The situation forced the sanitary ceramics industry to automate production

In the past, the automation level of sanitary ceramics production in China was generally not high. Domestically funded enterprises had fully automated production equipment with few production lines. In semi-automated production lines, there were more components for manual operations. In a large number of production lines, most of the work was still artificial. carry out.

In the long run, mechanical automation is certainly the general direction of development. In the near future, we will face more shortages, higher demands and better understanding of the enjoyment of workers. However, in fact, it is estimated that there is still a long way to go in terms of automated production leading the Chinese sanitary ceramics production market in the future.

The robotic arm revolutionized the traditional glazing method in which glazing personnel and glaze were in direct contact. At the just-concluded 2012 China International Ceramics Technology Equipment and Building Ceramics Sanitary Ware Products Exhibition, the reporter discovered that the leading role of Sanitary ware did not really play a leading role at the show. Only in the A area of ​​the exhibition hall, there were several exhibitors of sanitary ware machinery companies. In the field of remarkable enterprises, only Hebei, an electromechanical company, the company's robot glazing workstations exhibited this year attracted a lot of attention from the merchants, a small bright spot on the show. However, from a macro perspective, compared with the ceramic machinery booth that occupied half of the exhibition site, bathroom machinery seems to be a little overshadowed.

In addition, in the world's top Italian Sacmi Group, in previous years, there have been surprises in the field of sanitary machinery. However, unexpectedly, no sanitary ware was brought in this exhibition. The equipment seems to have suspended the promotion of sanitary machinery and equipment in China.

Bathroom machinery is not valued at the show, not only a superficial phenomenon, but also reflects the current situation of domestic sanitary enterprises on the demand for automated machinery. Demand has a market, demand is weak, and the market naturally does not thrive. But this can show that China's bathroom companies do not need to introduce such equipment, bathroom bosses are resisting automated production? To go deep into this issue, we must trace the source, from the bathroom automation production itself and the bathroom industry, "China's specific national conditions" to talk about From.

No retreat before, after the pursuit of soldiers - the urgency of sanitary automation For the sanitary industry, the mechanized production is mainly in the following areas: the material and the choice of materials, using mixers, ball mills, feeders to replace the artificial labor; In molding, high-pressure forming molds are used instead of traditional plaster molds, and grouting is replaced by pipeline pumping instead of artificial grouting. On glazing, mechanical enamels, glazing cupboards, glazing tanks, and circulating glazing lines are used instead of pure manual glazing procedures. ; In the post-production polishing, testing, OEM, use mechanical grinding wheel, vacuum technology and recycling line OEM to replace the corresponding manual operation.

At present, the degree of automation in sanitary ware production in the world generally falls into three categories: one is the complete automation of the entire line, the typical process is high-pressure grouting, the robot hand is glazing, and the processes are automatically transported. In addition to equipment inspectors and process inspectors on the entire production line, basically no operator can be seen; one is semi-automated production, low-pressure grouting, manual repair, artificial or robot hand glazing, manual transport or manual and mechanical combination Handling, more workers on the production line; there is a class almost all manual operation, the degree of automation is very low.

Bathroom industry automation production is the situation. Traditional sanitary ware production is a labor-intensive enterprise and requires more first-line production workers to do manual work. In the past, cheap labor was the most important resource for Chinese companies. Although the general worker's mobility was relatively large, companies basically had no need to worry about recruiting people. In addition, traditional sanitary ware companies strive for greater profitability by compressing labor costs and extending labor time. However, all this has become a thing of the past. With inflation and the increasing operating costs of enterprises, especially the change in the concept of new generations of workers after 80 and 90, bathroom companies have gradually lost their traditional advantages of cheap manual work. The wages of low-end laborers represented by migrant workers have gradually increased.

According to the statistics of the reporters, compared with the previous two years, wages in the provinces where the major sanitary areas of China's sanitary warehousing are rising significantly, and some experts predict that the labor prices in China will continue to rise in the next five years. Every year before and after the Spring Festival, the "agricultural workers' tide" is gradually replaced by the "migrant workers shortage", which leads to a series of problems such as recruitment difficulties and labor-related tensions. These problems ultimately directly affect the survival and development of sanitary enterprises.

When the reporter chatted with a manager of a medium-sized bathroom company, “Now the glazing and grouting are all dirty and tired. No young people are willing to do it. Now many of the young people who come out to work are after 90. Their ideas. Unlike their parents, mechanical, repetitive and unfavorable work, they do not want to do high prices," he complained. At the same time, he also stated that the national minimum wage standard is now generally raised and the cost of employing people has risen.

At the same time, in the past two years, the market environment has been unsatisfactory, and all kinds of promotional campaigns are raging. Most sanitary companies compete for price cuts, some declines have been basically equal to costs, and profit margins have been compressed at a very low level. "One side is the loss of workers and the other side is the decline in profits. There is no escape route before. There are pursuers."