2025 Overview of China Wafangdian Bearing Industry

Wafangdian, a major industrial city in southern Liaoning and the "Bearing Capital of China," is the birthplace and cradle of China's bearing industry. In 1938, the first generation of bearing industry professionals established the Wafangdian Bearing Group, building on the "Little White Building." Under the leadership of the Wafangdian Bearing Group, after over 80 years of development and growth, the Wafangdian Bearing Industry Cluster emerged. Many of China's first bearings were produced here, and key Chinese bearing enterprises, such as the Harbin Bearing Factory, Luoyang Bearing Factory, Northwest Bearing Factory, and Xiangyang Bearing Factory, were built here. Wafangdian has made significant contributions to the development of national industry and national defense.

Wafangdian has established a relatively complete bearing industry system with a well-organized production layout, a comprehensive range of industries, and a coexistence of large, medium, and small enterprises. There are over 800 bearing and supporting enterprises, with bearing revenue expected to reach approximately 18 billion yuan in 2024. The Wafangdian bearing industry boasts distinct characteristics. Its leading products include bearings for large and extra-large wind turbines, metallurgical rolling mills, railway freight cars, petroleum machinery, precision machine tools, mining machinery, engineering machinery, and port machinery. These products primarily serve major equipment and key mainframes. The diverse product range is sold in over 80 countries and regions, both domestically and internationally, and plays a pivotal role in the national economy. A relatively complete industrial chain has been established within the cluster, with clear functional positioning. Existing bearing manufacturers cover the entire production process, including forging, turning, heat treatment, grinding, and finished product assembly. Furthermore, supporting products encompass raw materials, cages, rolling elements, lubricants, abrasives, packaging, and testing equipment.

Wafangdian has been awarded titles such as "China's Bearing Capital," "Mechanical Industry Leading High-Quality Innovation and Development Industrial Cluster," and "Liaoning Province Industrial Champion Cultivation County (City)." The Wafangdian bearing industry cluster has been designated a "National New Industrialization Demonstration Base," "National High-Tech Industrialization Base for High-End Bearings," "National High-End Equipment Manufacturing (Bearings) Standardization Pilot," and "Mechanical Industry Leading High-Quality Innovation and Development Industrial Cluster." It has also been recognized as one of the first pilot areas for regional brand development for industrial clusters, a National Foreign Trade Transformation and Upgrading Base (Bearings), a "Liaoning Province Bearing Industry Quality and Brand Enhancement Demonstration Zone," a "Provincial Export Bearing Quality and Safety Demonstration Zone," and a "Liaoning Province Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Characteristic Industrial Cluster."

Wafangdian is a leading R&D and production base in my country's bearing industry, boasting a national-level bearing testing and inspection center, a national-level large-scale bearing engineering and technology research center, a national-level enterprise technology center, and nationally accredited laboratories. The city has initiated digital transformation, intelligent transformation, and networking across its entire industry chain, fostering one provincial-level smart factory, three provincial-level digital workshops, one national-level green factory, and two provincial-level green factories. It has become an advanced bearing industry cluster with distinct industrial characteristics, rich innovative elements, strong product competitiveness, integrated development of large, medium and small enterprises, networked collaboration and high level of opening up to the outside world.