Pooling Chains to Drive Prosperity and Pursue Ambitious Goals—General Technology Group Sets Its Sights on Becoming a Global Leader in the Machine Tool Industry by the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

In the vibrant month of March, all things come back to life. On March 18, 2026, the “Pooling Chains, Boosting Industries, and Pursuing Long-Term Success” General Technology Group Machine Tool Industry Ecosystem Partner Conference was grandly held at the Beijing National Convention Center. As the first major industry event marking the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period for the machine tool sector, the conference brought together nearly 500 guests from across the industry value chain—ranging from upstream suppliers to downstream customers—as well as leading industry experts and media representatives. Zhou Zhou, Chief Engineer of General Technology Group and Chairman of the Machine Tool Company, attended the event and formally unveiled the company’s future development strategy for the machine tool industry, while He Xinyuan, General Manager of General Technology Machine Tool Company, delivered a welcoming address. The session was chaired by Wang He, Deputy General Manager of General Technology Machine Tool Company. Key customer representatives shared their collaborative experiences on-site, and all participants engaged in discussions about embarking on a new journey of high-quality development for China’s domestic machine tool industry.

At the conference, Zhou Zhou formally unveiled the “15th Five-Year Plan” for the future development strategy of the General Technology Group’s machine tool industry, with the core objective of “Making China’s Machine Tools the World’s Leading Equipment,” and clearly outlined the roadmap for advancing into the global top tier of the machine tool industry.

To achieve this goal, the Machine Tool Division of General Technology Group has formulated four core initiatives, establishing a comprehensive development strategy that encompasses “technological breakthroughs, product empowerment, service upgrades, and overseas expansion.” Spring Mountain Plan Focus on achieving decisive breakthroughs in critical core technologies to resolve bottlenecks and constraints hindering industry development. Tiangong Program Empowering thousands of industries with匠心-driven products, we are building a more comprehensive product portfolio and delivering superior product quality, achieving internationally advanced levels of processing efficiency for high-end flagship products, and providing enabling solutions for more than ten critical sectors. Warm Spring Plan From technological leadership to service excellence, we serve as the dedicated, end-to-end steward throughout the entire lifecycle of machine tool equipment. Sail Away Program Setting a new benchmark in overseas markets, establishing an R&D center in Europe, fostering international industrial collaboration, and substantially increasing the Group’s share of overseas sales in the machine tool industry.

Meanwhile, the “Double Hundred” partnership initiative outlined in the strategy has become the cornerstone of ecosystem collaboration: going forward, the company will work hand-in-hand with 100 core distributors and 100 strategic suppliers, shifting from a traditional buyer–seller relationship to one of co-creating value. Through joint R&D efforts, resource integration, close cooperation, and deep empowerment, the aim is to build a more resilient and highly collaborative industrial-chain ecosystem. “We are no longer merely engaged in a simple supply–demand relationship; we are comrades-in-arms fighting side by side,” Zhou Zhou stated at the event. “Only when upstream and downstream players across the industrial chain align their vision and pool their strengths can China’s machine-tool industry truly make the leap from large-scale to strong.”

Machine tools are the “mother of industry” and the cornerstone of building a manufacturing powerhouse. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee explicitly called for “adopting extraordinary measures to achieve decisive breakthroughs in critical core technologies in key areas such as industrial mother machines across the entire value chain,” thereby providing unprecedented policy support and development opportunities for the machine-tool industry. At present, China’s machine-tool sector has grown into a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan, profoundly catalyzing the momentum for the development of advanced manufacturing valued at over 20 trillion yuan; however, the industry continues to face pressing challenges, including high-end technological barriers and insufficient supply-chain coordination, underscoring the urgent need for all players across the industrial value chain to build consensus and collaborate on tackling these bottlenecks.

As the only central enterprise whose primary business is high-end CNC machine tools, General Technology Group has always regarded serving national strategies as its mission. Its machine tool division is the mainstay of China’s industrial mother-machine sector, having integrated 10 leading enterprises in the industry, including Shenyang Machine Tool, Dalian Machine Tool, Qiqihar Second Machine Tool, and Kunming Machine Tool, to build a comprehensive industrial system covering precision and ultra-precision machine tools, heavy and extra-heavy machine tools, CNC systems, and functional components, with an industrial scale that ranks first in China. “More than 90% of the partners attending this conference have been collaborating with us for over 20 years. This deep-rooted partnership is the most precious asset for the development of China’s machine tool industry,” said He Xinyuan, General Manager of General Technology Machine Tool Company, in his welcoming address—words that eloquently capture the close ties between General Technology Group’s machine tool division and its ecosystem partners. From collaborations with FANUC, THK Over three decades of weathering storms together, and now for several decades in close partnership with key customers, the Machine Tool Division of General Technology Group has consistently shared the same aspirations and destiny with its supply-chain partners, jointly witnessing the transformation of China’s domestic machine-tool industry—from following to keeping pace, and in some areas even taking the lead.

