Bearing industry is not only the basic industry of manufacturing industry, but also the important supporting industry of national major equipment and precision equipment manufacturing industry. Its development has played an important role in the development of China's manufacturing industry.

In recent years, the development momentum of bearing manufacturing industry in China is strong, which will bring favorable effects to the stable and good market of bearing steel. The demand for a number of high-end bearings has increased substantially, such as aerospace bearings, high-speed precision bearings for machine tool spindles, precision angular contact ball bearings for ball screw support, high-speed motorized spindle bearings, turntable bearings, wind bearings, and joint bearings for shield machines. The large demand has brought about the development of a large number of enterprises.

According to statistics, there are more than 1400 bearings enterprises in China, with more than 300,000 employees. In 2011, China's bearing manufacturing industry realized a total industrial output value of 193.211 billion yuan, an increase of 27.59%, sales revenue of 191.097 billion yuan, an increase of 30.30%, total profit of 125.23 billion yuan, an increase of 26.54%.

Although the overall situation is better, with the development of global economy and integration, the bearing industry is also facing great challenges, including the acceleration and reduction of product life cycle, highly customized product demand and the intensification of competition in different global markets. To solve these problems, the bearing industry needs to start from many aspects.

1. Improve the technical content, work efficiency, reliability and accuracy of products.

From the current product structure of bearing industry in China, the production capacity of ordinary bearings with low technology content has been relatively sufficient; while bearings with high precision, high technology content and high added value have particularity and can meet special working conditions of self-lubricating bearings, regardless of variety or quantity, there is considerable room for development. In terms of product quality and technical level, China still needs to import a large number of high-end bearings every year.

Improving the R&D, design and manufacturing capabilities of sliding bearing manufacturers is the only way to achieve high technology content, high reliability, high efficiency and high precision of sliding bearings. With the support of national policy and the rapid development of China's equipment manufacturing industry, it is expected that in the future, sliding bearing enterprises will focus on improving the accuracy, performance, life and reliability of bearing products. By increasing R&D efforts and introducing advanced manufacturing equipment from abroad, sliding bearing manufacturers in China have continuously improved their R&D, design and manufacturing levels, which is in line with the inevitable trend of future industry development.

2. Achieving High Flexibility and Mass Production and Pursuing Better Quality

In modern bearing industry, especially in the manufacture of small and medium-sized bearings, its products are basically characterized by a small number of varieties and large quantities. Therefore, the production line of this kind of mass bearing has a high degree of automation, production efficiency and equipment utilization. But only one or several very similar products can be processed when the production line is designed. With today's high-speed product updating, customer demand continues to refine or even customize, the market for multi-variety small batch bearings products demand more and more. Faced with such a situation, this "rigid" or low-flexible production line is either powerless or the adjustment cost is too high. Therefore, improving the flexibility of production lines and maintaining the same low cost as mass production, i. e. high flexibility mass production, is an important challenge for future intelligent manufacturing of bearings.

Moreover, with the development of the bearing industry in China, the bearing products produced in our country have gradually entered the purchasing scope of some users at home and abroad who attach great importance to product quality. However, these customers not only attach importance to the technical content of the product, but also to the quality of the product. It is helpful for enterprises to pursue better product quality and strictly control the production of products.

3. Further Reflections of Specialized Division of Labor Based on Segmented Markets

Sliding bearings, especially self-lubricating bearings, have many kinds and specifications because of their different uses. Different kinds of sliding bearings have different requirements on heat treatment level, turning accuracy, surface treatment method, automation degree of production equipment and manufacturing process, so the existing sliding bearing enterprises are basically focused on a specific field or market segments. After hundreds of years of development, the international bearing industry has formed a stable professional division of labor. The international bearing giants organize specialized production in their respective market segments. In the future, domestic journal bearing manufacturers will further clarify product positioning, take the road of specialization, strengthen fine market segmentation, and achieve scale effect.