The status of China's low-voltage electrical appliances market
After 50 years of development, China's low-voltage electrical industry has formed a complete industrial system. Its products are widely used and have a huge market potential. According to statistics, domestically produced low-voltage electrical products have about 1000 series, and the output value has reached 20 billion yuan. There are more than 2,000 production enterprises above the scale, mainly concentrated in coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. At present, low-voltage electrical products are in the first-to-third-generation level, and the fourth-generation products are still under development.
With the improvement of the level of domestic power construction and the continuous development of low-voltage electrical production technology, a new generation of low-voltage electrical appliances featuring intelligent and communicable features will become high-end products. At present, domestic low-end and middle-end low-voltage electrical appliances basically account for most of the domestic market, but domestic high-end low-voltage electrical appliances can be shared equally with foreign counterparts except for individual products. Most of the domestic market share of products is still very low. The demand for low-voltage appliances still depends on imports.
At present, the low-voltage electrical appliance market gradually expands with the construction of power facilities. In recent years, the demand for low-voltage electrical appliances at home and abroad is generally in an expanding state, and the market prospect is very considerable. However, domestic low-voltage electrical companies generally lack sufficient independent innovation capabilities and lack high-end market competitiveness. As price wars and channel wars intensify, the environment of the domestic low-voltage electrical industry is increasingly degrading.
In fact, the technology and production level of China's low-voltage electrical industry is relatively weak. Most of the enterprises are small in scale, and resources in all aspects are relatively dispersed. They are still in the stage of repeated research and development and mutual imitating in the low-end and middle-end industries. In addition, the strong intrusion of foreign large enterprises, the original low-end domestic market enterprises are constantly being eroded, the industry competition is becoming increasingly fierce. Fortunately, many national brands have started to increase their sense of urgency. In addition to overcoming the increase in raw materials and labor costs and financing difficulties, reducing product management costs, upgrading equipment technology upgrades, and strengthening cost management and cost control, it also emphasizes product development. Design, to mention the importance of design to an unprecedented height.
In the increasingly competitive low-voltage electrical appliance industry, the call to “design to enhance brand value and to get rid of the 'low-end' challenges” is growing. Some forward-thinking companies are brave enough to take a solid step and improve their brand and product competitiveness through cooperation with well-known design companies. Among them, Jialantu has its own mature methods and processes in brand strategy, product planning and product design, and has long been committed to low-voltage appliance brand upgrades and product innovation. We have established good long-term cooperation relationships with the People’s Appliances, Chint, Noack, Tianzheng, and Long March; more notably, the strong alliance between Noac and Gallantou has won unanimous praise from the industry’s people and has become The objects that brands compete for.
China's low-voltage electrical appliances have already formed a certain industrial scale. Looking into the future, "increase brand value and competitiveness through design" will become the only way to upgrade and transform low-voltage electrical appliances. By exerting great potential in design, it will be expected to improve the status quo of low-voltage electrical appliances and promote the industry to move steadily towards high-end goals.
Looking at the domestic low-voltage electrical appliance industry, various factors that hinder the development of the industry are increasingly highlighted: overcapacity, lack of funds, lack of core technologies, low-end products, strong impact of foreign brands, coupled with continuous increase in raw material costs, labor costs, and financial costs Rising, the vicious competition between prices and channels gradually escalated, causing the industry's overall profit growth rate to continue to decline, and the development of most low-voltage electrical companies began to fall into a bottleneck period.
Where is the breakthrough of the low-voltage electrical appliance industry? In the face of bleak industry status, many companies have "thinking of change", in addition to the traditional breakthrough mode, but also pay attention to the overall design of the brand and products, "design" to seek outbreak has become the consensus of many low-voltage electrical companies. It is worth mentioning that the strong cooperation between domestic design leader Galanto and low-voltage electrical appliance brand Noac achieved an industry story.
Seven characteristics of low-voltage electrical industry
The domestic low-voltage electrical appliance manufacturing enterprises are small in scale and excessive in quantity. More than 90% of the enterprises are in the middle and low-grade product repetitive production, and the three generations of products coexist. According to the trend of national policies, the structure of low-voltage electrical products needs further adjustment in the coming period. Products with backward processes, large volumes, high energy consumption and environmental pollution will be eliminated.
