Research on Current Status and Development Strategy of Manufacturing Welding Production in China

Abstract: This paper introduces the main achievements of welding production in manufacturing industry in China since the reform and opening up and the important position of welding in national economic construction. It comprehensively analyzes the production of welding materials, electric welding machines, welding robots, welding special machines and positioners in China. And the application situation and existing problems; statistics of the amount of steel used in the welding structure and the main steel industry; analysis of the current situation of welding technicians and welders in the enterprise and the problems in China's professional education and training. In order to make China move from a welding power to a world welding power, it proposes development strategies and measures that need to be taken.

Keywords: China; welding status; development strategy

First, the status of welding production

1 The status and achievements of welding in China's manufacturing industry

1.1 The strategic position of welding manufacturing: (omitted)

1.2 The main achievements of welding manufacturing: (omitted)

2 China's welding materials production status

2.1 Status

The production of welding consumables in a country can reflect the overall level of welding technology in the country. It can be clearly seen from Figure 1 that the production of welding consumables in China is generally in line with the growth of steel. In the past seven years, the output has doubled. Only the welding rods and welding wires have been counted. The output in 1996 was 629,600 tons, which was developed in 2002. It has reached 1.49 million tons. If imported welding consumables are added, the total consumption will reach 1.47 million tons, making it the world's largest producer and consumer of welding consumables. However, from the perspective of the composition of different welding consumables, the problems will be apparent. Table 1 shows the statistical results of welding material production in the past 7 years. The production of welding rods by hand welding in China's welding consumables has always accounted for more than 75%, and the total amount of various welding wires required for mechanization and automated welding is less than 25%. According to the calculation of deposited metal, the mechanization and automation rate of welding in China can only reach 40.1% in 2002, while the industrialized countries in the world generally have 60%-70%. It can be seen that the welding production in China is generally low. This is enough to show that China is only a big country of welding, and it is far from being a strong country of welding.

It can be seen from the statistics that in recent years, China's wire production is developing rapidly. For example, the solid welding wire for gas shielded welding (MAG) has increased nearly four times from 1996 to 2003, and the quality has also improved significantly. At present, it can meet more than 90% of domestic demand; and the advanced flux-cored wire has a unique process. Performance, the output has increased nearly 31 times in 7 years, becoming the fastest growing welding consumables in China. From the past, mainly relying on imports, more than 50% of the flux-cored wire used in domestic applications is produced by itself, and there are a small number of exports, as shown in Figure 2. There are 29 manufacturers of flux cored wire in the country, and 48 production lines, including 21 imported production lines and 27 domestically produced (including 3 manufactured in Taiwan). It is conservatively estimated that according to the average annual production capacity of 500 tons of welding wire per production line, China's flux-cored wire production will still have a large room for growth in the near future.

Submerged arc welding is mostly used in the manufacture of ships, pressure vessels, pipes and steel structural parts. The output of submerged arc welding wire in China has also increased significantly in recent years, but it only accounts for about 5.5% of the total amount of welding consumables. The proportion of submerged arc welding wire in industrialized countries is generally between 8-10%.

2.2 The main problems

(1) The proportion of manual welding rods in the production of welding consumables in China is high, which makes the ratio of total production of welding consumables to total steel production in China high. Taking 2002 as an example, the total amount of welding consumables (calculated only for welding rods and welding wires) was 1.449 million tons, while steel production was 185 million tons, a ratio of 0.78%. The proportion of industrialized countries is generally between 0.3-0.5%, while that of developing countries is between 0.5-0.8%. According to the 1999 statistics, the ratios of different countries and regions are listed in Table 2. It can be seen that the proportion of manual electrode production in the United States, Japan and Europe is low, and an average of less than 400,000 tons of welding consumables per 100 million tons of steel is required. However, due to the high proportion of manual welding rods in China, 780,000 tons of welding consumables are required for every 100 million tons of steel. , twice as high as industrial developed countries. It must also be noted that there are more than 250 welding rod factories that have obtained production licenses in China, which are scattered throughout the country, but large-scale enterprises or enterprise groups are mainly concentrated in Tianjin, Shanghai, Zigong and Zhuzhou. The total production capacity of the national electrode exceeds 1.5 million tons. According to the electrode factory, the current sales of the electrode market is still optimistic. This may be due to the large number of construction projects in various places, and the amount of welding work installed on site is heavy. In addition, the majority of township and village enterprises still rely on manual welding of welding rods, making the demand for welding rods high. Therefore, the proportion of welding rods and the ratio of welding consumables/steel are unlikely to decrease significantly in the short term. This will have a negative impact on the rational application of China's resources, manpower, material resources, and capacity, as well as the rapid increase in welding production efficiency.

(2) Although the output of welding consumables in China is the highest in the world, there are few varieties, especially the lack of high-quality welding materials of stainless steel, heat-resistant steel, low-temperature steel and high-strength steel. Tables 3 and 4 respectively show the comparison between the varieties of solid wire and flux cored wire produced in China and the number of products of some famous foreign companies. It can be seen that the variety of welding wire produced in China is not as good as that of a foreign company. Moreover, in addition to ordinary carbon steel welding rods, the welding materials produced in China are not as good as those of foreign countries. The reasons for this situation are more complicated, but one thing is certain. The government, universities, and research institutes have paid insufficient attention to research and development of new welding materials, especially general welding materials with a large amount of use. Most universities and research institutes have turned to high-tech fields such as robots, advanced welding power sources, new welding methods, and process control, while the number of units that are still engaged in research on welding materials is rapidly decreasing. If you can't concentrate on a certain scientific research force, it is not enough to rely solely on the strength of the welding material factory. This will not only make the varieties and quality of China's welding materials unable to meet the domestic market demand, but also the gap with foreign countries in the basic theory, the number of new welding consumables and testing technology, production equipment, and raw and auxiliary materials that can be used. Increase.

