The business review of the 2022 annual board of directors of Kede CNC is as follows:
I. Discussion and analysis of business conditions
In 2022, the company around the annual business objectives, relying on the advantages of the whole industrial chain and product technology, continued to strive to open up the market, increase production capacity, break through the influence of various unfavorable factors, and maintained a good momentum of steady growth. The income from main business, net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, new orders and output all increased rapidly. The net profit attributable to owners of the parent company decreased slightly year-on-year due to the higher government subsidies included in non-recurring income in the same period of last year.
(a) the main business situation
In 2022, the company’s operating income was 315 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.39%; The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 60,453,800 yuan, a decrease of 17.04% compared with the same period of last year. The main reason for the decrease in net profit was the high amount of government subsidies included in the current non-recurring gains in 2021, which had a great impact on the current net profit growth (specifically, the impact of non-recurring gains and losses on net profit in 2022 was about 22,264,600 yuan, and the impact of non-recurring gains and losses on net profit in 2021 was about 22,264,600 yuan). The net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was 38,189,100 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 45.12%; Gross profit margin of main business is 42.40%; The output of the whole machine was 230 units, up 45.57% year-on-year; During the reporting period, new orders increased by 30% year-on-year.
(2) New breakthroughs have been made in market expansion.
The company insists on import substitution as the core, and on the basis of deepening cooperation with original customers and deepening and strengthening the aerospace field, it strives to open up new fields, new customers and other industrial fields. In 2022, the company made new progress in overseas orders, new energy vehicles, energy, knives, machinery and equipment.
1. Breakthrough growth was achieved in overseas market sales.
In 2022, the company expanded overseas sales channels, opened European and Asian markets, and exported five-axis CNC machine tools, and the export orders increased rapidly. In 2022, the company’s export order products include five-axis vertical machining center, five-axis horizontal machining center, five-axis horizontal milling and turning compound machining center and many other products.
2. Vigorously promote the expansion of new customers.
In 2022, the company actively explored new customers in various fields, and made new progress in energy, tools, automobiles and other fields in addition to adding many new customers in typical military and military supporting fields.
The automobile field is an important downstream industry of machine tools, which is closely related to the machine tool industry. With the rising situation of new energy vehicles, the machine tool industry will usher in new opportunities. Through the comprehensive distribution and direct sales, the company has effectively expanded many customers in the automotive field. Business expansion has been achieved in the processing fields of new energy vehicles such as battery motor housings, bogies, front and rear axles and transmission housings.
The upgrading and transformation of the energy field provides further application potential for five-axis machine tools, such as the processing of core components such as compressors, pumps and gears in wind power and water conservancy industries, and the processing of shaft components related to high-pressure injection in oil production wells. The company has expanded high-quality customers in the energy field in many regions of China and reached a long-term cooperative partnership.
Tool industry is the basic industry in machinery manufacturing industry and major technical fields. Because the materials of CNC tools are generally cemented carbide, high-performance high-speed steel and superhard materials, grinding has become the mainstream processing technology of CNC tools. The company’s five-axis tool grinding center with high grinding rigidity and high stability can be used to process all kinds of cutters with high precision and complex shapes, such as milling cutters, drills, reamers and taps. In 2022, the company expanded many new partners in this field on the basis of strengthening cooperation with important partners in the original key tool field.
With the overall rapid development of domestic high-end manufacturing industry, the demand for five-axis CNC machine tools is increasing day by day, and there is a shortage of related professionals. By introducing high-end five-axis CNC machine tools and establishing training bases, domestic colleges and universities learn core technologies and cultivate professionals by combining systematic courses with practical experience. As a five-axis machine tool manufacturer with the whole industrial chain, the company has many years of cooperation experience with universities. During the reporting period, the company provided many universities with a variety of equipment, such as a five-axis vertical machining center and a horizontal milling and turning compound machining center, which helped to cultivate high-tech talents in the field of numerical control, helped universities to have a deeper understanding of five-axis numerical control programming and system operation, as well as core technologies such as machine tool structure design, motorized spindle and direct-drive turntable. At the same time, the operation training of five-axis CNC machine tools of Kede CNC brand was advanced to universities, which was the brand.
3. Continue to deepen the cooperation with existing customers.
During the reporting period, the company continued to deepen its cooperation with its original customers, and constantly improved its personalized service level and solution ability, which was recognized by more customers. In 2022, the repurchase rate of high-end CNC machine tools added by the company was about 40%.
4. New products continue to be favored by the market.
During the reporting period, the company launched four new products: KTM120 five-axis horizontal boring and milling machine compound machining center, Dechuang series KCX1200TM five-axis horizontal milling machine compound machining center, Dechuang series DMC50 five-axis vertical machining center and KBTG1000 high-speed blade tip grinding machining center.
KTM120 Five-axis Linkage Horizontal Boring and Milling Machine Compound Machining Center marked the Austrian WFL products, and the sales unit price was high. As soon as it was launched, it reached a cooperation with an aircraft landing gear manufacturer to achieve sales. Aircraft landing gear is one of the most difficult parts in the aviation field, and the same type of processing equipment in China depends on imports. This product will have a broader market space in the field of large aircraft in the future. Dechuang series KCX1200TM five-axis horizontal milling compound machining center can meet the processing needs of parts in medical, new energy vehicles, molds, wind power, aerospace and other industries. The first product is to sign a sales contract with a company in the field of nuclear equipment, which is used for processing parts such as opening and closing nuts of nuclear equipment. Dechuang series DMC50 five-axis vertical machining center is suitable for high-efficiency and high-precision machining of parts in aerospace, cutting tools, precision molds, medical devices, new energy vehicles and other industries. KBTG1000 high-speed blade tip grinding center, this product is mainly used for grinding the rotor blade tips of aero-engines and marine engines, focusing on the requirements of efficient and high-precision automatic machining of integral impellers and bladed disks (axial flow) of aero-engines.
As of the publication date of this report, all the above new products have formed batch orders in aviation, aerospace, nuclear power of warships, automobiles and overseas markets.
(3) R&D projects and technological achievements
During the reporting period, the company continued to invest in research and development, with a total investment of 114,378,100 yuan, accounting for 36.26% of the operating income. The company has hosted or participated in 7 national-level projects, and received 41.32 million yuan from the central government, 1 provincial-level project, and 600,000 yuan from the central government to guide local scientific and technological development. The new project involves the development of high-speed bridge five-axis gantry machining center, five-axis horizontal milling compound machining center and other equipment, as well as the performance improvement and engineering application verification of key functional components such as turntable, swing head and motorized spindle.
The advantages of the company are comprehensive product layout, high degree of self-control and continuous innovation. During the reporting period, the company completed the development of four new products and put them on the market, including KTM120 five-axis horizontal boring and milling machine compound machining center, Dechuang series KCX1200TM five-axis horizontal milling machine compound machining center, Dechuang series DMC50 five-axis vertical machining center, KBTG1000 high-speed blade tip grinding machining center, in which the high-speed blade tip grinding machining center is a new special machine based on the original four general models and two special models.
During the reporting period, the company added 55 authorized patents, including 7 international invention patents and 6 domestic invention patents. By December 31st, 2022, the company and its holding subsidiaries had 251 authorized patents, including 93 domestic invention patents, 13 international invention patents, 139 utility model patents and 6 design patents. There are 60 software copyrights and 3 works copyrights. The company has participated in the formulation of 24 national standards and 10 industry and group standards.
(IV) Production capacity construction progressed smoothly.
During the reporting period, with the company’s self-made five-axis machining center and the introduction of horizontal plus flexible manufacturing line, gantry production line, horizontal machining center and gantry machining center, the machining ability of functional parts was further improved. The whole machine production capacity of the company has steadily increased. In 2022, the whole machine production reached 230 sets (including multi-model and multi-specification products such as five-axis vertical machining center, horizontal machining center, gantry machining center, horizontal milling and turning compound machining center and five-axis tool grinding center), with a year-on-year increase of 45.57%.
(V) Financing situation
During the reporting period, the company initiated and completed the issuance of RMB ordinary shares (A shares) to specific targets in 2022, with 2,457,757 non-public shares, which were issued to National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd. and Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd., raising a total of RMB 159,999,980.70, and the newly added shares were registered and settled in China Securities on July 29, 2022.
This issuance has injected capital into the company to realize the rapid development and expanded application of domestic high-end equipment, and further accelerate the construction of production capacity, which will help to provide more "Made in China" high-end equipment for aviation, aerospace, military industry, energy, automobiles, knives and many other fields.
