A light spring rain falls. Within the Southern Center of the Chinese Academy of Machinery Science and Research (hereinafter referred to as "Southern Center"), located in Xiangshan Damuwan New Town, the vegetation is sprouting, and all things are reviving.

Recently, good news came from the 15th China Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation Conference: the Southern Center's project "High-efficiency brazing technology and its application in tool manufacturing" won the second prize of the China Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation Achievement Award. This is a microcosm of the Southern Center's deep cultivation of core technology research and development.

As a research institute jointly established by the China Academy of Machinery Science and Research Group Co., Ltd. and the Ningbo Municipal People's Government, the Southern Center focuses on the national scientific and technological innovation platform's major goals, focusing on four directions: digital empowerment design, key engineering materials, advanced manufacturing technology, and high-end CNC machine tools, conducting core technology research and development. Following the development pattern of "north has Huairou, south has Xiangshan", it builds an industrial technology innovation source for the Chinese Academy of Machinery Science and Research in the south.

Adhering to independent and self-reliant scientific and technological innovation, the Southern Center continuously strengthens the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Up to now, it has won 28 provincial and ministerial-level science and technology awards, including the first prize of the China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Award and the China Patent Excellent Award; authorized more than 140 domestic patents and more than 10 foreign patents; and presided over or participated in the formulation and revision of more than 40 standards, and has issued more than 10 national standards.

Platform Empowerment: Smoothing the "Capillaries" of Key Technologies

Not long ago, the Southern Center made a breakthrough in the "bottleneck" problem of "P0-level" screw manufacturing for the first time, with key Technical Index aiming for the top level in the industry.

The screw is an important component of the machine tool transmission system, widely used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, medical devices, industrial robots, automobiles, and other fields. Its precision is divided into eight levels: P0, P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P7, and P10.

What is the concept of "P0 level"?

"The movement error of any 300-millimeter length is less than 3.5 micrometers, which is about one-seventeenth of a hair," said Chen Changmin, deputy general manager of the Southern Center's guide screw division. Previously, due to lack of technical support, most of the high-precision guides and screws in China relied on imports from foreign countries.

"From 2020 to 2021, the supply cycle of the entire screw and guide rail industry was particularly long. Let alone this 'P0-level' product, even 'P1-level' products were difficult to obtain," recalled Chen Changmin. At that time, the lack of key components in "industrial mother machines" led to the stagnation of high-end equipment production.

It has become urgent to break free from reliance on imports of high-precision screws.

In leading the research and development of key technical challenges, the advantages of the Southern Center as a high-level institute platform are highlighted.

Resource coordination and concentrated efforts. In the guide screw department alone, the Southern Center has assembled more than 30 masters and doctors from different fields such as materials, heat treatment, mechanics, and lasers to work together on the project, leaving no stone unturned in each technical detail, thus solving the "bottleneck" problem.

"At this stage of industry development, breaking through a single technical difficulty does not solve all problems. To achieve a qualitative leap, we must treat the problem as a systematic project and bring together technical talents from different disciplines." Southern Center's Vice Director Wu Shuangfeng compared this process to "other mountains' stones can be used to attack jade."

Scientific and technological innovation requires talents from all directions. The Southern Center has successively cultivated and introduced innovative and entrepreneurial teams, including the Machine Tool Equipment Division, Guide Screw Division, Superhard Tool Division, Heterogeneous Additive Manufacturing Division, Guide Screw Billet Division, Advanced Manufacturing Institute, and Advanced Manufacturing Service Platform. It currently has more than 130 full-time employees, more than 100 masters and doctors, with an average age of 34.

In addition, the production of key functional components depends on the input and support of high-end equipment. To further break through technological barriers, the Southern Center is also committed to the research and development and design of high-end equipment to "feed back" the production line with high-end equipment, thus forming a full-process "closed loop" of research, development, and production equipment.

To date, the Southern Center has installed nearly 1,000 sets of high-end production equipment. The guide screw pilot test verification platform, after three months of on-site installation and debugging, has now entered the trial production stage.

"The Southern Center will continue to play its platform role, promote breakthroughs in key core technologies of 'industrial mother machines', and provide strong support for the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry," said Wu Shuangfeng.

Research and Application Integration: Activating the "Innovation Engine" of Industrial Development

"The technical problems that have plagued us for many years have finally been solved. Currently, the company's R&D output rate, technology conversion rate, and achievement landing rate have all accelerated!" The head of Ningbo Yunsheng Industrial and Trade Co., Ltd. repeatedly praised the Southern Center's scientific research team.

It is understood that the Southern Center provided about four years of technical services to Yunsheng Industrial and Trade, upgrading and transforming the company's production processes through the implementation of projects such as online detection of MG oil pipes, automatic detection and marking of various types of oil dipsticks, and automatic feeding and unloading of pipe fittings, increasing its production efficiency by more than 50% and saving a total of 4 million yuan.

Xiangshan has a solid foundation in traditional industries such as automobile parts and equipment manufacturing. By jointly carrying out industry-university-research collaborative research and development with enterprises, the Southern Center continues to promote the deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains, and talent chains, helping local enterprises achieve industrial transformation and upgrading and technological progress.

In Xiangshan, stories of the institute helping local enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation and overtake on curves are constantly being played out.

Supported by the scientific and technological strength of its scientific research team, the Southern Center has repeatedly held manufacturing technology and enterprise needs docking meetings, sending scientific research teams to proactively visit Xiangshan enterprises to provide "on-site diagnosis" and intellectual services.

With the help of the Southern Center's machine tool equipment division team, Zhejiang Jiwang Forging Technology Co., Ltd. put its automated production line into use, reducing the production time of a single product from 50 seconds to 30 seconds; using waste steel recycling technology to produce excavator "bucket teeth" with lower costs and stronger product capabilities.

In addition to cooperating with local enterprises, the Southern Center also focuses on developing forward-looking projects to seize opportunities in emerging industries and achieve self-sufficiency.

In the exhibition hall of the Southern Center, a PcBN tool is particularly eye-catching. "In September last year, this PcBN tool surpassed a certain world-leading Brand tool in the hard turning processing of gears at a leading domestic new energy vehicle company and successfully replaced foreign imports. To date, nearly 10,000 pieces have been supplied to this company." said the R&D personnel of the superhard tool division.

Enterprises set the questions, and the research institute solves them. According to statistics, the Southern Center has served more than 500 enterprises and signed more than 400 contracts.

“Next, we will continue to closely follow the innovative needs of Xiangshan's industrial development, promoting technological progress and application innovation through technology service docking, developing and expanding regional characteristic industries, and forming core competitiveness.” Wu Shuangfeng said.