2.3 Lessons to learn from

From Japan's experience in the development of welding materials after World War II, some useful experiences can be learned. During the post-war Japanese economic recovery period, welding played an important role, especially with the development of the steel industry and the shipbuilding industry, the output of welding materials also increased rapidly. By 1972-1973, Japan's welding consumables reached an all-time high, close to 600,000 tons, as shown in Figure 3. However, the first oil crisis in the world in 1972 had a huge impact on the Japanese economy. The shipbuilding industry was the first to bear the brunt, and the output of welding consumables plummeted. During this difficult period, Japanese welding workers proposed to promote high-efficiency CO2 gas protection semi-automatic welding instead of electrode manual welding to reduce production costs and improve the international competitiveness of products. This strategic measure has played a major role. Since then, the production of solid wire has increased rapidly. However, in practice, it was found that the solid welding wire CO2 gas shielded welding was not satisfactory in the overall position welding of the shipbuilding; then, it promoted the Japanese welding industry to attach importance to the absorption of American technology and vigorously carried out research on flux cored wire. Since the 1980s, Japan's production of flux-cored wire has accelerated and has dominated the shipbuilding industry. After entering the 1990s, the Japanese economy gradually declined, and the total output of welding consumables also decreased, from 405,000 tons in 1990 to 286,900 tons in 1999. In the past 10 years, the most significant changes have been made mainly of solid wire and flux cored wire. That is to say, in the 10 years of Japan's economic recession, the proportion of flux-cored wire continued to increase, and in 1993 exceeded the production of welding rods, reflecting the good development prospects of flux-cored wire. At the same time, it can be seen that the proportion of welding rods in Japan decreased from 58% in 1980 to less than 20% in 1999.

Looking back at the development of the Japanese welding consumables industry, China should draw useful experience from it. At the same time, it should be noted that Japan's welding technology transformation is often in the difficult stage of economic development or the international competition is fierce, and these transformations do play a vital role. We should pay special attention to this point.

3 Production and application of welding equipment in China

3.1 Production and application of electric welding machine

Since the reform and opening up, China's electric welding machine industry has changed from the original planned economic system to the current system of adapting to the market economy. The production of electric welding machines has changed from the state-owned enterprises to the joint ventures. Joint-stock enterprises and private enterprises are the mainstays. The national welding equipment production in 2000 and 2001 is listed in Table 5. It can be seen from the table that the output of AC and DC arc welding machines for manual welding accounts for 77%-80% of the total output (number of units), which is equivalent to the ratio of the welding rods in the welding materials. However, in our 100 companies mainly related to welding production, the average configuration of electric welding machines is about 1/3 of the manual welding DC, AC welding machine and gas shielded welding machine (see Figure 4). ). In recent years, due to the high efficiency of CO2 gas shielded welding, the supply of welders and welding wires is sufficient, the quality is stable, and the speed of popularization is significantly accelerated. However, the output of the welding machine and the ratio of the welding machine of the enterprise are not sufficient to reflect the current status of the welding of the enterprise, because the number of welding machines cannot reflect the utilization rate. The proportion of the company's annual consumption of welding materials can reflect the actual status of welding technology. Although China's overall welding mechanization and automation rate are still relatively low, from the ratio of welding wire and electrode consumption of 100 large, medium and medium-sized enterprises, it can be said that these enterprises have placed an important role in improving welding efficiency. As can be seen from Figure 5, the medium-sized enterprises have the highest proportion of gas-shielded welding wire, reaching 72%, and the amount of welding rods is small (11%); while the large-scale enterprises use relatively high amounts of welding rods, about 38%; The large shipyard) has a relatively high amount of flux cored wire, accounting for about 17%. These 100 companies use less than 50% of the electrode, indicating that these companies are gradually replacing the electrode by hand with high-efficiency CO2 or Ar+CO2 gas shielded welding. This statistical result can reflect the current status of welding in major enterprises in China.

The comprehensive promotion of CO2 or Ar+CO2 gas protection semi-automatic welding instead of welding rod manual welding is the main direction of the current domestic enterprise welding technology transformation, which is the basis for further mechanization automation of welding production. According to the survey results, the situation in different industries is different in this respect, as shown in Figure 6. From the figure, three echelons can be clearly distinguished, with the automotive parts, container and construction machinery industries as the best, basically all using gas shielded welding; and the proportion of general machinery, railway vehicles and heavy machinery industry is more than 50%; In the shipbuilding, boiler and metal structure industries, the proportion of CO2 gas shielded welding is relatively low due to the large amount of submerged arc automatic welding.

Continued vigorous promotion of CO2 gas shielded welding on the surface is an important task for China's welding industry in the future. Only the amount of CO2 gas shielded welding is greatly increased nationwide, in order to comprehensively improve China's welding efficiency and reduce production costs; The output and the ratio of welding consumables to steel can be used to lay the necessary foundation for the mechanization and automation of the welding production process. This is the new requirement for the future development of the welding machine industry.

However, although China produces more than 200,000 sets of welders per year, most of them are common type, and the development speed of new high-performance welding power supplies is relatively slow. Every year, China still needs to import more advanced welding equipment from abroad. The total value of imports and the total production value of domestic welding machines are roughly equal. This is mainly due to the large number of electric welder factories in China, but the scale is small, and large-scale enterprise groups have not yet formed. This is not the same as welding consumables. Table 5 only lists the statistical results of 40 major electric welding machine factories in China, and there are more than one hundred welding equipment factories in China. Except for some large domestic manufacturers with certain development capabilities and several joint ventures or wholly-owned enterprises relying mainly on the technology of foreign parent companies, most welding equipment plants lack the strength to develop high-performance new products. At present, the leading electric welding machine industry in China is mainly a few joint ventures, and foreign technology has a dominant position. This situation is very disproportionate with China as one of the world's largest welding powers and is moving towards a strong welding country. In order to strengthen the independent development capability of China's electric welding machines as soon as possible, government planning, guidance and funding are indispensable. In the future, China should focus on the development of welders with more functions, better performance and higher efficiency, especially gas shielded welders.

