The standardization degree and application level of die are important symbols to measure the level of die industry. Mold standardization mainly includes the formulation and implementation of mold technical standards, the production and application of mold standard parts, and the publicity, implementation and promotion of related standards. China's mold standardization work started late, coupled with the publicity, implementation and promotion of the work is small, so the mold standardization lags behind production, but also behind many industrialized countries in the world. According to Luo Baihui, the person in charge of International Mold and Hardware and Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, foreign mold developed countries, such as Japan, the United States, Germany, etc., mold standardization has nearly 100 years of history, mold standards, mold standard parts production and supply, has formed a perfect system. The standardization work of Chinese mold only started in 1983 after the establishment of the National Mold Standardization Technical Committee. At present, there are about 30,000 die and mould production units in China, and die and mould production has developed greatly. The standardization degree of die and mould needs to be continuously improved to meet the requirements of industrial production.

China's mold standardization system includes four categories of standards, namely: mold basic standards, mold process quality standards, mold parts standards and mold production related technical standards. According to the main classification of the mold, the mold standards can be divided into stamping mold standards, plastic injection mold standards, die casting mold standards, forging mold standards, fastener cold heading mold standards, wire drawing mold standards, cold extrusion mold standards, rubber mold standards, glass products mold and automobile stamping die standards, and other ten categories. At present, China has more than 50 mold standards, more than 300 standard numbers, 14 kinds of general devices and 244 varieties of auto die parts, a total of 363 standards. The formulation and implementation of these standards have improved the standardization degree and level of Chinese mold.

With the increase of international communication, the development of imported moulds and the proposal of international standards for their supporting moulds by foreign-funded enterprises, on the one hand, we pay attention to the adoption of international standards or foreign advanced national standards as far as possible in the formulation of standards, including the adoption of advanced enterprise standards; On the other hand, many mold standard parts production enterprises according to the needs of the market, in addition to the production of mold standard parts according to the Chinese standard, but also according to the standards of foreign advanced enterprises to produce mold standard parts. For example, Japan's "Futeba", the United States "DME", Germany's "Haskow" and other companies' standards have been widely popular in China.

The concept of "standardization degree of mold" often mentioned in the mold industry is more complex, which is different from the "standardization degree" commonly used in the machinery industry. The latter can generally be measured by the adoption rate of standard parts, while the former often refers to the "coverage rate of the use of standard parts of the mold". Due to the late start of Chinese mold standardization, the production, sales, promotion and application of mold standard parts are also relatively backward. Therefore, the problems of mold standard parts such as fewer varieties and specifications, not timely supply and poor compatibility exist for a long time, so that the use coverage rate of mold standard parts has been low. In recent years, although due to the involvement of foreign enterprises, the proportion has been greatly increased, but generally still very low. Early estimates put the figure at roughly 40 to 45 per cent. In the world, it is generally more than 70%, among which small and medium-sized molds are more than 80%. Due to the different nature of Chinese mould enterprises and different regions, the coverage rate of standard mould parts is very different. The three-capital enterprises are higher than other enterprises, and the southern enterprises are higher than the northern enterprises. This is most evident in Guangdong. There are a large number of three-capital enterprises in Guangdong, which have led to the change of other enterprises' ideas and the development of the market. Therefore, the use coverage rate of mold standard parts in Guangdong mold enterprises is much higher than that of mold enterprises in other areas. Implement the mold standard and adopt the mold standard parts, not only can effectively improve the mold quality, but also can reduce the mold production cost and greatly shorten the mold production cycle. Relevant statistics show that: the use of mold standard parts can make the enterprise mold processing time saving 25%-45%, can shorten the mold production cycle 30%-40%. With the development of multi-variety, small-batch, personalized and fast cycle production of industrial products, in order to improve the rapid response ability and competitiveness in the market economy, the mold production cycle is becoming more and more important today, the mold standardization is of greater significance.

Development status of Chinese mould standard parts

Due to the late start and slow progress of Chinese mold standardization, coupled with the influence of old concepts such as "large and complete", "small and complete", "self-produced and self-distributed" in the past, therefore, Chinese mold standard parts have long been few varieties and specifications, small production scale, and blocked circulation. Even the current production of more mold frames, guide parts, push rods and tubes, elastic components, and so on, but also the middle and low grade products, middle and high grade products less. Some foreign enterprises produce high-grade mold standard parts, because of the high price affects its application.

