Regardless of the political and economic pattern of the world, the supply-side reform of China, or the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese ceramics industry, the future direction of the Chinese ceramics industry and the future development trend are what. These are topics that we need to think about and explore.

  What are the main influencing factors for the future development of industry?

  After more than ten years of rapid development, the Chinese ceramic tile industry has entered a stable period of growth in these two years. According to the relevant documents of the "13th Five-Year" tile industry development plan and proposal of the China Construction Ceramic Association, it is expected that the demand for ceramic tiles in the domestic market will not exceed 9 billion square meters in the next five years until 2020; Export demand on the international market is about 1 billion square meters; During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the output of ceramic tiles in buildings nationwide is suitable for maintaining about 10 billion square meters.

  In the past, when the market demand grew rapidly, the tile equipment supporting industry grew with the growth of the market. After 2014, the tile industry began to enter a period of "zero or negative" growth. When the market is relatively stable and lacks growth momentum, where are the opportunities for upstream equipment and ancillary industries in the ceramic industry?

  First, labour costs are rising in Chinas labour market. According to wind, Guangdongs monthly minimum wage has risen from less than 400 in 2004 to 1200 in 2015. The cost of labor is getting higher and higher, but at the same time, labor shortage and shortage of labor have emerged, so this has brought opportunities for automation and intellectualization of equipment in our industry.

  Second, the mainstream consumer group is undergoing intergenerational transformation. From the previous 60s and 70s to the future 80s and 90s, this intergenerational transformation is revolutionary, because the post-80s and 90th lifestyles are basically based on the Internet, and they are relying on the Internet to force the entire industrial chain to change. The future development and transformation of ceramic enterprises must be based on the Internet.

  The future is the transformation of products, equipment, operations and employees

  Stagnation of market demand, rising labour market costs and shortage of labor, and the transformation of mainstream consumer groups are the future development trend of Chinas ceramic tile industry. Landing in the industry, the future development trend is manifested in four aspects. From the product to the functional, equipment development will tend to be flexible, the operation of the company will tend to be Internetized, and the structure of the employees of the company will tend to be white collar.

  1, product to functional

  In the early days, the ceramic tile was only used as a building material in building construction. These years gradually transformed into decorative materials. From the opinion of the participating products of this years Italian Design Grand Prix, most of them imitate the texture of nature and give full play to the cultural properties of tiles as decorative materials. The attributes of this culture will become more prominent in the future.

From building materials to decorative materials, and further development, tiles will gradually become functional materials. The functional development of tile will go in three directions: the first is to create a healthy environment; The second is to create an intelligent space; The third is to pay attention to the health of people themselves. This is the future development direction of ceramic tile products.

  2, equipment tends to be flexible

  The direction of equipment innovation of Chinese ceramic tile industry will gradually tend to be flexible. Specifically, it will be divided into three aspects: digital, intelligent and intermittent.

  All existing equipment in the future will be digitized and linked to the Internet. The second is to gradually intellectualize and automate, which can reduce manual participation. Another very important thing is intermittent, that is, fast start and stop.

  The production line equipment of the previous tiles emphasizes continuous and uninterrupted production, so there is a corresponding large-scale, continuous, and single-product production method that prevails in the industry. Equipment production flexibility, can meet the future small batch, multi-variety production methods. Its about how our entire production line, including the kiln, can start and stop quickly. This is a problem that we need to address in the future.

  3, enterprise operation Internetization

  The Internetization has brought about changes in the business model of the entire ceramic company. The industrial support of the ceramic industry will not only be equipment and materials, but also operational services. This will be the innovative direction of the operation of ceramic enterprises.

Based on the Internet, there are two directions, one is "Internet + Ceramic" and the other is "Ceramic + Internet." "Internet + Ceramic" is more suitable for the demand of the low-end market. We call it the ecommerce model. "Ceramic + Internet" is more in line with the high-end market, we call it the cloud business model. The following will focus on "ceramics + Internet".

  The innovation of enterprise operation mode based on Internet brings a new topic and new opportunity to the supporting industry of ceramic industry. Industrial support is not only equipment and materials, but also operational services. In addition to what the ceramic industry is currently doing, it provides ceramic companies with equipment, materials, designs, and supporting equipment. Based on the Internet, it can also provide ceramic companies with an operational service industry that connects the interior and exterior.

  This is also known as "Ceramic + Internet". Integrating the Internet into the ceramic industry and linking demand to production will produce new benefits. In traditional ceramic enterprises, the factory produces tiles and sells them to dealers, who then sell them to customers. Ceramic enterprises do not directly dock customers, do not know who the customers. But once Internet technology is used, Tao can directly connect companies with consumers.

  The service quality and efficiency provided by Taoqi to consumers will be greatly improved after the enterprises and consumers are connected. In the case of Oushennuos trial in Chengdu, we launched the Yunshang project in Chengdu and did an event. Its trading volume is up 66 % from the same period last year. But its marketing costs have fallen by 70 %.

  Why the promotion? Because its traffic has increased. This is the most important. In the future, this new business model will be more and more widely used in ceramic enterprises, and it will also promote the transformation of our enterprises from selling products to selling goods. Here, goods include products and services. Therefore, the future ceramic enterprise will not only be a simple product manufacturer, but also serve as a service provider for consumers. Ceramic enterprises will sell ceramic tile products to sell space products, and then gradually develop to provide consumers with "product + service" solutions.

  This solution has three levels. The first level is a brand based tile space solution. A home decoration, not only needs tile products. Ceramic enterprises and consumers in the process of docking, ceramic enterprises will have the opportunity to provide consumers with other than tiles other home products.

  In turn, the solution provided by the ceramic company will rise to the second level, providing consumers with a solution for the overall home space. Once it enters this level, it will gradually develop into a platform and an ecosystem. In the future, ceramic tile products will be connected with some home smart hardware. The ceramic tile that occupies a lot of floor and wall space in the home, and the combination of intelligent sensor, will provide the modern home life of the intelligent convenience for the consumer. If the ceramic company cuts in from the perspective of tiles, it can provide consumers with an overall solution for smart homes. This is a future direction. Of course, there will be a long way to go to this stage.

  4, human resources will go from blue collar to white collar

  With the new changes brought about by flexible production methods and Internet-based operations for ceramic enterprises, the number of ordinary laborers will be reduced, and creative design and Internet technology talents will continue to increase. This requires corresponding changes in the concept, mechanism and way of human resource management in pottery enterprises.

  After more than 30 years of development, China has long been the worlds largest manufacturer of ceramic tiles. Now that China is entering the Internet era, China will once again change the pattern of the world tile industry.