Current situation of the sealing industry (2)

It is well known that the overall competitiveness of China's sealing industry is not strong. In our country, the sealing industry can be said to be the smallest industry, but products can be used in conjunction with large industries. Whether in aviation, navigation, petroleum, chemical industry, machinery, power generation, metallurgy, mining, etc., sealing components are indispensable. In short, all organic, pump, pipe, and valve components rely on sealing components. So although the industry is small, it involves a wide range of aspects. In recent years, with the development of the economy, the sealing industry has also developed rapidly. But unlike other industries, although the sealing industry is developing rapidly, the changes in sealing enterprises are slower. For example, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were only a few manufacturers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong, and seal factories were everywhere in the coastal, inland, southern, and northern regions. The entire sealing industry has grown from a few before to as many as 300, and this development speed can be said to be very fast. But for individual enterprises, many of them have not changed much, their production scale is stagnant, and some have even regressed. The technological strength has not increased significantly, while others are weakening. Many manufacturers still cling to the "four old" principles, namely old products, old technology, old equipment, and old scale. Of course, there are also some companies that have strong abilities to imitate and imitate certain products, but there are not many companies in the entire industry that have the ability to independently develop new products. In terms of products, the vast majority of manufacturers still have some old products such as spiral wound gaskets, packing rings, packing, and high-strength gaskets. Slightly innovative polytetrafluoroethylene products, such as polytetrafluoroethylene packing and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene tape, lag far behind foreign countries in terms of technology and quality. Looking around, there are very few new products. In terms of technical strength, most enterprises have a relatively small proportion of scientific and technological personnel, and many enterprises lack technical personnel with legitimate professional backgrounds, resulting in weak technical strength. Therefore, enterprises lack corresponding development and transformation capabilities. Since the establishment of the European Union, the strength brought by the alliance has prompted the EU to raise and establish new European sealing quality standards, replacing the series of standards previously relied on by the American Fluid Institute. In the new European sealing quality standards, there is an emphasis on leakage rate. The leakage rate of products in our country is generally in the range of 10-1mg/s, while high-strength graphite composite plates with a leakage rate of 10-4mg/s have already appeared in Europe! In terms of equipment, the vast majority of enterprises only have a few outdated weaving machines, a few homemade winding machines, simple punching and shearing machines, etc., relying on the ability of experienced workers to organize production; However, many manufacturers' equipment is in a state of long-term production task saturation. In terms of quality management, the vast majority of enterprises rely on the proficiency of operators to produce products well, and do not produce according to standardized process standards, which is also a necessary management tool. Although many manufacturers have obtained ISO9000 series certification, their internal process documents, quality control plans, operation guidance documents, and equipment management documents are often empty and weak, far from the international level. In terms of scale, the vast majority of enterprises have sales revenue below 5 million yuan, with only a few achieving 10 million yuan and a few achieving over 10 million yuan. To be frank, a large part of the sales revenue of many manufacturers is outsourced procurement parts,