A group of famous low-voltage electrical manufacturers abroad have successively introduced a new generation of products, among which the frame circuit breakers include the Schneider MT Series, the Siemens 3WL Series, the ABB E Series, the GE M-PACT Series, and the Kama Magnum Series; Circuit breakers include Schneider NS series, Siemens 3VL series, ABB Tmax series, GE company Recordplus series, Moeller NZM series, Kama G series, and Mitsubishi WS series. In addition to the high-performance, electronic, intelligent, modular, modular, and miniaturized features, the new generation of products also features increased communication, high reliability, good maintenance performance, and compliance with environmental requirements. In particular, a new generation of products can be connected with fieldbus systems to realize system networking and make a qualitative leap in the function of low-voltage electrical products.
high performance. The rated short-circuit breaking capacity and rated short-time withstand current are further improved, and Icu=Ics, such as Schneider's MT series products, have short-circuit breaking and ultimate short-circuit breaking capacity of up to 150 kA.
High reliability. In addition to requiring higher performance, the product can be used without derating, and can be used long-term without overheating at full capacity to achieve safe operation.
Electronic. Modern companies have adopted PC control systems instead of systems consisting of electrical-mechanical components, which are already the mainstream of mechanical electrical control systems. The system requires electrical products with high reliability and high immunity to interference. It also requires the contacts to be able to reliably turn on low voltage and weak currents. The arc at the time of contact disconnection cannot interfere with the normal operation of the electronic circuit.
Intelligent. With the advent of application-specific integrated circuits and high-performance microprocessors, circuit breakers have realized the intelligentization of trip units, which greatly enhanced the protection functions of circuit breakers, enabling overload long delays, short circuit short delays, and short circuit transients. Grounding, undervoltage protection, and other functions, can also display on the circuit breaker voltage, current, frequency, active power, reactive power, power factor and other system operating parameters, and can avoid the occurrence of malfunction under the influence of higher harmonics.
Fieldbus technology. The new generation of low-voltage electrical appliances realizes communication and networking, and can connect with a variety of open field buses to conduct two-way communication and realize the functions of remote control, remote signaling, telemetry, and remote adjustment of electrical products. The application of fieldbus technology can not only monitor the distribution quality, but also reduce losses. Moreover, field bus technology can realize regional chaining of multiple circuit breakers in the same regional power grid, realize the automation of power distribution protection, and further improve the reliability of power distribution systems. The buses used in the industrial fieldbus field include Profibus, Modbus, DeviceNet, etc., among which Modbus and Profibus have a greater impact.
Modular and modular. Like the Tmax series introduced by ABB, thermomagnetic, electronic, and electronically commutable trip units are interchangeable. All accessories are modular and can be installed without opening the lid. Combining different functional modules into modular modular appliances according to different requirements is the development direction of today's low-voltage electrical appliances industry. The auxiliary contact assembly, time delay assembly, self-locking assembly, interface assembly, mechanical interlocking assembly and surge voltage assembly are installed on the body of the contactor, which can meet the requirements of different occasions, thereby expanding the scope of application of the product and simplifying the production process. , user-friendly installation, use and maintenance. At the same time, it will further improve product reliability and product quality.
Low-voltage electrical industry problems
Although after years of development, there are still many problems in China's low-voltage electrical industry that need to be resolved. When faced with good opportunities, let the shortcomings become a "stumbling block."
The rising cost has become a major problem for the entire electrical industry. Of course, the low-voltage electrical industry has not been spared. The large volume of products, the consumption of precious metals, silver, and copper, ferrous metals, and plastics have become the majority of low-end low-voltage products in China. Due to the fact that the materials are subject to international market prices, the profits of low-end low-voltage products have shrunk drastically; at the same time, with the shortage of funds, rising financial costs and the rapid increase in staff salaries, the increase in personnel costs has not been irreversible. On the other hand, it has also caused The profits of low-voltage electrical appliances have been declining, and many companies have been in a state of low profit or loss.
This has also brought inconvenience to the entire industry's vital scientific research process. The company's profits have been meagre. So how can companies “learn” even if their food is not enough?
The technical level of China's low-voltage electrical appliances industry has been slow to increase, and the gap is far from that of foreign countries. Taking the invention patents applied for low-voltage electrical products in recent years as an example, foreign companies accounted for more than 80%, and the development of new technologies and new products in low-voltage electrical appliances and smart grids. Under the background of increasing emphasis on the development and safe use of electricity, if China's low-voltage electrical industry does not increase investment in research and new product R&D, does not increase research on basic generic technologies, and rapidly enhances the ability of independent innovation, it will obstruct China's low-voltage electrical industry. Sustainable development and loss of market competitiveness.
