In recent years, in order to prevent China's development, the United States has repeatedly sanctioned Chinese high-tech companies. According to news from foreign media at the end of April, the United States requested that Switzerland stop exporting high-precision machine tools to China on the grounds that these machine tools may be used by China in the J-20 fighter production line, thus affecting the national security of the United States.
Obviously, even if the United States requires Switzerland to stop supplying machine tools to China, it will not affect the production scale of the existing J-20 fighter jets, because, as an important weapon of the country, China We must make plans to use other equipment for replacement production after the supply of Swiss equipment is cut off.
Friends who are familiar with machine tools know that Swiss machine tools actually represent the advanced manufacturing level in Europe and even the world. This small country with a population of more than 8.5 million has dozens of the world's top machine tool companies and the world's top 500 companies. There are 21 companies (2019 data), accounting for nearly 5% of the global output value, and machine tool exports rank sixth in the world.
Such a set of nearly perfect data is attributed to the rigorous "craftsman spirit" of the Swiss and their dedication to excellence in craftsmanship. Many Swiss machine tool companies are undefeated invisible champions. For example, Switzerland has GF AgieCharmilles, which everyone in the mold and high-end parts industry will be familiar with. There is also Mikron, the leader in the field of five-axis linkage and the leader in high-speed cutting. Others include Swiss Precision Machinery, Baumet, Schaublin, and Weinig Ming-More than 10 machine tool companies including Marcodale, AFFOLTER, and Tornos.
Let’s take a look at these machine tool companies (in no particular order) with Mechanical CNKI:
Its two divisions, Mikron Automation and Mikron Machining, both Located in Switzerland (Boudeli and Aniu) and with production facilities in Germany, Singapore, China and the United States.
The Swiss GF AgieCharmilles Group was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a world-renowned system supplier in the tool and mold manufacturing industry.
Products include: CNC electric discharge machining (EDM); CNC wire cutting machine (WEDM); high-speed machining center (HSM) to corresponding machine tool accessories and automation equipment. Its products are characterized by high precision, high Famous for its stability. At this stage, both electrical machining machines and high-speed milling machines play a key role in mold manufacturing, metal/plastic component production, and direct processing of complex precision parts. The electrical machining products of the Swiss GF AgieCharmilles Group firmly grasp the The global market for high-end electrical machine tools. The group is the most powerful enterprise producing EDM machine tools in the world today.
The Swiss Starrag Group (starrag) is a global technology leader in the manufacture of high-precision machine tools. Its products are mainly used for milling, turning, boring and grinding of metal, composite and ceramic material workpieces. processing. Starrag currently owns ten major brands: Berthiez, Bumotec, D?rries, Droop Rein, Ecospeed, Heckert, Scharmann, SIP, Starrag and TTL.
As a high-end CNC processing equipment, Starrag STC series five-axis linkage blade machining center has the characteristics of high degree of automation, high processing efficiency and high processing precision. It is mainly used in steam turbines, aerospace engines, blowers, shafts Processing and manufacturing of blades, core components of flow compressors and other equipment.
The STC machining center adopts a five-axis linkage mode, which can process five sides from any angle, achieve efficient processing of aluminum, steel, iron and other difficult-to-machine composite materials, and meet the final accuracy requirements. Starrag machining center belongs to the first echelon of vertical machining center brands in the world.
Switzerland Baomei Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in the 1960s and is headquartered in the town of Sals between Bern and Geneva in southwestern Switzerland. It currently has 130 employees.
The company has been committed to the research, development and manufacturing of small precision CNC machining equipment, focusing on providing solutions for the processing of small precision and complex parts. In addition to being widely used in the watch industry, medical equipment, automobile parts manufacturing and light industry, its products are also It has a stable customer base in the aerospace, weapons, shipbuilding and other defense industries. Baomei vertical machining center belongs to the first echelon of vertical machining center brands in the world.
Swiss Willemin-Macodel SA is located in Delemont, Switzerland. Since 1974, it has been committed to the development of advanced machining centers, milling and turning combined machining centers, and turning centers. Development and manufacturing, especially specializing in five-axis CNC linkage processing of complex high-precision parts.
