1.1 Mold for the “mother of industry”, the manufacturing industry to drive the steady growth of the industry

Molds are tools for forcing metal or non-metal to form, and are essential process equipment in industrial production. The parts produced by molds are characterized by high efficiency, high consistency, low energy consumption and high precision/complexity. Mold industry is a technology-intensive industry, raw materials are mainly steel, plastic and other bulk commodities. The steel used in the mold to become mold steel, mold steel types, mold according to the design of the product required characteristics to choose the type of mold steel: for example, the manufacture of high strength moving parts gears, shafts, etc. need to use the medium carbon tempered steel, such as precision cold stamping die need to use high toughness cold work die steel. CNC machine tools, also known as automated machine tools, are ancillary components of the mold, through the design of the processing program to control the mold and other parts of the coordination, so as to produce finished parts.

Manufacturing industry led the mold industry capital expenditure steady growth, mold industry output value and sales revenue with the gradual growth. Mold as the “mother of industry”, downstream widely used in machinery, electronics, automotive, information, aviation and other manufacturing industries, the rapid development of the mold industry can give strong support to the manufacturing industry, mold industry industry driven by the ratio of about 1:100, that is, the mold industry development of 100 million yuan, can lead to the development of related industries 10 billion yuan. China as a manufacturing country, the manufacturing industry is the main driving force of China's economic growth, manufacturing GDP growth rate is stable at about 30%. 2017 China's mold manufacturing capital expenditure of 104.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 11%, the mold equipment and apparatus capital expenditure of 47.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 10%. 2019 China's total output value of the mold is 290 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 4%, the mold industry sales revenue of 4%, the mold industry sales revenue of 4%, the mold industry sales revenue of 4%. 4%, mold industry sales revenue of 260.8 billion, a year-on-year growth rate of 2%.

1.2 Mold frame is the core component of the mold, non-standard mold frame has a higher value-added

Die casting mold development need mold supporting, mold has external dependence. Mold technology-intensive embodied in the design of die kernel, and die frame as the “skeleton” of the mold, need to support the mold large-scale and increase the precision, the precision of the mold increases, will also increase the supporting die frame precision design requirements. And in the process of processing, die frame bear all the load in the process of processing, so the die frame also has the design requirements of structural strength. Due to the great difference between die-casting mold frame and the processing involved in die-casting molds, die-casting mold manufacturers will choose to order die frames from die-casting mold frame manufacturers to take advantage of the production advantages of both sides, in order to improve the overall production quality and efficiency. Die holders are divided into standard die holders and non-standard die holders, and non-standard die holders have higher added value. Standard mold frame refers to the mold manufacturing enterprises according to customer needs, using the mass production of various specifications of the standard parts of the mold frame, such as templates, guide pillar, guide bushings, etc. assembled complete sets of mold frame; non-standard mold frame is based on the standard mold base, according to the customer's different requirements, deep processing or processing, such as processing blocks, slider, tilt top block, pouring system, cooling system, ejector structure and core pulling structure to achieve the installation of the core can be used for mold testing and core extraction. The complete set of mold frames can be installed on the core to carry out the effect of mold testing and production. Comparatively speaking, non-standard mold frame requires stronger finishing ability and supporting service level, and also has higher added value. The mold frame is one of the main costs of the mold and requires regular maintenance. In the cost structure of super-large molds, the cost of die holder accounts for about 40%, and the structure and manufacturing accuracy of die holder directly affects the structure of the mold and the accuracy of the forgings. In order to ensure the accuracy of the mold frame, the mold frame should be inspected and maintained regularly, and overhauled periodically (generally should be inspected and maintained annually).

