Shuffling intensifies in 2018 – the market will not favor manufacturing sectors with outdated technology
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Before 2014, the heat exchanger industry was at its peak: you could make money by manufacturing products according to blueprints. After 2015, due to factors such as environmental regulations and the need to reduce inventory, engineering projects declined sharply, and the heat exchanger industry entered a difficult period. Most manufacturing plants cannot wait for ready-made drawings; they struggle to produce goods based solely on drawings. Between 2015 and 2017, smart manufacturing plants chose not to invest additional funds in hardware production or even to sell off their hardware equipment; instead, they focused on building their soft capabilities: process calculation and drafting. By doing so, they avoided the need for drawings, as they could communicate directly with the client, thereby eliminating the need for design firms. From my experience in design firms, the number of manufacturing plants that these firms turn to is declining rapidly, especially small and medium-sized ones. Setting aside design firms, going straight to the client to obtain design and manufacturing services is already a trick used by some manufacturers, with excellent results. Since 2018, the effort to strengthen the soft capabilities of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises has accelerated; just looking at the situation in January, this momentum is greater than at any other time in history. If this continues, the path for \"custom manufacturing\" factories will become increasingly narrow, making it difficult to sustain operations.
These days, design institutes only provide condition drawings, with the manufacturing plants handling the rest; without design capabilities, it’s basically impossible to survive.
Those who fall behind will be eliminated; innovation is the only way forward.
Profits in the machining industry are being squeezed ever thinner.
If one continues to position themselves within the realm of \"machining\" and fails to develop skills in process design and drafting, it will be impossible to move forward.
Those companies that continue to innovate in the market competition are ultimately the ones that emerge as winners.
This post was last edited by letitbe on 2018-2-27 09:30. In my opinion, the decline of the industry is mainly due to poor manufacturing processes; either companies try to gain fame by using very large-scale equipment, which results in high energy consumption, or the manufacturing processes are inefficient, leading to high energy use. Another reason is the attempt to save money by neglecting proper treatment of waste materials. Is it the manufacturer’s fault? It’s all because the craftsmanship is too poor! ! In today’s equipment manufacturing industry, it’s not enough to simply manufacture equipment or have equipment engineers and workers; what’s needed are optimal process conditions at the upstream level. Many people only know about HTRI and HTFS, and they boast about how excellent their process designs are. I don’t believe that the role of a process engineer is merely to carry out some simple heat transfer calculations for individual units or hydraulic calculations for tower internals in order to advance process development. . Is it the manufacturer’s fault? It’s all because the craftsmanship is too poor! ! For example, with APIs and Alfa Laval, if you provide poor process conditions, no matter how excellent the plate heat exchanger manufacturer may be, they won’t be able to create equipment that performs at an optimal level. All manufacturing companies design equipment based on the given process conditions. Nowadays, the drawing design capabilities of equipment manufacturers are generally quite high; if energy savings and environmental protection goals aren’t achieved, it’s not a problem related to equipment design, but rather due to inadequate process conditions – you simply haven’t developed reasonable processes. Don’t blame the equipment design or manufacturing for this. Is it the manufacturer’s fault? It’s all because the craftsmanship is too poor! ! The industry needs to strengthen itself by first improving independent research and development of local process packages. Currently, in such areas, companies copy foreign solutions; there is no real improvement. Equipment manufacturers only need to be good at equipment design – process development is the responsibility of patent holders, design institutes, and universities. Is it the manufacturer’s fault? It’s all because the craftsmanship is too poor! ! According to the master’s advice, the manufacturing plant also needs to be proficient in ASPEN PLUS, handle PID control, as well as perform equipment size calculations and structural selection. Unless the master intends to continue using that approach common in local refineries – where one simply buys a few pieces of equipment, while decisions regarding PID control, electrical systems, and civil engineering are made arbitrarily – as a model for capital investment. This further shows that it is precisely because of the poor quality of the manufacturing processes that home refineries have remained widespread from the 1980s to the present, preventing the industry from progressing! ! Will it work with ASPEN? Can you use PFD? Does it have a UID? Will it have a PID? Does it cover all processes in coal chemical engineering, fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, fiber synthesis, and petroleum? All day long, they just copy foreign countries’ process packages – \"copying foreigners in large-scale projects and copying foreigners in small-scale ones.\" Many process engineers don’t know how to make proper selections; they can’t distinguish between the functions of the baffle plates in heat exchangers and the bypass baffles, they’re unclear as to whether the flow direction of fluid is triangular with straight sides or triangular with angled sides when the baffle plates in horizontal heat exchangers are arranged on either side, and they don’t understand whether the hydraulic calculations and design for tower internals fall under the responsibility of the process department or the equipment department. This is all due to a poor level of expertise in process engineering! ! It’s about the equipment design and manufacturing at the factory! Process technology is the concern of patent holders, design institutes, engineering companies, and universities!
Is equipment design just about drawing a diagram? Is all the credit due to the craftsmanship? CAD, SW6, PVElite, PVdesktop are just software – tools That's all If you really have the skills, then create the construction drawings yourself. Nowadays, some people can’t even prepare proper process data sheets; they can’t even determine the diameter and length accurately