Even with fierce market competition and frequent price wars, rock slabs are still a hot product in the ceramic industry. The strange phenomenon of "no exhibitors without rock slabs" was once prevalent in the industry.
The explosion of rock slabs has also ignited an industry chain.
Recently, "Ceramic Information" visited a number of rock slab processing equipment R&D companies. The heads of many companies said that since this year, the raw materials and labor of rock slab processing equipment have been rising, but the unit price of the equipment has not risen but has fallen, and even "Cut it in half."
“There is an order, but no profit”
Single machine prices dropped significantly
“Business for rock slab processing equipment is pretty good this year, and there are orders, but prices have shrunk significantly compared to last year.” Lao Huang (pseudonym) said.
Lao Huang has been involved in the research and development of rock slab processing equipment since 2018. In 2019, orders for rock slab processing equipment were booming. In just three or four months, almost dozens of sets of equipment were shipped.
Not only Lao Huang, but most rock slab processing equipment companies at that time had similar feelings: they could not take orders and were short of manpower. Even equipment companies in the fields of glass and stone have begun to move into the field of rock slab processing equipment, and its popularity is evident.
But since this year, most rock slab equipment companies have reported that the rock slab processing equipment market is just like the rock slab market, a mixed bag. There are orders, but prices have plummeted several times.
“It used to be normal for a rock slab background wall to sell for four to five thousand, but now it can only be sold for two to three thousand, and the profit has dropped by half.” Lao Huang said that the price of rock slabs is becoming more and more transparent, and so is the processing equipment.” A rock slab waterjet cutting equipment that used to sell for more than 300,000 yuan is now sold for just over 200,000 yuan in less than a year.”
The person in charge of another rock slab equipment company also said that in March and April this year, equipment orders were okay. In recent months, due to various factors such as the resurgence of the epidemic, business has slowed down a lot.
“There are a lot fewer customers coming to see the equipment, and it is impossible to sell our equipment online. The recent orders have been significantly reduced compared to previous months, and the price has dropped sharply. Last year, our bridge cutting machine could be sold for ten Tens of thousands is still too expensive to sell to 80,000 or 90,000 people now. If you don’t sell it, someone will naturally be willing to sell it at a lower price.”
In the opinion of many interviewees, the cost of raw materials and employee costs for rock slab processing equipment are rising, but the price of equipment has fallen instead of rising. Especially with the addition of the research and development of equipment related to rock slab processing,There are more and more companies in the field, and competition is becoming more and more fierce.
“Before the emergence of slate, competition was limited to within the industry. Now based on the application properties of slate, glass, stone, bathroom ware, etc. are all squeezing in, but the market pie is only so big.”
Restrictions on manpower, space, accessories and other factors
“Don’t dare to accept orders”
As we all know, there are many types of rock slab processing equipment. Conventional products include chamfering machines, edge grinding machines, water jet cutting machines, etc. However, most of them need to be customized according to the actual processing needs of customers. They are non-standard products and are difficult to mass produce. , which to a certain extent determines the difficulty of slate processing equipment.
“80% of the customers who purchase equipment mainly buy single machines. Due to the non-standard characteristics of the equipment, personnel and space are subject to certain limitations. We are now a carrot and a pit. We must unplug this carrot first before we can start again. Plant and receive new orders.”
Lao Huang said: "There are orders, but the shipping efficiency is too slow. It takes at least a month to make a machine, which cannot be put into mass production. If we receive some special orders, the space and manpower are not enough, resulting in orders. If we can’t pick it up, we won’t be able to produce it. Or we have the space and manpower, but the equipment and accessories haven’t arrived, and we can’t make it. There are too many constraints, and we can’t recruit people indefinitely or expand the factory indefinitely.”
Innovation is like "window paper"
“R&D at the front will be harvested later”
“Today’s innovation is to contribute to the industry.”
In the opinion of many interviewees, there are no big technical barriers to the research and development of rock slab processing equipment. Even peers only need to see the operation and effects of the equipment once before they can make similar equipment. The gap is only reflected in the In the details.
You can fish in troubled waters. In the rock slab processing equipment market, there are more and more disruptors.
In order to more quickly and intuitively experience the pain points faced by the current industry's rock slab processing, Laohuang's rock slab processing equipment factory quickly upgraded the equipment. It added a rock slab processing section and will also accept some rock slab processing. Order.
“Even if the equipment we develop has been upgraded and perfected, if our peers start to do it, such as retail partsFor the adjustment of parts, we use high-speed motors and they use ordinary motors. There are nearly ten motors in one piece of equipment. The difference in cost is 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. But customers don’t get hung up on these. They all care about the same equipment. Why do yours Selling so expensive. ”
Lao Huang said that this is the current situation of the rock slab processing equipment market. The cost of materials is there, and it won't work without price reduction. Once the price is reduced, it means that we can only save money on materials, and the stability and durability of the equipment will inevitably decrease. "Many times, innovation is a result of a lack of ambition and a lack of energy. We want to be fast but can't do it fast. There are many factors that restrict it."
Similarly, in the opinion of another person in charge of a rock slab processing equipment company, the innovation cycle of rock slab processing equipment is becoming shorter and shorter, just like window paper, which breaks when you poke it. The R&D upgrade has just ended. Someone will harvest it immediately, which means that for rock slab equipment R&D companies, innovation and R&D must be accelerated in an all-round way.
As for the future research and development direction of slate equipment, some interviewees said that in the future, more attention may be paid to the application sector of slate finished products, such as slate bathroom cabinets, slate coffee tables, slate TV cabinets, etc., and the development of complete lines The latest rock slab processing equipment improves the overall processing efficiency and is more segmented.
“What we are doing more now is the assembly line processing equipment for TV cabinets. This kind of finished product sells very well in online sales channels such as Taobao and can increase the volume, because only in this way can the processing fee be reduced and realize Efficient production." said the above interviewee.
Moreover, many sanitary ware manufacturers in the industry have adopted assembly line processing. For example, the large-scale rock slab processing factory in Chaozhou can process 7,000 rock slabs a day, and the speed and efficiency have been greatly improved.
Lao Huang also said that when everyone is rushing into the slate-related industry chain, although the competition is fierce, whoever can increase the volume and move faster will be able to seize market opportunities.
(Article reproduced from Ceramic Information)