3.2 Application of welding robot

The application of welding robots in China's manufacturing industry is mainly after the 1990s (individual enterprises in the mid-1980s), and has experienced the exploration stage. The number of welding robots has increased rapidly in the past five years, especially in the automobile manufacturing industry. According to statistics from 2001, there are 1040 welding robots in various types in the country, among which arc welding robots are more than spot welding robots. Welding robots in automobile manufacturing and auto parts manufacturing enterprises account for 76% of all welding robots. The main user. There are many spot welding robots in automobile manufacturers, and there are fewer arc welding robots; there are more arc welding robots in parts factories and fewer spot welding robots. The total ratio of spot welding to arc welding in this industry is approximately 3:2. Other industries are mostly arc welding robots, mainly distributed in engineering machinery (10%), motorcycles (6%), railway vehicles (4%), boilers (1%) and other industries. Welding robots are distributed in various economic regions of the country, but mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal and northeastern regions. The two automobile cities in Shanghai in the east and Changchun in the northeast are the cities with the largest number of welding robots in China. The distribution of welding robots in China is uneven and not wide enough. In the future, we should focus on expanding the application field and making welding robots available in more industries.

Since the 1980s, China has been conducting research on industrial robots in universities and research institutes. In the past 20 years, it has achieved many results. However, because it has not been associated with enterprises, it has not been able to form a large-scale industry for a long time. At present, apart from a Sino-Japanese joint venture robot company based on assembly, industrial robots with independent intellectual property rights are mainly produced by universities or research institutes, and have not yet been able to form batches. Therefore, more than 90% of the welding robots equipped by Chinese enterprises are imported from well-known robot manufacturers in the world. In the past 10 years, the price of imported robots has been greatly reduced, from $70,000 to $30,000 to $30,000, making it difficult for ordinary industrial robots made in China to compete with them. In particular, in the early days of developing robots in China, the corresponding parts and components industry was not developed simultaneously, so that the robots produced required imported parts and components, making it difficult to reduce the price.

Japan began to develop industrial robots in the mid-to-late 70s of the last century. After 15 years, it became the world's most powerful and widely used "world kingdom" for industrial robots. Japan's industrial robots were developed on the basis of several companies that originally had robot-related technologies. For example, FANUC originally produced CNC equipment, YASKAWA was originally a servo motor, and PANASONIC was originally a famous electric appliance manufacturer. Together with colleges and universities, they will soon be able to form the scale production capacity of industrial robots, and the government will use policies and funds to support enterprises to expand the application of industrial robots, which has promoted the rapid development of the Japanese robot industry. We should learn from all aspects of the successful experience of the entire process of developing robots in Japan.

There are currently three different paths in the development of the industrial robot industry in the world:

(1) Robot manufacturers are mainly engaged in the development of new types of robots and mass production of high-quality products. The complete sets of robots required by various industries are generally designed and manufactured by their subsidiaries or social engineering companies, and turnkey projects are completed. Called the "Japanese model");

(2) The robot manufacturer itself produces the robot and designs and manufactures the system required by the user to complete the turnkey project (temporarily referred to as the "European model");

(3) The country does not produce general industrial robots. The robot system required by the company is designed and manufactured by the engineering company using imported robots to complete the turnkey project (provisionally called “American model”).

At present, China needs to study the problem of what path our robot industry should take. We believe that we should start with the "American model" and gradually approach the "Japanese model" when conditions are ripe. Fortunately, China has formed a number of welding automation system integration engineering companies, which can complete the design, equipment integration and technical consultation of welding robot workstations. Nearly 20% of the welding robot workstations used in China are imported robots imported by Chinese engineers in China, and are integrated with self-designed peripherals. However, most of the more complex welding robot production lines or welding FMS also need a full set of imports from abroad. In the future, these engineering companies should be promoted to become bigger and stronger. The government should encourage enterprises to adopt China's own complete set of welding robot systems, and Chinese engineers should further strengthen cooperation and technical exchanges with foreign robot manufacturers and integration companies to make domestic The welding robotic workstations in the welding robot system used are rapidly increasing, which promotes the growth of the robot industry in China.

3.3 Application of special plane

The special plane is a rigid or semi-rigid automated welding equipment, unlike flexible automated welding robots. In the choice, it is necessary to choose whether to use a special plane or a robot according to the production situation of the enterprise and the product requirements. Robots cannot be considered in general as a high level of automation, while special planes are a lower level of automation. According to practical experience, the principles of selection are listed in Table 6.

Most of China's welding special machines are in mass production enterprises, such as welding production lines for refrigerators and air conditioner compressors, automobile welding production lines, pipe production lines, auto parts production lines, and motorcycle parts production lines.

From the statistics of 115 various types of enterprises, there are a total of 1,742 sets of arc welding machines, 80% of which are made in China; while the number of resistance welding machines is only 250, and imports account for 75%, mainly in the automotive industry. In general, the number of welding machines used by Chinese enterprises is still small, indicating that the automation level of welding production is still relatively low. In the future, the promotion of welding special machine applications should be strengthened, and the mechanization automation rate of welding production should be rapidly improved.

3.4 application of positioner

The positioner can make the joint on the workpiece in the ideal ship shape or flat welding position for welding, which is an effective and cheap tool for improving welding efficiency and quality and reducing labor intensity. Enterprises should vigorously promote the application of positioners without entering the stage of automated welding. The general positioner has two rotary axes, both electric and manual. From the survey of 115 companies, there are only 750 welding positioners, 84% of which are made in China. It can be seen that the application of the positioner in Chinese enterprises is still not widespread. Many factories do not have a positioner, and the workpiece is still placed on the ground for welding. However, we also found some typical examples of the application of the positioner in the visit to the factory, such as the Linde forklift factory in Xiamen. The welding workshop of this factory is not high in automation, there is no welding robot, and there is almost no welding machine, but each welding station is equipped with a positioner, a small electric hoist crane and a CO2 gas shielded welder. . The welding shop of this factory can be used as a model for non-automated welding workshops, and their experience should be promoted and promoted. The company makes full use of the advantages of low labor costs in China, and at the same time solves the problems of production efficiency, welding quality and labor intensity with relatively low-cost equipment (displacement machine).

