Many Chinese valve companies are not strong, product adjustment is the key

Many Chinese valve companies are not strong, product adjustment is the key

As a fluid transport component, the valve follows the development of the national economy, especially the national coal chemical industry and equipment manufacturing industry. In the liquid-solid two-phase flow, new requirements are put forward for the valve: high temperature, high pressure, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, erosion resistance, thermal cycle resistance and zero leakage. In this way, the metal-sealed ball valve will achieve rapid development.

There are 77.3 valve manufacturers with an output value of more than 5 million yuan, accounting for about 70% of the country's total valve output value. According to the China Valve Association, the total annual sales of 773 companies in 2005 were 25.935 billion yuan. It can be estimated that the national valve output value in 2005 was 36.144 billion yuan. In addition, we interviewed more than 20 investigating experts. According to their forecast, the total annual sales of Chinese valves in 2010 will be 6.736 billion yuan.

According to China Customs statistics, the total value of valve exports in 2005 was US$760 million. It is predicted that the total value of valve exports in 2010 will be US$2.009 billion. At 7005 pm, the total import value was 2.259 billion US dollars. It is predicted that the total valve imports in 2010 will be 3.632 billion US dollars. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the total domestic demand for valves in 2005 was 6.169 billion US dollars (domestic sales revenue + import value-export value). The total demand for valves in 2010 is predicted to be 11.46 billion US dollars.

In 2005, the demand for ball valves was about 20% of the total demand, or US$1.233 billion, and it is expected to account for 23% of the total demand in 2010, or US$2.520 billion. Among them, the demand for metal-sealed ball valves is estimated at 10% of the demand for ball valves. In 2005, it was about 960 million yuan, and it is expected to increase to 1.96 billion yuan in 2010.

The valve industry is an important branch of our general machinery. Its products are widely used in petroleum, chemical, metallurgy, electric power, urban construction, environmental protection and other industries as key equipment for fluid control. At present, the valve production industry is at a very favorable development opportunity.

(1) Sustainable economic development. Investment in fixed assets has gradually expanded. In particular, the start of several century projects such as "West-East Gas Transmission", "West-East Electricity Transmission", "South-to-North Water Diversion" and other projects require a large number of valve products;

(2) With the entry of WTO, the threshold of international trade has been lowered and the product structure of developed countries has been adjusted, China is gradually becoming the world's largest processing plant, and the processing and production of valve products is facing greater room for development.

So how to seize this strategic opportunity to accelerate the development of the valve industry. Industry professionals analyzed from the following aspects:

1. Actively promote the joint and reorganization of enterprises, and build a batch of enterprise groups with scale and high grade as soon as possible.

There are currently more than 5,000 manufacturers in the valve industry, only 7 have annual sales revenue of over 50 million, 3 over 100 million, and none over 200 million. The domestic market share is only China Nuclear Power Suval, which exceeds 2%, and the rest are below 1%. This kind of enterprise scale is difficult to generate shock in the market, and it is even more difficult to compete with internationally renowned companies in the same industry. To change this situation as soon as possible, in addition to the company's own growth factors, the most effective way is to realize the capital expansion of the company through the combination, merger, and reorganization of the companies to further expand the market share and remain invincible in the competition. This is a relatively popular practice in the international economic field, and it is also a question of the direction of the valve industry in the future. On this issue, we must emancipate our minds and break regional boundaries, the boundaries of ownership, and the traditional division of labor in accordance with the requirements of the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that "reform requires new breakthroughs and development requires new ideas." As long as there is the possibility of alliances between enterprises, they can boldly try, and in 3-5 years, strive to create a number of enterprise groups with an output value of more than 500 million or even 1 billion yuan.

2. Pay attention to the adjustment of product structure, be brave in technological innovation, and research and develop high value-added and internationally leading products.

