Car Seat MIM Parts

Product Introduction

Development Trends and Related Technologies of Automobile Seat Parts Industry
1. Development Trend of Automobile Seat and Its Components Industry
(1) Security requirements are increasing day by day
Car seats are important passive safety components in cars, which directly affect the safety of drivers and passengers. When a vehicle collides, the seat can not only better support and restrain the human body, but also cooperate with other protection systems (airbags, seat belts, etc.) in the car to fully exert its protective function. The strength of related parts is an important indicator to measure the safety level of seats. For all car seat MIM Parts and parts manufacturers, improving the strength and impact resistance of the frame and backrest locking devices will be the key technology in the future. topic.
(2) Comfort requirements are gradually upgraded
On the premise of ensuring the safe and stable operation of the car, the comfort of car seats is an important selling point for car manufacturers.
With the improvement of residents' living standards, the preference for automobile consumption will be gradually upgraded. In the design process, developers need to take consumer demand as the starting point, continuously improve the quality of the seat and add various additional functional parts (lumbar support, leg support, armrests, etc.) value.
(3) Energy saving and emission reduction to promote lightweight development
Automobile lightweight can reduce the weight of the car, thereby improving the power performance and fuel economy of the car, and reducing exhaust pollution. The lightweight design of the car seat mainly realizes the lightweight of the seat frame by using lightweight materials, optimizing the structure of the frame, and adopting new manufacturing processes to meet the needs of environmental protection and energy saving.
(4) Autonomous driving brings intelligence and diversified functions
In order to meet the diverse needs of life in an autonomous driving environment, intelligent seats will become an important trend in the automotive industry. In the future, smart seats can respond intelligently based on occupant body movements through sensors, and monitor health status by monitoring body position and pressure points, observing biometrics and vital signs, and adjust the seat accordingly as the external climate changes. Seat temperature and cockpit environment.

• The main barriers of the industry constitute:
Barriers to system certification and supplier review
technical barriers
financial barriers
management barriers
• Development trend of car seat and its parts industry:
Security requirements are increasing
Comfort requirements gradually escalated
Energy saving and emission reduction promotes lightweight development
Autonomous driving brings the demand for intelligence and functional diversification

2. Technical situation of the industry
The key technologies involved in the manufacturing of car seat frames and parts include mold development technology, stamping technology and welding technology.
(1) Mold development technology
The mold development of stamping parts related to automobile seat frame has high technical requirements, which is the main factor determining the quality, precision and production efficiency of stamping parts. In the development of car seat frame and core metal parts, mold design and manufacturing are the main links, which are important factors restricting the update of car seat frame products. Single-engineering dies, transfer dies and progressive dies are the more common stamping die technologies in the industry. In recent years, in the manufacture of seat frames and related stamping parts, progressive dies have been widely used. Manufacturers can directly process coils into stamping parts by using progressive dies, eliminating the need for coil cutting, oiling and other processes. Higher efficiency. However, the progressive die stamping technology is limited by the drawing depth and transmission of the coil, so it cannot be used to process complex parts with a deep drawing depth, and cannot completely replace the multi-station press.
(2) Stamping technology
In the manufacture of car seat frames and core metal parts, the stamping process has a great influence on the quality of stamping parts and subsequent welding efficiency. The key to stamping technology is to ensure the quality and precision of stamping parts, and to prevent material cracking and springback. Advanced stamping equipment and production lines are the basis for realizing advanced stamping technology. At present, my country's automotive metal stamping operations are dominated by domestic equipment applications. Most companies use automatic and semi-automatic stamping production lines, and a few use flexible automatic stamping lines. At the technical level, there is a certain gap between my country's stamping equipment and production lines and the international advanced level.
Since ultra-high-strength steel for automobiles is prone to cracking and rebound in the traditional cold stamping manufacturing process, advanced hot stamping technology has become the best choice. Hot stamping technology is the integration of comprehensive technologies such as material science, mechanics, mold technology, mechanical development technology, and IT. It can stamp steel plates at high temperatures and convert them into high-strength steel after quenching and strengthening. The application of hot stamping technology can not only ensure higher safety performance of the car, but also reduce the weight of the car body. In the future, hot stamping technology will be used more in automotive stamping parts, which is the main development direction of stamping technology for auto parts in my country.
(3) Welding technology
In the manufacture of car seat MIM Parts and core metal parts, the quality of the welding process determines the quality and safety performance of the seat frame assembly and sub-assembly products, and plays an important role in downstream processes.
At present, my country has formed a certain technical strength in welding technology, welding equipment, and assembly and welding production line equipment. In terms of equipment, there is still a certain gap with foreign advanced companies. With the progress of welding technology in our country, welding robot technology and automated flexible welding production system will further penetrate.
my country's auto parts industry mainly uses two technologies: resistance welding and laser welding. Resistance welding is the main technology used in the welding of auto parts at present. Its principle is to use the resistance heat generated by the current passing through the contact surface of the joint and the adjacent area for welding. Laser welding is a new technology applied in the automotive industry. It is characterized by small deformation of the welded workpiece, small connection gap, high welding depth/width, and firm welding. In the field of welding body frames, seat frames and components with complex structures, laser welding has gradually replaced traditional resistance welding methods.

