In the context of the outbreak of the international financial crisis, on April 6, when the 11th China International Machine Tool Exhibition was held, many industry insiders were thinking about the question: What is the strategic choice of China's machine tool industry?

　　There is no doubt that China's machine tool industry has made remarkable achievements. From the perspective of system and mechanism, the original market pattern with state-owned enterprises as the main body has been broken, and almost all state-owned machine tool enterprises have carried out shareholding reform. A new competitive pattern with state-owned, private and foreign capital has taken shape; From the perspective of product structure, the output of CNC machine tools has been greatly improved. For example, in 2000, the output of CNC machine tools in the whole industry was less than 10,000 units, and now the annual output of a relatively large enterprise has approached or even exceeded this number; From the perspective of industry scale, more than 2,000 enterprises above designated size have become scattered, and the Northeast plate represented by Shenyang Machine Tool, the Shandong plate represented by Jinan No. 2 Machine Tool and the Shaanxi plate represented by Qinchuan Machine Tool have also formed a three-legged layout. It should be said that as a machine tool in the equipment manufacturing industry, the achievements of China's machine tool industry are obvious to all and proud.

　　However, the problem remains. The outbreak of the international financial crisis has further highlighted the existing problems in our country's machine tool industry. In the first half of 2008, the machine tool industry has already appeared "three obvious": the growth rate has declined significantly, the market for low-end products has shrunk significantly, and the import of high-end CNC machine tools has increased significantly. These "three obvious" boil down to 8 words, which are called "high-end loss, low-end melee", or "only princes, no kings". On the one hand, the trend of economical CNC machine tools and high-end CNC machine tools has been significantly differentiated, with an increase in ordinary machine tool inventory and overcapacity; On the other hand, orders for high-end large machine tools are still full, and there is a trend of short supply. Such a strong contrast has made many people of insight clear about the shortcomings of our country's machine tool industry at a glance.

　　There is also a set of data that is very telling. A data is the main goal of the machine tool industry in the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan": by the end of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan", the domestic market share of domestic CNC machine tools has increased from 26.9% at the end of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" to more than 50%; Another data is the three-year revitalization goal of the machine tool industry in 2009~2011: the market share of domestic CNC machine tools has increased to more than 40%. Comparing this set of data, a conclusion will be drawn: the goal of more than 50% of the domestic market share of domestic CNC machine tools in the 11th Five-Year Plan seems to be difficult to complete now.

　　The question has been clear at a glance, and the conclusion has been drawn, what is the strategic choice of China's machine tool industry? In short, it is necessary to improve the ability of independent innovation, optimize the industrial structure, accelerate industrial upgrading, and adhere to the high-end route. The so-called high-end route includes high-end management, high-end technology, high-end products and high-end market share. An important path to adhere to the high-end route is the application of the first (set) CNC product. It is necessary to implement the national "first (set) of major technical equipment test and demonstration project management measures" as a breakthrough to promote domestic high-end CNC machine tools into aviation, aerospace, ships, weapons, electronic information, power generation equipment, construction machinery, transportation equipment and other national key projects, and the state supports and promotes the application of the first (set) of domestic high-end CNC machine tools through demonstration projects. It is reported that the China Machine Tool Industry Association has put forward good policy suggestions and specific measures in this regard.

　　As for the road between ordinary machine tools and economical CNC machine tools, where is the road? Of course, it is impossible to engage in "high-end" all at once. The high imbalance of China's economic development determines that ordinary machine tools and economical CNC machine tools still have their own living space. The key to survival is to improve the ability of independent innovation. The main battlefield of independent innovation is the market, not the laboratory. Independent innovation is a way of thinking to discover the real consumer demand of the market, and enterprises should discover and meet the real consumer demand of the domestic market through independent innovation.

　　As an old-timer in China's machine tool industry said, since the first CNC machine tool appeared in 1952, the emergence of CNC machine tools has marked the beginning of the development of machine tools to intelligence, and human beings are ushering in the arrival of an era of intelligent production tools. This is undoubtedly a rare strategic development opportunity for China's machine tool industry. Seizing this opportunity, China's machine tool industry will achieve breakthrough development and become a machine tool power from a machine tool power.