II. Description of the main business, business model, industry situation and research and development of the company during the reporting period:
(a) the main business, main products or services.
1. Main business
The company has always been committed to the technical breakthrough, design innovation, fine manufacturing and standard formulation of five-axis CNC machine tools, high-grade CNC systems and key functional components, and has formed the core technology with independent intellectual property rights, which has the ability to achieve the company’s important established strategic goal of "import substitution". The company’s main business is five-axis CNC machine tools, high-grade CNC systems, key functional components and flexible automation production lines. The company’s main products include serialized five-axis vertical (including turning milling), five-axis horizontal (including turning milling), five-axis horizontal milling compound, five-axis gantry four general machining centers, five-axis tool grinding, five-axis blade grinding center and high-speed blade grinding center, as well as high-end CNC systems serving high-end CNC machine tools, servo drives, serialized motors, serialized sensing products, motorized spindles, milling heads, turntables and other key functional components.
On the basis of comprehensive product layout, in addition to the high-end KD series built for the military field, the company has developed a cost-effective Dechuang series for the processing requirements of the civil field to meet the needs of diversified customers. At the same time, the company provides flexible automatic production line business, that is, taking high-end CNC machine tools as the core, integrating fixture and tool scheme, matching with automatic logistics system, warehousing system, etc., relying on computer control and combining various production modes, flexible and automatic production of various products can be realized. It has the characteristics of high equipment utilization rate, strong product adaptability, high product quality and high production efficiency.
For a long time, China’s high-end five-axis CNC machine tools have relied heavily on imports. The main reason is that its development needs first-class precision machine tool design and manufacturing technology, and it can only be realized by close cooperation with cutting-edge CNC technology. It is extremely difficult to develop core technologies and form industrialization capabilities. Different from traditional CNC machine tools, the company’s five-axis CNC machine tools have the advantage of supporting the machining ability of complex spatial features, making it easier to realize multi-process compound machining and having higher machining efficiency and accuracy. Through years of technical research and accumulation, the company has formed core technical capabilities such as high-grade CNC system technology, universal and special five-axis CNC machine tool technology, direct-drive functional parts technology, high-performance servo drive system technology, high-performance sensing and detection technology, high-performance high/low-speed torque motor technology and high-performance motorized spindle motor technology.
The company’s five-axis CNC machine tool products mainly serve the processing and manufacturing of complex and precise parts in the fields of aviation, aerospace, military industry and so on, and are the necessary way to process turbine machinery parts such as impellers, bladed disks and blades. In addition, there are many successful cases in civil industries such as core parts of power generation equipment, cemented carbide tools, petroleum industry, precision molds, and automobile parts manufacturing. The CNC system and key functional components such as torque motor, spindle motor, servo motor, motorized spindle, laser interferometer, laser tool setting instrument, encoder, turntable, milling machine, etc. developed by the company belong to the core key components of high-end CNC machine tools, which directly determine the function, performance, reliability and profitability of high-end CNC machine tools. In recent years, high-grade CNC systems and key functional components have been sold separately.
Pre-sales technical service and after-sales maintenance service are also important competitive advantages of the company. Through pre-sales technical support, the company customizes a complete set of processing technology schemes, trial processing and turnkey projects for users to promote sales orders and establish stable, close and long-term cooperative relations with customers. The company’s after-sales service support benefits from the company’s high autonomy rate and localization advantage, which has faster response speed and lower service cost than the transnational after-sales service of international CNC machine tool enterprises. Pre-sales and after-sales personnel have mastered the most advanced market information, grasped the development trend of the industry, collected new directions, new processes and product improvement opinions and fed them back to the R&D system in time, forming a closed-loop control of the company’s product quality and realizing a benign iterative upgrade of the products. It is predicted that the supporting businesses such as pre-sales and after-sales services will also enter a period of rapid growth in the future, which can contribute more benefits to the company.
2. Main products and services
The company’s main products are high-end CNC system products with independent intellectual property rights and core technologies, high-end CNC machine tools and key functional components, which can realize the research and development and manufacturing of various types of products in high-end equipment manufacturing in aviation, aerospace, weapons and civil fields, with independent and controllable core technologies and strong "import substitution" ability.
(1) High-grade CNC system products
High-end CNC system is the control core of high-end CNC machine tools. Among them, GNC series high-end CNC system has achieved several iterations of GNC60/61/62, and GDU series servo driver has achieved several iterations of GDU/GDUA/GDUB/GDUC, reaching the same level of advanced foreign products. At the same time, the products are open and adaptable, which is an important core component of the company’s high-end CNC machine tools. The high-end CNC system independently developed by the company, because of its excellent design framework and rich functions, provides strong support for the application of various types of high-end CNC machine tools and the development of new products. The ability to independently develop high-end CNC systems is also an important strategic layout direction of many foreign high-end CNC machine tool development enterprises.
(2) High-end CNC machine tools
The company’s high-end CNC machine tools include four general machining centers (five-axis vertical, five-axis horizontal, five-axis horizontal milling and turning compound, five-axis gantry machining center) and three special machining centers (five-axis tool grinding center, five-axis blade machine and high-speed blade tip grinding center), totaling seven series of machining center products. In terms of product layout, there are both high-end KD series for the military field and cost-effective Dechuang series for the civilian field. The product line covers most high-end CNC machine tools with processing types and sizes in the field of high-end CNC machine tools, and the performance of the products is basically the same as that of advanced foreign products, so it can meet the processing needs of multi-type and multi-size components in most high-end manufacturing industries such as aviation, aerospace, weapons, energy and automobiles.
(3) Key functional components
The company’s key functional parts products include serialized motors, serialized sensing products, motorized spindles, milling heads, turntables, etc. The key functional parts products have been fully applied to various types of high-end CNC machine tools products of the company. Thanks to a large amount of technical accumulation of independent research and development of key functional components, the adaptability and response speed of collaborative research and development between high-end CNC machine tool products and key functional components are obvious, which provides strong support for the company’s products to quickly respond to market demand, and can also serve aviation, aerospace, military industry, mechanical equipment, robots, automation and other fields as independent products.
(4) Flexible automatic production line
In order to meet users’ demand for high-quality development of manufacturing such as improving production efficiency, automation and flexibility, the company provides users with a complete solution of flexible automatic production line, which covers a complete turnkey production line including high-end machine tools, fixtures, cutters, process plans, logistics systems, storage systems and production control systems. The solution has a high localization rate and can be applied to aerospace, automobiles, mechanical processing and many other fields to realize the flexibility of parts from blank to finished products.
Schematic diagram of flexible automatic production line To sum up, the company’s main products have independent intellectual property rights and core technologies, and can realize the research and development and manufacturing of various types of products in high-end equipment manufacturing such as aviation and aerospace, from high-end CNC systems and key functional components to high-end CNC machine tools, with independent control and strong "import substitution" ability. The company’s main products are rich in specifications and comprehensive in layout, and have distinctive characteristics in the domestic high-end machine tool manufacturing field, forming a large number of successful cases of processing key parts of high-end equipment represented by "the jewel in the industrial crown" aero engines, which have been well received by users.
(II) Main business models
1. Purchasing mode
The company’s procurement mode mainly includes two links: procurement strategy formulation and supplier management. The company implements planned procurement according to the production and R&D plan. The specific mode is as follows:
(1) Multi-price comparison and bargaining: The company selects suppliers within the scope of the Qualified Suppliers List to conduct multi-price comparison and bargaining to ensure the highest cost performance and reasonable procurement cost of purchased materials. By strengthening the continuous tracking and in-depth analysis of the main raw material markets such as metal and nonmetal materials, parts and products, electronic components, etc., the company makes purchasing plans according to the production and R&D plans, and adjusts the purchasing scale during the peak and trough periods, so as to minimize the possible adverse impact of raw material price fluctuations.
(2) Centralized procurement and strategic cooperation: for products with long delivery cycle, the company adopts a centralized procurement strategy, and the procurement of such materials is the responsibility of the company’s materials department; For important suppliers, the company adopts strategic cooperation to ensure the timely supply and stable quality of main raw materials.
The main procurement process of the company’s raw materials is as follows:
2. Production mode
The company’s products are characterized by the customization function on the general platform, so as to meet the individual needs of different customers. Therefore, the company generally adopts the production mode of "fixing production by sales", based on the order contract, carries out product design and development according to the needs of users, formulates the process route, and organizes production in combination with the delivery plan and production capacity. For the standard components, based on market forecast and historical order trend in the same period, moderate pre-production will be carried out.
