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shape metal into complicated shapes. These machines are core to dozens
of industries, including weapons manufacture, and the dual-use implications mean the manufacturers routinely build in special controls that disable the machine if it is moved from its original location.
The recent integration of digital control technology and computers into machine tools hit the industry in three waves of technology shocks that lasted about
ten years each and all of them simply washed over Russia.
“The introduction of numerical controls (NC) for machine tools in the 1950s and 1960s enabled some degree of automation of production processes. The second wave, in the 1970s
and 1980s, entailed the use of microcomputers for numerical control (CNC). CNC machines offered new features, were more flexible and led to a substantial drop in price,” says Malmlöf.
“The present, third wave is comprised of the PC-based CNC machine and began around 1990.... The introduction of digital controls had a disruptive market impact. Numerical control enabled fundamental changes in product architecture as several processes [that] converged into multi- purpose machines. Flexibility in design, development and production increased, which resulted in shorter product cycles, faster product development and a push for speedier order delivery... The core competence of manufacturing therefore shifted from accurate mechanics to electrical engineering
and programming.”
What used to be tools are now mechatronics, a whole new class of tools – the combination of mechanical engineering and electronics that is wrapped up in the “Internet of Things” to come.
In terms of output by value and consumption then Japan and Germany are still the giants in the business. China is also high in the list, but its tools tend to be at the low-end of the
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sophistication spectrum, although
the government has been investing massively in R&D in an effort to catch up. America is a huge consumer and a big producer, but even the US imports about 60% of its tool needs, while China imports about a third of its tools. By contrast, Russia produces a tiny amount of tools and imports almost 100% of its requirements.
Machine Tools trade & sanctions
Russia’s total dependence on imports makes specialised machine tools
a candidate for sanctions that would be highly effective, as they would bring Russian economic development to a standstill, or at least severely slow the pace of growth. A blanket ban on any exports of any precision
machine tools to Russia would have devastating effects.
The trouble is sanctions on tool exports to Russia would also have devastating effects on the European and US industries. As the machine tool-making business is not particularly capital intensive the business is dominated
by specialist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There are a few large corporates with deep pockets that can ride out swings in demand, but most are not. Moreover, as machine tools are in effect investment capital, the industry is very sensitive to the vagrancies of the economic cycle.
“An important feature of the machine tool industry is its highly volatile
Russia's providers of machine tools 2008-2017, imported value in current dollars, 100% stacked bar chart
Russia's providers of machine tools 2008-2017, imported quantities in metric tons, 100% stacked bar chart