Mould standard parts are suitable for socialized mass professional production, but China has been scattered, disorderly and poor for a long time. The so-called "scattered" is mainly that the mold standard parts production plant points are too many and too scattered, and few can form economic batch. The so-called "disorder" mainly refers to the disorder of standards. Enterprises tend to produce according to national standards, bank standards, several ministry standards in the past and some enterprise standards, and also according to foreign standards such as Japan, Germany, the United States, Switzerland and some foreign famous enterprises' enterprise standards. At the same time, the market of mold standard parts is also disorderly, disorderly competition has caused many adverse consequences. The so-called "poor", is the poor quality of the mold standard parts and the poor benefit of the enterprise. With the intervention of foreign enterprises in recent years, this situation has improved, but it has not changed fundamentally. There is still a big gap between production and demand. Some enterprises do not work hard from the quality and level, but only on the price, resulting in excessive price pressure caused by jerry-cutting, fish eye mixed beads, quality decline, thus hurting many enterprises, so that the overall profit margin of mold standard parts decline, some enterprises even to the edge of loss. Wang Jinling, deputy secretary general of International Mold and Metal Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, believes that the sales link plays an important role in the mold standard parts market. At present, although there are nearly 100 points of sale in the country, most of them are small in scale, small in inventory and small in sales. Even the more than 50 operating units in the joint sales network of standard parts Committee of China Mold Industry Association also have the same problem. Individual units are planning to launch online sales and e-commerce, but this is a young start and it will take time to develop scale.

Taking the three kinds of mould standard products of cold stamping mould, injection mould and pushing rod and tube, which have the largest coverage and the largest quantity and wide area, as an example, the production demand is analyzed preliminically.

1、Cold die holder

Cold stamping die is one of the most extensive mold standard parts, its use coverage of about 80%. According to the different materials of the die base, the cold stamping die base is divided into two categories: cast iron die base and steel die base. According to the different guiding way can be divided into sliding mold frame and rolling mold frame two categories. There are more than 30 enterprises producing cold-stamping die frames with a certain scale in China, among which only 3 have an annual output of more than 100,000 sets, including: Xiaoshan Precision Die Standard Parts Factory, Jiangsu Zhenjiang Chuanshan Die Frame Factory and Xiweihe Die General Factory. The annual output of these three cold-stamping die frames is about 400,000 sets, accounting for about half of the national total. From the demand situation, the country needs about 1 million sets of cold stamping die frame every year, so there are still many gaps. In the gap, the production and demand contradiction between steel plate mold and precision mold are the largest, so the proportion of self-production and self-matching is also the largest.

2、Injection mold holder

The production of injection mould frame is more dispersed than that of cold stamping mould frame, and the manufacturers are more. It is estimated that there are more than 40 manufacturers of injection mould frames in China, most of which have an annual production capacity of less than 1,000 sets, and less than 10 enterprises with the capacity of more than 10,000 sets. Among them, the production scale of Longji Group, Dongguan Mingli Steel Mould Products Co., LTD., Desheng Company and Guangdong Shunde Xinqiangqiang Mould Company belongs to the first phalanx, and each enterprise's annual output value of injection mould frames exceeds 100 million yuan. Some can reach hundreds of millions of yuan. Suzhou Zhongcun Heavy Industry Steel Mould Company, Shenzhen Nanfang Mould Factory, Shenzhen Xinglonghua Industrial Company, Shenzhen Xinglong Mechanical Mould Co., LTD., Kunshan Zhongda Mould Frame Co., LTD., Zhejiang Yalun Mould Frame Co., LTD., Sichuan Jiangdong Machinery Factory, Nantong Longteng Machinery Co., LTD., Kunshan Hongshun Large-scale Mould Frame Co., LTD., etc. belong to the second square, with the annual output value of injection mould frame exceeding 10 million yuan. The two square array of more than 10 enterprises injection mold frame annual output value can reach more than 2 billion yuan, accounting for more than 90% of the national total production. According to the need, the current national injection mold frame needs more than 3 billion yuan.