4 Steel quantity of welded structure

4.1 Steel quantity for welded structure

The amount of steel used in the welded structure is an important indicator of the overall level of welding technology in a country. China has long lacked reliable statistics in this area, and has always adopted an estimation method for the amount of steel used in welded structures. There is no reliable basis. In this investigation, we tried to calculate the actual amount of steel used for welding structures in various enterprises across the country. However, due to the small amount of recycling data, it is difficult to directly calculate the amount of steel used. Therefore, it is proposed to calculate the average annual consumption of welding consumables per ton of steel by calculating the ratio of total annual welding material consumption and total steel consumption of 115 enterprises that have returned the questionnaire, and then use the total output of national welding consumables. To estimate the amount of steel used for the welded structure each year. According to the data provided by 115 companies, the current ratio of welding consumables to steel in Chinese enterprises is 1.82%. However, considering that the enterprises that are counted are small and small, most of them are medium-sized and above, and many small enterprises use much more electrode than medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the ratio is conservatively adjusted to 2%. The total amount of welding materials consumed in China (including imports) in 2002 was calculated at 1.47 million tons. The total amount of weldable steel was about 73.5 million tons, while the steel output in 2002 was 185 million. Therefore, the amount of steel used for welding structures is about steel. 40% of production. It can be seen that the total amount of steel processed by welding in China is greater than other cold and hot processing methods. Even so, we are still behind industrialized countries. The data collected from Japan and the former Soviet Union in the early 1980s when the economy developed rapidly in the past year was summarized and analyzed. The amount of steel used for welding in the former Soviet Union reached 60%, while that in Japan exceeded 70%. Most other developed countries are within this range. China's steel output will continue to grow and is expected to increase to more than 200 million tons in recent years. At the same time, the proportion of steel used for welding structures will gradually reach the target of 60%, and the workload of welding in national economic construction will increase exponentially. Welding technology will usher in a new climax of development. This point should be highly valued by governments at all levels, welding associations, welding associations, universities, research institutes and related companies, and be prepared in advance.

4.2 Main users of steel

The amount of steel used for welding structures in China reached 73.5 million tons in 2002, but it is necessary to further clarify which industries are large steel users. According to the data output and steel quantity data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics and related associations and federations, the amount of steel used in major industries in 1999 is roughly as listed in Table 7. From the table, we can roughly see the steel use in China's major industries. Among them, the metal structure, pipeline, automobile and power station equipment industries are large steel users. The annual steel consumption of each industry is more than 2 million tons, followed by shipbuilding and oil. In the chemical machinery and container industry, each steel used exceeds 1 million tons. The metal structure and pipe industry grew up in the past 7-8 years and quickly became a major steel company in China. However, for a long time, the research and development work in the welding industry has mostly focused on the needs of manufacturing industries such as chemical equipment, power station equipment, metallurgical equipment, ships, aircraft and vehicles, and less attention has been paid to the improvement of these on-site installation welding and field welding techniques. As a result, these on-site and field welding technology levels are still in a relatively backward state, which should be paid enough attention to the relevant parties.

The total amount of steel used in the 15 major industries from the table is only 25.35 million tons, while the steel used in the welded structure was about 50 million tons, and the users of more than 24 million tons of steel were unknown. This point has similar problems in Japan’s statistics. They attribute these steels without exact users to the “trafficking industry” category, while the construction, construction, civil and automotive industries are the largest steel users in Japan. Both are over 4 million tons.

4.3 Number of companies related to welding

The number of enterprises in China that use welding as their main production method is a common concern of the welding industry, but there has not been a relatively accurate data. We learned from the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics that there were 40,675 national machinery manufacturing enterprises in 1999, of which 7312 were closely related to welding, including large, large, medium and small enterprises. The ratio of their quantity to the amount of steel used is as follows:

Extra large enterprises account for 0.2% and consume 15% of steel

Large enterprises account for 12.1% and steel consumption is 40%

The number of medium-sized enterprises accounts for 25.4%, and the steel consumption is 25%.

Small business accounts for 62.3% and steel consumption for 20%

It should be pointed out that since the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics does not give data on the amount of steel used by enterprises, we calculate the proportion of steel used by enterprises of different scales from the statistical report of the Machinery Industry Federation, and extend this ratio to the national equivalent. Scale of business. It can be seen from these data that the large, medium and medium-sized enterprises, which account for about 1/3 of the total number of enterprises, use 80% of the total steel. In the future, we must pay great attention to the statistics of medium-sized and above enterprises, which can represent the actual level of welding production in China. However, due attention should also be paid to the advancement of welding technology in small enterprises, as they are large in quantity and consume 15 million tons of steel per year.

5 Overview of enterprise welding technicians and welders

People are the most dynamic productivity of enterprises, and enterprises are the carriers of high technology. The competition of enterprises is ultimately the competition of talents, including the innovation ability of technicians and the quality of workers. Therefore, we conducted a sample survey of the situation of enterprise technicians and welding workers. From the data provided by 115 companies, there are a total of 2012 welding engineering technicians and 2,1965 welding workers (including technicians). Their job title ratio is shown in Figure 7. 66% of the company's welding technician team consists of engineers and helpers, while only 1% of the researchers have the highest level of researcher-level work. The qualifications of these welding engineering technicians are as follows:

PhD (only 1 person) 0.05%

Master's degree 1.7%

University undergraduate 52.6%

Junior college 22.9%

Secondary school 12.4%

TV University / NT$8.3%

Other 2.05%

It can be seen that there are too few welding technicians in the enterprise with high academic qualifications and high professional titles. Only one of the 2012 welding technicians has a Ph.D., and less than 2% have a master's degree. There are nearly 100 doctors and hundreds of masters in welding in China every year. However, most enterprises in China lack high-educated, familiar welding engineers and experienced welded structural design engineers. This is a serious problem that cannot be ignored. Due to the nature of the work of the company and the conditions and treatment, most companies are currently more difficult to attract more highly educated talents to work in the enterprise. Even graduates of higher education institutions are willing to go to the factory and insist on staying in the factory to do welding technology. There are not many jobs, and some companies have already had a second talent gap. The reason for this phenomenon is complicated, but it should be said that the excessive publicity of the media in certain industries has a certain external influence on the trend of college students, while the institutions of higher learning pay less attention to the professional education and professional ethics of students. The time to go to the factory during the study period is too short, and the factory production is not known, which is the internal factor that causes this phenomenon. Now it is time to scream that the whole society should pay attention to guiding high-educated and high-quality talents to the front line to exercise and work. In addition, the proportion of secondary school graduates in the welding technicians of the factory is also small (12.4%), because there are fewer students in the society who are willing to go to secondary school. In fact, some of the work in the factory can be done by technicians with secondary education, not necessarily for the technicians who graduated from college. This is also a waste of talent, an abnormal social phenomenon.