After foreign competitors stepped into the Chinese market, they used the method of cooperation with domestic production companies to seek for complementary strengths, continuously penetrated the domestic and foreign markets through multiple production lines and multiple channels, and also aggravated market competition.
Under the drive of corresponding interests, well-known foreign electric industries have seized the electrical market one after another. Internationally renowned companies such as Schneider, Fujitsu, Siemens, and ABB have successively landed in China. In addition to dividing up the domestic high-end market, they also implemented a “localization” strategy, setting up factories in China with wholly-owned or joint ventures, resulting in a growing market share in the domestic mid-end electrical market, and even in the domestic market. The low-end market for domestic appliances.
This is undoubtedly a fatal blow to domestic low-voltage electrical appliances "low price advantage", and ultimately can only force companies to survive in the gap between the low-level market.
On the other hand, there are many manufacturing enterprises in the low-voltage electrical appliance industry in China. Counterfeiting and price competition still exist, making the general low-voltage electrical products have a meager profit. Enterprises are not eliminated in order to survive in this cruel market, and most companies choose Depressing prices and seizing the market to increase the share of products in the market, to compensate or adapt to the predicament that the profits caused by product price factors are too thin.
There are nearly 10,000 low-voltage electrical appliance manufacturers in China, but fewer companies have annual sales revenue and total assets of over 500 million yuan. There are not many companies with high-end products with independent intellectual property rights, technology and production equipment are relatively backward, and some excellent companies conduct Some technical inputs have been made, but the R&D and design capabilities are still seriously insufficient. This has become another factor for foreign companies to use their brand, technology and product advantages to further increase the proportion of their products in the Chinese market.
The impact of smart grid development on low-voltage electrical appliances
From the construction of smart grids to the booming development of new energy industries, from the electric power industry to the construction industry, low-voltage electrical appliances have been in China for more than 50 years. Along with the rapid development of China’s economic construction, low-voltage electrical appliances have also been assembled from the simplest to the fourth-generation smart nowadays. Low-voltage electrical appliances. Because 80% of electric energy is distributed or controlled by low-voltage electrical appliances, the market capacity of low-voltage complete sets of equipment is closely linked to the development of electric power. The investment in power grid construction will bring about good growth for the low-voltage complete sets of equipment industry.
In recent years, along with the rapid growth of China's national economy and the rapid development of the power industry, the low-voltage electrical appliance industry has maintained a prosperous supply and marketing situation for many years. The products have not only achieved a significant increase in sales volume, but also in product categories and sales prices. Are "there is a market price." As of 2010, China's low-voltage electrical industry has developed into a giant industry with more than 1,000 product lines and more than 170 enterprises above designated size, creating a total industrial output value of more than 500 billion yuan.
At present, the increasing demand for electricity in China has accelerated the pace of transformation of China's power grid. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, China will optimize its power structure and strengthen the construction of smart grids. The market demand for power equipment will increase rapidly. Relevant data show that the national grid has invested a total of 1.5 trillion yuan in the power grid construction itself and intelligence in the smart grid, or about 300 billion yuan per year, which undoubtedly guarantees the steady growth of low-voltage electrical appliances during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. .
The opportunities brought by the "Twelfth Five-year Plan"
After the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”, with the high-speed expansion of related industries and industries, the low-voltage electrical appliance industry can be described as having many opportunities.
Since 80% of electric energy is distributed or controlled by low-voltage electrical appliances, the market capacity of low-voltage complete sets of equipment is closely linked to the development of electric power. The investment in power grid construction will bring about good growth for the low-voltage complete sets of equipment industry. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the State Grid’s investment in the smart grid grid construction itself and its intelligence is a total of 1.5 trillion yuan, or about 300 billion yuan per year, which undoubtedly guarantees the steady growth of low-voltage electrical appliances during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period. .
The average growth rate of China's "12th Five-Year Plan" GDP is 7%. In 2015, China's total GDP will exceed 55 trillion Yuan. At the same time, under the backdrop of the grand development goals set forth in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” and the sustained growth of the macro economy, fixed-asset investment, industrial production, and overall consumption, especially the rapid growth of urban population, will inevitably boost power generation and electricity consumption. growth of. Therefore, the future market for low-voltage electrical appliances will continue to expand.
