Domestic instrumentation industry development

Today's world has entered the information age, and information technology has become a key technology for the rapid development of science and technology. The famous scientist Qian Xuesen clearly stated that information technology includes measurement technology, computer technology and communication technology. Measurement technology is the foundation. With the rapid development of information technology, a huge new information industry has emerged, and the information industry has become a leading industry in driving the development of the world economy. This means that measurement technology is the basis and source of information technology, and the instrumentation industry is an important part of the information industry. It goes without saying that instrumentation and measurement control play an important role in promoting the development of science and technology and the national economy in today’s information age.

First, the role of status

As the important position and role of instrumentation and measurement control have been highly valued by the society, the country has adopted a series of major measures to accelerate its development in recent years. The measures that deserve special mention include:

At the Fourth Session of the Fourth National People’s Congress held in March 2001, the Outline of the Tenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development clearly put forward the development of instrumentation to an important position. The National Development Program mentions instrumentation and puts it in an important position. This is the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Immediately afterwards, many ministries and commissions such as the State Planning Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Science and Technology all listed a number of special projects and used large sums of money to support the development of instrumentation.

In 2005, the National Development and Reform Commission formally issued a number of opinions on accelerating the revitalization of the equipment manufacturing industry, and proposed that 16 key development fields be selected to support special development in various industries. The eleventh item is the major project automation control system and precision testing instruments.

In 2006, the National Outline for Medium and Long-term Science and Technology Development was formulated, which involved a number of instrumentation and measurement control development projects.

In April 2008, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, and the China Association for Science and Technology jointly issued a number of opinions on the strengthening of innovation methods, and formally initiated innovation methods to be carried out nationwide. This document clearly states that the innovation method includes three elements: innovative thinking, innovative methods, and innovative tools. Innovation tools mainly refer to scientific instruments that promote scientific and technological innovation. The important role of scientific instruments has been further enhanced and development research has received stronger support.

In addition, in the 863 plan, especially the national science and technology development plan such as the space program, the development of supporting instrumentation and measurement control has also been placed in an important position. It is in such a very favorable situation that the instrumentation and measurement control in China have developed rapidly in recent years.

Second, industry overview

Four consecutive years of growth rate of more than 20%

China's instrumentation industry is a high-speed and steady development industry. However, in the 13 industries of the machinery industry, instrumentation does not belong to the industry with the highest growth rate. The growth rate has been between 20% and 27% in the past four years.

Another feature of the instrumentation industry is that the import and export deficit is relatively large, and it is the largest deficit among the 13 industries in the machinery industry. In 2005, the total import and export volume of China's instrumentation industry was 19.359 billion U.S. dollars, of which imports were 14.014 billion U.S. dollars, up 15.7% year-on-year, and exports were 5.254 billion U.S. dollars, up 30.8% year-on-year.

The instrumentation industry is in the entire electromechanical industry, which has undergone rapid restructuring and transformation. A considerable number of state-owned enterprises have become privately owned, and foreign-funded enterprises are also very active. Many well-known multinational instrument companies invest in or expand production in China. . According to statistics of economic structure types, China's enterprises (including state-owned, state-controlled, and private-owned enterprises) accounted for approximately 55.12% of the industry's sales revenue, accounting for 54.59% of profits, and the rest were foreign-funded enterprises.

China's instrumentation industry still has some concerns. First of all, China is a developing country, and the instrumentation industry has a gap of 10 to 15 years compared with developed countries. However, in the developing countries, China is the largest and most complete and most powerful country in the instrumentation industry.

Second, China’s demand for instruments and meters is one of the fastest growing countries. The growth rate of instrumentation in the world is 3% to 4%. China has achieved an annual growth rate of more than 20% for four consecutive years, and some products already account for one-tenth of the world's total.

Third, at present, the instrumentation industry is a sector that directly competes with foreign companies. Foreign investment has entered the third phase in China. The first stage is the joint venture and technical output. The second phase of the joint venture from the joint venture before and after the 1990s is the second stage. Now it has entered the third stage, which is based on the sole proprietorship and merger of outstanding Chinese companies.

Fourth, some middle and low-end products already have scale advantages and international market competitiveness. For example, ordinary digital multimeters and other products account for a large amount of production in the world, and household electrical meters have a production capacity of 50% of the world's total. At present, China has become a major producer and exporter of electricity meters, microscopes, telescopes, thermometers, pressure gauges, water meters, gas meters, and optical components. Exports of high-end products such as container inspection equipment have also begun to make breakthroughs.

Third, the status quo

Most high-end markets are occupied by multinational companies

Instrumentation products have a wide variety of products and cover a wide range of products. According to the national new national economic classification standard, there are 20 categories of instrumentation products, which can be classified into four categories: industrial automation instrumentation and control systems, scientific test instruments, commonly used instrumentation and special instrumentation. Among them, the most important impact on the pillar industries and major equipment of the national economy and on behalf of the industry level are two parts: the automation control system, the backbone field instruments, and the key precision testing instruments.

Automation control system and backbone field instrument

According to the level of technology, sources and market conditions of products, automatic control systems and backbone field instruments can be roughly divided into the following four categories.

The first type, commonly used temperature measurement, pressure measurement, flow, display and control adjustment instrument products. This kind of product is dominated by middle and low grades, product improvement and market adaptability R&D, and our company has the ability to bear.

The second category was the introduction of technology and localized products in the 1980s and early 1990s. This kind of product has already mastered the core manufacturing technology of our country's enterprise, can stabilize the production, the product has a certain market share. However, as a new generation of foreign products has matured and entered the market in large quantities, currently the products produced by Chinese companies are mainly used for small and medium-sized construction projects.

The third category is high-end products that China has developed on its own, representative products such as distributed control systems (DCS) and electromagnetic flowmeters. The basic performance and functions of these products have been close to foreign products, have a high market share, and are constantly rising. However, the application objects are still mainly small and medium-sized engineering projects. The major projects used for large-scale engineering projects are non-primary devices, non-primary control systems, and non-key work stations.

The fourth category is the high and mid-range products used in large-scale engineering projects focusing on national key projects. At present, most of the projects in China use products produced and imported by foreign-funded enterprises, such as large-scale DCS systems, PLCs, nuclear power digital control systems and instruments, high-precision pressure/differential pressure transmitters, large pressure differentials, and wear/impact resistance. .