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Forging Industry in Developing Countries: Current Status and Upgrade Strategies

发布时间：

2025-11-27

               Against the backdrop of global industrial transfer and infrastructure boom, developing countries have become emerging hubs for the forging industry. However, constrained by technology, capital, and talent, most regions still linger in the "low-efficiency, high-consumption" stage, far from matching the intelligent and green development level of developed economies. This article dissects the current predicament and proposes actionable upgrade paths, with insights from successful cases and equipment solutions.

I. Current Status: Opportunities Coexisting with Structural Dilemmas

1. Market Demand Boom vs. Low-End Supply Mismatch

Driven by domestic infrastructure construction and automotive industry expansion, developing countries have shown surging demand for forged products. For example, Southeast Asian nations need massive bolts, nuts, and construction hardware for urban rail projects, while African markets see growing demand for automotive crankshafts and agricultural machinery parts . Yet local forging enterprises mostly produce low-precision, low-value-added products—over 60% of Indian small forging workshops focus on standard fasteners with profit margins below 8% —failing to meet the high-end needs of domestic automotive and aerospace industries, which still rely on imports.

2. Traditional Processes Dominating, Efficiency & Quality Lagging

Most developing countries' forging industry remains stuck in manual and semi-mechanical production:

Heating links: 70% of small workshops in South Asia use coal-fired furnaces, resulting in uneven temperature control (±50°C deviation) and material waste exceeding 20% —far higher than the 15% reduction achieved by induction heating furnaces .
Forming processes: Closed-die forging accounts for less than 20% of production, with most open-die forging relying on manual operation, leading to dimensional tolerance errors of 2–3mm and defect rates up to 12% .
Post-processing: Lack of automated descaling and lubrication systems, resulting in poor surface quality that requires additional grinding, increasing labor costs by 30%.

3. Weak Industrial Ecosystem, Insufficient Support Capabilities

Developing countries face systemic bottlenecks in industrial supporting:

Policy gaps: Absence of targeted incentives for forging upgrading—unlike China's "Made in 2025" which provides R&D subsidies for intelligent equipment .
Talent shortage: 85% of enterprises in Southeast Asia report difficulty hiring technicians proficient in both forging processes and basic automation, with only 5% of workers having received professional training .
Infrastructure constraints: Unstable power supply in African regions disrupts continuous production of automated lines, while underdeveloped logistics increase raw material procurement cycles by 2–3 weeks.

4. Green Transformation Pressure Mounting

As global environmental regulations tighten, developing countries' forging industry faces dual pressures:

Emission compliance: Traditional coal-fired heating emits 2.5x more CO₂ than induction heating, with many enterprises facing penalties for exceeding emission standards .
International trade barriers: The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) imposes additional tariffs on high-carbon forged products, reducing export competitiveness of enterprises in South Asia and Latin America.

II. Upgrade Strategies: Gradient Advancement & Ecosystem Construction

1. Technological Upgrade: Staged Introduction of Adaptable Solutions

Instead of blind pursuit of high-end automation, developing countries should adopt "basic improvement → semi-automation → intelligent upgrading" gradient paths:

Phase 1: Energy-saving & efficiency-enhancing transformation: Replace coal-fired furnaces with small induction heating furnaces (such as Litai's 50–200kW models) —investments can be recovered in 12–18 months through 20% energy savings and 15% material waste reduction . Equip basic hot forging lines with automated lubrication workstations to extend die life by 20%.
Phase 2: Semi-automation integration: Introduce robotic arms for material handling (costing \(30,000–\)50,000 per unit) to reduce labor dependence. Add in-line temperature sorting machines to lower defect rates to below 3%.
Phase 3: Digital pilot projects: Select key enterprises to deploy simplified digital twin systems—focus on simulating hot forging temperature fields and die stress to optimize processes, referencing the 12% material cost reduction achieved by simulation tools .

2. Industrial Ecosystem: Building Cluster Development Model

Learn from China's Jiahe County experience of "park agglomeration + policy empowerment" :

Construct specialized parks: Establish forging industrial parks with unified power supply, sewage treatment, and waste recycling systems to reduce individual enterprise's infrastructure investment by 40%.
Strengthen industry-university-research cooperation: Partner with technical colleges to set up forging training courses, integrating equipment operation (e.g., Litai's induction furnace calibration) into practical teaching.
Develop supporting chains: Attract domestic and foreign suppliers of die materials, lubricants, and testing equipment to set up local branches, shortening supply cycles by 50%.

3. Policy Support: Targeted Incentives & International Cooperation

Financial incentives: Provide 30% equipment purchase subsidies for enterprises adopting energy-saving forging equipment, and set up low-interest loans with 2–3 year grace periods.
International collaboration: Participate in "Belt and Road" industrial cooperation projects, introducing mature solutions like China's turnkey forging lines. Reference HAIER's "localization R&D + manufacturing" model in Egypt to achieve technology transfer .
Standard formulation: Establish regional forging product quality standards aligned with international norms, helping enterprises enter high-end export markets.

4. Talent Cultivation: Practical-Oriented Capacity Building

On-the-job training: Cooperate with equipment manufacturers to launch "equipment + training" packages—Litai's on-site training programs cover induction furnace operation, basic maintenance, and process optimization, improving worker productivity by 35%.
Certification system: Develop forging technician qualification certificates, with salary premiums of 15–20% for certified personnel to attract talent.
Skill competitions: Hold regional forging skills contests, rewarding outstanding workers with equipment operation training opportunities to stimulate learning enthusiasm.

III. Case Reference: Achievable Transformation Paths

India's small enterprise upgrade: A Mumbai-based fastener manufacturer replaced coal-fired furnaces with Litai's induction heating system and added automated conveyors, increasing daily output from 8,000 to 12,000 bolts while cutting energy costs by 22%.
Vietnamese industrial park model: The Vietnamese Forging Park gathered 20+ enterprises, sharing a centralized descaling waste recycling center and testing lab, reducing overall production costs by 18% and improving product qualification rate to 98%.

For developing countries, the forging industry upgrade does not require replicating developed economies' full intelligent transformation overnight. By combining practical needs with phased technological introduction, building industrial clusters, and strengthening policy support, they can gradually narrow the gap. Nanjing Litai's 30,000+ global service experience shows that providing customized, cost-effective solutions (such as small-batch automated lines and energy-saving equipment) is the key to helping developing countries achieve leapfrog development in forging.