China's heat meter business line

The self-development of heat meters in China began in the 1990s. At present, about 70 companies have produced and operated heat meters. The three cities in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shandong, which are relatively concentrated, account for about 50% of the total. Of these companies, about 24% of the total number of joint ventures, cooperation, or operating agencies with foreign companies specializing in heat meters. Most of the heat meter manufacturers in China are private SMEs, accounting for about 70%. There are approximately 200,000 sets of domestic and imported heat meters installed on centralized heating or cooling systems throughout the country.

The technology still needs to be improved. The current heating system in China raises more stringent requirements for heat meters in China than in European countries. If the water quality is poor, the problems of oxidation and corrosion are unavoidable. For a variety of reasons, the water not only contains a large amount of harmful chemicals, but also various impurities that are destructive to the flowmeter. The flowmeter is the main component in the heat meter. The flowmeter sensing technology is relatively complicated and has many problems. The Chinese heat meter is especially weak in this respect.

In the "use report" and "trial and demonstration report" of Chinese heat meters in many places or enterprises across the country, all the objective evaluations reflect some problems to varying degrees, including the heat meter technology itself is not perfect, especially long-term use. The reliability has yet to be proven.

The quality inspection system still needs to be perfected. The "system" mentioned here includes the following: the heat meter manufacturer must be able to ensure that its product quality meets the national standards necessary for the factory inspection and inspection system; the technical supervision department in accordance with the national verification regulations for the heat meter companies and The inspection and inspection system necessary for the supervision and inspection of its products, as well as a fair and scientific management and inspection system that can allow the users of heat meters and the metering and charging management departments to be recognized and installed with confidence. The “perfect” quality inspection system means that the system formed by these three aspects can ensure that each set of heat meters can work normally for a long period of time in the positions where it is installed; as a basis for measuring charges, it is competent and reliable. The experience of the past few years has shown that such a quality inspection system has not yet been established in China.

The brand image has yet to establish China's heat meters. There are few companies like China's home appliances that have established such well-known brand names as “Haier”, “Changhong” and “Beauty”, giving users sufficient recognition and trust. On the one hand, the heat meter needs a certain amount of propaganda that contains the meaning of science, so that the general public has more ability to understand and judge. On the other hand, heat meter manufacturers themselves need to make their own brand image.

The market has not yet formed a scale that is right in the right place. The reform of the heating billing system is a general trend. As a potential market, there is a bright future for the emerging industry of heat meters. However, at present, the heat metering reform is in the experimental pilot stage. Almost all the leaders of the heat meter companies are in anxieties - because the market is not as big as expected, the investment paid has not been recovered for a long period of time; or we cannot but consider: how to solve the problems found after the sale? How to raise the investment needed for improvement and development... In particular, companies with heat meters as the only product are under more pressure, and even have the feeling of “difficulties in riding on tigers”.

Going out of a new path for development. How can China's heat meter companies develop a development path in emerging markets? I believe that putting the stability and reliability of product quality at the top of the list and raising awareness of the significance of the quality verification system are the most noteworthy issues for the Chinese heat meter industry.

The heat meter is a new measuring instrument product in our country. It is an instrument product that stipulates “implementation of compulsory verification” by the state and serves as the basis for measurement of charges, that is, measurement instruments used for trade settlement. According to Article 12 and Article 15 of the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Measurement”, “enterprises and institutions that manufacture and repair measuring instruments must verify the manufacturing and repair of measuring instruments to ensure that the measurement performance of the products is qualified.” Must have facilities, personnel, and verification equipment that are suitable for the manufacturing and repair of measuring instruments."

Every manufacturer of heat meters must pay attention to product verification. If the quality of the product is the life of the company, then the “verification” is the guarantee of product quality.

In China, the heat meter as a new product, industry standards and verification procedures published only two or three years of experience, the need for continuous and timely summary of lessons learned to identify problems to meet the requirements of the verification procedures. This will require continuous efforts and will require a process of improvement that may not be too short.

China's heat meter companies must learn from heating experts, learn from foreign companies, and learn from relevant industry systems.

Most of China's heat meter companies "originate" in the electrical instrument industry, because they do not understand heating and heating, do not understand the system equipment and related technologies, there are quite a few companies in the heat meter design trial production detours, a huge loss.

Deal with the relationship between technology reserves and product reserves.

Chinese heat meter companies need to deal with the relationship between technology reserves and product reserves. In terms of product reliability, the company not only learns from foreign counterparts, but also invests in R&D. It has achieved unique technological development in light of China's national conditions and has laid a solid foundation for the development of large-scale production.

Joint ventures and cooperation with foreign companies will take the same road of development in China's land.

As a newly emerging industry, China's heat meter not only needs foreign advanced technology, but also needs foreign scientific management, especially the product quality assurance system. On the other hand, the special nature of China’s national conditions cannot copy the entire foreign product. , but need to make adjustments and research and development appropriate to national conditions. Therefore, cooperating with foreign advanced technology companies in a proper way may be a hopeful road for the Chinese heat industry.