It should be noted that since 1998, colleges and universities have cancelled individual thermal processing majors, merged into material processing projects, and implemented generalist education. However, what is needed for companies is the ability to work independently as quickly as possible. It is possible to transition from "generalist" to "specialist" as soon as possible, and requires a reasonable overall arrangement for China's education and training system. Among them, higher education should be able to adapt to different levels of social needs, especially the demand for technical talents of the majority of grassroots enterprises. Higher education in engineering should pay special attention and focus on cultivating engineers who can work in modern enterprises. This is the group with the largest number of people who have far-reaching influence on the development of China's manufacturing industry. In the four years of engineering education, students should not only master basic scientific knowledge, but more importantly, they can truly understand the characteristics of modern enterprise production and management, establish a good professional ethic, and cultivate a strong professionalism and a serious and responsible work attitude. Establish the idea of ​​deepening production. As long as there is a strong and high-quality team of engineers backed up, China's industrial base can be solid, and scientific and technological achievements can have many undertaking entities, and manufacturing can be innovative and sustainable.

Institutions of higher learning should have different levels. They should focus on cultivating scientific research talents, and should also focus on the engineering and technical talents needed to cultivate the needs of enterprises. The training methods and teaching contents of the two should not be identical and must have their own characteristics. In addition, the follow-up education from "generalists" to "specialists" should not be entirely borne by enterprises, which is easy to form a new "masters with apprentices" in an irregular and unreasonable situation. Therefore, it is even more important to improve the professional and technical education system and the continuing education system nationwide as soon as possible. Today, after the reform of higher education, we should speed up the improvement of social functions in this area. Some professional technical associations/associations abroad play an important role in cultivating this professional and technical talents, which is worth learning and learning from. China has been recognized by the International Institute of Welding-IIW in January 2000 and has become a member of the Authorized National Body-ANB in ​​the international welding industry. It is establishing and in accordance with the requirements of IIW. Improve the training system and strengthen formal training for welding engineers, welding technicians, welding technicians and welders in China in accordance with international standards. According to the requirements, it will be issued an internationally recognized certificate after passing the examination, and it will be in line with international standards in welding technology training and certification. However, the number of people currently receiving training is still not enough. The training direction of welding engineers, welding technicians and welders in the country is also lacking a unified and complete system, which needs to be improved as soon as possible.

From the survey of 21,965 welders, more than 90% of them have obtained welder certificates, and 85% of welders are under 45 years old, indicating that our welders are a relatively young and technically qualified team. At present, the main sources of welders are as follows:

Technical school - 58%

Corporate training a 30%

Temporary workers - 8%

Other - 4%

It can be seen that the students who graduated from technical schools are the main source of welders in China. But the sources of welders in different industries are also different. Some enterprise group companies and large enterprises have their own technical schools to train the reserve personnel of the welders. However, there are still quite a few technical schools established by enterprises that are difficult to maintain due to financial difficulties and the inability to recruit enough students who are willing to learn to weld. If this problem cannot be solved, the technical school cannot deliver enough welders to reserve the army. The proportion of the company's self-training welders will continue to increase, and the burden on the enterprise will also increase. In this way, enterprises must not only cultivate "universal" college graduates into welding professionals, but also train "novices" into skilled welders, which will drag down the pace of enterprise development and is also an unreasonable social division of labor. The relevant government departments should pay attention to and solve the problem of the source of the workers reserve team as soon as possible.

Welding technicians are advanced welders with skilled skills and expertise, but currently the ratio of welding technicians to welders in the company is only 4%. This shows that the company has not been strong enough to cultivate high-level welders in the past, and should attract the attention of enterprises and the whole society in the cultivation and promotion of high-skilled talents.

6 Overall evaluation of the status quo

From the brief introduction of the above five parts, we can understand the overall situation of China's welding production in a macroscopic way. It should be said that in the past 25 years of reform and opening up, the achievements and progress of welding have been remarkable, but there are also many problems and difficulties. China is already the largest welding country in the world, but it is still far from being a strong welding country. There is still a long way to go before the international advanced level. There are mainly the following problems:

—— Long-term attention to the statistical work of the welding industry, there is no specific statistical unit, quite a number of enterprises are not willing to provide data, and the statistical content of the relevant state departments is not uniform, not comprehensive, and statistical work is difficult to be scientific and accurate. Without accurate statistical data, it is impossible to correctly formulate development plans and determine guidelines and policies. Statistical data is indeed the basis of industrial development. The industry lacks this foundation and cannot be bigger and stronger.

——Insufficient understanding of the important role of welding in the national economic construction, especially in the revitalization of the equipment industry, lack of clear development planning. The current welded structure accounts for 40% of the total steel output. If it is increased to 60% within 5 years, and the total steel output is also increased to 250 million tons, this will mean that the welding workload will double, and the steel structure will be used from the current steel. More than 73 million tons increased to 150 million tons. However, the current state departments still lack the necessary ideas, technology and planning preparations.

——The development of welding production level is not balanced. The eastern coastal areas are higher, and the western inland areas are lower; the medium-sized and above enterprises are higher, the small enterprises are lower; the key development enterprises such as automobiles are higher, and the steel structure manufacturing and field installation industries are lower.

——The overall level of welding mechanization automation is low (only 40%). The proportion of welding rods in welding consumables is too high (more than 75%), the ratio of welding consumables to steel is too high (0.77% or more), and the quality of welding consumables and varieties are far from the international advanced level. At present, there are few universities and research institutes engaged in the research of welding materials (especially the research on large-scale welding materials), but the development strength of welding consumables is insufficient, and high-quality special welding consumables still need to rely on imports.

