In the overall automation market, industrial automation control products need to provide software programming and integration services, which are products with high technical content in the automation industry and an important means to enhance the competitiveness of China's high-end equipment. According to MIR DATABANK data, the market size of China's automation control products will exceed 80 billion yuan in 2021, with a year-on-year growth rate of 23.1% (*automation control products include inverters, general-purpose servos, PLCs, HMIs, etc.).

       For a long time, foreign brands have been dominant in China's automation control field. Manufacturers such as Siemens, ABB, Schneider, Yaskawa Electric, and Mitsubishi Electric have mastered the market share of most domestic inverters, general-purpose servos, and PLC products. In order to facilitate the understanding of the Chinese market and provide timely and effective services to Chinese users, foreign manufacturers adopt the distribution model for most of their products. At present, about 70% of products in China's automation control field are sold through distribution channels, and comprehensive service providers of industrial automation products have become an important part of China's automation control market. In the future, the competition in China's automation control market is not only the competition of products, but also the competition of distribution channels. (*In the following, integrated service providers of industrial automation products are referred to as channel providers)

　　This article analyzes the overall market development, regional distribution, subdivided product development, ranking, development trends and "pain points" of distribution channels in China's automation control field in 2021 for your reading.

　　In 2021, China's automation control product channel market will grow by 23.1% year-on-year

　　According to MIR DATABANK data, in 2021, about 73% of the products in China's automation control product market will be sold through channel dealers, with a market size of 58.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.1% (Figure 1). (*The statistical caliber of the market size is the distribution of Chinese automation control product manufacturers.)

　　In 2021, the global economy will gradually recover. Relying on strong manufacturing and high-tech industries and a solid economic foundation, China will achieve rapid GDP growth of 8.1%, the US GDP growth rate of 5.6%, and Japan's growth rate of 1.6%. At the same time, the year-on-year growth rate of China's automation control product market has reached the highest level in history.

　　• In the first half of 2021, the market continued its recovery trend in the fourth quarter of last year. The overseas epidemic was severe, and industrial orders flocked to China. In addition, domestic manufacturers' sufficient stocking was less affected by the shortage of raw materials, and the growth rate reached a record high;

　　• In the second half of 2021, due to unfavorable factors such as chip shortages, rising raw material prices, and power and production restrictions, the growth rate will slow down, but the overall growth trend will continue.

　　It is expected that the growth rate of China's automation control product market will slow down in 2022, mainly due to the uncertainty of overseas epidemics, and China's export market may shrink; the "lack of core" situation may continue.

Figure 1 Distribution and forecast of automation control products in China from 2017 to 2022

Figure 2 Market share of China's automation control products distribution by region in 2021

　　The Eastern Region ranks first with a 39% share

　　The concentration of channel dealers in different regions is different. Large-scale channel dealers are concentrated in the economically developed eastern and southern regions. The northern region is centered on Beijing and Tianjin, and is also an area where large-scale distributors are concentrated (Figure 2).

　　From the perspective of regional distribution, the eastern region will occupy the first place with a market share of 39% in 2021, making it the largest distribution market for automation control products. The eastern region has a relatively developed economy, a relatively reasonable industrial layout, and a relatively high overall automation level. It is the main area of the automation control product market.

　　The central and southern regions include central China and southern China. In 2021, the central and southern regions will account for 23%, ranking second in the country in terms of market share. Central China has no obvious industrial characteristics, and the overall proportion is relatively small; in southern China, the lithium battery, photovoltaic, electronics and other industries are relatively concentrated, the industry is developing rapidly, and the market demand continues to be strong.

　　The northern region is dominated by Beijing and Tianjin, which will account for 16% of the market in 2021, ranking third. The Northeast region is China's old heavy industry base, and the demand for automation is stable. In 2021, the market will account for 12%, ranking fourth. The southwest and northwest regions are not the concentrated application areas of automation control products due to their relatively backward economic development, so the market shares of the above two regions are still relatively low.

