Reflections on the Production and Sales of 500 Billion Instruments and Meters Industry

One year later, China's instrumentation industry has born a new record: As of November this year, the industry's production and sales value reached 500 billion yuan.

In recent years, the production and sales record of the instrumentation industry has gone one after another: in 2004, production and sales amounted to 100 billion yuan. In 2006, it produced and sold 200 billion yuan. In 2009, it produced and sold 400 billion yuan. It exceeded 500 billion yuan this year, and the average growth rate in six years has reached 30%.

While maintaining the excitement of the stable and rapid development of the industry, people in the industry also expressed concern about the problems that have arisen in the past six years.

The overall operation of the industry is stable In recent years, the development of the world economy has not been smooth. The international financial crisis in 2008 and the difficult period of economic recovery since then have had a significant impact on the development of various industries. However, according to the relevant statistical data of China's instrumentation industry, the overall operation of the industry has been relatively stable, affected by the global economy and China's macro-control policies are not obvious.

According to industry insiders, the instrumentation industry has been maintaining communication with downstream customers for a long time and is therefore sensitive to changes in market demand. In the past six years, while continuously improving product quality, the industry has actively developed new technologies and products so as to effectively circumvent the effects of external environmental changes and ensure the stable development of the industry.

Instrumentation industry expert Ruan Jiacheng said that one of the main performances is that with the continuous promotion of national policies such as energy conservation, emission reduction, and low carbon, traditional market demand has been reduced, and wind power, nuclear power, smart grid, rail transportation and other industries are Instrumentation products generate new and large demands. This has become a huge driving force for the development of the industry.

In 2010, the industry showed a good situation in which the above-mentioned new demand promoted the year-to-year growth in production and sales as well as profitability.

Jia Jiacheng stated that the high industrial data in the first half of this year has laid a good foundation for the whole year, and the growth in the second half of the year is even greater than the first half. Although the year-on-year growth rate of the industry profits will decline in the second half of the year due to the base number, the profit growth of the entire industry will still be in good condition, and the average monthly profit value will continue to rise. The annual profit growth will still be higher than the increase in production and sales. He expects the industry profit growth to be higher than 15%.

In terms of product exports, the market share of some instrumentation products has also continued to expand. According to statistics, the export value of China's instrumentation industry has increased by 39.2% year-on-year, and the export value has exceeded one quarter of the total output value. The rapid growth of the entire industry is driven by exports.

Industry insiders pointed out that the reason why the instrumentation industry can develop steadily and rapidly is because the two major elements have formed a concerted effort - the outflow of foreign-funded enterprises and the continuous technical progress of the industry.

Foreign-funded enterprises are large profit holders in the instrumentation industry. In 2008, affected by the financial crisis, its profits increased by -2.68% year-on-year, which was the first negative profit growth since the reform and opening up. However, it turned profitable in 2009 and realized a 1.3% year-on-year increase in profits. By the first half of 2010, its profit growth has exceeded 100% year-on-year, and the trend of sustained profit recovery has been established and stabilized.

The continuous implementation of measures such as technological progress, economies of scale, and enhanced management further laid the foundation for the stable operation of the industry. After the financial crisis, the instrumentation industry further intensified its technological progress. The year-on-year growth rates of new product output in 2008 and 2009 were 11.5% and 7.5%, respectively. In the first half of 2010, the increase has increased to 43.46%, and the proportion of new products has reached 16.04%. At the same time, in the first half of 2010, the increase in inventories of enterprise products was only 7.31%. The balance of liquidity, accounts receivable, liabilities, management fees, and financial expenses were all lower than the increase in sales.

It is worth noting that the technological level of key products remains to be broken. It should be noted that although the increase in profits of the entire industry is higher than last year, but because foreign-funded enterprises account for nearly half of the total number of enterprises in the industry, and the increase in profit of foreign-funded enterprises is much higher than the industry average, It is necessary to pay close attention to the market competitiveness of Chinese-funded enterprises' products.

It is undeniable fact that the technological content of domestic instrumentation products has greatly improved. The application of high-tech instrumentation and instrumentation such as the DCS of the thermal power unit automation control system is considered by the industry to be a major aspect of the instrumentation industry in 2010.

Yan Jiacheng stated that in recent years, the localization of main equipment for large-scale engineering projects in China has made remarkable progress, changing the situation in the past that had relied on imports of large-scale automated control systems, and would effectively break the monopoly of foreign companies.

Although the performance of domestically produced products continues to increase, it is still at a disadvantage in competition with foreign products. The person in charge of a large-scale automated control system manufacturer in China told the author that due to technical level gaps and difficulties in access, China’s automated control systems and on-site instrument markets have formed medium and low-end products based on domestic companies, while high-end and mid-range products use foreign-funded enterprises. Mainly; large and medium-sized engineering projects rely on foreign countries, medium and small-sized construction projects choose the domestic market structure. This is due to the fact that there are still some gaps in the technical performance of domestic and foreign products, and there are also reasons why foreign products have significantly reduced prices to block sales of domestic products.

In a sense, it can be said that automatic control systems and key test instruments are becoming bottlenecks in the modernization of China's equipment. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop major engineering automation control systems and key precision testing instruments to meet the needs of highly automated and intelligent key construction projects and other major (sets of) technical equipment.

Another noteworthy phenomenon is that with the continuous improvement of domestic product technology, foreign-funded enterprises are constantly adjusting their tactics to deal with it.

The major adjustment of foreign-funded enterprises is to shift from large-scale investment and construction to the transformation and supplement of existing facilities. Another adjustment of foreign-funded enterprises is that the mode of investment has changed. With the increase of domestic production costs, production transfer investment in China has declined, and some foreign investment has shifted from investment and construction to OEM production.

Authorities in the industry stated that the above adjustments indicate that foreign-funded enterprises are improving product quality and technology depth, expanding production and increasing efficiency to maintain efficiency. To this end, he recommended that instrumentation companies further intensify their efforts in independent research and development, manufacture and manufacture products with independent intellectual property rights, and at the same time, further strengthen communication with users and realize the practical application of the first set of products.

Point of view The key to the localization of instruments is automatic control systems and key test instruments. It is the most important instrumentation. The degree of localization of the above-mentioned instruments and the degree of advancement of the localized products is of crucial importance to the industrial development of a country.

The importance of key instrumentation is demonstrated by the fact that without the localization of control systems and key test instruments, it is impossible to autonomously and completely grasp and develop the key technologies of major equipment.

Measurement and automation control technology is one of the core technologies of modern industry. Automation control systems and key test instruments are important components of major equipment. These key products monitor and control the entire process flow and product quality, ensure the safe and reliable operation of major equipment, and implement efficient optimization. This is the nerve center, operation center, and safety barrier of the entire equipment. Without corresponding measurement and control equipment, large-scale, high-parameter, and complicated modern industrial equipment will not be able to operate.

The importance of key instrumentation is also reflected in the establishment of a resource-conserving, environment-friendly society and the development of a circular economy that require automated control systems and key test instruments.

Automation control systems and key test instruments are important means for saving energy, protecting the environment and realizing a circular economy. Whether it is the rational use of resources or the protection of the environment, the primary issue is measurement. Without measurement, production cost control and quality assurance, there is no basis for energy conservation and environmental governance. For example, in the industrial production process, the inspection of raw materials and components, and the confirmation of the quality of finished products all require various types of instruments and meters.

Therefore, China must change the situation in which key instruments and instruments are dominated by foreign companies.