We believe that the mold frame is developing towards non-standardization, complexity and precision. Moulds are developing in the direction of large-scale, precision and complexity, and mould frames are also upgraded: 1) Non-standardized development. Mold manufacturing enterprises in accordance with the plan to produce standard mold base, began to provide a variety of non-standard mold supply, that is, according to the requirements of the standard mold for deep processing and finishing. 2010 non-standard mold accounted for 60-70% of the sales of all die frame, and most of them are large-scale, precision molds. With the integration of die-casting technology revolution, we expect non-standard die frame will continue to increase the proportion; 2) complexity, precision development. Along with the mold manufacturing specialization division of labor in depth, mold manufacturing enterprises will be more finishing links transferred to the mold manufacturing enterprises, so in the standard mold products for finishing projects increasingly, such as processing runner holes, pulling rod holes, core holes, pusher holes, cooling water holes, diagonal guide column holes, diagonal pusher holes and so on, installation of positioning ring, locator, sprue sets, pushes the plate guide column, support blocks and so on. These complex finishing items put forward higher requirements on the manufacturing process of mould frame and its accuracy; 3) Non-standardized mould frames are constantly improving the degree of standardization. Standardization is conducive to the company's cost reduction and efficiency increase. With the development of the mould frame industry and the deepening of the specialized manufacturing technology, the non-standardized mould frame structure is constantly patterned, standardized and specialized.

1.3 All-in-one die casting drive raw materials, die casting machine, die casting island, mold all-round upgrade

Integration of die-casting technology trend is clear, new energy vehicles is expected to further reduce costs and increase efficiency. Large integrated die casting generally refers to the die casting technology above 6000T, integrated die casting is conducive to reduce the number of parts, speed up production efficiency, reduce quality, so as to reduce production costs. For the Model Y, which currently adopts one-piece die-casting rear bottom plate, the adoption of large-scale integrated die-casting technology: 1) the total weight is reduced by 30%, and the manufacturing cost is reduced by 40%; 2) the number of parts is reduced by 79 compared with the Model 3, and the number of welding points is reduced from 700-800 to 50; 3) heat treatment is not required, and the manufacturing time is shortened from 1-2 hours to 3-5 minutes. After die-casting molding, heat treatment is needed to improve product performance. General die-casting process, die-casting molding after the need for heat treatment steps, heat treatment can improve the precipitation hardening casting and hot rolled state alloy strength and hardness, so as to make up for the ordinary aluminum alloy hardness is low, wear resistance is poor, friction coefficient is large and other disadvantages. Heat treatment generally has two kinds of processes: 1) solid solution makes all kinds of phases in the alloy fully dissolved, strengthens the solid solution, and makes the toughness and corrosion resistance of the alloy improved; 2) aging treatment is divided into natural aging and artificial aging, which refers to the process of making the material stored for a longer period of time at room temperature or at a higher temperature.

One-piece die casting is expected to lead to the upgrade of raw materials (aluminum ingots) to heat-free alloys. The heat treatment process can improve product performance, but it is also easy to make the product deformed, thus affecting the yield rate, and heat treatment is energy-consuming, which will increase the production cost and prolong the production cycle. Heat-free alloy is actually essentially add other metal elements to make higher performance of aluminum alloy material, in its own raw material performance to meet the needs of parts, the production side can be omitted heat treatment link, so as to save production time, to solve the problem of deformation of the product heat treatment. We believe that the trend of one-piece die casting will drive the raw material to heat-free alloy upgrade. All-in-one die casting supporting large-scale die casting machine and large-scale plant, build industry capital barriers. Die casting machine is one of the core equipment of one die casting, the larger the specification of the parts, corresponding to the higher tonnage of die casting machine, and die casting machine large-scale will enhance the company's investment funds, generally speaking, the input-output ratio is about 1:1.2, that is, invest 100 million capital equipment can support the annual income of 120 million. On the other hand, die casting island also need supporting large-scale, corresponding plant also need large-scale. Therefore, the company cut into one die casting need a lot of capital support, one die casting industry capital barrier is high.

