From recent industry dynamics, the core drivers of this round of demand growth come from two downstream sectors: humanoid robots and lightweight automated equipment. Earlier this month, a research team from Xiangtan University announced a breakthrough in dry hard turning, overcoming the challenges of surface damage and tool wear in robot joint ball screws. These joint pins, bushings, and threaded adapters all fall under the category of precision turned parts. Previously, the tolerance of ordinary machined parts in the industry was generally limited to ±0.02mm, which could not meet the coaxiality requirements of robot joint dynamic operation. This led to jamming and abnormal noises after mass assembly of parts, necessitating reliance on imported components to fill the gaps. However, with the increasing localization rate of domestically produced CNC Swiss-type lathes and slant-rail lathes, domestic processing plants have achieved stable mass production of ±0.005mm micron-level turning. Currently, many precision processing plants in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions have seen a month-on-month increase of over 40% in robot-related orders.
Data from exhibitions also confirms this industry shift. At the Shanghai CNC Machine Tool Exhibition, which concluded at the end of April, local equipment manufacturers such as Shaanxi Baohan Industrial Machine Tool Group and Shenyang Machine Tool showcased economical precision turning equipment, focusing on small-diameter, thin-walled irregular-shaped turning processes. The equipment prices have decreased by 22% compared to three years ago, directly lowering the upgrade threshold for small and medium-sized processing plants. Previously, many small factories used ordinary feed-track lathes to process slender shafts, resulting in part vibration and deformation rates as high as 15%. Now, most companies have completed equipment diversification upgrades: short, thick flanges and large-diameter bushings use slant-track feed-track lathes, while slender, miniature pins are uniformly processed using Swiss-type lathes. This refined division of labor has directly reduced the defect rate of machined parts to below 2%.
Industry insiders revealed that another significant change in the industry this year is the shift in customer procurement standards towards "implicit quality." Previously, procurement only checked the dimensions marked on the drawings; now, downstream automation and medical equipment manufacturers are mandating random checks on three key indicators: geometric tolerances, hidden burrs in internal holes, and stress rebound. Previously, thin-walled stainless steel bushings commonly suffered from stress rebound deformation within 48 hours after machining, leading to bulk returns. Currently, leading processing plants have generally added two post-processing steps: natural aging and low-temperature stress relief, eliminating the need for secondary grinding and meeting high-end assembly requirements. Meanwhile, material demand is further differentiated. In addition to conventional 304 stainless steel and 6061 aluminum, the proportion of turning orders for titanium alloys and PEEK special plastics continues to rise, with more stringent requirements for tool cooling and cutting speed parameters.
