Transformer industry "medical examination" report

In an anxious market environment, the transformer industry is experiencing the worst survival crisis in history.

This crisis of survival does not come from rising commodity prices. It does not come from the general increase in labor costs, nor does it come from the difficulty of raising credit after the country’s monetary tightening. The most fundamental and central reason lies in the lack of self-discipline in the industry, which has led to many painful problems. The problems of a series of industries such as the use of aluminum-based copper and secondary sheets, insufficient capacity of transformers, and low-price competition, such as the same heavy burden, have made this traditional manufacturing industry impossible to move. The transformer industry is in Into a chaos.

If you look at the entire industry, you will find that there is a very strange phenomenon at present: It seems that the more generic the company is, the better it is to “flow smoothly”; while the company that is supposed to be excellent is more like a “bird of fright”, it is necessary to Taking advantage of unfair competition to bring pain to oneself, but also always vigilant, beware of the emergence of the next "bow."

People can not help but wonder: What happened to the transformer industry?

Copper and aluminum staged "package plan"

In the investigation, the reporter learned that replacing the copper core with an aluminum core and selling the aluminum core transformer as a copper core transformer has become an open secret and is almost always known.

In the past two years, copper prices have skyrocketed, and the “tuning” of aluminum to copper has repeatedly occurred in the industry. According to first-hand information obtained by reporters, the phenomenon of “copper-on-aluminum-copper” is very common in the transformer industry, and even exists in some larger ones. The transformer company seriously interfered with the normal market order in the industry.

“In the past few years, there are not many aluminum wire plants in China, and aluminum core transformers are also very few. However, with the continuous soaring of copper prices in recent years, in order to reduce costs, the aluminum core phenomenon has gradually increased. Starting from aluminum foil, aluminum wire and half copper half Aluminum and copper substitutes for aluminum have become a hidden rule in the industry. “The general manager of a certain company, who is not named, has revealed to reporters the cruel reality.

The reporter interviewed the heads of a number of companies who all acquiesced to the existence of this phenomenon.

The general manager of the company said, “We calculated that if the price of silicon steel is more than 20,000 yuan and the price of copper is more than 70,000 yuan, the price difference between the aluminum core transformer and the copper core transformer is not large, so few aluminum cores were made at the time. Transformers. Now that the price of silicon steel continues to fall, the price of copper is soaring. Some people will naturally take advantage of it."

For the reason, people first pointed their finger at the bidding method of “low price bid”.

The reporter noted that, like other power transmission and distribution products, transformer procurement also adopts the low-cost bid method that is currently used in the industry. However, with overcapacity and soaring raw material prices, the drawbacks of this bidding method are increasingly apparent.

“Low-price winning bids inevitably make the selling prices of products lower and lower, and at the beginning, many companies do deal with low-cost bids by reducing management costs, labor costs, and optimizing design schemes. However, when prices are approaching the bottom line, there are still What's the next few companies?” he said.

For small companies, due to the lack of qualifications and performance background, they can only obtain orders through price advantage. However, under the current tight market situation, low bids will inevitably mean cutting corners in the production process, resulting in aluminum substitutes for copper; For large companies, if they do not adopt this approach, there will be no market orders. Although some companies care about the brand effect that has been gradually accumulated, they have to choose bowing and compromise in a complex market environment.

"According to current prices, we can say with certainty that most of the transformers are aluminum cores. If copper core materials are used, then it is sure to make a loss." According to the economic account, "The material cost of the transformer accounts for about 80% of the total cost, but the current transformer market price is only equal to the material cost, that is, on the basis of no profit, manpower, management, sales, and taxation costs. It's only a tie. How can this match the laws of the market economy?!"

In the face of aggressive low-price competition in the market, it is really surprising that the industry has staged a "conversation program" between copper and aluminum.

Overcapacity stuffed tragedy

Taking the product sales price as a starting point, thus giving up on the pursuit of product quality and performance, people feel extremely dejected. After investigating the reporter’s investigation, it was revealed that there are still deeper reasons behind this.

“ The industry threshold for transformers, especially for distribution transformers , is actually very low. In some places, many small companies that do not have production conditions are commonplace. The phenomenon of aluminum-based copper was first started by these small companies,” said the above sources.

"How does such a company get production qualification?" the reporter asked.

A general manager of a company said: "Now there is no department with administrative power within the industry to regulate the order of the industry, as long as the company can pass the inspection of the industry research institute. As for how to get a test certificate? There are many ways to achieve this. The simplest example: It can purchase a product from another company for sample testing, and even the Cattle Dwarf party specializes in providing such 'services' and guarantees to obtain a product inspection certificate. This is a publicly known secret in the circle. ”

Registering a company casually, and then using illegal means to obtain product identification certificate, so as to be available for sale - the transformer industry has reached the point where it will not self-reorganized, it will self-destruction.

