Industrial automation market needs to focus on channel management

In the entire industrial automation industry chain, the "channel" is often a link that is easily overlooked by us. As the domestic industrial automation market is gradually becoming more competitive, the industrial automation channel vendors that were initially considered to be “without technical content and will play with trade” have long relied upon themselves to build a market and have accumulated from the young to the young. Mature, weak and powerful transformation.

The channel business has matured and the channel market for industrial automation products has not surpassed its initial stage. “Standardization of channel competition” is a situation that is common to both suppliers and distributors of industrial automation, and there are still many waves on the way to this goal. Perhaps there is no history that provides China with the most special market in the world. precedent.

The result should still be: "Let the market decide everything!"

"In these years, we have been continuously developing in the course of development and we have also grown in maturity."

--Pan Qi, chairman of Beijing Sitong Industrial Control Technology Co., Ltd., grew up in the Stone Building, one of the earliest landmark buildings in Beijing's Zhongguancun, where Sitong Industrial Controls is located.

Into the door, the first entry into the goal is a wall of industrial automation brand display board - Siemens, Fuji Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Omron, Schneider Electric, Advantech ... ..., all kinds of industrial automation sample display in the central hall position. Going inwards again is the "check room" of Sitong's employees, and the sound of telephones is one after the other.

The prosperity of the industrial automation market has brought a busy business for Stone Industrial Controls and a quantum leap in turnover. In the office of Sitong Industrial Controls, Chairman Pan Qi recalled the 20 years of development of well-known channel providers in the field of industrial automation. In 1990, Pan Qi was officially transferred from the Instrument and Meter Department of the Stone Group to the head of the four-way industrial control business. At that time, there were only seven people in this small department, only an industrial automation brand. Today, the Stone Industrial Control has grown to 150 people. The scale has established a strategic cooperation relationship with 13 well-known suppliers of industrial automation products at home and abroad. The products of the agents cover the full range of industrial automation.

Pan Qi attributed the achievements made in these years to the external favorable market environment. “China has now become a manufacturing power in the world, and the development of the manufacturing industry will inevitably lead to the need to increase the level of automation.” According to Pan Qi, the biggest change he has seen in these years is that sales of industrial automation channel providers are increasing year by year. "The largest channel operator in the past has done one or two billion yuan in one year. Now it can achieve more than 20 billion yuan. The market's plate is large, channel providers are gradually maturing, and experience and capabilities are constantly improving. ”

Similar growth experiences with Stone Industrial Controls also include another industry giant, Zhongyeda.

In 1984, Zhongyeda’s predecessor, Daxie Mechatronics, was established. At the beginning, Daxun Electromechanical Co., Ltd. mainly engaged in domestic products and lived in the era of planned economy. After the reform and opening up, multinational companies entered China, and Daxie Mechatronics began to cooperate with international brands such as Schneider Electric, ABB, and Siemens. By the year 2000, the market had shown a trend of rapid development. To expand its business, Daxun Electrical Machinery Co., Ltd. opened a number of subsidiaries across the country in the form of a chain, and renamed it as “Zhongyeda” to embark on a leap-forward development path.

Zhongyeda's business focus is on low-voltage power distribution, and it is in the industrial automation field or nearly three or four years. Wu Kaixian, general manager of Zhongyeda, told reporters: “At present, the contribution of industrial automation business to Zhongyeda has increased at an annual growth rate of more than 50%.

Domestic industrial automation channel vendors who are at the forefront of the domestic industry are mostly the same as Stone Industrial Controls and Zhongyeda, and have gone through more than ten years or even more than twenty years of development. They experienced the "golden era" in which foreign brands before China's accession to the WTO could only enter the Chinese market through agents and constructed the initial domestic industrial automation market with the role of the protagonist. During that time, they completed the basic course of market development and accumulated valuable talents such as talents, customer resources and business experience for themselves. Later, they experienced the "competitive" era in which foreign brands went deep into China and joined forces after China's accession to the WTO. Fortunately, China's industrial automation market has also been promoted. Channel vendors have not found themselves out but have found themselves more accurate. s position. According to statistics, there are currently more than 1,000 channels of industrial automation products active in the Chinese market.

