Lack of willingness and lack of funds Enterprise equipment renewal still needs to be solved

Is there an urgent need for equipment replacement in mainland China? How big is the space? Zheng Shajie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, previously introduced that in 2023, the scale of equipment investment in key areas such as industry and agriculture in the mainland will be about 4.9 trillion yuan, and with the in-depth promotion of high-quality development, the demand for equipment renewal will continue to expand, and the preliminary estimate will be a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan.

Reporter Wang Xiaoxia

Under the active guidance of the national macro policy, "promoting a new round of large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods" has triggered extensive discussions among enterprises and the market.

This round of large-scale equipment renewal actions led by the national level covers a wide range of industries, from intelligent manufacturing to green environmental protection, from infrastructure to daily consumption, many fields are included, and the preliminary estimate will be a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan, and its influence and driving force should not be underestimated.

What is particularly striking is that compared with the previous demand stimulus measures, this round of policies shows a more distinct new thinking of "mining increments from stocks". This means that the policy is not only focused on short-term economic growth stimulus, but also committed to achieving long-term sustainable economic development by optimizing resource allocation and improving production efficiency.

So, how is the implementation of large-scale equipment renewal progressing under the current policy framework? How responsive and willing are companies to participate? In the process of promotion, what problems have been encountered and how to deal with them? In response to this series of problems, the reporter of China Economic Times recently conducted a multi-party visit.

Through in-depth exchanges with enterprise leaders and industry experts, the reporter found that although the policy has broad prospects, it is still facing challenges in many aspects such as financing and market docking at the practical level. How to better mobilize the enthusiasm of the market and ensure the full release of policy dividends has become an urgent problem to be solved.

Policies have helped to make positive progress in equipment renewal

In the workshop of a machinery manufacturing enterprise in Jiangxi, the machine roars, a busy production scene, the newly installed CNC machine tools are running at high speed, accurately cutting pieces of metal plates, and the automated assembly line next to it is orderly to transfer the cut parts to the next process, the whole production process almost without manual intervention, greatly reducing labor costs.

Recently, the company completed a major equipment renewal project as planned, invested 45 million yuan, introduced advanced CNC machine tools and automated assembly lines, and comprehensively upgraded the original metal processing production line.

"The addition of this batch of new equipment has made a qualitative leap in our production efficiency." The person in charge of production of the enterprise told the China Economic Times: "This update not only makes a qualitative leap in our product quality, but also makes us have a stronger market competitiveness with a substantial improvement in production efficiency." Orders that used to take a week to complete are now delivered in four days, and customer satisfaction has increased. ”

With the support of the policy, Henan Shenma Aramid Technology Development Co., Ltd. has recently updated about 330 sets of main process equipment, including reactors, refining towers and supporting feed tanks, chloroform separators, solidification bath waste liquid coolers and supporting high-level tanks, dissolving machines and imported winding machines, and about 169 sets of main imported equipment.

"The update and introduction of these new equipment has greatly improved energy efficiency, reduced energy consumption and environmental pollution, and played a vital role in the improvement of the company's technology, efficiency and other indicators." The relevant person in charge of the company said.

"Our equipment renewal application materials have been submitted and are currently being approved, and if we can apply for it, it will definitely be of great help to the development of the enterprise." The person in charge of a manufacturing enterprise in Shaanxi told the China Economic Times reporter that the direction of the equipment update is automation and intelligence, so as to improve production efficiency and product quality, reduce the waste of human resources, and improve the market competitiveness of enterprises.

Large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods are major policy arrangements on the mainland. In March this year, the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-in of Consumer Goods; In July, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Several Measures on Supporting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Trade-in of Consumer Goods".

The National Development and Reform Commission recently held a special press conference to introduce that at present, 150 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds have been arranged in two batches to the project, supporting more than 4,600 projects in the fields of industry, environmental infrastructure, transportation, logistics, education, cultural tourism, medical care, energy-using equipment, energy and electricity, old residential elevators, recycling and recycling.

"Large-scale equipment refresh is of strategic overall importance." Lian Ping, president and chief economist of Guangkai Chief Industry Research Institute, told China Economic Times that in the short term, it is a key measure to expand effective investment, promote technological progress and industrial transformation and upgrading, improve production efficiency and increase advanced production capacity, improve the quality of the supply system and promote green development; In the medium and long term, it is an important starting point and important guarantee for building a modern economic system, promoting new industrialization, helping the high-quality development of new urbanization and developing new quality productivity.

Cui Cheng, a researcher at the China Macroeconomic Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Economic Times that the policy will play a positive role in stabilizing the mainland's economic growth in both the short and medium term.

Is there an urgent need for equipment replacement in mainland China? How big is the space? Zheng Shajie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, previously introduced that in 2023, the scale of equipment investment in key areas such as industry and agriculture in the mainland will be about 4.9 trillion yuan, and with the in-depth promotion of high-quality development, the demand for equipment renewal will continue to expand, and the preliminary estimate will be a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan.

How is the implementation of large-scale equipment refresh progressing under the current policy framework? The data shows that positive progress has been made in the renewal of equipment in key areas, and the role of stabilizing growth and promoting transformation has been emerging. In the first eight months, the investment in the purchase of equipment and tools increased by 16.8%, the growth rate was 13.4 percentage points higher than that of all fixed asset investment (excluding rural households), and the contribution rate to the growth of total investment reached 64.2%, an increase of 3.5 percentage points over the previous seven months, indicating that after the implementation of the afterburner policy, the pulling effect in August was more obvious.

