Reporter Wu Jixia.
Water meter is a metering appliance used by every household, in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, there is such a deep ploughing water meter industry "single champion" enterprise - Ningbo Water Meter (Group) Co., Ltd. *** hereinafter referred to as "Ningshui Group").
After 65 years of exploration and development, Ningshui Group has become a leader in the water metering industry, a major participant in the global competition of water meters, and an important participant in the formulation of international water meter standards. Recently, the reporter walked into the headquarters of Ningshui Group to explore the great wisdom hidden in the small water meter.
The secret of Ningshui Group's achievements today is to adhere to quality and innovation. Zhang Lin, chairman of Ningshui Group, told reporters, "Whenever I see the word 'Ningbo' printed on the company's products, I know that the company must be done well no matter what, because this is not only related to the development of its own enterprise, but also represents the golden sign made in Ningbo." ”
Let every drop of water create value
Walking into the enterprise exhibition hall on the first floor of the headquarters building of Ningshui Group, you will see a water drop sculpture in front of the LED screen, symbolizing the company's mission of "creating value with every drop of water". In the exhibition hall, the products of Ningshui Group at different stages are displayed, from the early mechanical water meter to the current smart water meter, which truly records the company's development process.
Since the establishment of Ningbo Comprehensive Instrument Factory (the predecessor of Ningshui Group) in 1958, Ningshui Group has gone through 65 years, and the company has also developed from a single production of mechanical water meter products to a comprehensive enterprise integrating R&D and manufacturing of water metering products and water industry Internet of Things technology.
Every year, nearly 10 million water meters are shipped from Ningshui Group to more than 80 countries and regions in the world. The exhibition hall staff said.
It is understood that at present, Ningshui Group's products cover more than 1,000 models, including a full range of civil and industrial cold and thermal mechanical water meters, smart water meters and multi-parameter water meters, serving more than 2,300 domestic water companies. In the first three quarters of this year, the company achieved operating income of 125.9 billion yuan, an increase of 20 over the same period last year10%；Net profit attributable to the parent company is 8180020,000 yuan, an increase of 26 over the same period last year79%。
In recent years, smart water meters have been favored due to the high cost of manual reading, poor data accuracy, and difficulty in entering the household of traditional mechanical water meters. The state attaches great importance to the water-saving role of smart water meters in agriculture, industry and service industries, and has successively issued the "National Water-saving Action Plan" and the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of China's Water Meter Industry" to boost the development of the water meter industry.
Ningshui Group keeps pace with the times and takes the lead in proposing smart water meters in the industry. 0 and 30 product concept, while accelerating the company's smart water meter business development. From 2015 to 2021, the company's smart water meter sales volume increased from 8840,000 units increased to 41090,000 units, with a compound annual growth rate of 292%。
Chen Wei, vice president of Ningshui Group, told reporters: "At this stage, the smart water meter is 10 products have been widely recognized by the market, which can not only realize automatic meter reading, but also assist in locating the location of pipe network leakage, and intelligence has developed to a high level. At present, the penetration rate of smart water meters in many downstream water companies has reached 30% to 40%, and there is still a lot of room for expansion in the market. ”
Technological upgrades create smart water meters
In the production workshop of Ningshui Group, the reporter saw that the key information such as output, energy consumption, and working hours of each production line was clearly recorded on the intelligent digital panel, and the production was in good order. In particular, the fully automatic unmanned workshop, with its advanced production system, has achieved all-weather and high-efficiency production.
In the central laboratory of the Water Meter Research Institute under the jurisdiction of Ningshui Group, the reporter also saw various types of water meter verification devices, which are used to detect the accuracy, range ratio and durability of water meters, so as to "escort" the company's various water meter products.
Chen Wei said: "Digital engineering and refined production can better control the company's product quality and effectively reduce product costs. In addition, with good independent innovation ability, through continuous improvement and optimization of product performance, the company has maintained a relatively stable market share and profitability in the fierce market competition. ”
Although the water meter is small, it is related to people's livelihood. Through the technical upgrade of water meters, it can effectively reduce the metering error and metering leakage of the water supply network, and help the high-quality development of the national water supply industry. Behind the visible and accurate measurement, there is the invisible investment and polishing of the enterprise.
The reporter learned that for smart water meters. 0 products, Ningshui Group continues to promote iterative upgrading and technological breakthroughs. On the one hand, closely following the market demand, we set up special topics for specific products such as small-caliber ultrasonic water meters and electromagnetic water meters for rapid optimization and research and developmentOn the other hand, we will continuously optimize product design and reduce costs to gain room for the company's profitability.
Chen Wei said: "We can't just lie on the credit book because the company is currently the industry leader, we must continue to innovate, not only the innovation of water metering equipment, but also the innovation of smart water technology." Only in this way can the company continue to grow and progress. ”
The financial report shows that in the first half of this year, Ningshui Group's R&D investment totaled 6027660,000 yuan, a total of 67 patents for inventions, utility models, designs and other types, 5 software copyrights, 17 type evaluation reports and certificates, and 14 scientific and technological articles. At the same time, the company is responsible for drafting and participating in the formulation of a number of national and industry standards.
Smart water empowers industrial development
In the era of the Internet of Everything, as a water meter manufacturer, it is particularly important to fully apply new technologies to water meter manufacturing through digitalization, informatization and intelligence, and provide better smart water solutions for water supply enterprises.
The company should not only turn the water meter itself into an intelligent product, but also add a series of services, combined with the big data software platform, to provide customers with more diversified and personalized value-added services. Zhang Lin said.
Specifically, on the basis of manufacturing traditional water flow metering products, Ningshui Group is engaged in the R&D, production and sales of a series of smart water terminal equipment, smart water big data service systems and platforms with smart water meters as the core product, with smart metering and operation as the entry point. As of June this year, the company's comprehensive meter reading cloud platform has more than 600 ** water meters, covering more than 1,100 customers of water companies and nearly 500 other customers such as property.
In addition, Ningshui Group also set up a subsidiary, Ningshui Technology, in 2021 to develop the refined operation and maintenance market of urban underground water supply pipe network, and now it has achieved initial results in providing a full-chain closed-loop overall solution from pipeline detection and diagnosis, monitoring and early warning to problem detection to repair and reinforcement.
Chen Wei said: "At present, the company's new business mainly focuses on the refined operation and maintenance management of the urban water supply network of the water supply company, and comprehensively empowers the core problems of the pipeline through four aspects: pipeline non-stop pressure detection, core pipeline monitoring and early warning, pipe network zoning metering and leakage control, and pipe network trenchless repair. The next business development direction is the refined operation and maintenance management of the urban drainage pipe network. ”
* |Station cool Hailuo production |Zhang Wenling