In the process of transformation, domestic industrial automation channel providers are also looking for the most adaptable market development model. Initially, most of the channel traders were merely “traders” who took products and sold them. The changes in the market environment made them see the importance of technical services and market development.

Before China's accession to the WTO, Sitong Industrial Controls became one of the best distribution brands in China's industrial control industry, relying on its good logistics management and strong financial strength. After China’s accession to the WTO, Sitong Industrial Controls has used its excellent brand image for many years as its engine to cultivate a group of experienced technical engineers who not only bring customers advanced technology and high-quality products, but also provide timely and reliable for end users with suppliers. The product service has successfully formed a "service-oriented" industrial control product sales platform. Pan Qi, Chairman of Stone Industrial Controls, told the reporter: “At present, the direct customer’s contribution to Stone Industrial Control has accounted for two-thirds of the total sales.”

Compared with distributors, end customers pay more attention to the technical capabilities of channel providers to see if they can provide effective pre- and post-sale support for users. This requires that channel providers have strong technical capabilities. This point, the low-voltage power supply into the field of industrial automation in many industry and deep feeling.

“Industrial automation is very different from the distribution market. In the distribution market, if you have a product, the price is right, you can supply it, you can operate it. But if you want to gain a foothold in the industrial automation industry, you must understand the technology, Understand the industry, can not do without support to sell.” Wu Kaixian, general manager of Zhongyeda told reporters.

Deep industry is the strength of Zhongyeda. Today, Zhongyeda has more than 100 full-time technical personnel who can provide professional technical services and support for customers. This led Zhongyeda to enter into the field of industrial automation in 2003. It quickly broke through the OEM field to several emerging industries such as oil installations, offshore oil fields and wind power generation.

The breakthrough of Haide’s control is the development of the direction of channel integrators to system integrators. In 2000, Hyde Control completed the reform of the joint-stock system and established an industrial control technology center to further enhance its own engineering capabilities and system integration capabilities. It continues to work with Schneider, Omron, ABB, Hessmann, General Electric and other internationally renowned automation products. In addition to maintaining strategic partnerships, suppliers have made substantive progress in R&D and industrialization. The independently developed industrial networks and remote monitoring systems have been widely used in remote monitoring of airports, subways, power, water treatment, and large-scale equipment.

Industry insiders fully affirmed the transformation of Haide’s control: “The high-end market of domestic industrial automation products is controlled by foreign brand manufacturers, and distribution business has become a realistic choice for domestic manufacturers, but its profitability is not high. Deepening understanding of industry applications and products, and entering the field of system integration, can be seen as a breakthrough bottleneck.” But he also pointed out that system integration in specific industries has high barriers to entry, and channel providers need to rationally consider Strength.

The prosperity of the industrial automation market in the future will also create more and more channels to join this group. Beijing Bosheng Shengye Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Bosung Shengye") is one of them. This newly-founded company in 2006 represented Pro-face, HITECH, Heller man-machine interface products, Yokogawa, Yonghong, Delta PLC products, Delta, Toyo, LENZE inverter products, ELMO , Dongyuan, Delta's AC servo products, and reducer in Newcastle, Germany. Hao Jing, the general manager of Bossing, told reporters that the establishment of the company had caught the rapid development of the mechanical industry. In 2007, the company's sales had exceeded 10 million yuan.

Like Bosco, there are many new recruits for industrial automation channels who have a good vision for the future. So, in the current domestic industrial automation market, how can we become a successful channel provider? Pan Qi, chairman of the four-way industrial control, gave his opinion: “One is to have the necessary manpower and financial resources for enterprise development, the other is to develop a loyal and stable customer base, and the third is to have a A good internal management model is to sum up a set of four methods, how to deliver the best technology and products from suppliers to customers, and build a smooth and unobstructed bridge for both parties."

The market has provided industrial automation channel providers with the soil to survive. Therefore, some people say that although fierce competition, declining overall profits, and unfavorable phenomena such as the expansion of channel business groups have emerged from time to time, the industry climate and small companies have no worries. As the market continues to mature, the industrial automation channel business group will inevitably undergo a shuffling process, and mergers and acquisitions and integration among excellent channel providers may also take place. However, due to the unabated market heat, this may experience more time than others. The fields and markets must be long.