Can excellent Chinese paper-making companies provide an opportunity for domestic paper-making equipment to survive and develop?

　　Currently, China's manufacturing industry is caught up in a global industrial technology revolution, engaging in a 'life-and-death battle' with the world's technological powerhouses. Germany's Industry 4.0 claims to help China's manufacturing industry upgrade comprehensively, while renowned economist Professor Lang Xianping has made alarming statements, suggesting that 'if Industry 4.0 spreads globally, China's manufacturing industry will collapse and disintegrate.' More accurately, if Industry 4.0 spreads globally, China's equipment manufacturing industry will collapse and disintegrate. It is well known that China's high-end equipment sector seems to be a 'vulnerable group.' Take China's paper-making equipment as an example; for over a decade, on one side, there is a rapidly developing paper industry, while on the other, domestic paper-making equipment struggles in adversity, unable to meet the enormous domestic market demand.

　　The powerful German industrial technology has also raised alarms among developed countries. The United States is actively building a 'Manufacturing Internet,' and the United Kingdom is accelerating the construction of 'Industrial Technology Innovation Centers,' all aiming to bridge the gap between technological innovation and industrial development, thereby enhancing their manufacturing industry's core competitiveness.

　　'Made in China 2025' is the action program for the first decade of implementing the strategy of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, a significant deployment made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council from the strategic height of enhancing comprehensive national strength, improving international competitiveness, and ensuring national security.

　　As Professor Lang stated, if Industry 4.0 spreads globally, China's equipment manufacturing industry will collapse and disintegrate. It is evident that since the strength of China's manufacturing industry relates to comprehensive national strength and national security, one must ask whether the already risen and excellent national paper enterprises can provide domestic paper-making equipment with a chance for survival and development?

　　The rise of China's paper industry and

　　the decline of domestic paper-making equipment

　　In the 1980s and 1990s, during the wave of reform and opening up in China and amidst the surging tide of the market economy, China's paper industry flourished. During that period, almost all paper enterprises in China relied on domestic technology and equipment for production. At the beginning of the new century, China joined the WTO, facing the 'invasion' of international paper giants. Chinese paper enterprises raised the banner of revitalizing the national paper industry, quickly strengthening and expanding by introducing first-class international high-end pulp and paper equipment, successfully resisting the monopoly of foreign paper in the Chinese market, giving rise to paper giants like Chenming Paper, Huatai Paper, Sun Paper, Nine Dragons Paper, and Lee & Man Paper. Since 2011, China's total paper and paperboard production has surpassed that of the United States, becoming the world's largest producer, and is currently moving towards becoming a strong paper-making country, with international competitiveness continuously increasing.

　　China's paper industry has risen, firmly controlling a vast domestic market, forcing foreign paper giants to lament from afar. However, in this process, domestic paper-making equipment has been pushed into a corner of the market. Industry benchmark enterprises like Chenming, Huatai, and Sun Paper have all uniformly introduced first-class international high-end technology and equipment. The three multinational companies, Andritz, Metso, and Voith, occupy an absolute market share in China's vast paper-making equipment market, forming a dual oligopoly market structure in the pulp and paper equipment sectors. Faced with fierce competitors, the competitiveness of domestic paper-making equipment is very weak, only able to seek customers among medium-sized paper enterprises, struggling in adversity. Data shows that in 2008, there were 273 enterprises in China's paper-making equipment industry above designated size, with a total operating income of only 17.22 billion yuan, equivalent to the revenue of one Voith company in China.

　　It is evident that after 15 years of joining the WTO, the 'technological shortcoming' has caused Chinese paper-making equipment to lose its market right at its doorstep, leading to the importation of expensive foreign paper-making equipment, costing billions, across the ocean to China. This is not only the decline of Chinese paper-making equipment but also a pain for the entire Chinese machinery equipment industry. Only technology is king; only technology is the true competitiveness.

　　'Independent innovation and collaborative advancement'

　　Approaching or reaching international advanced levels

　　The Chinese paper-making equipment that has lost the market is actively seeking a 'way to survive' in adversity, launching a technological offensive. For many years, it has endured hardships, focusing on 'independent innovation and collaborative advancement.' Renowned paper-making equipment expert Professor Hu Nan stated that during the '12th Five-Year Plan' period, China's pulp and paper equipment industry developed a batch of independent innovation achievements that reached or approached international advanced levels, breaking international monopolies in certain niche technology fields, and domestic paper-making equipment is moving towards high-end.

