At present, more than 30 valve companies have been listed in the country. According to the disclosed annual report data, there are 18 large enterprises with sales exceeding 100 million yuan, accounting for 60% of the total; 10 enterprises with positive sales growth year-on-year, accounting for the total number 33%; 20 companies with negative growth year-on-year, accounting for 67% of the total. In terms of net profit growth, 11 of the companies' net profit was positive growth, accounting for 37% of the total; another 19 companies were negative growth, accounting for 63% of the total.
From the perspective of the whole industry, the annual sales of domestic valves are nearly 300 billion yuan, but the profit is only more than 16 billion yuan, and the profit rate is about 5.3%; while China's annual import of valves is more than 16 billion yuan, its profit has more than 8 billion yuan. The profit rate has reached 50%, and the gap is obvious. The scale of the domestic market is expanding, but valve companies have not learned more benefits from it. What is the reason for this? Under the trend of expanding the overall market size, how can valve companies grasp new opportunities?
Current Difficulties: Limitations and Resistances of Traditional Industry Environment to Valve Enterprises
The increase in product production costs has led to a reduction in the profits of valve companies. As a traditional manufacturing industry, the valve industry has certain requirements for raw material, labor, and supply chain management efficiency, and it is a labor-intensive production model. However, the various labor costs in recent years have remained high, especially labor wages and technical levels. The non-match, and the rapid increase in the cost of Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, land, and management that are relatively complete in the industrial chain, directly affect the profits and development of the company.
The lack of innovation in the product itself hinders the pace of domestic valve companies to globalization. There is still a certain gap between the level of domestic manufacturing industry and the international advanced level, and the technical foundation and the innovation and research and development of the product itself are relatively weak. This has led to China's valve industry has been in a disadvantageous position in the high-end market technology competition, so that in the entire industry chain, domestic procurement companies are more interested in imported products. For example, some large-diameter high-temperature and high-pressure valves, high-parameter high-pressure valves and other high-tech valves have always depended on imports. At present, in China's valve companies, there are many small and medium-sized enterprises with small-scale, small-scale, and home-based workshops. Their fund reserves and technical capabilities are not sufficient to support product R&D and innovation. Price competition. This has led to a low rate of return on innovation in most valve industries, which has reduced valve companies' enthusiasm and motivation for product innovation and quality improvement.
Market concentration is low and brand influence is weak. According to statistics, there are currently more than 3,000 valve manufacturing companies in the country, and the number ranks first in the world. However, the market share of the top ten companies in the market share of the corporate market is only 8% - 9%, it can be seen that the domestic valve companies have low market concentration and weak brand influence. It is precisely because of this that many valve companies are fighting for more market share and adopting a “change-for-profit” approach to form a vicious circle of competition in the industry. This is also the reason why the valve industry has been profitable in the context of expanding market conditions. One of the reasons.
The Way to the Distance: Enhancing Brand Competitiveness and Grasping New Market Opportunities
Although the development of the valve industry is facing serious challenges, but behind the changes, there are often opportunities, it can be said that opportunities and challenges coexist, which also forced the valve industry to bid farewell to the past as soon as possible, to meet tomorrow, and actively promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry .
The bullish market environment and favorable national policies have brought new opportunities to the valve industry. With the “China Made 2025” plan released by the state and the arrival of the “13th Five-Year Plan”, the country attaches great importance to the manufacturing industry, implements taxation policies conducive to the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, promotes the reform of the value-added tax, and improves the R&D cost of the company. Methods to effectively reduce the tax burden on manufacturing companies. Greatly inspired the morale of manufacturing companies, and the valve industry as one of its branches is no exception, it will usher in new opportunities for development.
For industrial valves, with the government's increased energy development requirements and the implementation of the green sustainable development strategy, it also brings new opportunities for valve industry structural adjustment and industrial upgrading. Therefore, the supporting valves, new materials, and valves for environmental protection materials for major projects such as electric power industry and petrochemical industry will become the new market development direction. In the civilian valve market, serious overcapacity, as well as consumer attention to environmental protection, energy saving and environmental protection, cost-effective, high-quality products will be the consumer's preferred choice.
Increase brand premiums through digital upgrades and product innovations. With "China Made 2025" as the standard, through the Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data technology, the company's R & D, production, operation, marketing and management methods will be upgraded and innovated. Create a comprehensive digital management system to enhance the brand competitiveness of valve companies.
First of all, the company can independently develop and design the material, structure and reliability of the valve, and then carry out more strict control over the quality of the product through the digital platform to improve the reliability and safety of the product and other performance indicators, and accelerate new materials and Environmental protection materials R & D and mass production. And by building a digital production line to improve the company's product production efficiency, processing accuracy and manufacturing levels, it can effectively reduce the company's production costs. Finally, information and means are used to strengthen logistics and supply chain management. Second, we must pay attention to the cultivation of scientific research personnel , strengthen cooperation between enterprises and scientific research institutes and institutions of higher learning, and participate extensively in international technology exchange meetings to enhance the company’s own scientific research and innovation capabilities and develop more independent intellectual property rights. Products make innovation drive the new normal of traditional brand development. Third, regardless of the industry, only companies with core competitiveness can gain a foothold in the market. Even today, when the frequency of market changes has significantly accelerated, innovation is still a tool for companies to win the market. Therefore, for valve companies, it is necessary to create barriers to market competition through technological innovations so that they can form a sufficient brand premium and eventually increase their profitability.
However, in the tide of competition, for some large companies with a certain market share, because of their own R & D and innovative capabilities and accumulated capital, they will occupy a greater advantage in the competition, forming a higher brand premium. For some small and medium-sized enterprises with relatively weak competitiveness, we can consider opening up the competitive situation through differentiated product features, and then occupy a place in the overall valve market through cost-effective civilian valve products.
Improve brand competitiveness through refined management and professional services. In the case of rising costs, first of all, companies must constantly improve their own management systems, clarify their functional responsibilities by reducing the level of management and sorting out the functions of each position, so as to speed up the operational efficiency of enterprises; secondly, enterprises can establish the intelligent management system. , And to improve the management and control capabilities of the supply chain to expand cooperation with the cooperation of the parties, to further reduce costs; Finally, companies should increase investment in brand channel construction, to increase brand share and expand brand penetration.
In the era of Internet and big data, the market has become more and more transparent, and valve users are increasingly tending to directly connect with production companies. The valve manufacturer can not provide timely and efficient service for every user and every valve. This needs to further tie together the interests of distributors, mobilize the enthusiasm of distributors, integrate the resources of all parties, and complement each other, thus making greater breakthroughs in brand promotion, market sales, after-sales, maintenance services, and replacement and replacement services. This not only saves sales and service costs for valve manufacturers, but also allows users to feel at ease and worry-free, and they can enjoy professional services in a timely manner.
Look at the world and look for new breakthroughs.
With the signing of the "Agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank" and the implementation of the "One Belt and One Road" strategy, China's valve industry has opened a new door. More and more companies have begun to look overseas and look for opportunities in neighboring countries and other markets. This is a huge opportunity for China's valve industry. In addition, infrastructure construction in surrounding countries, such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, is starting a lot and is gradually forming new market focus points. The demand for valves is also very strong.
Compared with enterprises in developed countries, domestic valve products generally have price advantages and are more conducive to market competition. However, while striving to open up foreign markets, it is necessary to actively adopt technology leadership to increase the added value of the brand and further enhance the sustainable development competitiveness of the valve industry, so as to enhance the status of China's valve companies in the global industrial division of labor.