——The number of electric welding machine enterprises is large, the scale is small, the group is poor, and the development ability is weak.一般化的产品多,先进的焊接电源,特别是性能好、功能多的气体保护焊设备产量少,新工艺的开发与推广速度慢,每年仍需大量进口新型焊接技术与设备。

——焊接机器人、焊接专机、焊接变位机的用量少。特别是焊接机器人85%分布在交通行业(汽车、铁路、摩托车),其他行业少。具有我国自己知识产权的工业机器人没能形成批量生产,90%以上的焊接机器人来自外国。

——焊接技术人员和焊接工人的教育与培训没有形成全国统一、完整的体系,与国际接轨的进程慢。企业难以吸引优秀的人才和高学历人才到企业从事焊接技术发展工作。缺乏焊工预备队的问题,应引起重视,并应注意高技能的焊接技师的培养、教育与晋升。

二、焊接发展战略

7 焊接在未来制造业发展中的作用

焊接是一种现代化的传统加工技术,在21世纪的知识经济时代里是否仍是一种重要的生产手段,这必须从国内外的情况来进一步分析。我国是一个发展中国家,还没有完成工业化建设,还需要大力发展制造业,振兴装备制造业。钢的产量还在高速增长,预计今年(2003年)就会达到2亿吨,按这个速度发展,到2020年可能超过4亿吨。因此,我国在完成全面建设小康社会之前,钢铁仍将是主要结构材料,焊接技术也必然要跟随钢铁的发展而同步提高。焊接结构的用钢量将可能从现在的7350万吨(占钢产量40%)增加到2.4亿吨(占60%)以上。这样巨大的潜在发展趋势是无论如何也不能忽视的。同时,高新技术的快速发展,装备的轻量化、节能化、高性能化使铝镁钛等轻金属、复合材料、陶瓷、塑料和新型材料也将扩大应用范围,这些材料都需要用新的焊接或连接技术制成给定功能的结构。无论是钢或其他材料的发展都对我国焊接(连接)技术的提高,从工艺、耗材、装备、自动化和质量、效率、成本、寿命以及维修、再循环等各个方面都提出更新、更高、更多的要求。当前就必须为焊接技术更高水平的发展高潮的到来,事先做好各方面的准备。

美国和德国在进入21世纪的前夜都曾组织过一些焊接专家共同讨论21世纪焊接的作用和发展方向。从会议的总结(内部材料)中有几点结论性意见值得我们注意:

——焊接(到2020年)仍将是制造业的重要加工技术,它是一种精确、可靠、低成本,并且是采用高科技连接材料的方法。目前还没有其它方法能够比焊接更为广泛地应用于金属的连接,并对所焊的产品增加更大的附加值。

——焊接技术(含连接、切割、涂敷),现在以及将来,都有最大可能成功地将各种材料加成可投入市场的产品的首选方法。

——焊接不应再是一种“应召产业”,它将逐步集成到产品的全寿命过程,从设计、开发、制造到维修、再循环的各个阶段。

——焊接将被认为对改善产品全寿命的成本、质量和可靠性是至关重要的手段,而且对提高产品的市场竞争力有重要贡献。

美国和德国都是发达国家,已经进入后工业化社会并正向着知识经济或新经济社会的方向发展,他们对焊接的作用仍给予高度的重视。我国更不应该忽视焊接在发展国民经济和振兴装备制造业的重要作用,更应继续大力发展我国的焊接技术。

8 制定焊接发展战略的基本思路

焊接是一种应用量很大、应用面很广的共性技术,它不仅对发展尖端科技与国防装备有重要作用,而且对提高全民生活质量有普遍意义。可是,我国焊接生产的发展是很不均衡的,长期只注重某些点的发展,而忽略带动面的提高;注重科研,忽视推广;注重引进外国先进技术,忽视消化吸收和培养本国的开发能力;注重产品,忽视工艺。在21世纪里,在振兴装备制造业时,在向世界制造强国迈进过程中,我们必须对工艺的重要性有更新的认识。因此在制定焊接发展战略时应:点面兼顾、上下(游)兼顾、远近兼顾,既见物又见人。而在具体规划中应以近为主、适当照顾远;以面为主、适当照顾点;以普及为主、适当照顾前沿;以人为主、适当照顾条件。在今后10年或更长一段时间的总体发展战略目标是:

——全面提高我国的总体焊接生产技术水平;

——培养一批优秀的焊接专业技术人才;

——在一些尖端前沿科技领域占有一席之地。

9 发展焊接技术的几点主要措施

根据上述的基本战略思想及我国当前焊接生产的现状,提出如下几点发展措施:

9.1 加强全国焊接基本情况的统计与分析工作统计工作是制定方针、政策的基础,情况清楚才能措施得当。可是长期以来,对全国焊接基本情况的统计不够重视,缺乏全面、真实、准确的统计数据。全国也缺乏一个全面的焊接发展规划,造成发展不均衡,也使得各级政府资助的项目往往具有随意性,只能从申请者提出的研究方向中来选择。为了加强全国焊接基本情况的统计,建议:

(1)充分发挥专业协会的作用。政府应明确要求专业协会必须做好本专业全面情况的统计分析工作,作为专业协会的主要职责之一,并定期公开发布统计结果和对现状的分析。统计工作应接受政府与群众的监督,及时改进统计方法和统计内容。各级政府在制定相关规划、政策和资助的有关项目时应尽可能征求专业协会/学会的意见,力求均衡发展。

(2)国家统计局、海关总署、各专业协会、联合会应协调统计的内容,使统计数据具有互补性,照顾相邻专业的需要,可以互相利用。建议国家统计局和民政部联合召开统计工作会议,协调并明确各专业协会、联合会的统计要求与内容。建立一套企业积极主动配合专业协会做好统计工作的运作机制。企业要主动按时提供本企业的准确统计数据。专业协会对企业提供的数据负有保密责任,在没有征得企业同意前,不得单独公开某一企业的数据。

9.2 重点扶持共性工艺技术研究单位的发展

焊接技术是一种重要的共性工艺技术。全国原先有多家焊接(焊机)研究所和附属于其他研究院/所中的焊接研究室,他们曾经为发展我国的焊接事业发挥过重大的作用。当前,研究院/所在企业化改造中,把主要精力集中到办产业方面,以创收为本,以“短平快”为主,有的以生存为主,而对中、长期发展方向的研究投入力度大为降低。有的单位设备老化,人员不齐,经费减少,整体科研开发水平在迅速下降。原先以高等院校为上/中游,以科研院所为中/下游,企业为成果应用对象的科技发展链条,由于研究所(室)向企业方向靠拢,而有脱节的趋势。然而,全部由高等院校来弥补这个空缺是不合理的,也加重了高等院校的负担。我国的焊接(焊机)研究所(室)大多有几十年的历史,他们比较接近生产企业,有很丰富的工程经验,是国家发展共性焊接技术的重要力量。因此,国家应有重点地扶持一些焊接共性技术的研究所和研究室。建议:

(1)国家应有选择地扶持几个焊接共性技术研究所/室,确定研发队伍的规模,每年给予较为丰厚的经费支持,明确研究方向(以面上的共性技术为主),定期检查科研进展情况,追踪科研成果的推广应用绩效。根据由外部专家组成的评议组的评议结果来确定对这些所/室的支持力度或淘汰。

(2)国家支持的焊接研究所/室只是支持其研发部的运作(与产业公司无关),因此必须实行首席专家负责制。首席专家对科技人员的聘用、工资待遇、设备购置、经费使用、研究方向等有最后的决定权,并在研发绩效与人员素质方面向国家负责。

(3)为了吸引优秀人才从事焊接共性技术的研究与开发,国家应在人员工资、待遇和科研条件、仪器设备方面给予有力支持,消除研发队伍的后顾之忧。

(4)各级政府部门在焊接共性技术攻关科研项目的招标中,在条件基本相同的情况下,应优先交给国家支持的共性研究所/室来承担,使之迅速壮大发展。

9.3 完善焊接专业技术人员的教育、培训体系

焊接专业技术人员的素质决定焊接生产发展的后劲。这个问题已经到了非常危急的地步,如不能尽快解决,将会制约我国焊接生产的快速发展。这是一个关系多个部门和涉及整个教育体系的复杂问题,必须由国家统一安排解决。建议:

(1)完善工科高等院校材料加工工程学科的教育。工科高等院校应有所分工,有的以培养科研型人才为主,也应有以培养适应现代企业需要的工程技术人才为主的,各具特色,教学内容与方法应有所区别。“提高教学质量”和“适应广大基层企业需要”并不矛盾。当前,工科高等院校大多偏向科研型,而不够重视培养学生适应现代企业工作需要的能力。学生在校期间深入工厂的时间不长,对生产过程的了解太少,不懂得现代企业的特点和管理方式,教学内容更新较慢,也缺乏敬业精神、认真踏实的工作态度和深入生产实际的教育。而且教师本身大多对生产也并不熟悉,很少曾在工厂工作过。因此,工科高等院校应在普及通才教育改革的基础上,进一步完善教学内容与方法,除了一部分以培养科研型人才为主以外,大部分工科高等院校应重视培养适应现代企业需要的基层工程技术干部。不仅要使学生掌握基本的专业知识,还应增加一定学时的现代企业管理课程。保证学生到工厂实习的次数、时间和质量,培养学生深入生产第一线,解决实际问题的工作态度与能力。

(2)完善专业技术教育和继续教育体系以及统一考核认证体系。高等院校的通才教育与企业所需要的专业技术人才,是有一定距离的。目前企业大约需要3-4年才能将大学毕业生培养成基本能适应工厂工作的工程技术人员。德国规定,凡是要在工厂做焊接工程师工作的大学毕业生,必须在焊接培训中心经过一定学时的强化专业培训,并经考试合格,发给证书,才能受聘上岗。那些分布在全国各地的焊接培训中心是由德国焊接学会(DVS)办的。中国焊接协会和焊接学会与德国焊接学会合作创建的哈尔滨焊接技术培训中心,在经过严格的检查、审核后,于2000年获得国际焊接学会(IIW)的批准,成为我国唯一的授权实体CANB(每个国家只能有一个授权实体),可以按IIW的统一要求进行培训,学员经考试合格后,颁发国际共同认可的焊接工程师、技术员、技师、焊工证书。直至现在,我国取得国际证书的人数如下:

国际焊接工程师(IWE) 1173名

国际焊接技师(IWS) 164名

国际焊工(IWP) 150名

可见按国际标准培训的人数仍很少,全国培训点的分布还不够广泛。我国国家质量监督检验总局对焊工和焊接技师有考核规程和标准,但是对焊接工程师、技术员和培训焊工操作技能的焊工教师还没有统一的考核与认可标准,往往由企业自己审定。因此,必须尽快统一并完善我国焊接技术培训体系,将中国焊接协会/学会建立的国际焊接培训考核体系与国家质检部门建立的培训考核体系统一起来,并逐步将专业培训工作过渡到由专业协会/学会来负责管理,政府部门退出这个领域,实现与国际惯例接轨。国家应规定,企业聘任焊接工程师、焊接技术员、焊接技师、焊工教师及焊工等职务,必须先经过培训并获得相应的资格证书后才能正式上岗。培训中心定期举办短期培训班或专题讲座,对各级技术与管理人员进行终身的再教育。要求技术人员的晋级必须经过一定学时的再教育。只有这样才能规范人员的素质,才能适应焊接生产的快速发展。

(3)加强焊接结构设计人员的教育与培训。焊接结构的应用日益增多,焊接结构的用钢量将从现在的7300多万吨(占钢产量40%)发展到亿吨以上(占60%)。焊接结构设计的合理性、安全性、可靠性、可焊接性、适用性是非常重要的问题。在焊接生产中常有设计不合理的问题发生。由于目前许多大型焊接结构的设计是引用外国图纸,矛盾还不很突出,但是随着具有独立的知识产权的产品的日益增多,设计问题将会显现出其严重性。现在的设计人员大多是学机械制造专业,比较熟悉冷加工,但是焊接结构与铸造、锻压结构不同,具有一定的特殊性。因此无论是在高等教育还是在专业培训中都应重视培养一支既了解焊接特点又熟悉结构设计的工程师队伍。同时应强调在产品设计与开发过程中应规定有专业焊接工程师参加工艺性的审查,把设计不合理的问题消灭在初始阶段,并及时根据生产、使用、维修中反映出来的问题主动修改设计图纸。