At the same time, a new round of rural network transformation will also become another strong backing for low-voltage electrical appliances. National Grid plans to invest more than RMB 460 billion in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period to focus on the solution to the weak rural power grid problems and basically build a new type of rural network that is safe, reliable, energy-saving, environmentally friendly, technologically advanced, and standardized.
By 2015, the rural grid
Power Supply reliability rate will reach 99.7%, the comprehensive voltage pass rate will reach 98.5%, and the average line loss rate will reach 6.2% on average. The rural power grid transformation has thus led to the huge demand for low-voltage electrical appliances on the distribution side.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said: "According to the "Plan", by 2015, the strategic emerging industries will form a basic pattern of healthy development and coordinated advancement. The promotion of industrial structure upgrading will be significantly enhanced, and the added value will account for the proportion of GDP. Strive to reach around 8%. By 2020, the ratio of value-added of strategic emerging industries to GDP will reach about 15%, and the ability to absorb and promote employment will increase significantly."
The future development trend of low-voltage electrical industry
Foreign low-voltage electrical advanced manufacturers have successively introduced a new generation of low-voltage electrical products from the end of the last century to the beginning of this century. This batch of products is supported by new technologies, new materials, and new processes, and has made major breakthroughs in product performance, structure, miniaturization, features, and functions. In contrast, the vast majority of companies in the low-voltage electrical industry do not yet have the capability to develop products with independent intellectual property rights. Therefore, the industry companies need to consider the key point is that low-voltage electrical R & D work from a single product development to product integration and system solutions to systematization, network development; low-voltage electrical appliances in addition to a new generation of product innovation, onto the external and internal accessories There is great development, and tends to coordinate and match; in the development of a new generation of high-end products, while actively exploring and vigorously developing a new generation of popular products.
A new generation of smart low-voltage electrical appliances with high performance, versatility, small size, high reliability, green environmental protection, energy saving and material saving and other notable features of the new generation of smart green, energy saving and material saving and other notable features, including a new generation Universal circuit breakers, molded case circuit breakers, and selectively protected circuit breakers provide the basis for China's low-voltage distribution system to achieve full-scale distribution including terminal distribution systems and full-current selective protection, and improve the
Power supply reliability of low-voltage distribution systems. Of great significance, there is a very broad prospect for development in the mid-to-high end market. In addition, the new generation of contactors, the new generation of ATSE, a new generation of SPD and other projects are also actively researching and developing. They are also leading the industry to actively promote independent innovation in the industry and accelerate the development of the low-voltage electrical industry. At the same time, we have also seen that low-voltage electrical products have focused on transitioning to high performance, high reliability, intelligence, modularity, and green environmental protection; in terms of manufacturing technology, they have begun to transition to improving the level of professional craftsmanship; On the other hand, it has begun to transition to high-speed, automation, and professionalism; in terms of product appearance, it has begun to transform into humanity and aesthetics.
In 2011, the smart grid has entered the stage of full implementation and it is expected that the total investment of the smart grid will be close to 4 trillion yuan. These all show once again the determination and will of the Chinese government to rationally use resources, vigorously promote energy-saving and emission reduction, and actively develop a low-carbon economy. The smart grid has become one of the important industries in China for implementing energy development strategies, grasping global industrial adjustment opportunities, and seizing a new round of developmental commanding heights. At the same time, the investment in power grid construction will also enter a period of rapid growth. The long-term development potential of primary equipment sub-sectors and secondary equipment sub-sectors is huge, and there is a huge imagination and market space for related equipment manufacturing, access, and other technical products.
With the development and development of smart grids, we are more aware that the development of low-voltage electrical appliances in the future must first be considered from the perspective of system development. At the same time, it must be considered from the overall solution of the system, and from the system to all the components of power distribution, protection and control, from strong to weak electricity can be solved.
According to preliminary estimates, from 2009 to 2015, the total investment of China's smart grid alone reached 2.5 trillion yuan, while the rural power grid reconstruction is mainly in the upgrading and replacement of traditional power grid equipment, so about three points in the entire rural power grid transformation. The second investment is in the low-voltage distribution network transmission equipment, the investment in the next three years more than 200 billion yuan. China's low-voltage electrical industry is facing new and huge opportunities.
