Wang Xiaolong, a national committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), chairman of Yigong Robot Yinchuan Co., Ltd., and general manager of Ningxia Fosta Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., photo provided by the interviewee

“The control system of industrial mother machines is like the 'brain' of a machine, integrating numerous high-precision and complex devices. However, at present, the domestic industry is highly dependent on imports for this control system.” During this year's Two Sessions, Wang Xiaolong, a national committee member of the CPPCC, chairman of Yigong Robot Yinchuan Co., Ltd., and general manager of Ningxia Fosta Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., suggested supporting industrial mother machine enterprises to strengthen independent research and development of control systems and promote the high-quality development of the private high-end equipment manufacturing industry.

Industrial mother machines are machines that manufacture machines and mechanical equipment, including lathes, milling machines, planing machines, drilling machines, boring machines, grinding machines, gear-cutting machines, etc. Wang Xiaolong's company is one of the first private enterprises in China to research and design gantry robots and is one of the national-level specialized and new “small giant” enterprises. He introduced that in 2024, with the country's vigorous development of new high-quality productivity, the company strives to improve the level of industrial automation production lines and industrial robot equipment manufacturing. The high-speed, high-precision horizontal machining centers and five-axis machining centers developed by the company have been put into use in the industry.

Over the past year, Wang Xiaolong has participated in the duty-performance research organized by the CPPCC special committee, visiting many enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial mother machine manufacturing industry chain. He learned that although there are still some technological shortcomings in China's private industrial mother machine manufacturing enterprises, there are important development opportunities in China's industrial mother machine production field. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed to accelerate the creation of independent and controllable industrial chains and supply chains, improve and strengthen the institutional mechanisms for the development of key industrial chains such as integrated circuits and industrial mother machines, and promote technological breakthroughs and application of achievements throughout the entire chain. China's new energy vehicle industry is driving the innovation of artificial intelligence and intelligent driving technology, bringing broad development prospects for the industrial mother machine industry.

“This is a development opportunity for China's industrial mother machine manufacturing industry, and I deeply feel the huge potential in the future.” Wang Xiaolong believes that industrial mother machines involve professional fields such as materials science, mechanical design and manufacturing, electrical control and automation, and metal cutting technology research. If manufacturing enterprises can focus on fields such as new energy vehicles, aerospace, rail transit, and mechanical processing, giving industrial mother machines more application scenarios and promoting the rapid development of industrial mother machines in the direction of high-end, intelligent, and composite, it may enable the front-end sales market of industrial mother machines to achieve 'overtaking on a curve'.

The reporter learned from the Ningxia Department of Industry and Information Technology that there are currently 28 industrial mother machine host and key supporting enterprises in Ningxia, including Qiao Feng Machinery, Xiaoriren vertical and horizontal machining centers, and Xinrui Changcheng high-end CNC machine tools. In 2024, industrial mother machine enterprises in Ningxia produced 1994 machine tools, driving upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to create a production value of nearly 10 billion yuan. The scientific and technological innovation talents of these enterprises are actively exploring high-quality development paths of intelligent transformation, digital transformation, and network connection.

Wang Xiaolong suggested supporting the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and equipment manufacturing industries in the western region, incorporating the construction of Ningxia's industrial mother machine industry strategic hinterland and industrial backup into national relevant special plans, clarifying Ningxia's strategic position in the national industrial mother machine industry layout, and giving policy tilt and key support; relying on the East-West cooperation mechanism, encouraging mature industrial mother machine manufacturing enterprises in the eastern coastal provinces to drive the development of similar enterprises in Ningxia and Gansu, and using the form of 'one area, one policy' and 'one province, one policy' to more accurately drive the development of the industrial field in the northwest region and help the development of the western region.

This year, Wang Xiaolong will continue to conduct duty-performance research on the technological shortcomings of the industrial mother machine industry, focusing on how to rely on industrial mother machine technological innovation and deeply integrate with industrial innovation to help the high-quality development of private enterprises in Ningxia's equipment manufacturing industry.