3. There is a wide space for domestic substitution of car seats
From the perspective of the market structure, the car seat market was highly concentrated in the past, and the market participants were mainly foreign-funded and joint ventures such as Adient and Lear, and the market share of domestic seat suppliers was relatively low. At present, as the market share of self-owned brand cars and new domestic new energy car manufacturers increases, the supply chain system of the domestic car seat industry may undergo changes. Domestic car seat suppliers have accumulated for many years and will face opportunities to break the situation. broad.

4. Challenges faced by the industry
(1) Compared with multinational companies, there is still a big gap in business scale and technical level
Compared with world-renowned auto parts companies, there is still a big gap between domestic companies. According to the "2021 Top 100 Global Auto Parts Suppliers List" released by the American "Automotive News", the top ten auto parts suppliers in the world are multinational companies such as Bosch, Faurecia, and Lear. There are 8 companies on the list. Multinational companies have strong advantages in capital, technology, customer resources, etc., and the scale of parts and components enterprises in my country is relatively small. From the perspective of product added value, the products of German, Japanese, and American parts and components companies are mainly concentrated in high-end fields such as engines, automotive electronics, and transmissions, while the products of Chinese companies are mainly concentrated in the field of peripheral components, and the added value of products is not high. There are still many technical bottlenecks to be broken through in material selection, design and development, and process manufacturing of component products.
(2) The market concentration is not high, and the profitability of SMEs is squeezed by both upstream and downstream
my country has become the world's largest automobile consumer and producer. World-renowned automobile manufacturers have successively set up factories in China through various means. Domestic independent automobile brands are also developing and growing, and the competition in the automobile consumer market is becoming increasingly fierce. In order to pass on the pressure of competition, vehicle manufacturers will continue to reduce procurement costs, which to a certain extent squeezes the profit margin of the auto parts industry. There are a large number of local auto parts companies in China, but the market concentration is not high. Compared with OEMs or joint venture parts companies, they are at a disadvantage in bargaining.
The upstream suppliers of auto parts are large-scale industrial raw material companies, such as steel and non-ferrous metal producers, and these manufacturers often pass the rising pressure of their upstream basic raw materials to parts manufacturers. In recent years, the price of raw materials such as steel has been on the rise, which has a great impact on the cost control of car seat MIM Parts manufacturers. Under the dual pressure of rising upstream raw material prices and passing on costs by downstream OEMs, the profit margins of my country's auto parts manufacturers are also being continuously compressed, which is not conducive to the development of the industry.

5. Industry competition
(1) Hierarchical professional division of labor
At present, my country's auto seat parts industry has formed a hierarchical professional division of labor. It has established a system centered on the OEM, where the first-tier suppliers directly supply the seat assembly system to the OEM, and the second-tier suppliers provide the seat frame. , headrests, face covers and other parts, the third-tier suppliers are responsible for the pyramid structure of some parts or some processes of the second-tier suppliers.
The primary supply market for automotive seats is mainly controlled by foreign capital and joint ventures such as Adient and Lear, as well as domestic OEM holding companies such as Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. The low-end market is mainly equipped with Chinese self-owned brand vehicles. Most of the second-tier and third-tier suppliers are domestic-funded enterprises. At present, there are nearly a thousand manufacturers of various types of car seat parts design, processing, manufacturing, and modification in my country, and a few relatively large-scale companies have certain competitiveness.
(2) Zhongwei Precision cooperates with representative enterprises in China
The domestic car seat market is mainly dominated by foreign-funded or joint ventures such as Adient and Lear, as well as domestic OEM holding companies such as Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd. Well-known international brands include Adient and Lear from the United States; Brose; Magna in Canada; Faurecia in France; Toyota Boshoku and TIES in Japan; Daesi and Dymos in Korea. Large-scale domestic automotive seat assembly companies include Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co., Ltd., which is controlled by Huayu Automobile, a subsidiary of SAIC Motor.
In the field of car seat frames and parts, the current large-scale enterprises mainly include Shanghai Yanpu, Bojun Technology, Tiancheng Automation and Wuxi Xiongwei Precision Technology Co., Ltd., etc.
1) Shanghai Yanpu
Shanghai Yanpu was established in April 1999. Shanghai Yanpu is mainly engaged in the research and development and production of various types of car seat frame assemblies, seat slide rail assemblies, and stamping and injection molding parts for car seats, seat belts, and latches. And sales and engaged in the research and development and production of molds.
2) Bojun Technology
Bojun Technology was established in March 2011. Bojun Technology is mainly engaged in the R&D, design, production and sales of automotive precision parts and precision molds. The types of parts and components cover frame, transmission and other categories.
(3) Tiancheng Automation
Tiancheng Automatic Control was established in 2000. Tiancheng Automatic Control is mainly engaged in the research and development, production, sales and service of vehicle seats, including passenger car seats, aviation seats, engineering machinery and commercial vehicle seats, child safety seats and other seats. product.
(4) Zhejiang Yahoo
Zhejiang Yahoo is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and sales of automotive seat frame assemblies and parts. The main products include automotive seat frame assemblies and sub-assemblies, stamping parts, molds, etc. "Professional, special and new" small and medium-sized enterprises in Zhejiang Province.
(5) Wuxi Xiongwei Precision Technology Co., Ltd.
Majestic Seiko was established in June 2003 and was acquired by Wanfeng Aowei in 2018. Majestic Seiko mainly produces seat parts and body accessories. The main products include seat frames and adjustment structures, seat belt buckles, airbags, door hinges, etc.