(4)完善各地技术学校的建设。由于在计划经济时期企业办社会,许多职业技术学校都是由企业自己办的,并成为企业工人的主要来源。当前企业要把一些社会职责剥离出来,技校首当其冲。但是技校怎样剥离出来,由谁来承办,这问题还没有很好解决,也没有引起重视,已经到了必须认真考虑的时候了。这个问题不解决,将来企业的工人来源和新工人的素质将成大问题。国家应高度重视技校的建设。当前最可行的办法是大型企业集团集中统一办理适合自己需要的技校,同时政府与社会共同承办一般的技术学校。我们不能只重视高等教育而忽视技工教育,社会的需求是多种多样的,少了哪一方面都不行。工人的素质是生产力的重要部分,提高工人的素质是关系到我国产品的声誉和竞争力的大事。争取在10年内使我国焊接工人80%以上来自技校毕业生。

9.4 重视组织新的共性技术的研究,解决面上存在的问题

我国已经是一个世界最大的焊接大国,但远不是一个焊接强国。由于长期缺乏实施全面的规划,发展很不均衡,有自流趋势,特别是面上的问题更为突出。要成为焊接强国,不仅在技术前沿要有所突破,更重要的是使总体生产技术水平也能均衡提高。作为国家焊接发展战略更应重视面的发展。建议:

(1)制定向焊接消耗材料研究开发与生产强国迈进的实施规划。争取10年内使我国生产的焊接消耗材料在品种、性能、质量、产量等各个方面都达到国际先进水平,成为世界最大的焊接材料开发与生产强国,并在国际市场上占有较大的份额。这是一个量大面广的发展战略问题,政府应以政策和资金来引导高等院校和科研院所与焊材企业集团结合从理论和生产上开展研究,并有所突破。努力使我国焊材的品种结构趋向合理,降低焊材与钢材的比例。

研究对象包括实心焊丝、药芯焊丝、金属粉芯焊丝、焊条、焊棒、焊剂、钎料、钎剂等,还要重视开发新的原辅材料,研究应用纳米材料的可能范围。同时要注意新型结构材料的发展对研制新焊接材料的需求。特别是当前已经出现的高纯度、超低碳的新钢种,可能会对焊接电弧物理现象提出新的挑战,需要从理论上有所突破才能有新的进展。

(2)加强新型焊接设备的研究开发力度。利用信息技术、微电子技术、计算机技术的新成果、新产品来开发新的焊接设备,特别是高性能/价格比的气体保护焊设备。加速用气体保护焊取代一般焊条手工焊的进程,在10年内将全国的焊接机械化自动化率提高到50%以上。要使科研与生产在这个领域能很好地结合,加速电焊机产业的发展,很重要的一点是要求我国的电焊机企业尽快形成若干个大型企业集团,提高研发水平,才能引导我国电焊机产业的发展。政府资助的项目应有助于促进这种集团的出现。

(3)加强新的焊接共性技术的研究与开发。提高我国焊接生产的效率、质量与焊接生产的信息化与管理现代化。建议当前应重视开展如下的几个主要方面的研究:

——以搅拌摩擦焊技术为代表的新焊接技术的研发与推广应用。搅拌摩擦焊是英国焊接研究所发明的一种新型固态焊接技术,已经引起全世界的重视,在航空、航天与造船部门已经将这种技术应用于铝合金的焊接,取得很好的效果。我国也引进了这种专利技术。但是对不同材料的可焊接性及不同形状接头的焊接方法等方面还有很大的研究发展空间。这种技术有很广泛的应用前景,有可能成为今后中、薄板(包括有色金属和黑色金属)焊接的重要方法。我国必须加快研究与应用开发。

——以激光与激光+电弧为代表的焊接新热源的深入研究与推广应用。这也是当前国际上的一个热门技术。激光被认为是21世纪的新热源,在薄板焊接中已经取得显著成效,特别是在汽车制造领域更为突出。但是激光焊接也存在一些不足,而激光与电弧的复合可以优势互补,弱化各自的缺点,获得很好的效果。但是对激光与电弧复合的一些特点,特别是对中、厚板的焊接,还有许多问题需要深入研究。这方面的研究需要从两方面着手,一是大功率固体激光设备的开发与产业化;另一方面是针对中厚板焊接工艺特点的研究。

——高速高效焊接新方法的研究与应用。高速度与高效率焊接是提高企业竞争力和市场反应速度的重要途径,已经引起世界各国的重视。目前对于薄板大多采用激光高速焊技术;对于中板大多采用多电弧复合焊接方法,而对于厚板大多采用窄间隙焊接技术来提高焊接效率;并重视把电子束焊接技术应用于一些重要结构件的制造。但是在应用这些技术方面还有许多可进一步发展的余地。

——重大厚件焊接与现场焊接的自动化技术。这是我国今后重大装备制造和安装都要面对的一个不可回避的重要问题。当前这些大型结构大多采用焊条手工焊或手工半自动焊,效率和质量都较难进一步提高。今后重大厚件(包括有色与黑色金属)无论是在车间焊接或现场焊接都必须实现自动化,这方面的研究除了开发工艺、装备(机器人)外,很重要的一方面是、先进传感器和自适应控制技术的应用。国外最近已经将这个问题提到日程,我国应独立开发这些技术,力争在国际市场上占有一席之地。

——焊接过程数值模拟与专家系统的开发与推广应用。这是一条必须要走的艰巨之路。焊接由于是高温、瞬态、非平衡、强偶合的过程,而且缺乏材料在焊接瞬态的物理、力学特性数据,使得精确数值模拟变得十分困难,在这方面已经明显落后于铸造、塑性加工和热处理过程。今后提高焊接生产的水平必须广泛应用数值模拟技术和专家系统。数值模拟技术方面可包括焊接缺陷的预测与防止、焊接接头组织与性能的预测与优化、焊接应力与变形的预测与控制等。专家系统方面包括的内容更广泛,如焊接方法与规范、参数的选择,焊接工时、材科消耗、成本的计算,规程与标准的要求等。目前我国还缺乏比较完善的焊接专家系统和比较成熟的模拟技术,需要大力开发并尽快推广应用。

——焊接生产信息化和管理现代化技术的研究。十六大提出要走新型工业化道路,要以信息化带动工业化,以工业化促进信息化。但是焊接生产过程如何实施信息化,焊接生产如何管理才算是现代化,这些问题都有待深入进行专题研究。中国焊接协会和焊接学会应在焊接产业现代化建设中发挥积极作