What is the gap between domestic instrument manufacturers and internationally renowned brands?

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Current situation of the domestic instrumentation industry: In China, there are a certain number of instrumentation enterprises above a specified scale, with a total workforce of nearly one million people. However, these enterprises are all small in scale, have fragmented expertise, and the vast majority are concentrated in low-end industries. 　　At present, core technologies have been mastered in various commonly used instruments such as temperature measuring instruments, local pressure instruments, display instruments, conventional flow meters, local level instruments, control valve bodies and actuators, as well as DCS systems. It is possible to improve these instruments and develop new products on one’s own; the basic performance of some of these products is comparable to that of foreign products, and their market share is continuously increasing. 　　However, in the area of high-end products such as remote-transmission smart pressure, flow, and level meters, online analysis instruments, solenoid valves, and positioners, although technology has been introduced from abroad, it has not been properly assimilated or used as a basis for further innovation. Over the years, no new products or technologies have been developed, resulting in the overall technical level of China’s instrumentation industry being several years behind international standards. 　　As a result, in the industry of industrial automation control systems and devices, low- to mid-end products are mainly produced by domestic companies, while high- to premium-end products are primarily developed by foreign-funded enterprises. Large and medium-sized engineering projects rely on foreign sources, while small and medium-sized ones turn to the domestic market. Well-known foreign brands, as well as Japan’s automation instruments, are at the forefront of the world in this field; Japan has also given rise to many globally renowned automation companies. Let’s take a look at these well-known enterprises together. 1 YOKOGAWA Electric Group – YOKOGAWA is a name that is well-known to those who work in the field of instruments. Founded in 1915, the company has annual sales amounts reaching 4 billion dollars. Its EJA series of pressure transmitters, DY vortex flowmeters, SE electromagnetic flowmeters, oxygen content analyzers, CS3000 DCS control systems, and other products of high quality, high performance, and high stability can be found in use in various devices across the country. 2 OMRON Corporation. OMRON was founded in 1933 and has 113 companies across 60 countries around the world. Its PLCs are frequently mentioned in university textbooks, and OMRON’s relays are undoubtedly the preferred choice for integration in most cabinets. 3. Japan KOSO Co., Ltd. Japan’s KOSO was established in 1981; in the 1990s it set up Wuxi KOSO in Wuxi, and worked with companies such as Chongqing Chuanyi and Ningxia Wuzhong in various bidding processes. 4 Yamaki AZIBIL Yamatake – Founded in 1949, Yamaki’s intelligent valve positioners have been installed on over 300,000 sets of valves. 5. Japanese Island Electric Shimaden – Shimaden was well-known during the era of digital displays; today, its temperature control secondary instruments are still used in many pilot-scale testing devices. 6 Japanese Shimadzu: Shimadzu’s field of operation is the laboratory sector, where its analyzers, along with those from companies such as Agilent, dominate the market for high-end laboratory equipment. 　　Simply by looking at these companies, it is clear that Japanese domestic enterprises have their own reliable products and well-known brands for everything from field instruments to control rooms, as well as for applications in both operational settings and laboratories. What is the gap among domestic companies? The fact that domestic products lag behind imported brands exists in other industries as well, such as the automotive industry, and the reasons for this gap are similar. We are always a step behind others. Our industrial foundation is much weaker compared to that of Europe, the United States, and Japan. With the rapid economic growth that came with reform and opening up, we found ourselves trapped in a cycle of imitation, falling behind, then imitating again and falling behind once more; our products still strive to keep up with the previous generations of international brands. 2. Trading market access for technology: Some large state-owned enterprises, in an effort to quickly gain a foothold in the market, seek partnerships with international brands, dreaming of trading market access for technology. Whether in the instrumentation industry or the automotive industry, numerous real-world examples over the years have shown that while they may have given up market access, they ended up learning nothing in terms of technology. Focus on the market over technology: Many owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in this industry started out in marketing and sales; few founded their companies with a background in technology. In many companies, sales is the key department; all funds and focus are directed toward market activities. Production and assembly can be carried out using copied designs and available resources, while innovation and reinvention in technology are neglected. 　　Domestic companies invest far too little in research and development, with an average allocation of only 1%-3% of their sales revenue, whereas foreign companies allocate an average of 5%-10% of their sales revenue to this purpose. There is a lack of advanced R&D methods such as precision machining, special processing techniques, testing and inspection, and simulation; the development of manufacturing technologies does not receive the attention it deserves, especially as investment in the development of core technologies is very low ； The development system is also lagging behind the company’s technical requirements. 