In recent decades, the position of Chinese companies in the global manufacturing industry chain has been very embarrassing.
In the last century, we provided high-quality raw materials and cheap labor, but most of the profits were earned by downstream foreign brands. Today, we have terminal brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, lenovo and other terminal brands with revenue of more than 100 billion yuan, but most of the profits have been earned by upstream foreign semiconductor companies. Going around, we found that the industry is not only upstream and downstream, but also high-end and low-end.
Fortunately, today's Chinese companies have recognized this problem and worked hard to impact from the low end to the high end, but not every impact of the road is "see the light". Sometimes it is accompanied by deception, counterfeiting, and pitming oneself. The autonomous process of domestic aluminum-plastic film is a typical case in this regard.
First, aluminum-plastic film: "high-end" and "cheap" watershed?
Aluminum-plastic film figuratively speaking, it is a kind of "special tape" used to wrap items. "Special" here has three meanings.
First, the performance of aluminum-plastic film is special
Good aluminum-plastic film packaging can ensure that the humidity of the space inside the package is not higher than 40RH, and its moisture-proof effect is 80 times that of polyethylene thermoplastic resin. In addition, aluminum-plastic film also has excellent oxidation resistance, puncture resistance, high toughness, antistatic and other characteristics.
Second, the aluminum-plastic film wrapping object is special
Good sealing performance, so that aluminum plastic film is widely used in food sealing, electronic product packaging and other traditional industries, such as ketchup, fresh milk bag inner wall, as well as smart phone integrated battery, are wrapped by different types of aluminum plastic film. With the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry, aluminum-plastic film has quickly found a new space for development: battery packaging.
The special performance of aluminum-plastic film just meets the strict requirements of new energy vehicle batteries for environmental sealing and electrode protection. The soft pack battery route with aluminum-plastic film packaging as the key symbol is well received by daimler, Audi, Renault, Volkswagen, Nissan and other well-known car companies.
Third, aluminum-plastic film technology is monopolized
Why are there no Chinese new energy vehicle brands among the above-mentioned car companies that use aluminum-plastic film packaging? This has to mention the third special feature of aluminum-plastic film. Compared with the traditional square batteries encapsulated in aluminum shell and steel shell, aluminum-plastic film soft pack batteries also have the characteristics of complex technology and high cost.
Although today, the mainland's industrial output value has exceeded the sum of the United States, Japan and Germany, and the output of new energy vehicles once accounted for 60% of the world's total output, but not every subdivision of industrial field, China can lead the industry, especially some high-end precision manufacturing areas, such as the aluminum-plastic film we are discussing.
As the standard of soft-packed lithium batteries, the manufacturing technology of aluminum-plastic film has been monopolized by companies such as Japan and South Korea, and the market share of these enterprises in the aluminum-plastic film market has remained above 82% for a long time, and the monopoly has brought high prices. According to statistics, the price of imported aluminum-plastic film is often 20% to 30% higher than the price of the same type of domestic products. The high price of imported aluminum-plastic film has indirectly led to the deviation of the development route of China's new energy vehicle batteries.
For the sake of cost savings, domestic new energy vehicle companies have chosen the square battery route of metal shell packaging.
An aluminum-plastic film has become a watershed between high-end batteries and cheap batteries.
Second, the problem of Chinese enterprises breaking the situation: the monopoly of Japan and South Korea is tightly sewn
So, can the domestic manufacturing industry overcome the monopoly of Japan and South Korea on high-end aluminum-plastic film? Objectively speaking, there are many difficulties, and the difficulties mainly come from two aspects.
1. Foreign companies "cover up tightly"
Different from industries such as clothing and consumer electronics, the end consumer group of the aluminum-plastic film market is industrial customers. In order to put an end to the possibility of Chinese enterprises learning technology, Japanese companies have also chosen the consignment sales model very "chicken thief". Logically, in the mode of direct sales of manufacturers, enterprises and suppliers can directly dock, the production and marketing links will be more streamlined, and the cost will be easier to compress, which is a typical "win-win".