In many places, positive progress has also been made in updating equipment. Judging from the data, from January to August, Jiangsu Province has completed a total of 219,000 units (sets) of equipment updates in the industrial field, driving a year-on-year increase of 12.6% in industrial fixed asset investment; In the industrial field of Zhejiang Province, 97,000 units (sets) of equipment were updated, driving the purchase of industrial equipment and tools to increase by 9.5% year-on-year; Hubei Province's investment in the purchase of equipment and tools increased by 22.2% year-on-year, 5.4 percentage points higher than the national growth rate......

Lack of willingness and capital, how to mobilize the enthusiasm of the market is the key

Although the equipment renewal work has achieved initial positive results, the current domestic effective demand is insufficient, and the economy is facing great downward pressure. general financial difficulties for local governments; Private enterprises have been severely affected and have been slow to recover; Small and medium-sized banks are under great debt pressure and lack of risk control capabilities. Against this backdrop, there are still a number of issues associated with the promotion of large-scale equipment renewal.

"Equipment renewal involves high costs for enterprises, and raising funds has become a primary challenge." The relevant person in charge of a smart equipment manufacturing company in Guangdong told the China Economic Times reporter that enterprises need to weigh many factors such as development funds, raw material costs and investment returns when considering equipment updates, so the decision-making process is more cautious.

The person in charge of a company mainly engaged in environmental protection equipment in Chongqing told the China Economic Times reporter that the current economy is facing downward pressure, market volatility and unpredictable demand, which adds investment risks to equipment renewal decisions. In addition, the production shutdown or reduction that may result during the equipment renewal period will also directly affect the production and sales of products, which in turn will cause economic losses. Therefore, many companies do not dare to invest easily.

The China Economic Times reporter learned that in order to solve the funding problem, the People's Bank of China launched a re-lending policy for scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation, aiming to encourage financial institutions to increase loan support for technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises and technological transformation and equipment renewal projects in key areas. "However, although enterprises recognize the many benefits of large-scale equipment renewal, due to the large investment and long cycle, the enterprises around them are not very enthusiastic about modernization." Chen Qingle, the head of a shoe-making company in Wenzhou, told the China Economic Times that it generally takes 3-5 years for equipment to be repaid, and it is expected that the government can have greater financial support.

In this regard, Cui Cheng pointed out that due to multiple factors such as internal and external situations, many enterprises currently choose to focus on stability, and maintaining the status quo has become the first choice for many enterprises.

The main body of equipment renewal is the enterprise, and the lack of willingness, lack of funds, lack of policies, etc. have become the main reasons restricting enterprises to carry out equipment renewal. Lian Ping said that at present, many enterprises are still in an important stage of recovery and development from difficulties, so there will be concerns about large investment in equipment renewal, long cycle, and slow effect. Compared with state-owned enterprises, private enterprises will also face the problems of fiscal and taxation, financial support and other sources of funds to solve large-scale equipment renewal, and the enthusiasm for renewal and transformation is not very high.

In view of the above problems, Lian Ping believes that on the one hand, it is necessary to give full play to the decisive role of the market and enhance the guidance and service of the government; On the other hand, it is necessary to earnestly solve the practical difficulties faced by private enterprises, especially the constraints on capital investment.

At the same time, equipment renewal is not simply a replacement of advanced equipment, not only requires front-line workers with corresponding skills to operate and maintain, but also needs compound talents who understand both manufacturing and emerging technologies to accurately judge the transformation of production lines and promote the overall upgrading of production capacity. A number of business leaders told the China Economic Times reporter that the key to equipment renewal lies in people, how to cultivate and introduce talents, and how to deal with the challenge of talent shortage is another problem that equipment renewal must face.

On the basis of the above problems, the scope of device updates also needs to be expanded urgently.

Sun Yibiao, chairman of Guobiao Power Group, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from the China Economic Times that the coverage of the current large-scale equipment renewal policy is not extensive enough, and he called on the relevant update policy to expand the scope and pay more attention to the IT industry, such as the upgrading and system reconstruction of the traditional UPS system, which can be based on the updated scale, capital investment and updated performance indicators, to give different degrees of policy support. He said that this will greatly stimulate the enthusiasm of the IT industry for equipment renewal, promote the flow of capital chain, and meet the demand for large-scale equipment renewal, which can not only promote the green development of equipment renewal in key areas, but also effectively avoid information security risks in UPS online operation.

How to recycle old equipment is also an important issue.

In the interview, the reporter learned that at present, manufacturers and enterprises are not enthusiastic about recycling, mainly due to the imperfect recycling system in the mainland, insufficient government subsidies and incentives. The profitability of recycling companies is weak, which hinders the development of recycling systems. Lian Ping suggested that international experience should be learned from to improve the recycling system of old equipment. The government needs to increase financial subsidies and create incentives and regulations that require manufacturers to set up recycling departments to cope with large-scale recycling demand.

"Industrial equipment and urban equipment renewal projects are often large-scale, time-consuming, costly, and slow-to-achieve, and it is difficult for the government to promote them quickly and effectively." Industry experts told the China Economic Times reporter that more market forces should be introduced, more resources should be mobilized, a reasonable and effective interest linkage mechanism should be established, and a multi-party joint force should be formed for the coordinated development of market resources such as local governments and enterprises, so as to truly make good policies play a big role.