In terms of production organization, the company generally follows the principle of "fixing production by sales and keeping reasonable inventory of standard components", and according to the sales plan and actual sales situation, formulates the production plan and issues it to the production workshop to organize production. For highly customized products, because different users have different requirements on product configuration, performance, parameters, etc., the company will deliver the customized requirements to the R&D center for design and development. After both parties reach an agreement, they will sign a sales contract for stocking and production.
In terms of production operations: the production department strictly implements the process control requirements determined by the design department and the production technology center, and implements the production plan. The Quality Management Department sets up key control points according to product performance requirements and related processes, and formulates control items and target values, and supervises production operators to strictly implement process requirements and operation instructions.
The company entrusts some non-core processes and non-core parts to external units for processing and production, and the external processing expenses account for a low proportion of the current main cost. External processing price is mainly based on processing difficulty, processing cost and other factors, and is determined through price comparison and negotiation.
3. Sales model
At present, the company mainly focuses on direct sales, supplemented by distribution.
(1) Direct selling mode
First of all, the company combines its own technical characteristics and advantages, fully investigates the market demand, carries out user industry analysis, deepens the understanding of high-end user needs through cooperation with leading user enterprises and scientific research institutes, accurately defines products, cooperates with users to carry out process verification, rapidly iterates and accelerates product maturity, gradually forms application demonstrations, expands and forms excellent cases, expands good influence in target industries, forms influence radiation on leading enterprises and their supporting enterprises, and accelerates the formation of good user reputation in the market; Secondly, in recent years, the company has actively participated in various professional exhibitions at home and abroad, such as China International CNC Machine Tool Exhibition (CIMT), China CNC Machine Tool Exhibition (CCMT), China International Industry Fair (CIIF), Taiwan, China Machine Tool Exhibition (TMBA), Russian International Machine Tool Exhibition (METALLOOBRABOTKA), Chongqing Lijia Exhibition, Qingdao International Machine Tool Exhibition, CIE Industry Expo, Shenzhen Greater Bay Area Expo, etc., and concentrated on releasing new products and technologies and displaying a large number of application cases. At the same time, the company actively publishes papers or new product information in authoritative magazines in related industries to expand the company’s influence in the industry; And expand business through new media to enhance the company’s brand awareness.
At present, the direct selling market is divided into East China, North China, Northwest China, South China, Southwest China, Central China and Northeast China according to their market maturity, and each region has a regional sales director.
The direct selling model is supported by the pre-sales technical ability, and promotes sales by customizing a complete set of processing solutions and turnkey projects for users. Pre-sales technology department makes process plan and sample trial production for users, and the company’s process technology output ability greatly enhances customer stickiness and promotes the completion of documents. In addition to effectively promoting sales, we also have the most advanced market information, truly understand the needs of users, grasp the development trend, new direction and new technology of the industry, and give timely feedback to the company’s R&D system, so as to promote product technology upgrading.
At the same time, the company established a training system to serve users through multi-channel training mode, which solved the phenomenon of "five-axis technology is difficult to get started" and "high-grade machine tools are not used well".
The company’s pre-sales technical service model is the core competitiveness of the company’s sales, which has obvious advantages compared with foreign manufacturers in the domestic market.
(2) Distribution mode
At present, the company’s distribution mode is mainly based on reporting projects and buyout mode. The distributor’s main role is to obtain users’ needs and report the project to the company’s sales department; After obtaining the information, coordinate the pre-sales support personnel to follow up the project and carry out scheme design, trial processing and other links; Authorized dealers to bid, and the company provides technical support; Companies sign contracts with distributors, and distributors sign contracts with end users. The company gives priority to the dealers who have the sales experience of well-known foreign five-axis machine tool brands and are proficient in the user’s industry technology.
The main sales processes of the company’s main products are as follows:
4. R&D mode
The company has a sound research and development system to support the company’s overall product research and development and product life cycle management. At the whole company level, research institutes, design institutes, production technology departments, marketing departments, materials departments, production and quality departments constitute a complete product development process. The marketing department put forward the product development demand, and the research institute and design institute completed the project establishment, product R&D design, process development and opened up the trial production and testing process of products. The production and quality departments are involved in the technical preparation of new product production from the process development stage to ensure that the production technical data of products are smoothly transferred to the production system. The materials department cooperates with product development and is responsible for the procurement of various raw materials and equipment.
The company’s new product development project management is divided into four stages: project establishment, design, trial production and project completion. After the product is mass-produced, the R&D department will also assist the production department to continuously improve the mass-produced products.
The company formulates control procedures for new product design and development, clearly defines the process of new product development and design management, and defines the work processes such as project initiation stage, design stage, trial production stage and project completion stage. Process monitoring is accompanied by the whole process to ensure project management progress and work quality, effectively control research and development costs, ensure that products can meet the project objectives and relevant requirements of customers, and at the same time ensure that products meet the requirements of environmental and occupational health and safety management systems and the provisions of relevant laws and regulations.
(3) the industry situation
1. The development stage, basic characteristics and main technical threshold of the industry.
The company is a high-tech enterprise engaged in the design, research and development, production, sales and service of five-axis CNC machine tools and their key functional components, and high-end CNC systems. It is one of the few innovative enterprises in China that independently master high-end CNC systems and high-end CNC machine tools. According to the National Economic Industry Classification (GB/T4754-2017), the company’s industry is "C342 Metal Processing Machinery Manufacturing"; According to the Guiding Catalogue of Key Products and Services of Strategic Emerging Industries (revised in 2016), the company’s main products conform to "2.1 Intelligent Manufacturing Equipment Industry 2.1.4 Intelligent Processing Equipment" in the catalogue.
Five-axis CNC machine tool is a kind of machine tool with high technology content and high precision, which is specially used for machining complex curved surfaces. It has the advantages of wide application range, fine machining quality and high working efficiency, and is considered to be the most important machining tool for machining key components in aerospace, shipbuilding, precision instruments, power generation and other industries. According to the data released by QYResearch, the global five-axis CNC machine tool market sales will reach US$ 6.755 billion in 2020, and will increase year by year thereafter. It is estimated that it will reach US$ 13.835 billion in 2027, with a compound growth rate of about 10.79% from 2020 to 2027. In 2020, the domestic five-axis CNC machine tool market will be 665 million US dollars, accounting for 9.85% of the global market, and it is expected to reach 1.589 billion US dollars by 2027, when its share in the global market will reach 11.49%, with a compound growth rate of 13.25% from 2020 to 2027, which is higher than the global market.
The development of five-axis CNC machine tools needs strong precision machine tool design and manufacturing technology, and it can only be realized by close cooperation with cutting-edge CNC technology, so it is extremely difficult to develop and industrialize products. The development of five-axis CNC machine tools in China started late. At present, there are few domestic enterprises that can independently develop and produce, and the supply of domestic products is difficult to meet the domestic market demand. The domestic market is mainly occupied by multinational companies with hundreds of years of machine tool production experience in developed industrial countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States. However, in recent years, a number of five-axis CNC machine tool enterprises, including companies, have emerged in China, and their products have gradually been recognized by the market, gradually forming an import substitution trend.
2. Analysis of the industry position of the company and its changes.
The company is one of the few innovative enterprises in China with dual R&D systems for high-end CNC systems and high-end CNC machine tools. Through years of continuous R&D and innovation, it has formed the product layout of high-end CNC system products, high-end CNC machine tools and key functional components with independent intellectual property rights and core technologies. It can realize the R&D and manufacturing of various types of products in aviation, aerospace and other high-end equipment manufacturing, with independent and controllable core technologies and strong "import substitution" ability. The company’s main products are rich in specifications and comprehensive in layout, and have distinctive characteristics in the domestic high-end machine tool manufacturing field.
On the one hand, international advanced high-end machine tool enterprises, such as Haas, Otaru, Madzak, Fanuc, Demaji, and Fidia, have continuously extended their own technology chains and industrial chains, adopted personalized numerical control systems and some key functional components independently developed, and some enterprises have also sold them to the outside world. This business model not only ensures the safety and controllability of products, but also has higher market core competitiveness. The development model of the whole industrial chain, the whole talent chain and the whole technology chain established by the company can promote the continuous iterative improvement of the company’s own product technology and lay a solid foundation for the company’s products to benchmark international advanced products. At the same time, it can guarantee the technical safety of the company’s own products and the safety of the national high-end equipment industry, and make contributions to solving some "stuck neck" problems in the field of high-end equipment.
