The electric spindle technology fills the domestic gap, and "Bohua Precision Spindle" receives the first round of investment of 50 million yuan | 36Kr exclusively reports.
Author | Lin Qingqing
Editor | Yuan Silai
36Kr has learned that recently, the precision machine tool spindle manufacturer "BoHua Precision Spindle" has received the first round of investment from an industrial party, with an amount of 50 million yuan. The information of the investor is not publicly disclosed for the time being, and MuChen Capital will serve as the long-term exclusive financial advisor for the subsequent period.
"BoHua Precision Spindle" was established in 1999. It is a company dedicated to the design, research and development, and manufacturing of high-end motorized spindles. Its headquarters is located in Suzhou City, and it has a production workshop in Wuxi. The company's core products include turning motorized spindles, machining center motorized spindles, and grinding motorized spindles, etc., which are widely used in 3C, automotive, aerospace, medical equipment and other fields.
The spindle is the core component of a machine tool and is known as the "heart" of the machine tool. It plays a role in supporting and driving the rotation of the tool or workpiece in the machine tool, directly affecting the processing accuracy, efficiency, and surface quality. The performance of the machine tool largely depends on the accuracy, rigidity, and stability of the spindle. For example, in precision machining, high-performance motorized spindles can achieve high rotational speed, low vibration, and high-precision machining, meeting the needs of high-end manufacturing industries such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and 3C electronics.
With the manufacturing industry developing towards high-end and intelligent directions, the application of motorized spindles is becoming more and more widespread. The motorized spindle integrates the motor and the spindle, with advantages such as high rotational speed, high precision, and low noise. It is one of the core components of modern numerical control machine tools.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2023, the shipment volume of metal-cutting machine tools in China reached 613,000 units, the market size of the spindle was approximately 9.642 billion yuan, and the penetration rate of motorized spindles was 14%, with a market space of 2.789 billion yuan. With the rapid development of high-end numerical control machine tools, it is expected that by 2030, the market size of motorized spindles will exceed 10 billion yuan, accounting for 57% of the spindle market.
Zhu Wenbo, the general manager of "BoHua Precision Spindle", pointed out, "Globally, almost all of the top 20 machine tool manufacturers in the world have realized the motorized spindle technology. Among them, 90% of the equipment adopts the motorized spindle technology, while the remaining 10% retains the gear transmission due to special design requirements (such as the need for an extremely high reduction ratio). However, the situation in China is completely different: Currently, 90% of the machine tools in China still use the traditional mechanical spindle, and the penetration rate of motorized spindles is less than 10%, and a large number of these 10% still rely on imported products."
In the market, the existing traditional mechanical spindles can no longer meet the requirements of high-end manufacturing scenarios such as consumer electronics, new energy vehicles, and medical equipment for accuracy, yield, and efficiency. The penetration rate of motorized spindles is accelerating. This is mainly because the mechanical spindle relies on belt or gear transmission, which is prone to transmission errors, limiting the processing accuracy and rotational speed, and it is difficult to meet the modern manufacturing requirements of high accuracy and high efficiency. While the motorized spindle adopts the integrated design of the motor and the spindle, with direct drive, it can achieve high rotational speed and high-precision machining, reduce vibration and thermal deformation, and at the same time, it is easy to integrate with the numerical control system, supporting automated and intelligent production, and is more suitable for the development of high-end manufacturing.
In addition, domestic machine tool manufacturers have a strong demand for cost reduction of motorized spindles, and there is a huge space for domestic substitution. Especially in the 3C field, with the localization of the supply chain, the high-end drilling and milling machining center has gradually achieved 100% domestic production, which also brings new opportunities for motorized spindle manufacturers.
In response to this situation, "BoHua Precision Spindle" has started to layout the research and development and production of motorized spindles since its establishment. In the early stage, the company mainly focused on the research and development of the core technology of the motorized spindle, gradually accumulating technical advantages. By 2012, "BoHua Precision Spindle" successfully entered the Apple supply chain, providing the glass engraving machining center motorized spindle for Lens Technology. In 2017, after Zhu Wenbo officially took over the company, he further promoted the upgrade of the motorized spindle technology and market expansion.
From the perspective of specific products, the core product of "BoHua Precision Spindle" is the new generation of axis cooling motorized spindle. According to Zhu Wenbo, this technology is in a leading position in China and has successfully filled the gap of domestic substitution. Its axis cooling technology reduces the temperature rise, thermal elongation, and vibration by circulating water to cool the spindle rotor and bearings, improving the rigidity and limit rotational speed of the spindle, and is suitable for ultra-precision machine tool processing. In addition, the company also provides a variety of motorized spindle products that are adapted to different application scenarios, such as the drilling and milling machining center motorized spindle, the engraving machining center motorized spindle, and the grinding motorized spindle, etc.
From the perspective of core competitive advantages, "BoHua Precision Spindle" has already possessed its full-link production and research capabilities and can achieve self-research and self-production of more than 90% of the core components. 36Kr has learned that the "BoHua Precision Spindle" team has achieved efficient and mass production of the spindle motor design through finite element AI simulation design and micron-level grinding capability, and the product yield is stable at more than 99.1%. Zhu Wenbo also mentioned, "BoHua adopts neural network algorithms in the motor design, which greatly improves the research and development efficiency and product performance. And this technological innovation is the key for the company to stand out in the competition."
In addition, the after-sales service of spindle maintenance is a key link to ensure the stable operation of the equipment. According to the QYR research report, in 2023, the market size of CNC spindle maintenance and reconstruction services in China is approximately 15.174 billion yuan, but the market concentration is low, and the top five manufacturers only account for about 27% of the share. This indicates that there are extremely scarce enterprises in China that can provide high-end spindle maintenance services. According to 36Kr's understanding, the professional maintenance team of "BoHua Precision Spindle" is not only capable of undertaking difficult maintenance tasks, but also has a maintenance success rate of over 95%.
In the field of 3C glass engraving machining center motorized spindles, "BoHua Precision Spindle" has a market share of more than 50%, making it one of the very few domestic motorized spindle enterprises with independent research and development and production capabilities. It is revealed that this year, "BoHua Precision Spindle" may further cooperate with Apple supply chain enterprises on new products to provide them with motorized spindle products.
When it comes to industry trends, Zhu Wenbo said, "With the development of fields such as new energy vehicles and aerospace, the demand for high-end machine tool components is continuously increasing. If China wants to start industrial upgrading and precision processing, it needs to start looking for directions, and the motorized spindle is a necessary condition for progress."
In terms of the team, the founder of "BoHua Precision Spindle", Zhu Yonghua, has more than 40 years of experience in the machine tool industry and once participated in the project of introducing the German GMN motorized spindle to the Wuxi Machine Tool Factory in the 1990s. Mr. Zhu Wenbo, the general manager of the company, graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, under the tutelage of the motor expert Professor Fu Weinong, and is the core researcher of the axis cooling motorized spindle. The company currently has 150 employees, and the core team members are the first-generation researchers in the field of motorized spindles in China, and have already possessed the full-link closed-loop capability from design, production to after-sales maintenance.