The "Quality" and "Intelligence" of the Development of Plastic Pipe Industry

After 20 years of rapid development, China's plastic pipeline industry currently ranks first in the world in terms of overall production capacity, output, number of enterprises, and pipeline varieties (including independent innovation). As an ordinary member of the manufacturing industry, what is the overall level of manufacturing in the plastic pipeline industry, which has many "world firsts"? What is the development prospect of plastic pipes during the 13th Five Year Plan period? At the 10th General Meeting of the Plastic Pipeline Professional Committee of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association and the 2017 Plastic Pipeline Industry Exchange Conference held in Taiyuan, Shanxi from April 13th to 14th, industry insiders gave the answer that the plastic pipeline industry should also implement supply side reform, focus on "quality" and "intelligence", and promote industrial optimization and upgrading.

According to statistics from the Plastic Pipe Professional Committee of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as the China Plastics Association Plastic Pipe Professional Committee), the production of plastic pipes in China has increased from 11 million tons in 2012 to 14.36 million tons in 2016 over the past five years, with an average annual growth rate of 7.51%. Last year, the export volume of plastic pipes was 582200 tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.87%, but the foreign exchange earnings continued to decline, indicating that the competition pressure in the international market continues to increase.

We have chosen the theme of this year's annual meeting as' Inheritance, Innovation, Quality, and Intelligent Manufacturing ', which is very in line with the current development of China's plastic pipeline industry.' Inheritance 'is the foundation of the development of the plastic pipeline industry, and the development of the industry must inherit its advantages and characteristics;' Innovation 'is the driving force of industry development;' Quality 'is the soul of industry development; and' Intelligent Manufacturing 'is the direction of industry development, "said Ma Zhanfeng, Vice Chairman of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association.

Re understanding the demand side of 'moderate expansion'

Zhang Jianjun, Chairman of the Plastic Pipeline Special Committee of the China Plastics Association, stated that looking at the development of China's plastic pipeline industry in the past five years, it has shown a steady increase in the total industry output; Optimizing industrial structure and steadily increasing industry concentration; The pace of technological innovation and progress is accelerating, and the market application proportion of new products continues to increase; The product quality level is gradually improving, and the service level is further improving; Improvement of enterprise quality awareness and progress in brand building; Enhance the environmental awareness of enterprises and actively practice green production; The comprehensive competitiveness of the industry has significantly improved, and its international influence continues to expand. During the 13th Five Year Plan period, the entire industry also faces many challenges, including the problem of disorderly competition in the market, and the urgent need to improve product quality; Overcapacity remains a huge pressure on the development of the industry, and so on.

The traditional 'demand side' of plastic pipes - the real estate industry with strong dual driving forces - has entered a period of adjustment, and the usage of related pipe products has been significantly affected, especially for the development of production enterprises that mainly produce pipe products in buildings. As we enter the '13th Five Year Plan' period, more opportunities have emerged on the 'demand side' related to pipe development. According to Huang Jiawen, Deputy Director of the National Construction Engineering Quality Inspection Center, the construction of coastal cities, urban underground comprehensive pipe galleries, residential industrialization, and the vigorous development of prefabricated buildings will provide more market opportunities for the plastic pipe industry.

According to Gao Lixin, Chief Engineer of the Science and Technology Development Promotion Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development, based on the comprehensive analysis of the demand for plastic pipes in construction and municipal engineering, the average annual demand for plastic pipes in the housing and urban-rural construction industry during the 13th Five Year Plan period is about 5 million tons, including about 4 million tons for municipal engineering and about 1 million tons for construction engineering.

Statistics show that agricultural (including drinking water safety engineering, irrigation and drainage engineering) pipelines, municipal water supply and drainage pipelines, and building water supply and drainage pipelines are still the main application areas of plastic pipelines. From the market demand and usage in 2016, agricultural applications reached 3.6 million tons, accounting for as much as 25.1%, followed by municipal water supply and drainage applications of 1.72 million tons and 1.44 million tons, respectively, accounting for 12% and 10%.

Looking ahead to the next few years, the Chinese plastic pipeline industry will still have good development opportunities, but the growth rate of the industry will further slow down, competition will intensify, and the industrial structure adjustment of the industry will continue to deepen. The speed of shuffling and eliminating outdated production capacity will gradually accelerate, and the development resources of the industry will be further concentrated in enterprises with brand advantages, quality assurance, and competitive strength, "said Wang Zhanjie, Secretary General of the Plastic Pipeline Special Committee of the China Plastics Association.

Upgrade intelligent manufacturing on the supply side

At the conference, the Plastic Pipeline Special Committee of the China Plastics Association announced the list of units participating in the "Steel Belt Reinforced Polyethylene Spiral Bellows Quality Assurance Alliance", which means that the "Quality Assurance Alliance" model for plastic pipelines in China has further advanced. At the exchange meeting two years ago, China's plastic pipeline industry first proposed a new form of "Quality Assurance Alliance" to unblock the bottleneck problem of quality that restricts the development of the industry. After exploring the quality assurance alliance for the plastic pipeline industry for water supply, the PE pipeline quality assurance alliance for gas use, and the color masterbatch product quality assurance alliance for plastic pipes and fittings, the quality assurance alliance model for this conference has been further developed.

Wang Zhanjie stated that the Quality Assurance Alliance is a new attempt and exploration in the development of the industry. Currently, the quality level of plastic pipes in the Chinese market is still uneven, and the phenomenon of "cheap and low-quality" still exists. The overall market's irregularity is not conducive to the development of the industry. To improve the quality and efficiency of the supply system of the entire industry, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of quality brands, strengthen industry self-discipline and quality integrity system, improve the quality assurance system, cultivate the spirit of craftsmanship for excellence, accelerate the pace of "machine replacement", increase varieties, improve quality, create brands, strengthen the concept of being a century old enterprise, establish long-term quality and brand awareness, and not pursue short-term improper benefits with "cheap and low-quality" pipe products.

After so many years of development, the pipeline industry has reached a basic consensus on quality: 'Good equipment+good materials (reasonable and scientific formulas)+good people+executing the correct process=high-quality products'. This understanding is also in line with the six elements of quality system management:' people, machines, materials, methods, environment, and testing '. For the improvement of industry quality, the current rise in labor costs has forced enterprises to upgrade their technology in manual substitution, completing the transformation from manufacturing to' smart 'manufacturing. Huang Jiawen said that the essence of' smart 'is also the way and means to achieve' quality '.

Wang Zhanjie revealed that in addition to upgrading intelligent manufacturing, China's plastic pipeline industry is also actively preparing to develop group standards in accordance with the direction and requirements of standardization reform, in order to achieve full coverage of product standards. By strengthening standardization work, it will provide protection for product quality improvement and application safety.