　　In 2021, China's automation control product market will achieve rapid growth

　　In 2021, automation control products will still achieve rapid growth under the background of shortage of chips and shortage of raw materials. At present, the mainstream sales models of domestic inverters, general-purpose servos, PLCs, and HMIs are all channel distributors (Figure 3).

　　Figure 3 The proportion of distribution of automation control products in China in 2021

　　　　(1) Inverter

　　Requirements for distributors of inverter products: For low-voltage inverters, since nearly 70% of their customers are OEM users, distributors are required to have better regional customer coverage, technical support and strong stocking capabilities. For medium and high voltage frequency converters, the main field is in the field of engineering projects, so channel providers are required to have good customer relationship maintenance capabilities and strong financial strength (because the project implementation cycle is generally long).

　　In 2021, the distribution of the low-voltage inverter market will exceed 20 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17%.

　　In the case of increasing market demand and rising raw material prices, the low-voltage inverter market has achieved a situation where both volume and price are rising. The surge in export orders in 2021 will bring about a rapid increase in the demand for low-voltage inverter downstream industries, such as textile machinery, packaging machinery, plastic machinery, etc. At the same time, the rapid development of machine tools, electronics and semiconductors, logistics automation and other industries has also brought product demand. .

　　In 2021, the distribution volume of the medium and high voltage inverter market will exceed 3.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%.

　　• Some projects in 2020 could not be started in time due to the epidemic, and the implementation was delayed in 2021, which brought the shipment of high-voltage inverters in the first half of 2021;

　　• The metallurgical industry will develop rapidly in 2021, and iron and steel enterprises in Hebei and other places will focus on reducing production capacity and relocating to carry out green and low-carbon transformation, which will greatly stimulate the demand for high-voltage inverters;

　　• The construction of petroleum refining and chemical bases has also promoted the growth of the demand for high-voltage inverters. In 2021, Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places will have large-scale refining and chemical project bidding and construction, which will bring about the development of high-voltage inverters;

　(* Note 1: After the listed company announces the 2021 financial report data, the above data information may be adjusted; Note 2: The content of the data information provided by MIR Rui Industry strives to be objective and fair, but in any case, the data information or expressed Opinions do not constitute investment advice to anyone, whether express or implied, and cannot be relied upon as a moral, responsible or legal basis or evidence.)

　　Figure 4 TOP10 channel suppliers of automation control products in China in 2021

　　• The lower base in 2020 is also one of the reasons for the higher growth rate in 2021.

(2) Universal Servo

　　Requirements for distributors of general servo products: Servo products require distributors to have a good understanding of the servo products they distribute, which can help customers provide pre-sales and after-sales technical support, and require distributors to have strong industry applications. background.

　　In 2021, the distribution of the general servo market will exceed 15 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35%.

　　• Driven by macro policies, the downstream demand for general-purpose servos has steadily increased. In 2021, as the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the implementation of policies in various industries will accelerate the development of the industry and generate a large number of demand for general-purpose servo products;

　　• The strong market demand collided with the shortage caused by the lack of cores, which brought industry opportunities for some domestic manufacturers, and some foreign brands actively flooded in under the situation of "in short supply", with high cost performance, high service response speed, Provide servo products with advantages such as short delivery time, and further seize the market share of some Japanese, Korean, European and American manufacturers;

　　• The downstream industries with better growth in 2021 are mainly downstream industries such as industrial robots, lithium batteries, electronics and semiconductors. In some traditional industries such as textiles, plastics, rubber and other industries, the growth rate is relatively stable.

　　(3) PLC

　　Requirements for PLC product channel distributors: For large and medium-sized PLCs, their channel distributors are required to have better project tracking ability, project implementation ability and certain financial strength, while for small PLCs, due to the small PLC customers 90% More than % are OEM customers, so channel providers are required to have better OEM customer development capabilities, technical support capabilities and strong stocking capabilities. PLC product channel providers include HMI products, because PLC products are generally packaged with HMI products.

