The world’s first but not a strong grease producing country

China's grease production and consumption have all been ranked first in the world, but the quality is still quite different from those of European and American countries. The picture shows the lubricating grease production area of ​​Sinopec Lubricating Oil Company (for CFP)

Sinochem’s new online news lifted from “Tiangong-1” to the later “Divine 8th” and two encounters with “Tianjin” in space. A series of breakthroughs in space technology spurred a small industry. - Grease industry. China has become one of the few countries in the world that can produce aerospace lubricating grease.

Does this mean that China is already a world-renowned lubricating grease producer? The answer the reporter had when interviewing people in the industry on this issue was: I'm sorry, not.

The scale of production is said to be the first consumption ability. The first grease is a thick grease-like semi-solid, mainly used in the friction part of the machinery to play the role of lubrication and sealing; it can also be used on metal surfaces to fill voids and prevent rust. The role. Grease is mainly made of mineral oil (or synthetic lubricant) and thickening agent. Grease is used as a lubricating material in many parts of automobiles and construction machinery, which is often referred to as "butter." The normal operation of any machine is inseparable from the grease. Large-scale high-end equipment such as "Tiangong-1", aircraft carrier, and high-speed railway, and bicycles, computers, and other daily necessities can not be operated and used without grease.

Li Qichang, secretary-general of the grease committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, told reporters that with the development of China's machinery industry, the grease industry has made tremendous progress. In 1982, China's total grease production was only 74,900 tons. By 2010, the output had reached 467,600 tons, and production increased by 6 times in 30 years. The output of China's grease has accounted for 42% of the world's total grease production, and it is larger than the combined output of North America, Europe, and Japan, 431,500 tons, ranking first in the world. Moreover, grease production and varieties can basically meet the needs of various departments of the national economy and military equipment.

At the same time, the scale of grease production companies has also grown. It is understood that in 1981 China had a total of 72 grease production plants with an average size of 1,047 tons per year. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, China's grease industry through industrial adjustment, technological innovation and transformation of development methods, so that the industry's industrial concentration and intensive increase significantly. At present, the average size of grease production enterprises nationwide has reached 6,513 tons/year, ranking first in the world. In 2010, there were more than 100 domestic production enterprises and the top 27 grease manufacturers in terms of output. The average production scale reached 146.73 million tons per year, and the output accounted for 85% of the total grease production in the country.

Regardless of the overall size or the average size of the company, China has been regarded as a real grease producing country.

Many low-end products have low mechanical lubrication efficiency. Industry experts said that after 30 years of efforts, the grease industry has protected the needs of China's industrial development. This is a source of pride and pride for the grease industry. However, at the same time that we are making a big producer of grease, we must understand that we still have weaknesses.

“At present, many industries in China are already the world’s largest producers. For example, China is already the world’s largest producer of steel and coal. However, we can only be called a major producer of steel and coal, and cannot be called a strong nation because we are in the production process. There is still a big gap between China's energy consumption and pollution control, compared with advanced countries." The expert said that the same applies to the grease industry. We also wear such a halo of production honors worth pondering. The large amount of grease is also due to the fact that China has a large number of middle and low-end products in the retail market, and the high-performance, high-quality grease products have relatively few varieties and yields, and the mechanical lubrication efficiency is low, resulting in increased consumption of grease.

“Automobiles are large consumers of grease. According to statistics from the National Grease Association of the United States, car grease consumption accounts for about 38% of total grease consumption. In 2003, the United States produced about 17 million cars, which is four times that of China. There are approximately 200 million vehicles; China’s vehicle production is 1/4 of that of the United States, and China’s total vehicle ownership, including automobiles, is approximately 100 million vehicles, while the consumption of grease in the two countries is basically the same during the same period. The consumption of lubricating grease for motor vehicle bicycles is at least twice that of the United States." The above experts pointed out that with regard to the ratio of grease consumption to total GDP, the consumption of grease per unit of GDP in China is much higher than that of the United States, Japan, etc. country.

It is understood that in 2010, China's high-dropping high-quality grease accounted for 20.42% of the total grease production. Although it has made significant progress compared with the past, it has 61.13% with the United States, 33.55% with Europe, and 32.9% with Japan. The difference between the percentage of high-drop point grease and the percentage of the world average of 30.06% is very obvious.