4 – Heavy focus on hardware, light focus on software. Many companies believe that once the instruments are assembled, they can be sold to generate profits, without investing in the software components that are necessary to complement the hardware, such as quality management systems and documentation systems. A company without software support is unable to produce quality hardware products. 　　This is particularly evident in the documentation related to instruments from both domestic and foreign manufacturers. Well-known foreign brands provide comprehensive documentation including instruction manuals, test data, certification certificates, operation manuals, and maintenance guides, while many domestic instrument manufacturers only offer a one-page instruction manual. Low price at the expense of quality: The practice of awarding contracts at the lowest prices leads many instrument manufacturers to win bids at prices far below what is reasonable in the market. After winning these bids, they are forced to use inferior materials and cut back on verification processes in order to reduce costs, which results in poor performance of the domestic instruments used in practice. 　　It’s not clear whether the issue of winning bids at the lowest price has been resolved, but it certainly creates many potential quality problems. 6 Poor manufacturing processes: The production techniques in use hinder the development of many industries in the country. The inadequacy of basic industries leads to issues such as low processing precision in the domestic instrumentation industry, as well as temperature drift in electronic components. 7 External environmental constraints Many large enterprises are not well aware of the rapid development of domestic instruments, meters, and control systems in recent years, and therefore hesitate to use such domestic equipment ； Many corporate leaders are constrained by the existing system and are reluctant to take the risk of using domestic instruments ； Furthermore, some companies have already become accustomed to using imported products, which prevents domestic systems and instruments from having the opportunity to enter the high-end market and compete with imported products. How can domestic instruments break free from their difficulties? With domestic instruments lagging so far behind imported brands, how can they break free from this predicament and achieve a comeback? 1. Break away from the existing framework system; while others focus on informatization, we move ahead with automation ； Others are focusing on intelligence, while we continue to learn about informatization. Within the existing framework, we can only build upon what others have already done and lag behind them. By the time departments initiate efforts to implement automation and companies decide whether to adopt smart meters, foreign brands have already started developing standards for buses, wireless technologies, or even more advanced systems. We keep striving to catch up, but they are taking the lead. 　　To break free from the predicament of imitation and backwardness, it is necessary to have a vision as bold as that of high-speed railways, to make forward-looking judgments or guide the direction of industry development, to participate in the establishment of advanced standards, and to take the lead rather than fall behind. 2 Improve the manufacturing quality management system to reshape the image of domestic brands. For large domestic instrument manufacturers, do they have a comprehensive quality assurance system and operational procedures in place? Do they have appropriate inspection processes, and can they ensure that each product meets the specified performance standards? 　　For some precision instruments, a combination of Chinese and foreign technologies can be employed, taking advantage of the strengths of each approach; by using imported components or parts along with the advantages of domestic production, high-quality instruments under one’s own brand can be created. 　　Some instrument manufacturers like to specify the country of origin of their components, but this does not help in building a cohesive brand image. Customers will not buy a product just because its components are from a certain country; it is only by delivering a high level of reliability and a good overall user experience that a brand can build a positive reputation in the market and strengthen its brand identity, thereby opening up larger markets. 3 Strengthen the R&D technical team Many small and medium-sized enterprises do not have an R&D technical team; a few engineers with work experience, together with on-site manual laborers, can establish a well-known domestic instrument manufacturing company. 　　For large-scale instrument manufacturers, it is possible to offer high salaries to production technicians from well-known foreign companies to come and provide guidance or work on-site, which helps improve the overall technical level. 　　Some of the domestic instrument manufacturers listed on the stock market have reached the forefront of the industry. By acquiring foreign instrument companies, they have gained the capability to develop new products and technologies, and they utilize these developments for their own domestic brands. This not only ensures the quality of their products but also enhances the reputation of domestic brands. I think this article is good; I’m republishing it to share it with everyone. It was taken from the internet, and I don’t know its original source, so I can’t indicate who wrote it originally