　　In 2021, the distribution of China's PLC market will exceed 10 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21%.

　　• In the first half of 2021, China's economy recovered rapidly. At the same time, overseas epidemics raged, and orders from textile, packaging and other industries returned to China, resulting in strong downstream demand growth. In the second half of 2021, PLC growth was better than expected. The energy problems (power and production restrictions) that are worried about in the third quarter of 2021 will be quickly resolved, with little impact on the entire automation market;

　　• In 2021, the PLC market is mainly driven by the semiconductor, textile, packaging, battery and other industries to achieve rapid growth, and large and medium-sized PLCs are also driven by the growth of the metallurgical industry.

　　Market concentration is not high, Zhongyeda, Hyde Control, and Gaoweike are the top three

　　In 2021, due to the shortage of chips, the price and delivery time of automation control products will be affected. Although the price continues to rise mainly due to the pressure on the user side, due to the strong demand in the downstream market, the extended delivery period has restrained the performance growth of channel dealers to a certain extent. It is expected that in 2022, channel dealers will still face such pressure on performance growth.

　　The channel market concentration of automation control products in China is not high. According to the sales performance scale of automation control products of channel suppliers, it is divided into the following three categories:

　　The first category: The sales performance of automation control products is more than one billion yuan, including Zhongyeda, Hyde Control, and Gaoweike. These channel providers all control the sales of several mainstream brand products in the industry.

　　The second category: The sales performance of automation control products is less than one billion yuan, and the channel business is more than 100 million yuan, including Nanjing Langchi, Shanghai Huitong, Huazhang Electric, Shanghai Huiqiao, Shanghai Beike Liangchen, Beijing Progressive Times, Fortune There are relatively large number of companies in this scale, such as large automation, and each company is often represented by a mainstream brand, forming the phenomenon of "separation of princes" in different brand territories. For example, Fuda Automation mainly acts as an agent for Schneider products. , About 90% of Shanghai Beike Liangchen's performance comes from Yaskawa Electric.

　　The third category: The sales performance of automation control products is in the tens of millions of channel dealers. This type of channel dealers has the largest number, including Daheng Electric, Shenzhen Noda, etc. They often only represent a certain brand, and the scale is small. Only focus on the market of a certain province and city.

       Development Trends and "Pain Points"

　　(1) The ability of channel providers cannot keep up with business development

　　With the increasingly fierce business competition, more and more automation control product suppliers require their channel providers to have higher technical capabilities and more professional sales capabilities to better serve customers and gain a larger market. Some channel providers are gradually falling behind due to insufficient capacity.

　　Those companies that can master the customer's production process and have integration capabilities have the ability to provide customers with comprehensive solutions and services, and thus have been recognized by the market. This trend is becoming more and more obvious.

　　(2) Small and medium-sized single-brand automation control product channel providers are facing transformation

　　In the period of unstable automation control product price and delivery period, it is beneficial to the development of channel providers who can quickly provide customers with more alternative product solutions, which forces small and medium-sized single-brand automation control product channel providers to develop to multi-brand automation control product channel providers , because the richer the product, the greater the alternative space.

　　(3) Internal competition among channel providers

　　The supplier will transfer the pressure of the annual sales target to the channel dealer, especially at the end of the year, the channel dealer will be overstocked to complete the sales target. In order to complete higher sales tasks and quickly digest inventory, channel operators will sacrifice a little profit and sell goods at a price lower than the market price level. On the other hand, they will try their best to develop customers and even compete for other channel operators customer of.

　　As automation control products are more and more commonly used in the industrial field, the problem of internal competition among channel vendors is a common problem faced by major automation control product manufacturers.

　　(4) Funds of channel dealers

　　With the increasing sales of automation control products, in order to meet customer delivery time, channel dealers generally need to prepare a large amount of inventory; on the other hand, channel dealers try their best to raise funds to get better prices with manufacturers when ordering Large-scale orders have resulted in the shortage of funds of large channel merchants, and small channel merchants have withdrawn from the market due to insufficient funds.