But the domestic market has not reached this scale, which is mainly due to the high proportion of self-production and self-distribution of injection mould frames and more exports. In northern China and the vast central and western regions, due to the low degree of specialization and some old concepts caused by historical reasons have not been fundamentally changed, so most of the injection mould holders needed by mold production units are still produced and supplied by themselves and rarely purchased. So at present, the market of injection mold frame is mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta, followed by the Yangtze River Delta region, among which Guangdong is the most concentrated, followed by Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong.

Because of the mold users' requirements for the mold production cycle is shorter and shorter, so the production of large and medium-sized injection mold frame enterprises have begun to pre-dig cavity and deep hole and other deep processing direction, and now has achieved good results.

3、Push rod push tube

Due to the complex process and low price, the specialized production of push rod and tube is the best in many standard parts of the mold, and its use coverage rate is almost 100%. Japanese Panqi Industry (Dalian) Co., Ltd. is the largest manufacturer of push rods and tubes in China. Its products are of high quality and expensive. Guangzhou Zhiyi Mould Standard Parts Co., Ltd. has an annual output of 30 million, is the largest domestic enterprises, the production of push-rod push-tube varieties and specifications and grade of the enterprise, can meet the needs of different levels, and some of the finished products exported. Guangzhou Donghua Mould Push Rod Factory, Zengcheng Fuqiang Mould Industrial Co., LTD., Anhui Lida Mould Standard Co., LTD., Tianjin Hedong District Zhenhua Mould Standard Parts Factory and Tianjin Gonghua Mould Standard Parts Co., LTD., have an annual capacity of about 10 million. The output of the above 7 enterprises accounts for about 80% of the national total, and the production demand of the push-rod and push-tube market is basically balanced. The production enterprises have noticed the importance of improving the process, increasing the variety, improving the quality and grade of the products and further developing the professional production. In particular, the leading enterprises are trying to use the advanced technology to improve their competitiveness.

In addition to the above cold die, injection mold and push rod push tube, the elastic element coverage is also very high, nearly 100%. However, the gas spring (such as nitrogen cylinder) is basically imported, there is no domestic standard, under trial production. In addition, the template module, guide parts, standard convex and concave die, gate cover and other 14 mold standard parts are also produced by some enterprises in China, but the varieties and specifications are less, the use coverage is low, and the self-produced and self-used are more. There is no domestic standard for hot runner components, only individual enterprises to produce supply or self-use. At present, the middle and high grade hot runner components are basically imported from abroad, and the products produced and used by themselves are some products with low performance and poor stability, which are used on the molds with low requirements. There are many mold standard parts can be purchased from the market abroad, but there is no professional production at home, so the prospect is very broad in the development of varieties and specifications.

Development prospect of Chinese die standard parts market

The mold standard part is an important part of the mold, which has very important technical and economic significance to shorten the mold design and manufacturing cycle, reduce the mold production cost and improve the mold quality. Wang Jinling, deputy secretary-general of the International Association of Mold and Metal and Plastic Industry Suppliers, said that the specialized production and commercial supply of mold standard parts has greatly promoted the development of the mold industry. Widely used standard parts can shorten the design and manufacturing cycle up to 25-40%; It can save the social working hours caused by the user's homemade standard parts and reduce the waste of raw materials and energy. It can lay the foundation for the application of modern technology such as mold CAD/CAM; It can significantly improve the manufacturing precision and performance of the die. Usually, the matching accuracy and position accuracy of the standard parts produced by specialization will be at least an order of magnitude higher than that of the self-made standard parts, and can ensure the interchangeability, improve the service life of the mold, and then promote the reform of the internal economic system, business mechanism, industrial structure and production management of the industry, and achieve professional and large-scale production. And drive the mold standard parts commodity market formation and development. It can be said that without the specialization and commercialization of mold standard parts, there will be no modernization of mold industry.

In recent years, with the rapid development of our country's die industry, the standardization, specialization and commercialization of die parts have a high level and have made great progress. Since the establishment of the National Technical Committee for Mold Standardization in 1983, it has organized experts to formulate, revise and review the mold standards. More than 90 standards have been issued, including 22 standards for stamping die and more than 20 standards for plastic die. The release and implementation of these standards have promoted the technical progress and development of the die and mould industry, and produced great social and economic benefits. The research, development and production of mold standard parts are being carried out comprehensively and deeply, whether it is product types, varieties, specifications, or technical performance and quality level of products have been significantly improved.

