SIBCO Bearing

Wheel bearing 

The competition for China's electromechanical products in both international and domestic markets is becoming increasingly fierce. How to continuously develop the domestic bearing industry in fierce market competition, improve product quality, explore new potential markets, and increase the share and competitiveness of bearing products in the international market is an urgent problem that the domestic bearing industry needs to solve. Japan is a strong producer of precision bearings, leading the world in product development, design and manufacturing, technological level, product quality, and production equipment. In order to further understand the production and market status of bearings in Japan, a Chinese bearing industry inspection team, jointly organized by the Planning and Marketing Department of the China Machinery Industry Federation and the Machinery Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, was invited by the Mayor of Kobe City to visit Japan for 10 days and achieved complete success. The delegation is led by Song Xiaogang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Machinery Industry Federation, and Sun Zhenbin, consultant of the Planning and Marketing Department of the China Machinery Industry Federation and senior expert in the Chinese bearing industry. The delegation consists of 24 members from 13 units including the China Bearing Industry Association, Harbin Bearing Group Co., Ltd., Luoyang Bearing Group Co., Ltd., Chongqing Changjiang Bearing Industry Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Xinchang Ximik Bearing Co., Ltd., and Fujian Nan'an Bearing Co., Ltd. After inspecting Japanese bearing production enterprises, the delegation members had a deep understanding of the advanced production technology adopted by Japanese companies. After returning to China, I quickly applied some of my technical and management methods to my own enterprise. Through the communication and exchange between the leaders of bearing enterprises in China and Japan, the trade work between Chinese and Japanese enterprises has been further promoted.

During the visit and inspection, the delegation members believed that the production and operation of Japanese bearing enterprises have the following characteristics:

Firstly, advanced process equipment, high product manufacturing level, and high work efficiency. Entering the production workshop of a Japanese company, rows of equipment are neatly arranged, motors are roaring, and there are very few operators in the workshop. For large batches of standard bearings, each person is responsible for 1-2 production lines. The series of processing procedures from part feeding, card loading, machining, inspection to cleaning, assembly, oiling, packaging, etc. are completely completed by high-precision and efficient automation equipment. Advanced processing and detection technologies, such as adaptive grinding technology, online measurement technology, fault self diagnosis technology, etc., have been widely used, thereby reducing product quality defects caused by human factors and achieving very high work efficiency. For example, there are currently two modes of ball bearing grinding and processing automatic lines produced by Japanese bearing companies. One is the process equipment flow of the grinding and processing automatic line. There are a total of 18 devices in the inner and outer rings of one automatic line, and one person is responsible for supervising 2 grinding and super automatic lines. The 6200 grinding line has a cycle time of 4.8 seconds per piece, and there are a total of 8 automatic lines in the workshop, supervised by 4 people, with a monthly output of 1 million sets. Another type of automatic grinding and assembly line consists of 27 devices, supervised by only 2 people, with a monthly output of 400000 sets.

The second is to create a specialized production pattern and maintain high-quality brands. The production of Japanese bearing enterprises mainly includes heat treatment process, grinding process, and assembly process. All rough machining processes and components are outsourced, and each type of component is supplied by 2-3 enterprises or companies. This specialized production pattern has created good benefits for enterprises, with a labor productivity of over 3 million yuan per person. Both NSK and NTN are world-renowned undoubtedly due to their excellent quality. For customers' ultra-high precision requirements, they consistently offer the highest reliability. They advocate for production standardization in global production bases, with nearly half of NSK brand ball bearings produced in overseas factories, which can also maintain the same level of high quality as domestic production in Japan. That's why NSK and NTN products, led by bearings, are always keeping pace with the most cutting-edge technology of the times.

The third is to adjust the industrial structure and adapt to market demand. In the process of structural adjustment, Japanese bearing companies have changed their market strategies, shifting from a focus on attacking to one of progress and retreat. Its strategic characteristics are: implementing closure, suspension, consolidation, and conversion, optimizing the combination. Expand the market for advantageous products and shrink the market for disadvantaged products. General bearings are being adjusted towards mass production and low cost; Multiple varieties of small batch bearing products are adjusted towards the unit direction. Japanese companies generally attach great importance to product development and are based on a global development strategy in the context of an economy without borders. Continuously launching unique products of our own enterprise, we are able to propose new products that meet the requirements of the host in advance based on user needs, and have won the trust of consumers around the world.

Fourthly, Japanese bearing companies focus on the development of manufacturing technology and processes. Among the manufacturers visited by the delegation, all enterprises have highly automated production and online automatic testing. However, not all equipment on the production line is the most advanced. Some are still from the 1960s or 1970s, but they can be integrated with the production line and ensure product quality, thanks to the widespread emphasis on the development of production technology by Japanese companies. Most of the enterprises inspected by the delegation are production plants, but their technology development departments have strong development capabilities. While attaching importance to new product development, they also focus on the development and innovation of production technology and processes to ensure product quality.

After visiting and inspecting, the delegation members believe that the following production technologies can be used for reference by domestic enterprises.

Bearing grinding and assembly automatic line technology.

On line automatic monitoring technology for bearing automatic lines.

Precision steel ball manufacturing process and testing technology.

Automatic material arrangement technology on the heat treatment production line.

Grinding technology for inner and outer rings of ball bearing double end face grinder.