Old K says every week – let’s talk about things in the petrochemical design industry. Post 1: The development history of China’s survey and design industry

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This post was last edited by henglinkou on 2020-6-14 at 16:12. Starting from this Sunday, a new post will be published each week to discuss various aspects of the petrochemical design industry. The aim is to help people gain an understanding of the knowledge related to this field through discussion. The topics covered will include **policies, regulatory requirements, management of design firms, project management in design work, and professional knowledge**. Everyone is welcome to participate actively in the discussions and share their valuable opinions. Lao K writes every week – Talks about the petrochemical design industry, Post 1: The development history of China’s survey and design industry. Generally speaking, the development of China’s survey and design industry can be divided into two main phases: 1. From the founding of New China to before the reform and opening up: After the founding of New China, in order to carry out construction projects in various sectors of the country, various ministries established survey and design teams. At that time, these survey and design units were institutional entities; their funding came from government allocations, and they did not need to seek out projects on their own – they only had to complete the tasks assigned to them by their superiors. As determined by those authorities, each design institute had its own area of specialization. For example, several design institutes under the former Ministry of Chemical Industry specialized in sulfuric acid and phosphate fertilizers, while others focused on caustic soda and soda ash. Some were dedicated to coal chemical processing (mainly for fertilizer production), others to petrochemicals, and still others to chemical mining. 2. Since the reform and opening up: Starting in the 1980s, design institutions were restructured into corporate entities; they were required to move towards the market gradually, with government funding being reduced until it was completely eliminated. As a result, these design institutions transformed from public sector organizations into private enterprises. During this period, they experienced rapid development, adopting advanced engineering management practices from abroad, and some of them were able to take on foreign projects over time. The development of private and foreign-owned design institutes dates back to around 2000; before that, there were only state-owned design institutes. There are roughly several paths for the development of private design institutes; one of them is through the transformation of some small state-owned design institutes ； The second approach is to acquire enterprise-level, municipal, or provincial design institutes through capital operations in order to obtain the necessary qualifications ； Third, it develops by relying on a certain distinctive technology. Foreign-funded design institutes generally develop by being affiliated with large foreign engineering or technology companies. In the current domestic design market, state-owned design institutes still hold a dominant position. State-owned enterprises generally assign their projects to these state-owned design institutes; for example, projects related to Sinopec, CNPC, and CNOOC are usually entrusted to their own affiliated design institutes. It is difficult for private and foreign-owned design institutes to secure projects from state-owned enterprises. The tasks taken on by private and foreign-owned design institutes mainly come from local authorities and private enterprises, so they still face considerable pressure in terms of survival.