On the other hand, the localization rate of domestic high-end machine tools is less than 10%, and there is huge room for import substitution. However, the number of domestic enterprises engaged in high-end machine tools and their production and sales volume are still far from those of developed countries, and high-end CNC systems and key functional components are still mainly imported. With the rapid development of domestic high-end equipment, the demand for domestic CNC systems and key functional components is constantly increasing. The company can provide domestic enterprises with mature high-end CNC systems and key functional components, and at the same time meet all kinds of customization needs. The company can form strategic cooperation with domestic machine tool manufacturers, provide high-quality domestic CNC systems and key functional components solutions for domestic equipment, break foreign technology monopoly and promote innovation and promotion of domestic machine tool industry.
The company has presided over or undertaken 29 major national science and technology projects and 17 other national and local R&D projects. The company has participated in the formulation of 24 national standards and 10 industry and group standards. Authorized 93 domestic invention patents and 13 international invention patents. The five-axis CNC machine tools, high-grade CNC systems and key functional components independently developed by the company are the first sets in China, which have played a leading role in the breakthrough of CNC core technology in the field of high-end CNC machine tools in China and played a core role in realizing the strategic goal of "import substitution" of the company.
According to the data of China Machine Tool Industry Yearbook in 2021, there are 45 enterprises producing machining center products in the annual report of China machine tool industry in 2020, including Jinan No.2 Machine Tool, Shenyang Machine Tool, () and other large domestic state-owned enterprises and comparable listed companies (), Haitian Seiko, Guosheng Zhike, etc. The counted enterprises basically cover most domestic key and large machining center manufacturing enterprises in the industry.
From the perspective of the sales volume of the association statistics, the proportion of five-axis vertical machining centers sold by the company in 2020 is 13.62%; From the perspective of sales amount, the proportion of five-axis vertical machining centers sold by the company is 22.24%. No matter from the perspective of sales volume or sales amount, the market share of the five-axis vertical machining center sold by the company is at a high level.
3. The development of new technologies, (), new formats and new models during the reporting period and the future development trend.
According to Foresight Industry Research Institute’s Report on Market Demand Forecast and Investment Strategic Planning of CNC Machine Tool Industry in China, it is predicted that the market scale of CNC machine tools in China will grow steadily and rapidly in the future, reaching 572.8 billion yuan by 2024.
Forecast of China CNC Machine Tool Market Scale from 2019 to 2024
1) The promotion and popularization of new technology-five-axis linkage machining technology is the future development direction of the industry.
It is necessary to process complex curved surfaces in industry. Many key parts in ships, airplanes, rockets, satellites and spaceships have certain particularities and processing difficulties, which cannot be met by traditional processing methods. Only by using five-axis linkage, high-speed and high-precision CNC machine tools can the processing requirements be met.
With the trend of automobile lightweight, the traditional parts composed of multiple parts are integrated into a single part, and the processing characteristics of parts are changed from plane to space. At present, the major international suppliers of automobile parts processing equipment, including rabo, Madzak and Demaji, use a large number of five-axis machine tools to set up production lines.
2) New format-demand transformation from single machine tool that only completes a single process to flexible manufacturing unit that completes multiple processes.
Flexible manufacturing unit (FMU) is a manufacturing unit composed of single or multiple five-axis machining centers or compound machining centers and small automatic logistics devices to meet the requirements of efficient processing of multi-variety and small batch parts.
With the intensification of competition and rising costs of downstream production enterprises, especially the sharp rise of labor production costs and the increasingly frequent shortage of labor, more unmanned or less humanized manufacturing systems have begun to appear, and downstream customers’ demand for flexible manufacturing units that respond quickly to the processing market with multiple varieties and small batches will rise. Flexible manufacturing unit will appear as a complete set of equipment of "CNC machine tool+small logistics device (industrial robot, automatic pallet library, truss manipulator, etc.)", which will solve the pain point of the sharp rise of labor production cost in time and realize unmanned or less people.
3) New mode-from single product sales to intelligent manufacturing system integration scheme.
For a long time, most CNC machine tool enterprises in China only focus on producing machine tool products in a certain field, and do not have the ability to provide solutions for automated production lines. In recent years, downstream enterprises have put forward new demands for machine tool suppliers, and tend to cooperate with suppliers who have complete equipment production capacity, provide complete solutions or undertake more complex engineering general contracting projects and automation system transformation capabilities. Intelligent manufacturing system integrators with "turnkey" engineering capability of automated, flexible and intelligent production lines will be able to meet customers’ personalized, customized and differentiated production needs, thus improving customer stickiness. In addition, the encouragement of national and local policies for the construction of automated production lines in manufacturing industry will certainly promote the transformation of intelligent manufacturing equipment suppliers into intelligent manufacturing system integration solution providers.
(IV) Core technologies and R&D progress
1. Core technologies and their advanced features and changes during the reporting period.
The company has mastered the core technology of independent research and development of the main products, five-axis CNC machine tools, high-grade CNC systems and key functional components. Relying on the complete talent chain, technology chain and industrial chain, under the support of continuous high-intensity independent innovation, a number of key core technologies leading domestically and advanced internationally have been formed and mastered. It mainly includes high-grade CNC system technology, universal five-axis CNC machine tool technology, special five-axis CNC machine tool technology, direct-drive functional component technology, high-performance servo drive system technology, high-performance sensing and detection technology, high-performance low-speed torque motor technology, high-performance high-speed torque motor technology, high-performance motorized spindle motor technology, etc., which realizes the effective transformation of technical achievements. The function, control accuracy and processing efficiency of the product have reached the international advanced level. Mastering independent and controllable core technologies has played a core role in the company’s strategic goal of "import substitution".
During the reporting period, on the basis of the original four general technology platforms and two special technology platforms, the company continued to deepen research and development. In order to promote the high-speed and high-quality development of aviation industry, improve the performance of domestic aero-engines, and realize the machining of rotor blade tips of aero-engines by using domestic industrial parent machines, the company successfully launched the technical platform of high-speed blade tip grinding center to form a special plane for high-speed blade tip grinding machining center. Focusing on the common models and high-end CNC system technology in the core technology field, the company has added 7 internationally authorized invention patents and 2 domestically authorized invention patents, mainly aiming at the technical iteration of five-axis horizontal machining center, five-axis turning milling center and GNC6X series CNC system.
Realize multi-directional improvement and promotion in basic common technology;
1. A breakthrough has been made in the installation process of super-high excess cone expansion sleeve for high-speed motor rotor applied to the motorized spindle of CNC machine tools, and the process verification has been successfully completed;
2. The torque motor used for the spindle of CNC machine tools is designed for lifting, and the torque coefficient of three models has been improved by 1.5-2 times, which can effectively reduce the power consumption of machine tools;
3. Further develop advanced measurement cycle function, additional function and adaptive processing detection function suitable for various models;
4. Upgrade the hardware platform of CNC system controller, greatly improve the system computing power and communication efficiency, and enrich the types of communication access;
5. Provide process support for special machine tools such as tip grinding, tooth scraping and multi-channel linkage, provide the process package of fine and excellent curved surface, improve the machining accuracy and efficiency of five axes, expand the access ability of peripheral equipment such as tool setting instrument, and enrich the shaft debugging function;
6. Develop a new generation of servo current loop software and hardware technology, which reduces the terminal control vibration and servo error, and then improves the surface processing quality of the workpiece;
7. In the position feedback link, the sine and cosine signal subdivision algorithm is upgraded, which effectively reduces the motor speed fluctuation and improves the spindle processing effect;
8. A new trajectory optimization and speed planning algorithm is designed to further improve the machining performance of high-speed and high-precision surfaces, meet the machining requirements of complex surfaces, give full play to the mechanical properties of machine tools, and finish the machining of complex surfaces with high efficiency and high quality.
The continuous optimization and improvement of core technologies have fully consolidated the company’s technological advantages and further enhanced the market competitiveness of products.
2. R&D achievements obtained during the reporting period
(1) Intellectual property rights acquired during the reporting period
By December 31st, 2022, the company and its holding subsidiaries had owned 251 patents, including 106 invention patents (including 13 international invention patents and 93 domestic invention patents), 139 utility model patents and 6 design patents, 60 computer software copyrights, 57 trademarks and 3 works copyrights. There are 226 patents under application, including 87 international invention patents, 132 domestic invention patents and 7 utility model patents.
