related product manufacturing. As a "mother of industry" and a "benefit amplifier", molds have played a huge role in the transition from "Made in China" to "Made in China". At the same time, the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry provides a huge market space for the mold industry.

Statistics show that in 2016, China's auto industry used 68 billion yuan of molds, and introduced about 100 new models throughout the year, with more than 200 new local models. 95% of auto parts were developed by molds; 17 billion molds were used in the home appliance industry Yuan, 90% of home appliance parts are mold parts; the amount of mold for the electronic information manufacturing industry represented by smartphones is 80 billion yuan, and 80% of the parts are mold parts. In addition, the mold supports the rapid growth of China's communications equipment, aerospace, urban rail transit, medical equipment and other manufacturing industries.

In 2016, China produced about 80 million tons of metal products through molds, which is equivalent to the number of metal products processed by machine tools. Plastic products of about 75 million tons and rubber products of about 6 million tons throughout the year are basically made of molds.

According to Chu Kexin, Honorary President of China Mould Industry Association, the four traditional processes of automobile manufacturing are stamping, welding, painting and final assembly of steel plates. However, with the application of new materials and the transformation of molds, today's automobile manufacturing process has gradually been transformed into composite Materials, carbon fiber, aluminum alloy parts and welding, coating and assembly of new materials.

"In a few years, when people walk into automobile manufacturing companies, those automated stamping lines, spark-spattered welding lines, and engines, fuel tanks, and gearboxes on assembly lines may be gone. Instead, batteries, electric motors, and carbon fiber will be widely used. Application. The low carbonization, informatization and intelligence of the automotive industry are also the transformation requirements of China's mold industry." Chu Kexin said.

Qin Ke, secretary general of China Mould Industry Association, said that as an important basic process equipment in product manufacturing, the mold industry level has become an important indicator to measure the level of a country's manufacturing industry. If there is no high-level mold, there will be no high-level parts manufacturing, let alone the diversity of industrial products and consumer products.

According to reports, in recent years, thanks to the continuous consolidation of China's mold manufacturing power, some related product imports have been replaced by "Made in China". However, in the fields of mold added value and labor productivity per capita, China's mold industry is still far from the international advanced level.

In 2016, China's total mold imports were US$2 billion, down 19.4% from the previous year, which was only about 40% of the total mold exports that year. In that year, China exported a total of 4.79 billion US dollars to 189 countries and regions.