The chain transmission market is sluggish

“Most chain transmission companies have felt a bit cold this year.” Xuan Bihua, general secretary of the Chain Drives Division, said bluntly. “The market is not booming, especially foreign trade exports have fallen significantly.”

Despite the chilly atmosphere, the General Assembly of the China Machinery General Parts Association's chain drive conference was very lively. The number of participants was nearly 200, and it was "the largest in history."

The more sluggish, "we are more concerned about the domestic and international changes in the macroeconomic trends, but also more urgently want to understand the trend of the industry's economic operation." Xuan Bihua broke the phrase.

Two investigations conducted by the Chain Drive Branch in the second half of this year show that since the beginning of this year, the external demand for chain transmission products has been sluggish, domestic demand is not booming, and disorderly competition has intensified. The profitability space of enterprises has become smaller and smaller, and the development momentum of the industry has slowed down.

According to Xuan Bihua, "The era of rapid growth in the number of chain transmission industry has come to an end."

The end of the period of high-speed growth

According to reports, from January to September this year, the major economic indicators of the chain transmission industry were basically the same as those of the same period of last year, but the growth rate was significantly reduced, and the absolute value of the increment was decreasing.

Xuan Bihua’s judgment stated that it is impossible for the chain drive industry to maintain the rapid growth of the total volume in the following years.

In fact, it is because of the grim situation. The secretariat of the association has visited more than 20 enterprises in Wuyi, Jinhua, Zhuji, Changzhou, Wuxi, and Suzhou in Zhejiang and held three corporate CEOs this year. Participate in the forum.

Zhu Shanxiang, honorary director of the Chain Drives Division, who participated in the survey, said that since the beginning of this year, the lack of external demand and lack of domestic demand has been very serious. Especially affected by the complicated and changeable environment of the world economy, the export situation of China's chain transmission enterprises is grim. Many companies report that due to the sluggish external demand and severe shortage of corporate market orders, everyone expects that the export of chain drive products may fall by more than 20% this year.

Taking the investigations in Wuyi, Jinhua, and Zhuji from July 9th to 13th as an example, the production and operation situation in the first half of the above areas was relatively stable. Except for the motorcycle chain and the standard roller chain production enterprises, many companies had The increase was, while others were basically the same. However, the pressure of economic downswing has gradually increased, and many companies expect their total industrial output value to drop by at least 20% year-on-year. The most prominent problems are "tightening of demand, weak domestic and foreign markets, and severe shortage of orders."

It is understood that since the second half of last year, many chain companies in the region have experienced difficulties in production and operation, and the products have been sluggish. For example, Zhejiang Fuhang Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. has reached more than RMB 10 million in inventory products in July this year, accounting for about 25% of the company's total industrial output value; sales of conventional standard chains have decreased significantly year-on-year, and from the second quarter on, industrial chain Sales are also affected.

During the investigation, Chen Honghua, president of the Wuyi Chain Association once spoke bluntly. “If there are no new orders, after August, many chain companies in Wuyi will not have orders on hand.”

In the important accumulating areas of China's chain transmission industry, “Su, Xi, Chang”, its foreign trade operations are not optimistic, and many companies’ exports to the EU have declined significantly.

According to Wu Guoping, chairman of Changzhou Dongwu Chain Transmission Manufacturing Co., Ltd., since June, companies have clearly felt the pressure of economic downturn, especially "orders in the European market have shrunk dramatically", while domestic investment projects have not started, resulting in The company has 3 million to 4 million yuan in chain reservations; while Changzhou World Wai Yip Sprocket Co., Ltd., although exports from January to August are basically the same as last year, but it is expected to decline by about 5% from September to December.

The results of the survey conducted by the club from September 19 to September 22 showed that companies with a lot of special-shaped special chains had a better market situation, and companies with more standard chains had relatively more difficulties.

“From the status quo of the chain transmission enterprises in the region, we can see that although the growth rate of China's chain transmission industry has slowed down, compared with other industries, there has been no significant ups and downs, and it is still in a relatively stable state of development.” The survey report concluded.

It is imperative to optimize and upgrade

In fact, despite the continuous expansion of business difficulties, both internal and external industries need to be weak, but many chain transmission companies can still maintain a profitable status, especially Suzhou Global Group Co., Ltd., from January to August its sales revenue increased by about 20% year-on-year.

According to Zhu Shanxiang, this is inseparable from the optimization and upgrading of the product structure of related companies. "Regardless of the size of the enterprise, if the product development is done well and the product quality is improved quickly, the market situation will be better."