China's valve industry can now produce more than a dozen categories of products. Such as gate valves, globe valves, ball valves, butterfly valves, safety valves, check valves, throttle valves, plug valves, pressure reducing valves, diaphragm valves, traps, emergency shut-off valves, etc. The maximum operating temperature is 570℃, and the minimum is -196℃. The maximum pressure is 600MPa, and the maximum diameter is 5350MM. Although these products have strongly supported the construction of the domestic economy, we should clearly see that most of our products are generally technical or labor-intensive, and rarely have international leading levels. It is a regrettable fact that our valve companies have all failed in the recent bidding for the main pipeline of the West-East Gas Pipeline.

Lessons learned. If the national industry wants to revitalize the valve industry, it must implement technological innovation and adjust product structure. It must be brave to research and develop valve products with high technology content and high labor added value, such as control valves and automatic valves. Pass confluence wide, three-way diverter valve, safety valve; metal hard seal full welded ball valve, high-parameter large-diameter valve; and supercritical C12-A alloy steel valve for power station. There are several ways to implement technological innovation, research and development of new products. One is through cooperation with academic research institutions. For example, the power plant boiler main steam control valve jointly developed by Kaifeng High Pressure Valve Factory and the "Sanwei" company under the Chinese Academy of Sciences is internationally advanced. The "pressure drop" of the product is much lower than the international standard, which has great prospects in the power station industry; the second is the form of foreign cooperation or technology introduction. The cooperation between Zigong High Pressure Valve Co., Ltd. and Italy Simbilan Company shortened our The gap between products and foreign countries. In addition to the above practices, qualified companies can independently research and develop.

3. Implement a diversified sales strategy, strive to open up the international market, and expand product exports.

According to statistics from the China Valve Association, the current production capacity of our valve industry is seriously surplus, about 40% of the production capacity is emptied. In the face of such a huge production capacity surplus, the most effective way is to implement a diversified sales strategy and vigorously explore the international market. . The current international market exports about 60-70 billion valves each year, and China exports 150 million yuan annually, which is less than 2% of the share. There is great potential here. To open up the international market, we must first focus on the training of foreign trade talents. There are a group of foreign trade professionals who can manage and understand foreign languages; secondly, we must learn to use the Internet and information technology to capture business opportunities for customers; thirdly, we can cooperate with some domestic foreign trade companies to use its channels to expand Export; Fourth, qualified enterprises can set up sales or set up factories overseas. In recent years, both Shandong Yidu Valve Factory and Suzhou 526 Factory have achieved market diversification. The proportion of export products has increased significantly, alleviating the contradiction of insufficient domestic orders. To open up the international market, we must also pay attention to our own advantages and choose the right products for export. At present, it is mainly in the export of labor-intensive products such as general valves. In addition, the export prospects of semi-finished products of rough castings are also very good.

Fourth, improve the level of corporate management, implement management innovation, deepen corporate reform, and implement system innovation. my country's valve industry is currently in a new round of alternation and reorganization.

The proportion of state-owned enterprises has declined year by year, and private and foreign-funded enterprises have developed rapidly. According to estimates from incomplete data; at this stage, the proportion of assets in the valve industry in my country is privately owned 40%, state-owned 30%, and the rest is owned by foreign-funded and military-industrial enterprises. It is expected that the share of private and foreign-funded enterprises will further expand in the next few years. Private enterprises in Wenzhou are developing rapidly, and quite a number of enterprises have certain scale and strength, such as Bethel, Yongyi, Zhejiang Weiduli and other enterprises. The current state-owned enterprises in the industry are mostly burdened with heavy burdens, inefficient mechanisms, and difficult to operate due to historical reasons. However, many enterprises still have advantages in equipment, talents, technology, and brands; they must deepen reforms and institutional innovations to solve current difficulties and fully revitalize their stock assets. Realize diversification of property rights and establish a modern enterprise system.

Regarding the rapid development of private enterprises, although there are no institutional shortcomings and historical burdens, their development process must focus on the improvement of enterprise management level, implement management innovation, and avoid falling into the "family" and "paternalistic" management conventions. In short, the valve industry is full of hope.