"Because the material cost is as high as 80%, plus some other costs, the profits of the transformer industry are very slim. Especially for transformers below 220 kV, the competition for homogenization is very fierce because of the large number of companies with qualifications and capabilities. Nearly in a state of flooding. Unless you cut corners, you simply cannot adapt to the current competitive environment." The director of a company told reporters.

According to a rough estimate, the current proportion of transformer companies' liquidity is as high as 50%. In other words, if you want to generate a production value of 1 billion yuan, you must have 500 million yuan of liquidity to support it. For this traditional manufacturing industry, it is true. It's a big shock. The reporter learned that because of the large amount of investment, poor competition, low profits, and other reasons, some powerful companies are even considering whether to “close business”.

Excellent enterprises collectively "escape"? This industry is really "sick".

It is reported that because the proportion of raw material costs is too high, the profit gap between the companies is not large, and the profits of companies that optimize management are up to 5 percentage points higher than those of other companies. It is not difficult to imagine that under such circumstances, if unfair competition such as aluminum substitutes for copper occurs repeatedly, it will inevitably reduce the enthusiasm of enterprise technological innovation and product upgrading, and it will be even more difficult to fundamentally improve the overall level of the industry.

Undoubtedly, behind the chaotic market environment, overcapacity and disorderly competition are undoubtedly the “starters”. According to statistics, China's annual transformer capacity is as high as 3 billion kVA, and only the transformer manufacturers of TBEA, West Electric Group, and Tianwei Baoji have exceeded 500 million kVA. Some people jokingly commented: "China's transformer capacity can fully meet the needs of transformers all over the world," and serious oversupply of transformers with voltages of 220 kilovolts and below is even more serious.

As for the number of transformer companies in the country, there is not yet a single agency that can provide exact figures. However, the consensus reached is that there is a close relationship between overcapacity and the low entry barriers in the transformer industry. To this end, many market participants shouted out loudly to raise the threshold for entry into the transformer industry.

"In addition to the need for product testing certificates, I suggest that the process of production should also be taken as another major inspection object. Whether the company has production conditions, what kind of equipment is used, and whether process management is standardized? These conditions can better reflect one The company's comprehensive level. In addition, multi-point reference also makes 'cheating' more difficult, and some companies that do not have full production conditions will naturally be completely out." Industry sources told reporters.

Is the aluminum core transformer feasible?

Since aluminum-core transformers are so common in the industry, it can be seen that aluminum-core transformers have the potential to replace copper-core transformers. People can not help asking whether the aluminum core transformer is feasible? The reporter noted that in fact, many market participants agree to promote aluminum core transformers.

"The aluminum core transformer is worth promoting. We oppose the use of aluminum to replace copper, not to negate this process, but to oppose the sale of aluminum core transformers by some companies as copper core transformers. This is a fraudulent user's act and seriously disrupts the market order. However, the aluminum-core transformers deserve the promotion of the whole society," the proponents said.

It is reported that China's use of copper core transformers was determined in the 1970s. At that time, the price gap between copper and aluminum was not significant, and people naturally chose more conductive copper during the design process. However, with the rapid soaring of copper prices, the cost pressures have become increasingly severe. In the use of copper cores and aluminum cores, there have been disagreements among the industry, and some people think that aluminum core transformers are worth promoting.

"Al-core transformers can be used in transformers, especially distribution transformers. Although the electrical conductivity of aluminum is somewhat lower than that of copper, at current technological level, aluminum-core transformers can be matched for both no-load and load loss. The industry standard in the field of electricity, in addition to increasing the wire size and the size of the transformer housing, has no effect on the others, but the manufacturing cost has been reduced by a lot. Besides copper as a non-renewable resource, why do we not save on copper?” said the above person.

In their view, if the copper core transformers, aluminum core transformers, and half copper semi-aluminum transformers are marked separately in the sales process, it will be conducive to establishing a transparent and orderly market competition environment.

"Mainly, we must consider the needs of users. After marking them separately, if the market demand for aluminum core transformers is not large, companies will naturally not remanufacture them, and there will be no substitute for aluminum instead of copper," he said. Is it easy to change the current industry standards? In particular, this line has been implemented for nearly 40 years. To make changes, it must be supported by the relevant ministries and commissions of the country. This really requires a process.

Judging from international development trends, Europe, the United States, and Japan are currently promoting the use of aluminum core strips, such as aluminum core transformers, aluminum core cables, etc., in order to reduce the consumption and dependence of the entire society on copper. It is understood that in Europe, the United States and Japan, during the bidding process of users, it is clear that they can accept aluminum core transformers. In China, the user's bid to specify the aluminum core transformer is relatively rare, so no one company would dare to admit that they are producing aluminum core transformers.

Can aluminum core replace copper core? There is no doubt that this issue will lead to a dual discussion of technology and market. Of course, whether the country can provide support from the industry standards, the user can eventually accept the important criteria for judging the issue. Therefore, in combination with the above-mentioned factors, the aluminum core transformers will enter the market for “justice” and deserve real attention and discussion in all aspects.