In addition, the newspaper has reported the incident of adding glass frit to the grease. Although the counterfeit and inferior products quickly disappeared under the supervision of the government and the relevant government supervision departments, the low-end and middle-quality products in the retail market are still banned.

It is understood that this situation appears to have a lot to do with the low level of China's grease product quality and technical standards, the use of grease testing methods and analytical instruments, but the company's quality management system and system is not perfect, and weak awareness of quality management, etc. It is the most important issue for the grease industry.

In addition, some companies that use grease also have a great influence on the quality of our grease products. A grease company official told reporters that the company's main customer is a steel plant. The latter needs high-end products for its grease products. However, the first question the purchaser asks when purchasing a product is often: "You are the lowest How much money can be sold?” As long as the price is higher than the other’s expectations, everything is free. The reporter interviewed many grease companies on this issue and received the same answer.

According to industry insiders, the unspoken rules in the grease market are: the price factor is greater than the quality factor. The price is not lowest, only lower. Unlimited compression of costs to fight in the low-end areas, which companies can concentrate on developing high-end products?

The huge grease market has attracted foreign well-known lubricant companies to rush to China. The picture shows the groundbreaking ceremony for Total's Tianjin Lubricating Grease Plant on November 1. The plant is scheduled to be put into production in the first quarter of 2013. (Wang Luo photo)

The cutting-edge people who have come out to be ordinary should also do a good job of describing this level of Chinese science and technology as such: just like in a class, one or two students have a 100-point door, and most students can only pass the exam. This metaphor is also very suitable for China's grease industry - cutting-edge aerospace lubricants can also be developed, ordinary industrial and civilian lubricants can not do well.

So, where should the grease industry start to change this embarrassing situation?

Li Qichang said that in the past 30 years, in order to meet the demand for high-speed development of machinery and processing industries for grease, the development of China's grease industry has mainly focused on the scale of production, and a large number of hand-workshop-type manufacturing enterprises have been produced over a period of time. Due to the poor technical conditions and fierce price competition, a large number of companies have focused their efforts on compressing production costs, which has led to a serious downturn in product quality. Apart from a few large enterprises that have undertaken research and development tasks for some special products, few companies have Develop high-end grease products on the development strategy.

Some industry insiders also stated that large companies in the industry can basically reach the target production quality. In the increasingly fierce market competition, small and medium-sized enterprises that have developed in the past to fight prices and press costs must be on the market. The quality is strictly in accordance with the relevant product standards, otherwise it will only be a matter of time before being eliminated. At the same time, all companies should strive to upgrade their own product technology and quality on the basis of producing qualified products, and strive to meet or exceed the highest level of similar products in the world. To achieve this, we must set ourselves a high development goal. For example, in formulating standards for corporate products, we must not only meet the requirements of the national standards, but must aim at the highest international standards, even exceeding the highest ones. Standards, in order to create a well-known Chinese product brand in the international market.

As for the backbone enterprises and research institutes in the industry, industry insiders believe that they should shoulder the responsibility of promoting China's lubricating grease industry to achieve technological breakthroughs in some areas. In particular, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Tianjin Branch of Lubricants, and Wuxi PetroChina Grease Co., Ltd., control high-quality resources, have capital and conditional major manufacturers of grease, and the Petrochemical Research Institute of China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation. Specialized scientific research units such as the Institute for Oil Research of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army shall develop original high-tech products in many areas of high-tech and high-value-added products that are still to be developed in the industry, such as those applied to lubrication requirements. High metallurgy, cement, textile machinery and other industries, or to solve the protection of extreme working conditions such as high temperature, low temperature, high speed, heavy load, corrosion. This will not only avoid the current low-profit competition in the low-end market, but also enhance international competitiveness.

Experts pointed out that the reason for emphasizing original research and development is because, for a long time, China's grease industry is not only relying on importing and replicating product technology from abroad, but also the product standards are mainly for reference abroad, and it is not high on the low-end market. . This has led to China's grease production has been in a state of imitation and catch-up, foreign brands in the domestic grease market occupied the high-end product market. If we can achieve technical breakthroughs in some areas, such as the surface hardening of complex calcium-based greases, and the application of nanomaterials in greases, reaching the leading world level, we can also seek greater competition in high-end product areas.

On November 16, the 12th China International Lubricants & Application Technology Exhibition opened at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing. The exhibition attracted more than 140 lubricant brand companies from China, the United States, Germany and many other countries and regions. The picture shows the audience is visiting a foreign exhibitor's grease series.