Xi 'an PLA 1001 Die Standard Parts Research Institute develops oil-bearing guide plate and guide sleeve, ball lock type quick change punch and fixed plate, oblique wedge device and parts, high-grade plastic mold standard parts; Kunshan Precision Mold Guide Parts Co., LTD. Nitriding push rod produced by Guangzhou Donghua Mould push Rod Factory; Stamping die frame produced by Weihe Mould General Factory; Independent guide column produced by Fuzhou Oriental Mould Company; Injection mould frame produced by Shenzhen Nanfang Mould Factory; Shanghai Kronning Technology Equipment Co., Ltd. production of hot runner series products and so on. Some of them have reached the domestic advanced level, and some are approaching or reaching the international level, filling the domestic gap.

The development plan of Chinese die and mould industry puts forward that the standard parts of die and mould should be expanded in variety, improved in precision and exchanged. Among them, the main varieties, such as mold, guide parts, push rods, elastic components, etc., to achieve mass production according to the economic scale. In 2005, the coverage rate of standard parts reached 60%, and in 2010, it reached more than 70% (60% parts of large molds were standardized), basically meeting the market needs. Mold frame, guide parts, push rod, push pipe, elastic components, standard components, small standard parts (such as standard die, gate cover, positioning ring, hook, etc.) and hot runner components are the development focus. Visible mold standardization and mold standard parts of the difficult task and bright prospects. The guideline of mold standardization put forward by Standard Parts Committee of China Mold Industry Association is: standardization is the foundation.

However, we must be clearly aware that at present, the standardization level and application level of the mold in our country is still low, and it is estimated optimistically that there are still significant gaps compared with foreign developed countries (70-80%). Although the production and sales manufacturers are increasing year by year, most of them are small scale, outdated equipment, backward technology, high cost and low efficiency. Only ordinary small and medium-sized standard punching die and plastic die, guide post, guide sleeve, push rod, die spring, pneumatic components and other products, a higher degree of commercialization, can basically meet the needs of the domestic market, and some exports. And those with high technical content, advanced structure, excellent performance, high quality, convenient replacement of personalized products, such as ball lock type quick change punch and fixed plate, solid lubrication guide plate and guide sleeve, inclined wedge mechanism and its parts, high-grade plastic mold standard parts and nitrogen spring and so on in the domestic manufacturers are very few, and due to the lack of funds, technical transformation projects are difficult to implement, low production efficiency, The delivery cycle is long and the contradiction between supply and demand is increasingly prominent. Therefore, a considerable number of mold standard parts need to be imported from abroad every year, the cost of which accounts for about 3-8% of the annual mold import amount. There are still many problems in the technical standard, scientific and technological development, product quality and so on. For example, product standards are confused, functional components are few and low technical content, poor applicability; The technical reform is small, the equipment is obsolete, the technology is backward, the specialization level is low, the product quality is unstable; Lack of professional personnel, poor management, low production efficiency, long delivery cycle; Uneven distribution of production and sales outlets, fewer business varieties and specifications, short supply; Some units in order to compete for the market, do not speak of quality, shoddy goods flooded the market. There is also the phenomenon of blindly cutting prices and disturbing the market regardless of the cost, which needs to be studied seriously and urgently solved.

Luo Baihui, head of the International Mould and Hardware Plastic Industry Suppliers Association, pointed out that with the rapid development of our national economy, the overall trend of the mould market is stable and upward. The automobile and motorcycle industries are the largest market for molds. Household appliances, electronic communications, construction equipment, instrumentation, plastic rubber and other industries also have considerable mold market. Therefore, the application of mold standard parts will be increasingly extensive. In the future market economy mold standard parts will become a very active and rapid development of products. From the perspective of long-term development, the Chinese mold industry will bring about profound reform with the arrival of the era of knowledge economy. The typification of mold structure, standardization of parts, standardization of specialized production and commercialization of supply are also the inevitable trend of future development. Therefore, we believe that the development prospect of the mold standard parts industry is very optimistic and wonderful.