1. Current Situation of the Bearing Industry
The main countries and regions for international bearing production are China, Germany, Sweden, and Japan. Ten years ago, a pattern dominated by eight major multinational corporations had been formed, with their market share exceeding 80.00%, and they possess obvious technological advantages. The bearing industry in China has already formed a relatively large economic scale, currently accounting for about 10.00% of the total global bearing industry market. In 2011, the bearing output of the whole industry was 18 billion sets, and the sales volume reached 142 billion yuan, ranking third in the world. However, compared with the powerful countries in the world bearing industry, there are still certain gaps in China's bearing industry. These mainly manifest in aspects such as the low proportion of products with high precision, high technological content, and high added value, and the need for further improvement in product stability. In recent years, with the vigorous development of the economy, the independent innovation ability of China's bearing industry and the supporting ability for the national economy have been greatly enhanced. China's bearing industry can now produce more than 70,000 specifications of various types of bearings, basically meeting the supporting requirements of the national economy and national defense construction.
2. Technical Level of the Bearing Industry
The leading enterprises in China's bearing industry have developed 528 types of supporting bearings for 106 kinds of major technical equipment in 13 out of the 16 key fields, and the products have reached the level of similar foreign products. However, although China's bearing industry is large in scale, it is not strong. The development of bearing manufacturing processes and equipment technologies is slow. The level of numerical control automation in turning processing is low, and many technical problems have not been overcome. The research and development of new types of bearing steel, the improvement of steel quality, and the research and development of related technologies such as lubrication, cooling, cleaning, and abrasives and grinding tools still cannot meet the requirements for improving the level and quality of bearing products, affecting the precision, performance, service life, and reliability of bearings. Currently, bearing production enterprises in China have significantly improved the overall technical level of the industry through the introduction of advanced process equipment and their own research and development. The process equipment of some production enterprises, including the issuer, has reached the international advanced level. At present, only a few enterprises including the issuer can master the salt quenching heat treatment production line, which represents the world's advanced level.
3. Operational Characteristics of the Bearing Industry
(1) Operational Mode of the Industry
Bearing manufacturing enterprises generally adopt the production-to-order operational mode, that is, they purchase raw materials and organize production according to sales orders and distributors' sales plans. In terms of sales, spherical plain bearings, AG bearings, and tapered roller bearings mainly adopt the sales modes of direct sales and agency; gears and gearboxes mainly adopt the direct sales mode. The product pricing method is to determine the product price based on the cost of raw materials for production plus processing fees and reasonable profits.
Bearings belong to mechanical basic components, and the bearing industry is an industry that combines technology-intensive, capital-intensive, and labor-intensive characteristics. Due to the low entry threshold and the lack of an exit mechanism, the large number of small enterprises has led to a low concentration in China's bearing industry and directly caused fierce competition in the Chinese bearing market. At the same time, the world's eight major bearing companies have all set up factories in China and obtained domestic sales channels, making the competition in the Chinese bearing market even more intense. The new round of global economic structure adjustment provides new development opportunities for China's bearing industry. The large-scale enterprises in the industry will utilize their own scale advantages, management advantages, brand advantages, and product quality advantages to enter the high-end and core technical fields of bearing manufacturing, further consolidate and expand their market share, and the industry concentration will increase. They strive to take an active position and gain a larger market share in the international division of labor.
(2) Relevance between the Industry and Upstream and Downstream Industries
The bearing industry has a close relationship with upstream raw material suppliers and downstream industries such as construction machinery and heavy-duty vehicles, which are key downstream supporting fields.
Relevance between the Upstream Industry and the Bearing Industry and Its Influence The main raw material of the bearing industry is special steel, and the supply and price fluctuations of upstream raw materials have an impact on the bearing industry. On the one hand, the output of special steel in China has maintained rapid growth for many years, ensuring the supply of special steel for the bearing industry and fully meeting the quality requirements of raw materials for bearing production. On the other hand, in recent years, the prices of special steel, the main raw material, have fluctuated violently, bringing certain working capital pressure and the risk management pressure of inventory write-down provisions to bearing production enterprises. Since special steel accounts for a relatively high proportion of the production cost, the sales prices of various products have a higher correlation with the price of special steel, and their price trends are basically the same.
Relevance between the Downstream Industry and the Bearing Industry and Its Influence The downstream industries of the bearing industry are mainly construction machinery and heavy-duty vehicles. "Stabilizing growth, controlling prices, adjusting the structure, benefiting the people's livelihood, promoting reforms, and promoting harmony" is the theme of China's economic development this year. Through active fiscal policies and prudent monetary policies, the state regulates the continuity and stability of economic development. For the business development of the company, the investment policy with both support and restraint will bring structural opportunities to bearings and gears (gearboxes).