Industry observation: Weak equipment management cable industry development
Author: Lijianpu, general manager of equipment management cable industry
In the process of exploration and development, the author's research found that despite the serious global financial crisis around 2008, this did not seem to hinder the development of the domestic cable and cable industry. Even in 2011, China has defeated its old rival, the United States, with a total cable output value of 1 trillion yuan, becoming the world's largest producer of cable. Of course, the rapid development of the national economy is indispensable for such outstanding achievements. At the same time, the 4 trillion yuan of rescue funds allocated by the state during the financial crisis also provided strong help for the development of the cable and cable industry.
However, since 2012, the domestic cable industry has faced great obstacles to development. The first is the overcapacity, more than 10,000 cable enterprises across the country, such as insufficient operating rates caused serious lag in the development of the industry; The second is that the low profit margins have caused some small and medium-sized enterprises in China to be unable to support. The net profit margin of well-known large-scale enterprises(annual output value of more than 10 billion yuan) does not exceed 10 percentage points, and the net profit margin of medium-sized enterprises(annual output value of 30 to 5 billion yuan) is less than 2 %. Small enterprises have to withdraw.
There are many reasons for the low profit margins in the entire cable industry, such as the sharp increase in raw material prices, the increasing competition in the market, and the seasonal phase effects, but none of these have touched on the nature of cable profit margins. Weak equipment management and slow technical reform in domestic cable industry are the essence of the problems that have caused the cable industry to develop.

In fact, China's cable industry in terms of technology and international comparison, there is a very large shortage. The most striking problem is that local companies have not yet kept pace with the development of wires and cables in the world. Most of the cable equipment in our country is made domestically, and some of them are jointly produced with Taiwan. As far as the overall level of equipment is concerned, there is a certain gap between the slow upgrading and the internationally renowned brand equipment, and some of the equipment is extremely inefficient. In terms of equipment management, whether it is compared with the international industry, or with China's tobacco, petrochemical, steel industry, are far apart.
First of all, the equipment management system is formalized, the work is slow, the equipment professional inspection team is not established, and the modern inspection equipment is insufficient. Basically, the inspection tools and maintenance methods of the 1980s and 1990s are still used. Secondly, the equipment failure response method is single and backward, and it is still in the post-maintenance stage. Basically, it only depends on the replacement of parts and components to solve the problem. Overmaintenance and non-availability coexist, which seriously restricts the production efficiency of equipment. Moreover, the consciousness of independent maintenance is weak, and the equipment is entirely maintained by maintenance workers. There is no habit of independent maintenance. As a result, equipment breaks down frequently, maintenance workers are tired of rush repairs, and there is no energy for prior inspection and maintenance to form a vicious circle. This status quo is difficult to compete with the international cable giant.
There are a series of problems behind the lack of equipment essence and management. The competition in the external market of enterprises is getting worse. The cash flow is accordingly tight, and it is inevitable that the delivery of orders will be postponed. Among them, the downtime caused by equipment has a greater impact. Due to late delivery, the amount of accounts receivable is high, which is a vicious circle, which seriously affects the normal business activities of the company. At the same time, quality problems often occur due to equipment reasons. For example, a well-known cable company caused 57 quality accidents due to equipment in 2014, accounting for more than 20 % of all quality accidents, and economic losses accounted for 27 % of all quality accident losses, which is a serious situation.
The reality is that cable prices continue to fall rapidly, and cable manufacturers can only constantly invest equipment costs and energy to recover prices and profits that are falling to the bottom. In this brutal contest, the outcome depends on which side is faster.
Wire and cable manufacturers need to meet two conditions for growth:
The first is the ability to quickly update technology, increase product structure interest rates, and adapt to the product updates necessary for such technology updates, as well as the organizational efficiency of commercialization of these products.
The second is to implement equipment management innovation and technical upgrading to improve production and quality assurance capabilities. The implementation of technology R&D is relatively lengthy and can serve as a long-term planning strategy, while the latter can provide immediate solutions to the current difficulties encountered due to inefficient equipment and delays in delivery. In short, it is urgent to solve the equipment problem.
Today, as the second largest industry after the automobile manufacturing industry, the wire and cable industry has entered a critical moment.
It must be soberly understood that the low price factor price model that was relied upon was itself wrong, because the price advantage of the low price factor of production was not determined by the price of these factors themselves. It is determined by subsequent technological upgrades and equipment management and other organizational variables. Whoever master advanced technology and equipment management and other variables can master the advantages of low-price production factors. Therefore, the real growth of local wire and cable companies should be the growth of technology and management, not the immediate interests of the moment.

Today, as the second largest industry after the automobile manufacturing industry, the wire and cable industry has entered a critical moment. Combining the development direction of the National 863 Plan for Modern Integrated Manufacturing System and China Manufacturing 2025(Intelligent Manufacturing and Enterprise Innovation), in the process of smart production promotion of German industry 4.0 and China's "Internet + Manufacturing Industry", The entire cable industry needs to make strategic adjustments, and it needs to strive to enhance its own value to face more challenges in the international market.
The equipment of the wire and cable industry is a key link in the production system. However, this point is often ignored by the senior management of the company. Among the five core elements of the manufacturing industry, "people, machines, materials, methods, and rings", Delivery time and quality occupy too much attention, but I do not know that most of the automated production lines in the wire and cable industry maintenance and management level is only in the initial stage of equipment professional management(failure repair), and the international modern equipment management system is far from. This kind of equipment management link weak brought about by the increase in enterprise production costs and customer losses, urgently.
The equipment management work in the wire and cable industry has gradually moved from the post maintenance management model to the equipment optimization management model including prediction(prediction) maintenance. It is already an inevitable development trend. In the past, the equipment management model, which focused on equipment managers and relied too much on the knowledge and experience of managers, often caused human errors due to the obsolete knowledge of managers and the one-sidedness of experience, while modern equipment management was based on the TPM system. According to the characteristics of the enterprise's equipment, we will improve and innovate, ensure the smooth and excellent operation of equipment and facilities, and commit ourselves to intelligent, flat, coordinated supply chains, so that enterprises can operate efficiently, transparently, and reduce costs. In order to achieve the goal of safe production, diminishing costs and maximizing benefits, and improve the competitiveness of the enterprise industry.
The entire cable industry needs to make strategic adjustments, and it needs to strive to enhance its own value to face more challenges in the international market.
(Disclaimer: The above content is transferred from this website to other media or corporate propaganda articles. The relevant information is only for the purpose of conveying more information. It does not represent the views of this website, nor does it represent the agreement of this website or the verification of the authenticity of its content. )