6. Composition of main barriers in the industry
(1) Barriers to system certification and supplier review
The automotive industry has high requirements for product quality and safety performance, and implements a strict quality certification system. IATF16949: 2016 is currently a relatively authoritative third-party certification system in the global automotive industry. This certification system puts forward higher requirements for the design and development, production management, quality control and other links of enterprises, and has become the first choice for OEMs and multinational auto parts companies. Recognized quality standards for selection of supporting suppliers. Auto parts suppliers can enter the supplier list of vehicle manufacturers only if they pass the quality management system certified by the above-mentioned third party. In addition, some multinational car companies also require their suppliers to pass certification requirements for the environment, health, and safety.
In addition, OEMs and multinational auto parts companies themselves implement a strict supplier review system, which covers suppliers' production organization capabilities, quality control capabilities, and corporate management capabilities; before products enter mass production, they need to implement strict Advanced product quality planning (APQP) and mass production (PPAP), and after a long period of product installation test assessment, the product can be mass-produced and supplied after being approved. The certification process is complicated and the cycle is long. From the beginning of certification to large-scale The batch delivery cycle is generally 1-2 years. Once the supporting relationship is determined, the cooperation between the two parties will be very sticky, and unless there are major quality problems, they will not be replaced easily. Strict certification system and complicated supplier review process constitute important barriers for new entrants.
(2) Technical barriers
The auto parts industry is highly professional. Excellent auto parts companies need to have mature technical reserves in metal materials, mold development, tooling design, manufacturing, product testing, etc., and have the ability to continuously improve their technical and technological levels . The market competition in the automotive industry is becoming increasingly fierce, customer needs are becoming more diverse, and new product development cycles are accelerating. The collaborative development model between OEMs and auto parts companies has become an industry development trend. When an OEM selects a supplier, technical strength, delivery timeliness, production cost, and product quality are all important considerations. The improvement of technical strength not only requires enterprises to continuously invest a large amount of funds, but also depends on the accumulation of talents, the accumulation of research and development and the cultivation of innovation culture, all of which require a long process, thus forming a relatively high barrier to new entrants in the industry.
(3) Funding barriers
The car seat MIM Parts industry is a capital-intensive industry. The investment in fixed assets in mold development, product production, test approval and other links is relatively large, and there is also a high demand for capital in raw materials and finished product safety stock reserves. On the other hand, in order to better serve customers, auto parts suppliers need to set up production bases close to the areas where important customers are located. On the other hand, due to the high industry concentration of the first-tier suppliers of auto parts, they are in a strong position in business negotiations with supporting suppliers, and their credit terms are relatively long, which also creates a certain liquidity pressure on supporting suppliers.
(4) Management barriers
Automobile stamping parts are mostly non-standardized products with various categories, making production management difficult. With the continuous development of the automobile industry, auto parts suppliers are faced with continuous pressure to improve production efficiency, reduce production costs, improve product quality, and ensure timely supply. The requirements for refined management are getting higher and higher. High-level management comes from an efficient and capable management team and continuous management mechanism innovation. It is difficult for new entrants to establish an efficient management team and a stable management mechanism in a short period of time.
For more industry information, please refer to PwC Consulting's "Market Research on China's Automobile Seat Parts Industry and Research Report on the Development Trend of the 14th Five-Year Plan". Meanwhile, PwC Consulting also provides industry research reports, industry chain consultation, and project Feasibility report, 14th five-year plan, BP business plan, industrial map, industrial planning, blue and white paper, feasibility study of IPO fundraising, IPO working paper consultation and other services.

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