How to rectify the chaos in China’s domestic instrumentation industry?

Thread Content

　　With the development of China’s economy and advancements in technology, the domestic instrumentation industry has seen rapid growth in recent years. The scale of this industry continues to expand, and many outstanding instrumentation brands, while meeting domestic demand, are also participating in international competition. Moving overseas and entering international markets has become an inevitable path for China’s instrumentation industry. However, despite the rapid development of the industry, the domestic instrumentation sector still has many shortcomings that need to be overcome. As the saying goes, one must first stabilize internal affairs before dealing with external challenges. Faced with the turbulent overseas markets, domestic instruments and meters need to take precautions in order to avoid failure. 　　The poor quality standards in China’s domestic instrumentation industry In an era of economic globalization, it is gratifying to see that some domestic brands of instrumentation are gradually making their mark on the world economic stage. However, compared with internationally renowned instrument brands, China’s instrument industry still suffers from uneven quality development; the quality of some products is not high, and there is still a significant gap compared to international advanced standards. This is precisely the first major problem in China’s domestic instrumentation industry. Today, quality is a key term; this year’s **work report also clearly calls for ‘pushing China’s economic development into an era of quality’. For domestic instruments and meters to develop and grow, quality is essential. 　　Quality is the soul; this holds true in any industry, and it is the same in the instrumentation industry as well. Instrumentation is widely used in every industry. Research institutions cannot achieve research results without such instruments, and the food industry cannot ensure food safety without testing instruments. Today, quality is also an important driving force for China to advance supply-side structural reforms and revitalize the real economy in this new normal; it represents competitiveness as well. Only by maintaining a constant focus on product quality can domestic instruments and meters remain competitive against imported ones. For businesses, quality is life ； For consumers, quality is life. Quality issues affect all aspects of society, and improving quality is a shared responsibility of the entire community. Only by upholding the spirit of craftsmanship and always giving top priority to product quality can domestic instrument and meter manufacturers help drive the development and growth of this industry. 　　The chaos in research within China’s domestic instrumentation industry The development of scientific instruments plays a key role in determining the volume of research outcomes; the advancement of such instruments and technological innovation go hand in hand. At present, there is a strong demand for scientific instruments and equipment in our country, but the level of research, development, and production still lags behind international advanced standards. There are many factors that affect the development of domestic instruments and meters. Insufficient funding for such development, as well as inadequate regulations in the procurement process, are all reasons why the development of instruments and meters in China is not satisfactory. 　　The mobility of researchers is also one of the factors that hinder the development of instruments and equipment in our country; there are many reasons for this: the pursuit of a better research environment, loyalty to an organization, demands regarding compensation, and so on. At the same time, it should be placed on scientists’ agenda to actively transform good and practical research outcomes into policy decisions, regardless of which field they belong to. From the perspective of the history of science, those successful large-scale scientific projects did not adopt a contracting model of \"lead researcher + collaborating institutions\", but rather a centralized management approach. Science is an endeavor of free exploration, whereas technology is focused effort directed toward specific goals. If the current R&D model had been used, China would not have been able to develop the two bombs and one satellite. 　　The chaotic state of after-sales services in China’s domestic instrumentation industry After-sales service for instrumentation products is a crucial aspect of marketing management, and users are paying increasing attention to it. In this regard, domestic instruments in China have a geographical advantage over imported instruments. Most domestic instrument and meter manufacturers have professional engineers who can provide on-site guidance as well as comprehensive after-sales service. It is more difficult to carry out timely after-sales repairs, returns, and exchanges for imported instruments and meters. 　　In the international market, while foreign markets separate the pricing of complete instrumentation units from after-sales service, in China the two are still treated as one. Industry experts point out that many domestic users do not have an understanding of paid services; they consider after-sales service to be something included as a bonus when purchasing the instrument itself, and believe that companies should provide such service free of charge. Especially for domestic instruments and meters, they should not only be inexpensive but also come with free service. In fact, many domestic manufacturers of instruments and meters do offer certain after-sales services when selling their products, but in the end, either the service is inefficient and fails to satisfy users, or the manufacturers shirk their responsibilities and fail to fulfill those commitments. If one wishes to enter overseas markets, managing after-sales service for instruments and meters will undoubtedly become a key focus for domestic instruments and meters aiming to expand abroad. 　　Currently, Chinese instrument and meter manufacturers are developing rapidly, with an increasing number of domestically produced instruments no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the domestic market. While we look forward to more outstanding domestic instrument and meter companies going global, we must also fully understand the harsh challenges of the international market. At the same time, the author sincerely hopes that the Chinese instrumentation industry will see the emergence of more and more well-known instrumentation companies that can compete on the international stage.