China, which has been hit hard by the epidemic, is restarting bit by bit. The most popular industrial chain now is “mask manufacturing”. This industry, which was almost on the verge of being “de-capacity” and “de-inventory” in the past few years, unexpectedly became a producer of “hard currency” and began to protect lives. Currently, there are 47,000 mask companies in China, 8,950 of which were established after the epidemic. Industry practitioners estimate that millions of people have flocked to the mask industry in the past two months, and China’s daily mask production is “conservatively estimated to have reached 200 million.” Some people say that the production of masks has created the myth of instant wealth with a monthly income of tens of millions; others say that this will be a speculative business that will lose all their money.
Will the mask economy restart China?
Currently, how many companies in China can produce masks? According to Tianyancha data, as of March 18, there were a total of 47,000 companies in China whose business scope included masks and were operating normally. Among them, 8,950 were added after the epidemic began on January 25. At present, new mask companies are mainly concentrated in three regions: Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong.
The mask war started as early as February. Recently, the media has constantly exposed that the mask industry can “earn tens of millions per month” and is the ultimate opportunity to get rich in 2020. Is this really the case? In fact, the current mask army is mainly divided into two groups.
A group of people entered the market in February, mainly old mask players. Among them, some people added assembly lines to their original mask factories. There are also people from mask-related industries joining the production force, such as pharmaceutical companies, health and personal care companies. Another group of entrants are powerful leading companies.
In March, the situation began to become complicated. According to Tianyancha data, from March 1 to the present, a total of 5,695 companies across the country have newly added business scope that includes masks and are operating normally. In other words, more than 60% of new mask companies were established in March. Under the crazy entry and hype of millions of people, the prices of machinery, equipment and raw materials in the mask industry chain began to skyrocket.
The mask machine that originally sold for 200,000 yuan was sold for 500,000 yuan, 800,000 yuan, and finally became 1.6 million yuan in stock.
Because mask machines are “hard to find”, many machine factories have temporarily transformed to produce mask machines. As a result, drawings of mask machines for direct sales appeared online.
With 30,000 companies and an army of millions of masks participating, what is China’s current mask production capacity? Coupled with the establishment of so many new mask companies in March, China’s daily mask production capacity is now “conservatively estimated to have reached 200 million.” So next, the question that everyone is most concerned about is whether China’s mask production capacity will be excess. At present, the consensus among most people in the industry is that the peak demand for masks will continue until April.
According to industry forecasts, when the daily domestic mask production reaches 200 million in the future, the market capacity of the mask machine is optimistically estimated to be around 3,000 units based on normal daily production of standard mask machines. If the number of mask machines manufactured increases endlessly, and when the epidemic situation improves and masks are no longer in short supply, the mask machines manufactured following the trend will become inventory.
Customers with huge profits from masks grab the opportunity
Outside a company in Guangdong that switched to producing mask machines, seven Eight young people were sitting on stools at the door, playing idly with their mobile phones, looking up from time to time at the trucks entering and leaving the factory. “They are all sent by customers to pick up the goods.” said the company’s sales manager.
Taking the mask machine away and putting it in the production workshop does not mean it can be used. The mask machine manufactures various masks with certain filtering properties by using multi-layer non-woven fabrics through processes such as hot pressing, folding, ultrasonic welding, scrap removal, and welding of ear straps and nose bridge strips.
Li Bo (pseudonym), an engineer who is familiar with automation equipment, said that the mask machine is a non-standard automation equipment. The so-called “three points to make, seven points to adjust”, Without preliminary debugging, it is not easy for the mask machine to reach the designed production capacity. “A large number of small businesses that have started temporarily and are preparing to make quick money do not have any experience in debugging automated machinery. They think that they can buy a mask machine, plug it in and press a switch. This is fanciful.” Li Bo said.
However, high profits and the mentality of making quick money have made customers who ordered mask machines impatient. Assuming that a complete set of fully automatic mask equipment sells for 400,000-500,000 yuan, and each mask machine produces 100 masks per minute and operates in two shifts a day, then 96,000 masks can be produced in one day, with a single price of 2 yuan. , the net income per day is 192,000 yuan, and the capital can be recovered within 3 days after reaching production. And from now on, you can earn as many days as the machine is running.
According to previous agency statistics, when the secondary industry, medical care, transportation and other industries resume work, 238 million people will need to wear masks every day; if work is fully resumed, according to�Everyone has lost their minds. “Facing customers waiting outside the factory door for delivery, Wang Yi fell into an unexpected passive situation. From the beginning of the design drawings to the emergency development during the Spring Festival, Wang Yi’s company was the first in the industry to respond and realize the conversion of production. . Due to early communication with upstream suppliers, Wang Yi said that based on the situation at the time, the company’s daily production capacity was more than 30 units and the delivery time was about 20-25 days, so there would be no problem meeting the order demand.
As companies across the country have expanded production and switched to mask machines, the supply of upstream parts exceeds demand, and companies are no longer able to deliver as scheduled.
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“Due to delays in delivery, the situation was once out of control. “Wang Yi said that some customers wait at the door of the company, waiting for goods, and take away a machine after it comes out, without giving the company time to debug. Some even go directly into the workshop, and when they see the mask machine, they claim the equipment they purchased for themselves. , asking to be taken away; some extreme customers even took away the parts directly, saying that they were capable of assembling and did not need the company’s assistance.
Wang Yi was not the only one who suffered. Yang Ming He said that employees of the subsidiaries are working hard every day, but due to constraints such as spare parts supply and machine adjustment workers, the current shortage of mask machine production capacity is very prominent, and the order delivery of many companies is still delayed.
Delayed chargebacks are in a whirlpool
Under the epidemic, everyone has become impatient.
Mask machine manufacturers are limited by upstream supply and cannot deliver as scheduled, so refunding and delaying orders has become a no choice. The aforementioned company that switched to mask machine production also recently issued an announcement letter apologizing for the delayed delivery of mask machines. And proposed to extend the delivery deadline by 20 days. Wang Yi said that making the above arrangement is really a helpless move. Now some mask machines have been cancelled, and we will continue to speed up production to complete the remaining orders.
Listed company Golden Sun stated on the interactive platform on March 4 that currently, due to factors such as the complexity of processing, the supply of spare parts, and the lack of experienced technical personnel in the machine adjustment process, the company’s holding subsidiary mask machine production capacity is limited, and the delivery of orders It is difficult to achieve the expected results.
As one of the top five traditional manufacturers of domestic mask machines, Dongguan Kuaiyuda Automation Equipment Co., Ltd. directly printed on the official website “Our company is full of orders” , not accepting any orders for the time being.” Kuaiyuda said, “The factory has limited production capacity and has stopped accepting orders and related quotations. ”
According to industry forecasts, when the daily domestic mask production reaches 200 million in the future, the market capacity of the mask machine is optimistically estimated to be around 3,000 units based on normal daily production of standard mask machines. If the number of mask machines manufactured increases endlessly, and when the epidemic situation improves and masks are no longer in short supply, the mask machines manufactured following the trend will become inventory.
In fact, there have been warnings in the industry recently. In March On the 2nd, the Shenzhen Medical Device Industry Association issued a special document warning of risks and calling on small and medium-sized enterprises to be cautious in entering the production of mask machines.
In view of the global spread of the epidemic, some companies plan to switch to export, but Exported products need to obtain relevant certifications from various regions. The certification time cycle is long and carries great market risks. Therefore, it is recommended that enterprises should fully investigate the current market situation and fully consider factors such as production environment, equipment, raw materials, personnel, and technology. , comprehensively review its own conditions and start production prudently.</p
