Report on the Bearing Industry: From Localization to Globalization, China's Bearing Industry is Expected to Rise
1. The global bearing market scale exceeds 100 billion US dollars, and China's five major industrial clusters have their own characteristics
1.1. Bearings have a long history and are important components in mechanical equipment
Bearings are an important component in contemporary mechanical equipment. Its main function is to support the mechanical rotating body, reduce the friction coefficient during its movement, and ensure its rotational accuracy. According to the different frictional properties of moving components, bearings can be divided into two types: rolling bearings and sliding bearings, among which rolling bearings are very common. Rolling bearings are generally composed of four parts: inner ring, outer ring, rolling element, and cage. The function of the inner ring is to match and rotate with the shaft; The outer ring is used to cooperate with the bearing seat and play a supporting role; Rolling elements are evenly distributed between the inner and outer rings using a cage, and their shape, size, and quantity directly affect the performance and lifespan of rolling bearings; The cage can evenly distribute the rolling element and guide it to rotate for lubrication.
The development of world bearings has gone through three stages. 1. The initial stage of the world bearing industry was from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The main characteristics are small production scale, simple equipment, and outdated technology, which belong to manual workshop production; The material is mainly carbon steel, with low accuracy; There are few varieties and very limited uses. At that time, the production technology of bearings was only in the hands of a few enterprises such as the UK, Germany, Sweden, and the United States.
2. The growth stage of the world bearing industry was approximately from the end of World War I to the end of World War II. The two World Wars provided the development of the military industry, and the increasing status of bearings in the military industry, coupled with the rapid development of science and technology, the brief stability after World War I and the urgent need for equipment during World War II, prompted the rapid development of the world bearing industry. The main characteristics are: the production scale has rapidly expanded, the output has rapidly increased, and the annual output of major bearing producing countries exceeds 35 million sets; The production equipment is complete, the technical means are advanced, and cluster based mass production is widely adopted; The development of bearing materials has mainly focused on alloy steel such as chromium steel, resulting in a significant improvement in product quality; The variety of bearings has increased and are widely used in various fields such as automobiles, airplanes, tanks, armored vehicles, machine tools, instruments, meters, sewing machines, etc.
The third stage: the development stage of the world bearing industry, dating from the 1950s to the present. After World War II, people ushered in an era of peace, with international economic recovery and prosperity, which enabled humanity to create peaceful development. With the rapid development of high-tech such as aerospace, nuclear energy industry, electronic computers, and optoelectronic magnetic instruments, the world bearing industry, which reflects the level of contemporary science and technology, has entered a new historical period of innovative manufacturing technology, rapid development of varieties, and increasingly mature and perfect bearing accuracy, performance, and lifespan.
The characteristics of this period are: the scale and collectivization of bearing enterprises, forming large enterprise groups and multinational corporations, such as NSK bearings and NTN bearings in Japan, SKF bearings in Sweden, FAG bearings and INA bearings in Germany
