Although the development scale of my country’s instruments and meters has been expanding, there have always been problems such as weak basic research, low product reliability and stability, and low-end products. High-end instruments and core components have long been dependent on imports. my country’s instrumentation products have always been in a state of import and export trade deficit, with a deficit of more than 15 billion US dollars. In 2018 and 2019, the deficit exceeded 20 billion US dollars for two consecutive years, which is one of the industries with the largest deficit in the machinery manufacturing industry.
While the industry is developing, we should also be soberly aware of the new challenges we face.
First, the technical indicators, performance parameters and other indicators of domestic instruments are generally lower than similar foreign products. Although some main technical indicators of some products can reach or approach foreign instrument indicators, due to the lack of domestic enterprises’ ability to master the manufacturing technology and process of products, they have not mastered or thoroughly understood a large number of key manufacturing technologies in instruments and meters. The ability to carry out technological innovation on the basis of imported technology is not strong, and there are generally products that are inferior to foreign advanced similar products in terms of technical indicators and application performance.
Second, the performance and level of the functional components and accessories of domestic scientific instruments are far behind those of foreign products. The foundation of precision machining and component products in my country is weak, and the specialized supporting capacity around the instrumentation industry is insufficient, resulting in the low level of technology and quality of the functional components and accessories of the product, which affects the overall technical effect and detection ability of instrumentation.
Third, the reliability and stability of domestic instruments and meters are prominent. Domestic enterprises do not have enough technical mastery of high-performance products, low-price market competition makes enterprises insufficient to invest in product costs, and the technology level and industry foundation are poor, so that some domestic instruments that have been produced for many years are not as reliable and stable as foreign similar products. Make users have great distrust of domestic instruments.
Fourth, the intelligence level of instrumentation is not high, and the product applicability is not good. With the development of informatization, the automation, intelligence and integration of instruments are indispensable conditions for the development of current instruments, and are also a good way to reduce errors, improve efficiency, improve accuracy, and expand applications. Domestic enterprises do not have a deep understanding of the application of products, do not have enough research on user applications, and have deficiencies in product functional accessories, application software and application operations. Inconvenient, affecting the popularization and application of domestic instruments.
According to the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that the problems of stability, reliability and cost performance are relatively prominent, and these are also a common problem in my country’s equipment manufacturing industry. Although many companies have invested heavily in research and development, introduced advanced manufacturing equipment, and strengthened basic management, the lean and intelligent level of the entire production chain still needs to be improved. The stability, reliability, and comprehensive cost-effectiveness of most products are comparable to foreign products. The gap is still obvious.
Opportunities faced by the development of my country’s instrumentation industry
Under the background of globalization and the eastward shift of the world economic center, in the face of the complex and changeable environment in 2020, especially the continuous impact of the global novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, various uncertainties may appear in the development of instrumentation in my country. Exports are expected to be greatly affected. As my country will strengthen the construction of internal circulation, domestic demand will become the main driving force for the development of the instrumentation industry, and the new infrastructure will also promote the development of instrumentation technology.
●New infrastructure to promote new instrumentation technology
Since March 2020, the state has vigorously promoted the construction of new infrastructure. The new infrastructure is guided by new development concepts, driven by technological innovation, and based on information networks. It is an infrastructure system that provides services such as digital transformation, intelligent upgrades, and integrated innovation to meet the needs of high-quality development. The new infrastructure mainly includes 5G infrastructure, UHV, intercity high-speed railway and intercity rail transit, new energy vehicle charging pile, big data center, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet and other seven major fields, involving communication, electricity, transportation, digital and so on. A key industry for social and people’s livelihood.
Instrumentation and its core components serve as an important guarantee for communication testing, equipment operation and maintenance, intelligent perception and big data acquisition, and will promote the instrumentation industry to speed up the technological development of new products, carry out test requirements, reliability methods, communication transmission, security requirements, etc. Basic common technology research to meet the development needs of new infrastructure.
●New demand spawns a new industry of instrumentation
The new round of industrial revolution centered on information technology is the deep integration of information and telecommunication, mobile Internet and other high-tech and manufacturing industries. In recent years, my country’s vigorous promotion of intelligent manufacturing, smart cities, intelligent transportation, and intelligent buildings will drive the in-depth integration of instrumentation and information technology. to effectively promote the adjustment, transformation and upgrading of the industry structure,
Make full use of the existing conditions and foundation of the industry to accelerate the industry of intelligent products required for key directions such as intelligent manufacturing, intelligent (digital) factories (workshops), and smart cities (smart water, smart gas, smart transportation, smart medical care, etc.). The pace of industrialization and system integration capabilities, the development of new industries, and gradually change the unbalanced development of process industry automation and discrete industrial automation, process industry sensors and discrete industrial sensors, laboratory instruments and online scientific instruments.
●Domestic substitution brings new development of instrumentation
For a long time, the instruments and meters used in key industries such as nuclear power, energy, and petrochemical industries in my country are mainly imported products. Domestic products are mainly low-end products, and the reliability and stability of products are poor. Although my country has been promoting localization, it is not strong enough.
With the current international political situation, Sino-US trade frictions and the evolution of the world economic structure, taking the security, independence and controllability of national key industries and national defense construction as an opportunity, my country is promoting the process of self-independence of key products and core technologies, and strives to basically form a national large-scale Basic support capabilities of automatic control systems and precision testing instruments for engineering projects, key application areas, and basic support capabilities of automatic control systems and precision testing instruments required by major scientific and technological projects.
From the perspective of ensuring information security, localization replacement has become the general trend, which will give domestic instruments and meters more market opportunities, so the good products of “specialized, refined, special, and new” enterprises in domestic instruments and meters will be able to seize the opportunity. , ushered in a round of development “Dongfeng”.
Since the founding of New China, the development of my country’s instrumentation has experienced the establishment of the instrumentation industrial system from scratch, the growth and expansion period from existence to completeness, the rapid growth period from completeness to largeness, and the new normal period from large to strong. , has embarked on a growth path from imitation to self-design, from technology introduction to digestion and absorption, from joint venture cooperation to full opening, and from the domestic market to the international market. Whether it is national large-scale industrial equipment and industrial control, or food safety and water and electricity measurement involving people’s livelihood, whether it is teaching and scientific research, or national defense and military, there are instruments and meters independently developed by my country.
At present, my country’s instrumentation industry is still very young, and the road to development is still very long. The good news is that the domestic market has a strong demand for instruments and meters, and national policies continue to encourage China’s manufacturing industry to achieve self-creation and independent innovation. However, there is still a big gap between the overall level of domestic instruments and international advanced technology, and the weak position is obvious, and the industry urgently needs to be optimized and improved.
At present, from the central to local governments, governments at all levels attach great importance to the development of instruments and meters, give full play to policy advantages and capital orientation, and create conditions for the development of domestic instruments. We believe that with the policy support of governments at all levels, the understanding and trust of domestic instruments and meters from all walks of life, and the hard work of many instrument and meter manufacturers, domestic instruments will surely live up to expectations in the near future and make our country a world science and technology. A strong country lays a solid foundation and undertakes new and important tasks for the development of my country’s science and technology undertakings and the construction of the national economy.
Post time: Nov-21-2022