However, Japanese aluminum-plastic film companies would rather let middlemen eat a part of the price difference, but also adhere to the consignment model, the purpose is to let Chinese companies have no access to advanced manufacturing technology, so that they can only be the end consumer of the product forever.
2, their own people pit their own people
While striving to overcome the advanced technology of Japan and South Korea, Chinese enterprises that import aluminum-plastic film must always guard against the "backstab" of domestic counterparts. According to the data of Gaogong Production and Research Institute, There are more than 20 agents in Japan's high-end aluminum-plastic film giant DNP and Showa Electric in China, and individual agents have falsely marked aluminum-plastic film parameters and shoddy charging in order to further enhance profits.
Spending more money, but not even the shadow of technology, how can Chinese companies break through the monopoly of foreign companies on the aluminum-plastic film industry?
Third, the Idea of Chinese Enterprises Breaking the Situation: If you don't let you buy technology, you buy factories
There are usually two shortcuts to the technical level. The first way is to dig up talents, such as south Korean semiconductors counterattack on Japan, relying on the absorption of Japanese semiconductor bulls in batches. But there's another, easier route than bothering to attract talent: buying factories. When the plant is in hand, the relevant talents and technical patents can naturally be collected.
In 2016, Selen New Material, a listed company, completed the acquisition of the aluminum-plastic film business of The Japanese letterpress printing company with a huge investment of 550 million yuan. With this acquisition, Selen New Material instantly became the world's third largest aluminum-plastic film company, seizing 10% of the market share from Japanese companies.
After completing the acquisition of Selen New Material, the aluminum-plastic film technology obtained will be used in the Changzhou production project. Sitting on advanced technology and relying on the domestic market, it is reasonable to say that the development prospects of Selen New Materials are very impressive. However, only 3 years after the acquisition was completed, Selen New Material was exposed to performance fraud.
Buy the technology and fake it, what is going on? In fact, in detail, Selen also has its own "helplessness".
From 2016 to 2019, domestic lithium batteries are based on the square battery of the Ningde era as the absolute mainstream, and the aluminum-plastic film technology acquired by Selen under the pressure of loss has almost no place in the field of emerging new energy vehicles. In the end, in order to maintain the "decentness" on the books, Selen New Materials came up with a trick to inflate revenue by 700 million yuan.
Fortunately, with the improvement of the penetration rate of soft pack batteries, the era of soft packs of domestic batteries has finally come. Selen New Material, which has mastered the technical advantages, is also revitalized. According to the statistics of relevant departments, the current domestic power aluminum plastic film market, Selen new materials account for up to 87% of the share, product positioning is also directly locked in the high-end. It is the only Chinese enterprise in the field of aluminum-plastic film that can compete with the japanese and Korean factories.
In addition to the acquisition route of Selen New Material, there are also a number of aluminum-plastic film enterprises in China that are obsessed with independent research, the most representative of which is Zijiang New Material. Since 2004, Zijiang has been deeply engaged in aluminum-plastic film technology for more than 10 years, and finally became the first aluminum-plastic film manufacturer in China to be recognized by lithium battery giant ATL, thus successfully winning a place in the aluminum-plastic film market.
IV. Conclusion
It is worth noting that the Chinese enterprises that concentrate on aluminum-plastic film technology are not only Selen New Materials and Zijiang. Such as Mingguan New Materials, Putailai, Huazheng New Materials, etc., or have a skill in the process of aluminum-plastic film part, or have stable advantages in capital operation and aluminum-plastic film market layout, all have the strength of long-term development and the possibility of ending the monopoly of Japan and South Korea.
According to the forecast of China Commercial Industry and Technology Research Institute, by 2025, the domestic aluminum-plastic film market will expand from 4.9 billion yuan last year to 8.9 billion yuan, and the global aluminum-plastic film market will also rise from the current 6.6 billion yuan to 14.7 billion yuan. The era of soft bags is coming, and the spring that belongs to Selen and Zijiang is about to begin.
Less cheating, less of their own pits, the rise of domestic manufacturing, is still very worth looking forward to.