Bearing group with German technology remains driving force

"ZWZ and Wafangdian have contributed a lot to our country's bearing industry," according to Liu Baoqing, the deputy mayor of Wafangdian, a city unofficially crowned as "China's Bearing Capital".

Currently, Wafangdian boasts 636 bearing companies, with a sixth of those holding export licenses, with their products being sold to more than 80 countries and regions.

Liu believes the current difficulties caused by the economic slowdown both at home and abroad actually provide a great chance for the industry to restructure and upgrade.

"Those with less competitiveness will be phased out. But the cluster will grow stronger as a result," he said.

Liu says the government is building public platforms to help local companies lower their costs on the purchase and storing of bearing steel, inspections and testing, sales and marketing, and financing.

In addition, the government is guiding small and medium-sized enterprises to put strong emphasis on staff training, innovation, and branding.

"Researchers and technicians are essential to the quality of products," said Chen Qi, president of Dalian Kaitele Machinery Co Ltd, also known as KTL Bearings.

His company has employed experts from the United Kingdom and established a research institution for high-precision bearings in Wafangdian.

Its bearings for machine tool spindles occupy about 30 percent of the domestic market.

"All top 20 machine tool manufacturers in China are our clients, and last year we entered the European market," said Chen.

Jiang Rui, general manager of Dalian Ruigu Technology Co Ltd, also emphasizes the importance of research. "Several years ago, when I visited the headquarters of SKF in Sweden, I was surprised," she recalled.

"At its lab, they had already developed several new generations of the products that we were still using at that time."

Ruigu has since become a best supplier of brass cages for SKF, and remains one of China's leading producers of the cages. Statistics from the bearing industry association show the sector is facing severe competition and overcapacity.

In 2014, there were 1,622 bearing producers above the designated size, and productivity reached 140 billion yuan. The world's top eight bearing manufactures have built more than 60 plants in China.

"Even though the bearing industry is facing severe difficulties, enterprises that do research in advance are running well-positioned," said Jiang.