2019-2025 China's metal injection molding (MIM) industry development prospects and trends forecast

 2019-2025 China's metal injection molding (MIM) industry development prospects and trends forecast

First, the industry development trend

(1) Feedstock preparation

Feedstock means uniformly mixing the powder and the binder at a certain temperature in a certain ratio to obtain a powder and a binder mixture suitable for injection molding. The preparation of uniform feed is the key to obtaining high precision powder injection molded products. If the feedstock is not uniformly mixed, defects such as deformation and unevenness in sintering shrinkage are generated during the degreasing process, thereby increasing the dimensional deviation of the final sintered body. The preparation of the feedstock plays a decisive role in the accuracy of the MIM product.

At present, the feedstock of enterprises in the industry are mostly external procurement, and feedstock preparation often becomes a shortcoming of its technological development. With the increasing use of MIM products, more and more high-complexity, high-precision, high-intensity, and exquisite MIM products are constantly emerging. Companies need to prepare different proportions of feedstock according to customers' highly customized product requirements. In order to provide customers with MIM products that meet their needstock. At this stage, some MIM enterprises have the ability to prepare feedstock independently. While driving the large-scale application of MIM products in the downstream sector, they also provide experience for the independent development of feedstock of other companies.

(2) Process integration

With the increasing demand for MIM products in the fields of consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing and medical devices, the quality requirements of MIM products are more stringent, especially for well-known customers at home and abroad in the downstream market, which pays special attention to the quality of products.

In the field of consumer electronics, MIM products are mainly used in the production of product parts. These products usually require surface treatment of MIM products to achieve consistency between their products and consumer electronics design. In the past, most companies in the industry have outsourced. The way to surface the MIM product. In order to better control product quality, reduce the risk of delayed delivery of products, and at the same time reduce the overall cost of products to a certain extent, companies in the industry gradually incorporate surface treatment processes into their own business processes, thus enabling MIM products to be prepared from feedstock. The integration of the process to the surface treatment is integrated.

Second, the favorable factors affecting the development of the industry

(1) Global economic industry transfer boosts MIM industry industrialization operation

After the reform and opening up, China's economy maintained rapid growth, prompting the income level of residents to increase year by year, and the consumer demand was continuously released. Products such as smart phones, wearable devices, notebooks and tablets, and automobiles were rapidly popularized. At the same time, with the rapid improvement of residents' health awareness, medical services have become an important component of household consumption, and the medical device industry has developed rapidly. In order to cater to China's consumer demand, foreign-funded enterprises have set up production and manufacturing bases in China.

At present, the global economic industry has a clear trend of shifting to China, which has promoted the rapid development of China's consumer electronics, automotive, medical equipment and other manufacturing industries, and has also generated huge demand for various metal parts. With the continuous development of MIM technology, the advantages of MIM technology in the manufacture of high-complexity, high-precision, high-strength and exquisite precision structural parts are gradually emerging. The global economic industry transfer will further promote the industrial operation of the MIM industry.

(2) The demonstration effect of the technology giant drives the large-scale application of MIM products

Since the launch of Apple's first-generation iPhone in 2007, the smartphone industry has experienced explosive growth, and the use of Android has also made smartphones more popular. The application of MIM products in China is mainly concentrated in the electronic consumer field such as smart phones. Due to the growth of the smart phone market, the whole industry has achieved rapid development, especially in 2011, when Apple and Samsung (SAMSUNG) two major consumer electronics giants compete fiercely. The large-scale application of MIM products in smart phones has a good demonstration effect. At present, in addition to Apple (Apple) and Samsung (SAMSUNG), domestic leading smartphones such as vivo, OPPO, Huawei, Xiaomi and Meizu also apply MIM products to varying degrees.

In recent years, wearable devices have gradually been recognized by consumers and achieved rapid development. Drawing on the mature application experience of MIM products in smart phones, globally renowned wearable device brands such as fitbit and JAWBONE also use MIM products for other wearables. The equipment brand has laid the foundation for the application of MIM products.

(3) Enhancement of technological innovation capabilities to promote the diversification of MIM applications

With the in-depth development of China's MIM industry, MIM companies continue to deepen their technological innovation capabilities to seize more market share. At present, in China's MIM industry, some enterprises already have strong technical innovation strength. Through continuous research on the industry's cutting-edge technology, MIM products are increasingly improved in performance and can be applied to more downstream products. For example, the research and development of ultra-thin MIM products conforms to the trend of thin and portable consumer electronics products, and further realizes the lighter and thinner development of computer products through the application in computer fans; for example, through the research and development of feeding and molds, further enhance MIM products are characterized by high complexity, high precision, high strength and beautiful appearance, which promote the promotion and application of MIM products in various fields such as automobile manufacturing and medical equipment.

(4) National policies encourage the continued healthy development of the MIM industry

The MIM industry is at the forefront of the industrial chain of consumer electronics, automobile manufacturing, medical equipment, etc. With the gradual embody of its application advantages, the state continues to encourage the healthy development of the industry through policies, including: “Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue (2011)”, The current priority development of high-tech industrialization focus areas (2011) and the national key high-tech fields (2016) will be injection-molded as a key area for encouraging projects and effective development; in addition, Several Opinions on Consumption Expansion of Domestic Demand",

Incentive policies such as the “12th Five-Year Development Plan for Electronic Information Manufacturing Industry” also provide indirect policy support for the growth of demand for MIM products.

Third, the unfavorable factors affecting the development of the industry

(1) Process characteristics limit product promotion

The MIM process is generally suitable for the production of precision structural components with high complexity, high precision, high strength and beautiful appearance. The MIM process is especially suitable for small parts that are complex in shape and cannot be processed by machining processes. However, for the demand for larger parts, the cost of the raw materials is higher, and the amount of the binder is larger. When the sintering process is performed, the product size is likely to be greatly deviated, and the accuracy of the product cannot be effectively guaranteed. standard. In the future, with the continuous advancement of industry technology, the size of MIM products will gradually achieve breakthroughs, and the binding force of this process characteristics will gradually weaken.

(2) Industry needs further regulation

The MIM industry is an emerging development industry and is still in its infancy, lacking specific national standards.

With industry standards in mind, a large number of companies are entering the industry. Some small-scale enterprises in the industry are subject to various restrictions such as capital, technology, management and market. The overall R&D, production and sales levels are relatively fragile, and the precision and stability of products cannot be guaranteed. In a weak position, in order to obtain a certain market share, it will also take orders such as deliberate price reduction, thus causing certain adverse effects on the orderly competition of the market. In the future, with the gradual standardization of China's MIM industry, the formulation, implementation and improvement of industry standards, the irregularities in the industry will gradually decrease, and the development of the entire industry will become more standardized.

(3) shortage of professionals

The order-based production mode of MIM products has high requirements for the comprehensive quality and technical level of talents, and talents including professional ability, technical ability and management ability need to have a high comprehensive quality. However, for many practitioners in the industry, the core experience accumulation needs to go through many stages of long-term learning, exploration, sharing, and precipitation. The self-cultivation and promotion cycle of talents is long. Therefore, the current industry often faces problems such as insufficient talent cultivation and accumulation, and lack of relevant professional talents, which has certain constraints on the rapid develop