▲ Wang He, Deputy General Manager of General Technology Machine Tool Company, chaired the conference.

At the conference, Wang Yuewu, Assistant to the General Manager of General Technology Machine Tool Company, released the Ecological Cooperation and Development Report, highlighting that the machine tool industry is currently grappling with the “pain” of upgrading to high-end equipment and the “concern” of volatility in the industrial value chain. The key to overcoming these challenges lies in shifting from a “supply chain” to a “win-win chain,” from “resource procurement” to “ecosystem cultivation,” and from a “vertical value chain” to “horizontal collaboration.”

If the development strategy serves as a “guiding compass,” then products and solutions are the “ballast” that ensures stability. At this conference, Wang Bo, Deputy Director of the General Technology Machine Tool Research Institute, unveiled a comprehensive, all-scenario machine tool product portfolio. The institute has now established a full-industry-chain system spanning “metal cutting, forging and forming, and cutting tools and metrology instruments,” encompassing 17 product categories across multiple business segments. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the institute will focus on building a core product framework structured as “6+2+3.” In parallel, four best-selling flagship products have been launched specifically for key distributors. Taking the HTC40 series lathe as an example, it boasts a maximum cutting depth of 8 mm, effectively addressing the challenges of machining slender shafts with a length-to-diameter ratio of 1:20 or greater. One single machine can replace multiple pieces of equipment, making it a next-generation “flagship product” tailored for the general market.

In response to the manufacturing needs of China’s critical sectors, Guo Xin, Head of the Product Planning Department at the General Technology Machine Tool Research Institute, unveiled a comprehensive suite of industry-specific solutions. These solutions focus on key areas such as “three aerospace” applications, new-energy vehicles, industrial machine tools, shipbuilding, and power equipment, with a core emphasis on collaborative innovation across the “materials–process–equipment” value chain. The institute has introduced a range of customized solutions, including machining systems for large-size, thin-walled aluminum alloy components, titanium alloy part production lines, and battery tray machining systems. Taking the aerospace sector as an example, in response to challenges such as complex integrated structures and the difficult-to-machine materials of titanium alloys and high-temperature superalloys, the institute has launched a high-speed five-axis parallel tilting-milling machining center that achieves a material removal rate of 7,000 cm³/min and doubles overall process efficiency. Additionally, its composite-material panel layup solution delivers end-point positioning accuracy within ±1.5 mm and filament-tow angle deviation of less than 1°, precisely meeting the high-end requirements of aerospace manufacturing.

The confidence of the Machine Tool Division of General Technology Group stems from its profound historical legacy and robust industrial foundation. Its subsidiaries Nanjing No. 2 Machinery Its origins can be traced back to the Jiangnan Bureau of Casting Silver Dollars and Coinage, established in 1896. Shenyang Machine Tool, Dalian Machine Tool, and Kunming Machine Tool were founded in the 1930s, while Qiqihar Second Machine Tool and Tianjin First Machine Tool were commissioned one after another in the early years of the People’s Republic of China, completing the nationwide industrial layout during the First Five-Year Plan period. From their very inception, these enterprises have advanced in step with China’s industrialization drive, laying a solid foundation for the establishment of an independent and complete industrial system in our country.

Over the years, these enterprises have not only developed high-quality products but have also served as a “talent incubator” for China’s machine tool industry, cultivating and supplying a large pool of industry leaders, technical backbones, and skilled artisans, thereby ensuring that the “precision manufacturing” ethos is passed down from one generation to the next. Since 2019, key players such as Shenyang Machine Tool and Dalian Machine Tool have successively come under the umbrella of General Technology Group, leveraging integration to consolidate strengths and collaborative efforts to tackle tough challenges, thus achieving simultaneous growth in both industrial scale and technological prowess.

To recognize partners who have made outstanding contributions to supply-chain collaboration, the conference hosted an awards ceremony for ecosystem partners, presenting honors to 10 exemplary suppliers and 10 outstanding distributors. Among the awardees are core suppliers with decades of deep expertise in the supply chain, who have laid a solid foundation for product quality, as well as top-performing distributors who have cultivated regional markets and served as vital bridges between products and customers. Together, they form the backbone of the industry’s ecosystem.

The convening of this conference marks a new beginning for the Machine Tool Division of General Technology Group, building on decades of industry expertise and looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period. This industry event, centered on “supply chains” and driven by “collaboration,” not only sets the tone for the development of China’s domestic machine tool sector during the 15th Five-Year Plan but also forges a powerful synergy across the entire value chain, fostering coordinated growth among upstream and downstream players. Guided by national strategies and supported by ecosystem partners, the Machine Tool Division of General Technology Group is resolutely advancing toward its goal of跻身the global top tier.