Electrical micro-magazine
Industry|Depth|Perspective
On September 12, the 2018 annual meeting of the Intelligent Sanitary Appliances Professional Committee of China Household Electrical Appliances Association (hereinafter referred to as the Special Committee) was held in Xuchang, Henan, and Zhu Jun, Secretary-General of China Household Electrical Appliances Association, attended and presided over the meeting. More than 40 representatives from major parts and components enterprises such as Wrigley, Hengjie, Xingxingjiebo, Jardine Mathes, Tegel, Huida, Panasonic, Duravit, Geberit, TOTO, Haier, Midea, Baixue, LIXIXIL, Olusha, Bodian, Xima, Jianlin, Zhimi, Huayi, Yuekang, Dier Hanyu, Zhijia, Conig, Aibo Intelligent Control, Ruide Intelligent Technology, Reilly Motor, Meishuo Electric, and China Building Materials Inspection and Certification Group (Shaanxi) Co., Ltd. gathered together from all over the world. The development status of the smart toilet industry and the common problems encountered were discussed in depth and extensively.
Quality is the cornerstone of the sustainable development of the industry
At the annual meeting, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association released the development statistics of the smart toilet industry in 2017 and the first half of 2018 in accordance with the usual practice. According to the statistics of more than 20 mainstream smart toilet brands by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, in 2017, the sales volume of smart toilets was 4.2 million units, a year-on-year increase of 35.5%, and the domestic sales volume was 8.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.2%; In the first half of 2018, sales of smart toilets reached 2.5 million units (sales are expected to exceed 5 million units in the whole year), and domestic sales reached CNY 4.5 billion. In terms of product categories, the market share of instantaneous products continued to grow significantly, accounting for 73.9% in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 25.7%, and instantaneous products continued to increase to 75.7% in the first half of 2018. In 2017, the market share of all-in-one machine products exceeded that of split machines, reaching 50.4%. In the first half of 2018, this proportion fell back to 48%.
The report also predicts that the market size will continue to grow in 2018, with an increase of 20%~30%, and the proportion of instantaneous products will continue to increase. At the end of the report, it is specifically mentioned that enterprises that pay attention to user experience and product quality will have more vitality, and enterprises should not only pursue price advantages for short-term competition.
In this regard, Zhu Jun said that in the period when the industry is not mature, vicious market competition behavior and inferior products will bring fatal blows to the development of the market and the industry, so all enterprises of the special committee should unite, pay attention to quality, and leave space for product update and iteration.
Yan Bangping, chairman of the special committee and deputy general manager of Lehua Home Furnishing Group, also mentioned in his speech that compared with other home appliances, there is a certain gap in the scale and maturity of the smart toilet industry, but the industry prospects are very impressive. “I paid special attention to the market this year, and found that enterprises have made a lot of ‘efforts’ in terms of product strength, product technology innovation is accelerating, and I believe that bathroom appliances will be the data collection center of basic health of the human body in the future.” Yan Bangping admitted frankly, “Under the trend of good development, many industry problems still cannot be ignored. How to maintain the order of the industry, not to damage the development of the industry due to vicious competition at the expense of product quality and function, and to ensure the reliability and service life of products is the responsibility that our industry and enterprises need to face and bear together. ”
The reporter of “Electrical Appliances” noted that with the joint efforts of enterprises in relevant departments, the quality and quality of smart toilet products have been greatly improved in the past two years. Shang Bei, training director of China Building Materials Inspection and Certification Group (Shaanxi) Co., Ltd., mentioned in the report sharing that in the sampling inspection of smart toilet products by AQSIQ for the third consecutive year in 2017, the product results showed that the product qualification rate had reached 91.2%, an increase of more than 30 percentage points over the sampling results in 2015.
The importance of paying attention to quality to the development of the industry has also become the focus of the participants’ speeches in the conference exchange and discussion session, and enterprises have expressed their agreement and put forward relevant suggestions. Li Changzheng, general manager of Haier Information Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., sincerely said in summarizing the marketing experience in the past three years that brand cultivation is not easy, and it is even more difficult to cultivate a brand in the blue ocean industry such as smart toilets.
Focus on core components and product size standardization
The reporter of “Electrical Appliances” learned that the standardization of core components and product component sizes has also become the focus of sharing and discussion at this meeting. In the 2018 work summary and plan of the Intelligent Sanitary Appliances Special Committee of the China Household Electrical Appliances Association, the reporter saw the relevant content of the work on the parts standard system. In the summary, it is pointed out that the defective parts or poor quality stability are one of the sources of product quality problems of the whole machine. To this end, in July 2018, the special committee launched the standard formulation of smart toilet parts, and informed the director and vice chairman of the plan to start the work in early September. The special committee plans to develop a systematic parts standard system, starting with key components in the initial stage and gradually completing the standard system in batches. The special committee plans to launch 2-3 spare parts standards in the second half of 2018, led by the special committee, relevant enterprises focus on the relevant standards, and establish a standards working group, and the standard will promote the formulation of relevant standards as soon as possible after the standard is launched. At the meeting, the participants also made detailed discussions on the initiation and related matters of this work.
This work has been positively and widely recognized and responded by the special committee enterprises. The representative of the company from Duravit said that while paying attention to the quality of the whole machine, the company can not ignore the problem of parts, the frequency of use of smart toilet parts and the use of the environment requires its standards to be more demanding than other electrical appliances, so it will be of great help to develop relevant standards and improve the quality of the whole machine. The company representatives of Star & Gamble also added that the introduction of component manufacturers into the standard system working group will greatly improve the gold content of the standard.
In addition to the standardization of component products, the special committee has also achieved certain work results in the standardization of product component sizes. According to the reporter of “Electrical Appliances”, the association standard of “smart toilet cover and base matching size” has established a standard working group in the first half of 2018. The Working Group held an expert group standard-setting workshop in June, and the standard has now entered the public announcement phase and is expected to be officially released in November. At the meeting, Wang Kai, director of the testing office of China Building Materials Inspection and Certification Group (Shaanxi) Co., Ltd., the leader of the standard working group, introduced the technical indicators and regulations of this standard in detail.
Zhu Jun said that after the release of the standard, it is hoped that all enterprises will actively adopt the standard, and the enterprises that adopt the standard will feedback the adoption to the special committee, and at the same time, the special committee will also expand the publicity of the standard, so that consumers can learn more about the standard and purchase products that meet the standard.