During the reporting period, the company granted 55 new patents, including 7 international invention patents, 6 domestic invention patents and 42 utility model patents. There are 90 new patents, including 65 international invention patents, 18 domestic invention patents and 7 utility model patents.
(2) Awards won during the reporting period
In February 2022, the company’s independent and controllable platform-based high-grade horizontal five-axis machining center won the award of "2021′ Kechuang China’ list-key technology to break through shortcomings in equipment manufacturing field" issued by China Association for Science and Technology; In October 2022, the project "Development and Application of Serialized High Power Density, High Efficiency, High Performance and High Reliability Servo Drive Device" was selected by Dalian Science and Technology Bureau as the first prize of Dalian Science and Technology Progress Award in 2022; In October 2022, KMC600SU, a high-dynamic five-axis vertical machining center, was selected as "Top Ten Product Quality" by cmtba. In November 2022, the company was awarded the "Mechanical Industry Quality Award" by China Machinery Industry Quality Management Association; In November 2022, the company’s project "Key Technologies and Applications of Digital Workshop Interconnection Based on Information Model" was selected as the third prize of Science and Technology Progress Award by China Instrumentation Society; In November 2022, the company’s R&D team was awarded the title of "Excellent Innovation Team in Mechanical Industry" by China Machinery Industry Federation; In December 2022, the company was recognized as the provincial enterprise technology center in 2022 by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.
(3) Research and development of new products during the reporting period
During the reporting period, on the basis of the original four general technical platforms and two special technical platforms, the company continued to deepen research and development, and successfully launched the third special technical platform-the high-speed blade tip grinding center technical platform. The equipment of high-speed blade tip grinding center has the characteristics of "high", "fine" and "sharp" in technical level compared with Spanish Danobate products. The introduction of this series of products will help to promote the high-speed and high-quality development of aviation industry, improve the performance of domestic aero-engines, realize the grinding of rotor blade tips of aero-engines and marine engines, and fill the domestic gap. At the same time, three new products were successfully developed and put on the market to achieve sales. Including KD series KTM120 five-axis horizontal boring and milling machine compound machining center, Dechuang series KCX1200TM five-axis horizontal milling machine compound machining center and Dechuang series DMC50 five-axis vertical machining center. New products quickly get market response and realize sales. For aviation, aerospace, weapons, energy, ships, automobiles, mechanical equipment, medical equipment and other industries, large-scale shaft and special-shaped rotary parts are processed efficiently. Typical customers are customers who process key parts such as aircraft landing gear, nuclear equipment and missile body.
3. Table of R&D Investment Reasons for the significant changes in the total R&D investment compared with the previous year
During the reporting period, R&D investment increased by 47.44% compared with the same period of last year, mainly because the company undertook more national R&D projects, and many projects entered the stage of high R&D investment during the reporting period.
4. Research projects
The situation shows that there is none.
5. R&D personnel
6. Other notes:
Iii. Analysis of core competitiveness during the reporting period
(A) analysis of core competitiveness
1, adhere to independent innovation, continuous technology accumulation
The company attaches great importance to the research and development of innovative technologies and adheres to the development strategy of independent and controllable core technologies. By December 31st, 2022, the company had 106 authorized invention patents (including 93 domestic invention patents and 13 international invention patents), 139 utility model patents, 6 design patents, 60 software copyrights, 57 trademarks and 3 works copyrights. He has undertaken 29 national science and technology major projects "High-grade CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment" and 17 other national and local R&D projects; The company has participated in the formulation of 24 national standards and 10 industry and group standards. The core technologies and patents mastered by the company and the continuous improvement of independent innovation ability are one of the keys to the company’s core competitiveness.
During the reporting period, on the basis of the original four general technical platforms and two special technical platforms, the company continued to deepen research and development, and successfully launched the third special technical platform-the high-speed blade tip grinding center technical platform. The equipment of high-speed blade tip grinding center has the characteristics of "high", "fine" and "sharp" in technical level compared with Spanish Danobate products. The introduction of this series of products will help to promote the high-speed and high-quality development of aviation industry, improve the performance of domestic aero-engines, realize the grinding of rotor blade tips of aero-engines and marine engines, and fill the gaps in China. At the same time, the company introduced three new products, including KTM120 five-axis horizontal boring and milling machine compound machining center of KD series, KCX1200TM five-axis horizontal milling machine compound machining center of Dechuang series and DMC50 five-axis vertical machining center of Dechuang series. The continuous introduction and iteration of new products make the company maintain a strong market competitiveness.
2. The core key functional components are self-controllable, and high-end machine tools can be replaced by imports.
The company has a complete talent chain, technology chain and industrial chain. The autonomy rate of the main product five-axis CNC machine tools reaches 85%, and it has mastered the core key technologies of high-grade CNC systems, key functional components and the whole industrial chain of five-axis CNC machine tools. Products are widely used in aviation, aerospace, weapons, ships, automobiles, molds, energy, machinery and equipment, electronics and other industrial fields to achieve import substitution. The GNC series high-grade numerical control system independently developed by the company is benchmarked against Siemens 840D. The report issued by China Machine Tool Supervision and Monitoring Center shows that the GNC series high-grade numerical control system of Kede CNC can reach 95.85% of Siemens 840D in function. The company’s self-developed and self-made key functional components are comprehensive in product types and rich in specifications, including torque motors, spindle motors, servo motors, motorized spindles, turntables, milling heads, laser interferometers, laser tool alignment instruments, wireless probes, laser rulers, encoders and so on. Functional parts products have been matched with the company’s self-produced five-axis CNC machine tools in batches, and batch independent sales have been realized.
3. Double R&D system of high-end CNC system and high-end CNC machine tool, and more efficient iterative promotion.
The company is one of the few innovative enterprises with high-end CNC system and high-end CNC machine tool dual R&D system in China, and one of the few high-tech enterprises based on comprehensive and independent innovation technology system in China at present. It can plan and design machine tool structure, optimize machine tool configuration elements, and customize functional components and functional development for machine tool host according to user’s technological requirements. With the support of dual R&D system, the company’s five-axis CNC machine tools, its key functional components and high-grade CNC system have achieved rapid iterative improvement in function, performance and reliability from the market end to the R&D end.
4. Pre-sales technology and after-sales service have obvious advantages and provide professional solutions.
With the multi-disciplinary and multi-professional pre-sales technical team, the company can tailor a complete set of high-end manufacturing and processing solutions for users in aviation, aerospace, weapons, ships, automobiles, molds, energy, mechanical equipment, electronics and other industries, provide them with flexible and diverse five-axis CNC machine tools, open the functions of high-end CNC systems to customers to the greatest extent, support personalized configuration adjustment, and realize the optimal use of the company’s products. In the after-sales service stage, in view of the technical problems encountered by customers in actual processing and manufacturing, the company can provide quick response and cost-controlled after-sales solutions to meet customers’ multi-level needs. Efficient pre-sale, in-sale and after-sale market service ability is one of the important factors affecting the company’s market profitability.
5. Facing the future manufacturing development needs, provide a complete production line turnkey scheme.
Thanks to the high localization rate and autonomy rate, relying on the complete talent chain, technology chain and industrial chain foundation, combined with the application accumulation of deep cooperation among users in many fields, the company has the turnkey engineering ability of flexible production line, which can meet the personalized, customized and differentiated production needs of customers. Solve the downstream customers’ demand for multi-variety and small batch processing, solve the pain point of the sharp rise in labor production costs, and realize unmanned or less people. With the further accumulation and promotion of the company’s flexible production line business, it will provide complete domestic production line solutions for users in more fields in the future, reduce the difficulty of the transformation and upgrading of users’ manufacturing industry, help users quickly realize the transformation and upgrading of their manufacturing capabilities, and create higher profits for users.
6. In-depth cooperation among key users in many fields and application demonstration to promote market growth.
The company has established four general machining centers and three special machining center technology platforms, which can realize the rapid application verification of high-grade CNC systems and key functional components. At the same time, the company has established a cooperation mode of "co-innovation, co-promotion and co-benefit" with key enterprises in aviation, aerospace, automobile, cutting tools, energy, ships, weapons and other industries. With the support of the national science and technology major project "High-grade CNC machine tools and basic manufacturing equipment" and other platforms, the company’s products have been verified in the processing and manufacturing of key parts of key users in various fields, which not only realizes the rapid verification and upgrading of products, but also plays an application demonstration role in the user industry.
