China Industry News Meng Fanjun

　　 Although the Chinese market has been hit hard by the new crown pneumonia epidemic before, it has recovered rapidly. It is expected that China's industrial production and capital investment will increase by more than 5% in 2021, and machine tool consumption may achieve a strong growth of 10%. "Germany is the second largest supplier in China's machine tool industry after Japan, and its position in the high-tech field. Its technology is widely used in various customer fields in China, such as automotive and aerospace, mechanical engineering, power generation and other broad-based Machine tool users.” At the 17th China International Machine Tool Show (CIMT2021), Shane Sun from China of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (VDW) in Frankfurt explained.

On April 12, at the CIMT2021 press conference of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association, Dr. Wilfried Schöfer, Managing Director of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (VDW) in Frankfurt, said: They will be exhibited mainly by their subsidiaries in China".

　　 "Finally, we have once again ushered in a true trade fair." Exhibitors and visitors gathered at the booth for face-to-face discussions. This is exactly what many German machine tool manufacturers are looking forward to for CIMT2021.

　　CIMT is a new starting point for umati to enter China

　　 From 2020, German machine tool orders from China began to stabilize, and even increased by 17% in the fourth quarter, reaching a double-digit increase. In 2021, various signs indicate that the global economy will continue to grow. Wilfried Schöfer judged: "The development in 2021 will be more inspiring, because we should have already ushered in a turning point."

　　 China Industry News found that VDW has an umati booth at CIMT. According to reports, umati (Universal Mechanical Technology Interface) is a community of the mechanical engineering industry and its customers, used to promote and disseminate an open standardized interface based on OPC UA. The purpose of the CIMT demonstration is to introduce the interface specifications of machine tool communication with higher-level IT systems to the Chinese industry and demonstrate the convenience of its work. Six companies (also exhibitors of the German Pavilion) have already connected their machines. "Unfortunately, the consequences of the new crown epidemic have prevented more companies from joining our activities." Dr. Alexander Broos, director of research and technology at VDW and responsible for OPC UA activities in the machine tool industry, expressed regret.

　　 In order for umati to fully enter China, the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center (amtc) of Tongji University is supporting its technical infrastructure in Beijing. "We are also very happy to connect our machines and services with China's machine tool interconnection initiative NC Link, which is a continuation of the successful cooperation at EMO Hannover in 2019," said Alexander Broos.

　　 At that time, a group of Chinese CNC machine tool manufacturers had already established contacts with umati. Alexander Broos said that now the NC Link team has realized the connection between the OPC UA infrastructure and its own installation. The core element of Umati's participation in CIMT is the umati demonstrator, which consists of a data center connected to a computer in real time and a dedicated dashboard.

　　 German machine tool suppliers are important partners of Chinese industry

　　 For many years, the German machine tool industry has been a valuable partner for Chinese industrial customers. As a result, China has become the sales market for the German machine tool industry. In the past two years, German exports have decreased by nearly 45%, and the export value has dropped from 2.3 billion euros to 1.3 billion euros. The main products involved are machining centers, grinders, parts, and lathes. In contrast, China's import volume has not suffered such a big hit, only a 28% decline in 2020, and most of the imported products delivered are parts and accessories. Wilfried Schöfer believes that China's demand for modern production technology is still huge, especially because the next step for China's industry is to launch higher-quality products that can also meet the needs of the global market.