Laser market is no longer 'exclusive of foreign goods'

Last month, Wuhan Optics Valley Keweijing’s four-kilowatt carbon dioxide laser was selected to participate in the 20-year Achievement Exhibition of the National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, and was reviewed by state leaders. The reason why this seemingly ordinary device was selected for this event is to break the domestic high-power laser field. After it was put on the market, the foreign equipment that monopolized the domestic workshop immediately cut its price by 30%. 'Wuhan laser' triggered a market earthquake. In the laser processing industry, the position of the laser is like the engine of a car. The higher the laser power, the thicker the material can be cut, and the faster the cutting speed for the same thickness. Generally, for every 1 kilowatt increase in power, the processing efficiency increases by 30% to 40%. But for a long time, the high-power lasers (more than 4000 watts) equipped with domestic high-end laser welding and cutting equipment have almost all relied on imports, and most of them have been monopolized by four manufacturers in Germany and the United States.　　 In 2006, Unite Laser, one of the three giants of Wuhan Laser, established a joint venture with Prima, an established North American company, to establish Keweijing. However, the heavy dependence on imports has pushed up the cost of laser imports. At this time, Keweijing found Wang Youqing, an expert in the industry.　　Wang Youqing was born in Huazhong University of Science and Technology, specializing in high-power lasers. He found that the equipment capabilities meet the requirements, but reliability, stability and accuracy are major issues, mainly due to the lack of attention to detail in production. After Keweijing took charge of the research and development, Wang Youqing required the standardization of thousands of parts and hundreds of sealing points of the laser. One component is unqualified, and the assembled machine is disassembled.　　Strict standards such as Keweijing’s 4000 watt laser quickly reached the actual combat level. As soon as it came out in 2007, the domestic market monopolized by foreign goods suddenly experienced an earthquake. The price of foreign equipment that used to sell for 1.5 million U.S. dollars quickly fell below one million U.S. dollars.　　 Breaking the monopoly of foreign goods on domestic high-power lasers, Wang Youqing's vision extends further.　　 In April this year, Optics Valley Keweijing launched a brand new device. A laser beam scanned this device, and a 1 meter long and 30 mm thick steel plate was cut in 30 seconds. This equipment is the first 10,000-watt axial fast flow carbon dioxide laser in China. In the past, lasers could only cut steel plates up to 25 mm thick, and steel plates beyond this thickness could only be cut with more expensive plasma equipment. The lasers of Wuhan Keweijing are not only the most powerful lasers in my country, but also second only to German products in the world.　At present, Optics Valley Keweijing has become a large domestic enterprise capable of producing high-power axial fast flow carbon dioxide lasers of 3,500 watts and above, and foreign giants have also handed over olive branches one after another. Japan's AMADA and Italy's Prima, the world's largest professional sheet metal equipment manufacturers with a large market share, both visited Keweijing and hoped to equip the lasers produced by Keweijing for a long time. (The above is edited and compiled from the Internet by the metal laser cutting machine)