Its main products include precision five-axis machining centers, turning/milling compound machining centers and parallel machine tools. Industry applications are mainly in watches, medical, aviation/aerospace, jewelry, molds and micro precision parts processing. Among them, the 701S machining center for precision watch movement processing was launched. With an 80,000 RPM spindle and a repeat positioning accuracy of 2 microns, the 701S has become the preferred processing equipment for high-end watch movement processing in the world.
Precitrame Machines SA has been developing state-of-the-art automated production equipment since 1987. The company's main business areas are rotary conveyors and finishing machines.
07. Schaublin Machine Tool Company
Swiss Schaublin Machine Tool Company (Schaublin Machines SA) was founded in Bevilard, Switzerland in 1915. It mainly manufactures precision lathes, milling machines and machining centers. In 2012, the fully temperature-controlled precision turning center 136/137-CNC was launched, which represents the Swiss Schaublin precision lathe manufacturing level.
Tornos was founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Moutier, Switzerland. It has a history of more than 100 years. Currently, Tornos mainly produces numerically controlled (CNC) Swiss-type (sliding headstock) lathes, CNC multi-axis lathes and higher-precision machining centers for the production of complex parts, providing unique solutions to professional market segments, especially automotive, Medical and dental, micromachining and electronics industries.
Swiss Affolter Technologies SA was founded in 1919. The company is committed to the research and development, production and sales of various mechanical and machine tool electronics and components for the micromachined industrial watch manufacturing industry. Mechanical components. Its main products are CNC numerical control systems and gear machining centers. It is not just a gear hobbing machine tool. It adopts multi-axis synchronous interpolation technology and can be used in various versions for the watchmaking industry, aerospace industry, gear reducers, and micro micros. Standard and customized complete solutions are offered to users in the mechanical and medical equipment industries.
The history of the Swiss Leishauer company can be traced back to more than 200 years ago (founded in 1788). It is the oldest machine tool manufacturer in Europe. Leishauer's worm gear grinding machine, According to performance, efficiency, automation, and control methods, there are many series such as NZA, OZA, AZA, A-ZO, ZB, SZA, SZ, etc., such as RZ, 300E, and RZ301S, which are new machine tools that use electric transmission and are suitable for many varieties. , flexible production of small and medium batches, with processing accuracy up to level 3-4, taking a leading position in the world.
Switzerland's ERNST-GROB is a world-renowned provider of automotive clutch hub punching and cold forming equipment and automated production lines, and holds the world's only patent. At the same time, Ernst Grob is also a well-known equipment provider for cold extrusion forming of automotive splines. It has the world's only patented spline cold forming process, which performs spline cold forming processing in a non-cutting manner.
ERNST-GROB company provides a modern clutch gear hub punching and cold forming automated production line, from cold extrusion forming, to deburring and finishing, to punching and forming, including automatic loading and unloading and material transportation. , can reach the modern level of unmanned guarding, saving labor.
The Swiss Studer Company is located in Thun, Switzerland. It was founded in 1912 by Mr. Fritz Studer. The company's development history is as follows:
Studer is the most representative cylindrical grinding machine manufacturer in Switzerland. Among them, the CNC production-type universal cylindrical grinder Studer S22 can realize personalized grinding. The solution's production platform, S22 technical specifications are: maximum grinding length of 800 mm, center height of 175/255 mm, grinding wheel diameter up to 610 mm.
For 60 years, ESCO has been committed to the development and manufacturing of cam and numerically controlled automatic lathes for processing small diameter workpieces of 0.3~8mm, also called centering machines, also known as ESCO slitting lathes and ESCO centering lathes. Lathe, ESCO automatic lathe, currently more formally called ESCO centering machine or automatic lathe.
After reading the introduction of the 13 Swiss machine tools above, although our high-end machine tools are not as good as those in the West, we are also a big machine tool manufacturing country, and more importantly, a big machine tool consumer. Being big but not strong in the past does not represent the future.
In fact, whether it is chips or high-precision machine tools, if some of our companies still adhere to the idea of ??"it is better to buy than to build, and it is better to rent than to buy", they will eventually be eliminated by the times. As a global manufacturing power, China is also a country with the most complete industrial categories in the world. After we develop to a certain level, we must enter into high-end equipment in various fields, so as not to be choked by Western countries.