During the visit, the branch found that the development concepts and development methods of many chain transmission enterprises in the regions of “Su, Xi, Chang” are gradually changing. In recent years, they have not only paid special attention to the development of new products, but also continuously improved the level of their products. Satisfy the needs of high-end customers, which also makes them find a new growth point, easier out of the woods.

For example, Zhejiang Basmann has actively developed products such as "bird feeders", "bird guarding rooms" and three-dimensional garage chains, as well as books conveying and conveying devices for developing cultural industries. The market is selling well; Zhejiang Golden Shield developed The fist product automotive water delivery line device and die forging chain also enabled the company to maintain a good momentum of development.

Zhu Shanxiang analyzed that Suzhou's global growth rate is more than 20%. The fundamental reason is that it pays close attention to product structure adjustment and improves product quality and level. The company developed a number of high-grade, high-fatigue, high-wear-resistant mid-to-high-end standard chain products and entered the international high-end chain market.

Due to sufficient orders, the company often has to work overtime. At the same time, due to its solid garage chain and escalator chain, it is favored by the high-end market, and the increase is relatively large, which makes up for the impact of the decline in its standard chain.

In addition, Changzhou World Albert also took the initiative to abandon the low value-added standard sprocket and bevel gear market, positioning in the non-standard sprocket development, improve the technical content and added value of products, and entered the high-end market in the United States, Europe and Japan. At the same time, it also upgraded the old equipment, adopted domestic and foreign advanced high-efficiency equipment, and expanded the product specifications to more than 1,000 kinds, further enhancing the competitive advantage.

“The successful experience of the above companies tells us that the optimization and upgrading of product structure is a shortcut for companies to get out of their predicament, and it is also a major step in the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. It is also an important measure to promote enterprises to change their development methods.” Zhu Shanxiang concluded.

“Now is a good opportunity for enterprises to transform their economic development methods. In particular, we must adjust the product structure and increase the investment in independent innovation.” In this regard, Wang Changming, executive vice chairman of the General Parts Association, also said that it is unlikely to continue the past high speed in the future. The trend of development is, "Enterprises must seize this period of strategic opportunities and learn to develop themselves at a low and medium speed."

And these views are exactly in line with Xuan Bihua.

In his view, "From a global point of view, most of the low value-added standard chain products in foreign countries have already been transferred to China, and there will be few opportunities for large-scale transfer of standard chain products. Even if there are shifts, they are all More complex, technically difficult non-standard, special-shaped chains or products for the host."

He believes that the development of the chain drive industry in the future depends on increasing the value-added products or the development of high-tech, high-precision and high-tech products with high technical content and difficulty. This work is much more difficult to develop than relying on quantity expansion.

In this regard, Xuan Bihua suggested that enterprises should honestly improve product quality, and at the same time improve the operating efficiency and efficiency of enterprises, continuously improve the management, personnel quality and equipment, in addition to stand on the perspective of customers, improve service capabilities. .

“In the field of foreign trade, the industry only has the ability to receive orders and lacks good service capabilities. Therefore, we must improve the service level of the whole process of pre-sales and after-sales services, in particular, help customers propose solutions to solve problems and meet customer needs.” He emphasized Say.

Second, we must strengthen anti-dumping investigations and early warnings to promote fair trade in imports and exports. It should promptly notify the relevant enterprises of the “two counter-ones and one guarantee” information, and strengthen the communication with the fastener industry association to effectively respond to “two counters and one guarantee”. At the same time, with regard to the trade protection measures that have been initiated, it has actively guided the organization of enterprises to respond to complaints, assisted in hiring professional lawyers, and increased the support for enterprises to respond to complaints.

Again, participate in export credit insurance to reduce trade risks.

According to reports, the main products currently involved in export credit insurance include short-term export credit insurance, medium- and long-term export credit insurance, etc.; major services such as accounts receivable management and commercial debt collection, credit evaluation, buyer risk, and industrial risk assessment analysis. The association appealed that companies should actively participate in export credit insurance. This will not only enhance the ability of companies to avoid the risk of foreign exchange collection, but also expand their financing channels.

In addition, we should also strengthen brand cultivation and enhance international competitiveness.

Enterprises should increase investment in product research and development funds, enhance their own research and development capabilities, and develop high-end products. At the same time, capable companies can implement the "go global" strategy and open companies and marketing outlets directly outside China. This can effectively avoid trade protectionism and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.