Mold generally outsourcing, large-scale, precision highlights the industry technical barriers. General die casting manufacturers do not have large die casting mold design ability, external procurement solution, and mold frame as mold skeleton, mold manufacturers generally external procurement to improve quality and efficiency. Mold heat balance, die kernel design and other technical difficulties with large-scale precision enhancement, in addition to large-scale die casting consider solving the problem of air discharge, the use of vacuum die casting process, mold difficulty further enhancement. Mold is one of the core of one die casting technology upgrading. Large-scale one-piece die-casting technology supporting mold demand significantly upward. We think that new energy vehicle is the earliest realization of one die-casting models, we make the following assumptions to calculate the large one die-casting mold demand estimation: 1) according to the 2021 major tram enterprise sales data forecast 2022 sales, 2022-2025 to 30% growth rate per year, 2025-2030 to 20% growth rate; 2) one die-casting models currently for tesla Model Y, with the follow-up of new car-making forces, the penetration rate of one-piece die-casting models will continue to increase in the future; 3) the number of one-piece die-casting parts can be realized for 4, the current Tesla one-piece die-casting parts for the rear plate, the future is expected to be gradually improved; 4) the industry is in the early stage of development, the yield rate is low, and the future will continue to improve; 5) the mold life assumption of 80,000 times, the die casting molds will be used in the future, and the die casting molds will be used in the future. We estimate that the demand for large die-casting molds 2030 for 1281 sets, 2025 for 448 sets, the future with the advancement of the process of one die-casting, the demand for molds significantly upward.

1.4“Low-end chaos, high-end lack of”, large-scale die-casting mold concentration

Casting mould and die casting tonnage related, large one-piece die casting mould supplier concentration is high. Casting mold enterprise can be divided into three categories: 1) mold factory as the whole machine (car) factory branch or workshop, located in the automobile group internal foundry, only for the enterprise supporting the production of molds, varieties are more specialized, high degree of concentration. This kind of supporting mold branch or workshop can basically meet the needs of the enterprise's self-sufficiency of the mold, generally do not sell to the outside world, but sometimes will also be difficult, time-critical mold design and production tasks arranged to professional mold suppliers to complete; 2) mold factory is a professional casting mold for multiple customers, the main characteristics of the downstream market according to the needs of the product research and development, contracted by the various industries require a variety of casting mold orders, which can adapt to multiple customers. Casting mold orders, can adapt to the different needs of a number of customers on the mold, advanced equipment, excellent technology, a complete range of product categories, production and variety of customer orders by the impact of a larger, more competitive; (3) the scale is not large, the design capacity, technical level and equipment level of casting mold enterprises, to the production of medium and low-grade casting molds based on the enterprise, this type of enterprise generally serves a small number of customers, the production of a few kinds of These enterprises generally serve a few customers and produce a few specific mold products. Competition pattern of the whole mold manufacturers in the “low-end fighting, high-end lack of” stage, large-scale integrated die-casting mold production enterprises are fewer, high degree of concentration, the domestic medium and high-end mold production students have sai vida, guangdong cavity, zhenzhi. Asahi rising shares are automobile parts and components enterprises, but the company's mold started, so has the ability to design molds, in October 2022 after the strategic investment in kojia mold frame company, mold design can be matched with the tonnage of the large-scale die-casting machine on the market.

Strategic cooperation with Kejia mold frame company, deepen the layout of large integrated die casting. On October 31, 2022, the company announced that the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Kejia (ChangXing) Mould Base Manufacturing., Co. Ltd. in new energy vehicles, large integrated body structure parts, integrated casting battery box box and other products of the mold development and process application field to establish strategic cooperation relationship. One of the technical difficulties of large-scale integrated die-casting is the production of large-scale integrated die-casting molds, the company has its own mold development capabilities, and the mold frame is a product that needs to be purchased in the production of molds. After the company and die frame leading enterprise kejia cooperation, die frame supply can be guaranteed, and jointly develop large one-piece die casting mold, deepen the layout of one-piece die casting, fast cut into the core customers.