Analysis of Development Trends in the Mould Industry

In recent years, the pace of structural adjustment in the mold industry has accelerated, mainly manifested in the fact that the development speed of large, complex, and long-life molds and mold standard parts is higher than the overall development speed of the industry; the proportion of plastic molds and die-casting molds is large; the number and capability of specialized mold manufacturers facing the market are increasing rapidly. The future development direction of Chinese automotive mold companies should focus on adjusting and positioning product structure, further enhancing the manufacturing technology level of molds, and occupying the market for complex structures and high-tech content molds.

Although the total production of molds in our country ranks third in the world, and there are some manufacturers with relatively good overall levels in the industry, the current characteristic of the domestic mold industry is that the manufacturing process conditions of manufacturers vary greatly. A considerable part consists of private enterprises or individual businesses, which are limited by factors such as capital, space, technology, and information exchange. Some manufacturers rely on traditional equipment and manual manufacturing, only able to produce some mid- to low-end molds, making it difficult to introduce advanced mold-making technology and equipment. This has led to intensified competition in the mid- to low-end mold market. Some mold companies, in order to secure orders, do not hesitate to lower prices, but low prices inevitably affect product quality, resulting in harm to users, mistakes for peers, and damage to themselves.

From the analysis of the market prospects of the Chinese mold industry and the research report on investment and development planning, it is understood that the future development points of the mold industry are to meet large demands while having high technical content, especially for molds that cannot be self-sufficient domestically and require large imports, as well as large, complex, and long-life molds that represent the direction of development. Additionally, due to the significant price advantage of our mold products in the international market, mold products with good export prospects will also become a development point.

Tracing back to ten years ago, the precision of molds was generally 5 microns. Over time, the precision of molds will become increasingly higher. It has now reached 2-3 microns, and soon molds with 1-micron precision will be launched. This requires ultra-precision processing. The mold industry will increasingly trend towards larger sizes. This is due to the growing size of molded parts and the high production efficiency requirements, leading to the development of multi-cavity molds. The multifunctional composite molds in the mold industry will further develop. In addition to stamping and forming parts, new multifunctional composite molds also undertake assembly tasks such as stacking, tapping, riveting, and locking, with increasing performance requirements for steel.

Especially in the home hardware industry, continuous development and innovation are needed. The industry's demand for home hardware is growing, and the home hardware industry is showing different changes. Many furniture hardware manufacturers have invisibly separated the two, with decorative hardware not focusing on functional development, and functional hardware lacking sufficient research on its decorative development, leading to a disconnect between the two.

The mold industry is an important part of our country's hardware industry. The 12th Five-Year Plan period is a critical time for our country to properly respond to significant changes in the domestic and international development environment and accelerate the achievement of the goal of building a moderately prosperous society. It is also a key period for the healthy development of our mold manufacturing industry. Although there are many uncertain factors in the domestic and international environment, our country's economic development is still in a period of rapid growth, and our molds still have comparative advantages in the international mold market. The domestic mold market is also expected to remain optimistic, showing a significant trend in the development of the mold industry.