7. Innovative team advantages
In the process of independent innovation, the company has built and precipitated a multi-level, multi-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary team of innovative talents, and established an innovative technical team headed by general manager Chen Hu. At the end of the reporting period, there were 186 R&D teams, with professionals covering R&D, design, manufacturing, assembly, testing and other fields of high-end equipment at home and abroad. Chen Hu, the general manager, graduated from the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanics in Tsinghua University with a doctorate degree. He served as the leader of the working group of the national fieldbus standard alliance for numerical control systems, enjoyed the special allowance of the State Council, and was selected as the young and middle-aged scientific and technological innovation leader in the "Ten Thousand Talents Program" of the Central Organization Department and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Dr. Chen Hu is a senior expert in China’s CNC system and CNC machine tool industry. He has been engaged in the research and development of high-end CNC systems and high-end CNC machine tools for a long time, and led the company’s technical team to conquer all kinds of high-end five-axis CNC machine tools and their key functional components and high-end CNC systems, and established a complete CNC technology chain and industry that attracted the attention of the industry.
8. Brand advantage
The company is a national high-tech enterprise, awarded the title of "Little Giant" by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and recognized as the provincial enterprise technology center in 2022 by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology. High-end CNC machine tools have won the Chun Yan Prize in machine tool industry for many times, and the products of KMC800U five-axis linkage vertical machining center have entered the "Supply Catalogue of Domestic High-end CNC Machine Tools in Military Industry", and KMC600SU high-dynamic five-axis linkage vertical machining center has been selected as "Top Ten Product Quality" by cmtba. The project "Five-axis high-quality and high-efficiency precision machining complete process and manufacturing system for aerospace complex components and its demonstration application" won the first prize of scientific and technological progress in China machinery industry, and the project "Key technologies, standards and applications of open CNC system" won the first prize of scientific and technological progress in Liaoning province. The project "Development and application of serialized high power density, high efficiency, high performance and high reliability servo drive device" was selected by Dalian Science and Technology Bureau as the first prize of Dalian Science and Technology Award in 2022, and the project "Key technologies and applications of digital workshop interconnection based on information model" was awarded by China. The company’s products and services have won a good market reputation in key industries such as aviation, aerospace and weapons. The company has established a complete talent chain, technology chain and industrial chain, which has enabled the company to have stronger continuous innovation ability. The mode of "co-innovation, co-promotion and co-benefit" established by the company and users has enabled the company to have better market response ability.The company will continue to provide users with complete domestic high-end manufacturing solutions, constantly promote the application of high-end CNC systems and key functional components in other machine tool enterprises in the machine tool industry, and strive to build the company into a leading enterprise at home and abroad in the field of high-end manufacturing.
(II) Events that have seriously affected the core competitiveness of the company during the reporting period, impact analysis and countermeasures.
Fourth, risk factors
(A) Not yet profitable risk
(2) Risk of sharp decline in performance or loss
(C) core competitiveness risks
At present, the company’s main business products continue to be developed in aerospace, automobile, machinery, mold and other fields, and the demand for the company’s products varies in different fields. If the company can’t quickly adapt to the process differentiation demand in different fields, quickly carry out technical iterative upgrading, enrich the varieties of five-axis CNC machine tools, provide differentiated five-axis CNC machine tools that meet the processing needs in different fields, and provide users with the best processing scheme, it will face adverse effects such as the products can’t adapt to the new market demand, resulting in slower revenue growth.
(4) Operational risks
1, the risk of increased competition
For a long time, the domestic market of five-axis CNC machine tools with the highest technology content is mainly occupied by multinational companies with hundreds of years of machine tool production experience in developed industrial countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States. Domestic independent production capacity is concentrated in the low-end market, and there are very few China enterprises that can independently develop five-axis CNC machine tools.
In recent years, due to the realistic demand of China’s aerospace engine, marine propeller, heavy generator rotor and other strategic equipment industries for high-end CNC machine tools, the state has continuously increased its support for the high-end CNC machine tool industry, and the technical level of China’s high-end CNC machine tool industry has been continuously improved. The performance and function of five-axis CNC machine tools produced by a few excellent domestic manufacturers can meet the needs of import substitution. The gradual rise of high-end CNC machine tool manufacturers in China may attract the attention of competitors and intensify competition. Coupled with the rapid growth of China’s high-end CNC machine tool market and the increasing awareness of the importance of import substitution, it will attract more potential entrants. Therefore, the company faces the risk of intensified market competition.
2. The risk that large foreign-funded enterprises still occupy the main market share in high-end segments.
Most of the large foreign-funded enterprises in the industry are large enterprises integrating upstream functional components and CNC system production, whole machine manufacturing and product sales. Based on the accumulation of industrial countries in architecture design, processing technology, industrial scale and talent echelon for hundreds of years, the reliability and accuracy of its high-end industrial products have obvious advantages over China’s emerging technology enterprises. Therefore, in the field of five-axis CNC machine tools, CNC systems and key functional components with high technical difficulty, downstream users in China still mainly choose foreign advanced products under the condition of free import, resulting in the products of large foreign-funded enterprises still occupying the main market share in the segmentation field.
3. Risks of upstream raw material procurement
The key functional parts of the company are mainly produced independently, and the external procurement is mainly standard parts, but the parts such as guide rails, lead screws and bearings are still mainly purchased externally. In the future, if the international trade friction intensifies, technical protection is strengthened or the demand of competitors increases, the parts such as guide rails, lead screws and bearings will face the risk of sharp price increase or prolonged supply cycle, which will adversely affect the company’s production and operation.
(V) Financial risks
1. Risk of fluctuation of gross profit margin
During the reporting period, the company’s main users were the aerospace industry, and its customization requirements for high-end CNC machine tools were higher in terms of processing accuracy and processing efficiency, and its gross profit margin was relatively high. With the gradual acceleration of the company’s marketization process, the company’s products are expanding into many fields such as precision molds, automobiles, clean energy and construction machinery. Due to the differences in customized configuration of high-end CNC machine tools used by different industries and users, the gross profit margin of related products will also be different, and the change of downstream customer structure may make the overall gross profit margin of the company fluctuate. Moreover, in order to meet the downstream market demand, industry competitors are also investing in or increasing the research and development and production of five-axis CNC machine tools. If the market competition intensifies in the future, the national policy is adjusted or the company fails to maintain the leading position in products, and the selling price of products and the purchasing price of raw materials are adversely changed, the company’s gross profit margin is also at risk of decline.
2. The risk of bad debts caused by the increase in the balance of accounts receivable.
The company has made provision for bad debts for accounts receivable according to the accounting standards. The company’s accounts receivable scale increases with the growth of operating income. If the economic situation worsens or customers have major operational difficulties, the company will face the risk of difficulties in collecting accounts receivable.
(VI) Industry risks
As an important part of intelligent equipment manufacturing industry, high-grade CNC machine tools are strategic industries for national economic and social development. The state has issued a series of encouragement policies to support and promote the development of China’s high-end CNC machine tools and basic equipment manufacturing industry, and enhance industrial innovation ability and international competitiveness. With China’s military modernization and the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry, the demand for independent control of core technologies is increasingly urgent, and the country’s industrial policy continues to increase. If the support of relevant national industrial policies is weakened in the future, it will have a negative impact on the company’s development.
(VII) Macro-environmental risks
The company’s downstream customers are mainly military enterprises that process aero-engines and missile engines, as well as civil manufacturing enterprises in the fields of precision molds, automobiles, clean energy, domestic commercial aircraft and construction machinery. The development of industries where downstream customers are located is highly correlated with the macroeconomic cycle. The adjustment of macroeconomic policies and its periodic fluctuations will have a great impact on the structural upgrading of downstream industries, as well as the operating conditions of end customers, capital turnover speed and fixed assets investment decisions, thus affecting the demand for high-end CNC machine tools.
If the macroeconomic growth rate continues to decline in the future and the downstream industries are depressed for a long time, it may exceed the company’s ability to cope through customer structure adjustment and internal tapping, which will have a great adverse impact on the company’s operation for a period of time.
(8) Risks related to depositary receipts
(9) Other major risks.
V. Discussion and analysis of the company’s future development
(A) the industry pattern and trends
1. For a long time, domestic CNC machine tools have been in a situation of "low-end civil war, mid-end competition and high-end failure", and the high-end market has been occupied by foreign brands.