　　Zhong Xiangrui, CEO of Shandong Changhua Machinery Technology, stated in an interview with 'Manufacturing Network' that we have only one goal: to produce first-class Chinese paper machines, filling the technological gaps and discontinuities between various links, solving the shortage of core technology supply, and meeting the upgrading needs of China's paper-making enterprises.

　　Looking at the entire paper-making equipment industry in China, specifically in the pulp equipment sector: the 'clean pulping and waste liquid resource utilization technology' independently developed by Quanlin Paper has been granted 14 authorized invention patents, won the National Technology Invention Second Prize in 2012, and its overall level is world-leading. Additionally, companies like Wenrui, Sanyo, Huaji, and Anyang that produce pulping equipment have made new strides in enhancing equipment efficiency and energy conservation.

　　Specifically regarding paper machines: Changhua Machinery Technology Company has drawn on international advanced design concepts, digesting and absorbing foreign technology and processes while independently researching and manufacturing key replaceable imported components for paper machines, such as shoe-type presses, dilution water flow pulp boxes, high-frequency oscillators, automatic paper guides, and DST blades. Its shoe-type pressing technology has broken international technological monopolies, and the operational reliability of shoe-type pressing equipment has reached international advanced levels. The paper machines produced by the company can reach a width of up to 7 meters and a speed of 800 to 1500 meters per minute, trending towards large-scale, efficient, intelligent, green, and reliable international equipment characteristics. Moreover, several paper machine companies, including Jianghe, Kaixin, Chongyi, and Dalu, have also achieved breakthrough scientific research results, significantly enhancing their international competitiveness.

　　National enterprises are 'one family'

　　Can excellent paper-making enterprises 'nurture' domestic equipment?

　　China's paper industry has entered a new normal of deep adjustment and optimization upgrade, with an increasing number of poorly performing small and medium-sized enterprises disappearing, and advantageous resources such as market, technology, capital, and talent concentrating towards large enterprises. Economic analysts suggest that to implement the strategic goals of 'Made in China 2025' and achieve the leap from a major paper-making country to a strong paper-making country, the Chinese paper industry will still eliminate about one-third of backward production capacity, while the consumption of paper and paperboard continues to grow each year, indicating a sustained high demand for high-end paper-making equipment.

　　Professor Hu Nan emphasized at the 'Third China Paper Equipment Forum' that the development of China's paper-making equipment industry must achieve two integrations: one is the integration of paper-making equipment technology with industrialization, intelligence, and informatization; the other is the integration of paper-making equipment enterprises with paper-making enterprises.

　　Due to the long-standing habit of excellent paper-making enterprises to use international technological equipment, there is little understanding of the technological advancements of domestic paper-making equipment, making it difficult to achieve integrated development. Li Hongxin, former president of the China Paper Industry Association and CEO of Sun Paper, mentioned in an interview with 'Manufacturing Network' that without the entry of world-class pulping and paper-making technology and equipment into China, the national paper industry would not be able to stand on its own. The paper industry would become dominated by foreign brands, similar to the automotive, daily chemical, and beverage industries, leaving no place for domestic equipment. From this perspective, the rise of the Chinese paper industry is a good thing for Chinese paper-making equipment! After all, national enterprises are 'one family.' Chinese manufacturing can only realize the dream of becoming a manufacturing powerhouse by joining hands and 'developing together.'

　　Every major enterprise in China's paper industry started from small paper-making and small paper machines. Li Hongxin stated that in the future, more attention will be paid to the technological advancements and advantages of domestic pulping and paper-making equipment. Will outstanding domestic paper makers 'give back' to domestic paper-making equipment? Will they provide domestic paper-making equipment with a chance to survive and develop? Do excellent domestic paper-making equipment manufacturers have the confidence to provide products for large paper enterprises in China? Do they have the confidence to break the market structure dominated by three major multinational companies? Manufacturing Network will continue to pay attention.