Developed countries and regions have a long history in the industry of advanced manufacturing equipment such as high-end CNC machine tools, and related enterprises have accumulated advantages in technology, brand and capital, and have the first-Mover advantage, occupying the high-end market. The domestic market of five-axis CNC machine tools with the highest technology content is mainly occupied by multinational companies with hundreds of years of machine tool production experience in developed industrial countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States. The domestic independent production capacity is concentrated in the low-end market, and there are very few China enterprises that can independently develop five-axis CNC machine tools. According to the Outline of the Development of Machinery Industry in the 14th Five-Year Plan, at present, the self-sufficiency rate of high-end CNC machine tools in China is less than 10%, which basically depends on imports. Therefore, the main competitors of China’s five-axis CNC machine tool enterprises represented by the company are mainly international manufacturers.
2. China is a big machine tool consumer, attracting a large number of international brand CNC machine tool enterprises to stay in the China market.
China has become the most important machine tool consumption market in the world. According to the data of German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (VDW), the consumption of machine tools in Chinese mainland in 2021 was 23.6 billion euros, up 27% year-on-year, accounting for about 34% of the global market. However, on the whole, China’s machine tool industry presents the development characteristics of "big but not strong", and the field of high-end CNC machine tools is still a weak link with strong import dependence.
According to the data of cmtba, in 2022, the import volume of metal processing machine tools in China reached US$ 6.6 billion, of which the total amount of imported machining centers was US$ 2.37 billion. The average price of imported machining centers increased significantly year-on-year, the proportion of imported high-end machining centers increased, and there was huge room for domestic substitution.
In April 2022, Nippon Denso (which owns Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, OKK and other machine tool enterprises) expanded its factory area in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province from the original planned 60,000 square meters to 200,000 square meters to produce gear processing machine tools. At the same time, Demajisen Seiki invested 100 million US dollars to build Pinghu factory, with an estimated annual output of 2,200 machining centers. In the same year, Demajisen Seiki opened Tianjin Green Factory and Shanghai Medical Device Technology Center. In June, 2022, German Wheeler Xile Machine Tool (Qingdao) Company laid the foundation stone for the new Jimo factory covering an area of 73,000 square meters, and it is estimated that it will achieve the production of 300 five-axis and horizontal processing machine tools. In July 2022, the foundation stone was laid for the second phase factory of German (SW) Esway Machine Tool Co., Ltd., and China will become the largest overseas R&D and manufacturing base in the world, with an annual production capacity of about 350 machining centers. Thus, the continuous investment of foreign-funded enterprises in China market shows the high prosperity and development space of domestic five-axis machine tool industry.
3. China machine tool industry is transforming into a high-end field.
Five-axis CNC technology is one of the important standards to measure the manufacturing ability and technical level of complex precision parts in a country. Five-axis CNC machine tool is the only means to solve the cutting of key industrial products such as aerospace and aero-engine impeller, impeller, blade and marine propeller. From the Batumi List after World War II to the Wassenaar Agreement after the Cold War, the developed countries in the west have always adopted the five-axis CNC system and five-axis CNC machine tools as strategic materials to implement the export license system, and imposed strict technical blockade and export restrictions on many countries, including China.
After decades of development, the domestic CNC machine tool industry has been developing independently and drawing on foreign experience. From scratch, it has grown continuously, resulting in such established enterprises as Shenyang Machine Tool (000410.SZ) and Qinchuan Machine Tool (000837.SZ), which are in the forefront of the world, as well as a number of core design technologies and manufacturing processes such as Kede CNC, which can provide high performance for their own dedicated application fields and product types.
In recent years, with the help of favorable market conditions such as the transformation of China’s manufacturing industry, the rising demand for high-end CNC machine tools, and the huge import substitution space, such emerging manufacturers have made great efforts to develop their own products and technical level, enhanced their financial strength through public financing and other means, achieved remarkable development, and rapidly increased their market share.
4. The rapid development of high-end manufacturing industry has brought new development opportunities for domestic high-end machine tools.
At present, China is in an important stage of transformation from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. The intelligent manufacturing equipment industry is the basic guarantee for the adjustment and upgrading of the entire economic structure and the leading industry for the transformation and upgrading of the national economy. In the new round of industrial upgrading, high-end manufacturing industry will gradually replace simple manufacturing industry, and manufacturing industry will gradually change from labor-intensive industry to technology-intensive industry. This transformation and upgrading will also promote the technological upgrading of the intelligent manufacturing equipment industry, which will greatly increase the market demand of middle and high-end CNC machine tools. High-end CNC machine tools are mainly used in aviation, aerospace, nuclear, electronics, ships, weapons, energy, automobiles, molds, knives and other key industries, especially aviation, aerospace and military industries. The demand for localization is urgent, the stock needs to be updated urgently, and the market growth is expected.
Taking the aviation industry as an example, high-end CNC machine tools mainly serve the processing of key parts of military aircraft and civil aircraft. In the civil aircraft market, Comac China has launched three classes of passenger aircraft, namely ARJ21, C919 and CR929. On December 9, 2022, Comac China delivered the world’s first C919 large passenger plane to China Eastern Airlines, marking a new milestone in the development of large aircraft. According to the "2022 Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Report" issued by the Shanghai, China Municipal Science and Technology Commission, "by the end of 2022, the C919 large passenger aircraft had received 1,035 orders from 32 customers; In December 2022, the ARJ21 new regional aircraft was delivered to the first overseas customer, Indonesian Lingya Airlines. ARJ21 received 690 orders from 25 customers and delivered a total of 100 aircraft to 9 domestic and foreign customers. " According to the Market Forecast Annual Report of Comac China (2022-2041) issued by Comac China, with the steady rise of China’s economy, China’s civil aviation industry will enter a period of development quality improvement and pattern expansion. By 2041, the fleet size of China will reach 10,007, accounting for 21.1% of the global passenger aircraft fleet. China aviation market will become the largest single aviation market in the world.
According to the report on the draft government budget released by the National People’s Congress on March 5, 2023, China’s military budget in 2023 was 1,553.7 billion yuan, up 7.2% year-on-year, and the increase rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than that in 2022. It was also the third consecutive year since 2021 that China’s military budget rose slightly, and the situation of strengthening the army was urgent. At present, the international environment is deteriorating, regional conflicts and confrontation between great powers are escalating, and it is reasonable and urgent to speed up national defense investment. China’s military industry is still in the stage of compensatory development. The aerospace and military industries, represented by missiles, rockets and satellites, have entered the stage of rapid expansion of production, and high-end CNC machine tools have played a strong support and guarantee role in aviation, aerospace and military industries.
In addition to the urgent demand for five-axis CNC machine tools in key industries such as aviation, aerospace and military industry, with the transformation of automobile to lightweight and integration, "one-piece die casting" forms a variety of special-shaped components, which provides more opportunities for five-axis CNC machine tools in finishing. The processing of battery, motor housing, reducer housing, bogie, front and rear axle and other parts of new energy vehicles has become a new growth point of five-axis machine tools. According to the latest data from China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in 2022, the production and sales of new energy vehicles reached 7.058 million and 6.887 million respectively, up by 96.9% and 93.4% year-on-year, and the market share reached 25.6%. With the continuous expansion of the new energy automobile industry, the integrated processing equipment and automatic production line of automobile parts will usher in more development opportunities. At the same time, due to insufficient overseas supply and greatly enhanced export competitiveness of China automobile enterprises, automobile exports exceeded 3 million vehicles in 2022, up 54.4% year-on-year, effectively boosting the overall growth of the industry.
Tool is a tool used for cutting in mechanical manufacturing, and it is the basic industry in mechanical manufacturing and major technical fields, accounting for about 90% of the whole mechanical processing workload, which directly determines the production level of mechanical manufacturing. According to the data of cmtba, China Customs and Forward-looking Industry Research Institute, in 2022, the tool export value was 23.187 billion yuan, up 2.98% year-on-year; The import value of cutting tools was 9.732 billion yuan, down 8.47% year-on-year. The export value is obviously greater than the import value, and the dependence on imports continues to decline. The continuous increase of China’s tool export shows that domestic tool products occupy an important position in the world tool market. China needs to import more than 1,000 five-axis tool grinders every year, and the company’s five-axis tool grinding center is one of the few equipment in China that can grind complex tools such as ball end mill and corrugated knives, and has a good market prospect.
5. Support of national industrial policies
As an important part of equipment manufacturing industry, CNC machine tools have become one of the important material bases of national industrial modernization. Our government has always attached great importance to the development of CNC machine tool industry and its sub-sectors, and has successively issued a series of relevant policies to guide industry participants to increase R&D investment, strengthen innovation awareness, break through technical bottlenecks, improve the effective supply of common technologies and high-end products, and meet the market demand in downstream areas.
On May 8, 2015, the State Council officially issued "Made in China 2025", which became the action program for guiding the adjustment of industrial structure and upgrading of manufacturing industry, and then implementing the strategy of building a strong country. High-end equipment is the foundation of manufacturing transformation. In order to promote the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry, the Chinese government has vigorously promoted the development of high-end equipment industry and issued a series of industrial policies. In 2018, the Bureau of Statistics issued the Classification of Strategic Emerging Industries (2018), which listed metal cutting machine tools, metal forming machine tools, machine tool control systems, machine tool functional parts and accessories as "intelligent manufacturing equipment industry" in the "high-end equipment manufacturing industry". In November 2019, thirteen ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, jointly issued the "Special Action Plan for Improving the Design Capability of Manufacturing Industry (2019-2022)", clearly pointing out that in the field of high-end CNC machine tools, it is necessary to achieve a breakthrough in original design, strengthen the key design of high-end equipment manufacturing industry, and focus on breaking through the system development platform and servo mechanism design. In March, 2021, the Fourth Session of the 13th National People’s Congress voted to pass the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development in People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Outline of Long-term Goals in 2035. The Outline emphasizes promoting the optimization and upgrading of manufacturing industry, deeply implementing intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing projects, developing a new service-oriented manufacturing model, promoting the high-end intelligent greening of manufacturing industry, cultivating advanced manufacturing clusters, and promoting the innovative development of high-end CNC machine tools and other industries.
Therefore, the new round of industrial structure adjustment and upgrading is bound to replace the traditional manufacturing industry with advanced manufacturing industry. This transformation and upgrading will greatly increase the update demand of high-performance CNC machine tools as one of the industrial mother machines. The State Council’s Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Revitalization of Equipment Manufacturing Industry, High-grade CNC Machine Tools and Basic Manufacturing Equipment, and China Machinery Industry Federation’s Outline for the Development of Machinery Industry in the Tenth Five-Year Plan all provide strong policy support for the development of high-grade CNC machine tool industry represented by five-axis CNC machine tools.
(II) Company development strategy
As a technology-intensive enterprise, the company adheres to the development strategy of independent and controllable core technology. Adhere to the technology platform route, and customize the design with common technology to maximize the product value. By establishing a management system in line with the company’s strategic objectives, improving the company’s organizational structure with modern enterprise management system and corporate governance structure, providing customers with high-quality products and services with technological innovation, and rationally expanding the production scale by using the capital market, the company’s comprehensive competitiveness and sustainable development ability will be continuously improved to meet the diversified and personalized needs of different users and continue to create value for customers.
Based on the existing four universal five-axis technology platforms and three special plane series, the company will integrate special processing and efficient processing technology, improve the high-low product series, and complete the national layout of R&D, production, service and talents. On the basis of maintaining the market advantages of small and medium-sized aero-engines, missile engines, high-precision inertial navigation and missile body parts, we will increase the market share of key parts processing equipment such as large engines and aircraft structural parts; In view of the demand for processing equipment in the fields of automobiles, molds, knives, mechanical equipment and energy, the company gradually exerted its strength to expand its share in the civilian products market; Pay attention to the emerging market demand in electric vehicles, motion control and other fields, and realize the sales extension of key functional components, so as to become a new kinetic energy for high-speed income growth; Improve the complete solution ability of automated production line to meet the market business needs. Independent incubation of special motors, new sensors and other products in a timely manner, exploring new areas of the company’s growth.
1. Technical strategy
(1) adhere to the technology platform.
Focusing on four general five-axis technology platforms (vertical plus, horizontal plus, gantry and horizontal milling car) and three special five-axis technology platforms (tool grinding, blade machine and high-speed blade tip grinding), the company has carried out technology extension, adhered to the technology platform route, and gradually integrated external resources while relying on its own technology accumulation. Focus on modularization and standardization of unit technology, so as to facilitate the reuse of core technology, on the one hand, achieve the effect of maximizing value, on the other hand, it is easy to expand the application of technology to other fields to realize the independent evolution and development of unit technology.
(2) Attach importance to engineering ability
Guide the research and development direction with the market technical demand, promote the engineering and commercialization of scientific research results by using the technology platform, and form various products that meet the market demand; Engineering capabilities, including market research and demand analysis, product definition, performance optimization iteration, etc., are built as core competitiveness different from universities and other research forces.
(3) Establish the concept of open innovation.
Establish an "open, integrated, inclusive and innovative" corporate culture, build a socialized R&D platform with R&D as the core, promote the integration with technical resources around the industry, and improve the overall integration of products. Deeply cultivate institutions and personnel at all levels in the user industry to grasp the development trend of the industry and seize market opportunities; Recruit and train professionals in various industries, build a professional self-operation team, and realize independent accounting in manufacturing, marketing and other institutions.
2. Business strategy
(1) Internal business strategy
First, master the core research and development capabilities. Resolutely guide the research and development direction with market demand, and make use of platform advantages and technology accumulation advantages to achieve rapid engineering and rapid iteration.
Second, build a professional manufacturing system. Improve production planning ability, supply chain management ability and quality control ability; Form a complete, clear and controllable production management system, from functional components to the whole machine, form a vertical line management mechanism, and have the ability to expand and copy or support their own production capacity at any time.
Third, the implementation of human resources strategy. Excavate all kinds of outstanding talents and set up specialized teams (sales, technology and production) for specific industries; Improve the equity incentive and performance appraisal system, and realize the common growth of talents and companies through shareholding platforms.
(2) foreign business strategy
The company will strengthen its core pre-sales and after-sales capabilities. Improve the pre-sales plan ability and service ability, and issue pre-sales plans to drive relevant R&D and production work; Improve after-sales ability, improve response speed and problem solving efficiency. In addition, the company will strengthen the export standards, and solve the problem of the company’s current insufficient production capacity by integrating outsourcing resources and low-matching series of cooperative production.
3. Product strategy
The company will take the brand value of Kede CNC as the core, focus on the national strategic policy support, and take five-axis CNC machine tools as the carrier to build the brand value of Kede CNC and establish a good reputation in the industry; A complete system from providing five-axis complete machine equipment to providing flexible units and then to flexible production lines. Gradually complete the systematic layout of functional components, and master the independent research ability of core functional components such as CNC system, motor and motorized spindle, sensor and turntable. Further expand the professional radiation of components, based on the reputation of machine tools, expand the application fields of components, and promote the application from machine tools to aerospace, aviation, automobiles, mechanical equipment and other fields. In terms of product layout, it will be dominated by high-low distribution and differentiated structure. High-end models will bring high added value and high profits, and ordinary mass production models will ensure the liquidity of enterprises.
(3) Business plan
1. Actively expand the business scale and complete the construction of fundraising projects.
In order to meet the needs of the company’s development strategy, according to the company’s actual situation, actively explore and study the company’s new business and new customer expansion work, adhere to import substitution as the core, develop and improve other industrial fields on the basis of deepening and strengthening the aerospace field, give full play to the advantages of the whole industrial chain, full technology chain and full talent chain, and gain a foothold in the market with efficient solutions, cost-effective products and high reliability. Combined with the actual situation of obtaining investment funds, we will complete the construction of investment projects, rapidly increase production capacity and respond to market demand.
2. Continue to introduce scientific and technological talents and enhance technical reserves.
On the basis of existing personnel, the company will introduce all kinds of technical talents as needed, optimize the talent structure, attract high-end talents, and provide sufficient technical talent reserves for the subsequent development of the company. In terms of technology development, the company will optimize and improve the existing technology, develop the technology of high-end CNC machine tools and related core functional components with its own intellectual property rights according to the ever-developing demand trend, and actively explore cooperation with universities at home and abroad to maintain technological leadership.
3. Improve management ability and ensure product quality.
With the expansion of the company’s production scale, especially the future fundraising projects will be put into production and operation, which will put forward higher requirements for the company’s management ability. In the future, the company will complete the improvement of the whole process management software of processing and manufacturing, improve the existing management efficiency, realize the whole process visual target management of the project, ensure the traceability of the whole processing and manufacturing process, and better guarantee the quality control of equipment.
