1. Analysis of the status quo of China's motor industry

The motor is the source of power in the industrial field. Through the interaction of electricity and magnetism, the conversion between electrical energy and kinetic energy is realized. The motor in the narrow sense mainly refers to the motor, which can include the motor and the generator in a broad sense. The motor occupies a decisive position in the global industrial automation market, and is widely used in metallurgy, power, petrochemical, coal, mining, building materials, papermaking, municipal, water conservancy, shipbuilding, port handling and other fields.

After decades of development, the Chinese motor industry has made tremendous progress, but the industry still has many problems. The proportion of my country's small and medium-sized motor basic product output is relatively large, and there are few high-tech and high-value-added products with low output. There are many manufacturers of basic series products and large output, which creates a situation of competing for market price competition.

Motors are mainly divided into generators and motors. In 2018, China's motor industry experienced large-scale losses and plummeting profits. The decline in subsidies for new energy vehicles is an important factor in the decline in corporate profits. The data shows that in 2018, the cumulative output of my country's generator sets (power generation equipment) was 100.6005 kilowatts, a cumulative decrease of 9.3% over the previous year. 

Figure 1: China's generator set production from 2016 to 2018

(Data source: public data collation)

The motor segment achieved operating income of 37.244 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 0.35% year-on-year; net profit attributable to its mother was -2.715 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 201.89%, and gross sales margin was 23.09%. In the first quarter of 2019, the operating income of the motor segment reached 9.353 billion yuan, an increase of 12.84% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to the mother was 535 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.77 percentage points, and the sales gross profit margin was 23.14%. The industry's overall sales gross profit margin is currently basically maintained Fluctuations within a narrow range.

The motor sector's operating income performance has declined in the past year, and there has even been a substantial loss in the net profit of the mother. The decline in profitability has reduced the overall profit of the sector. The expansion of new areas is a boost for companies in the sector The main direction of performance, in the future, optimistic that this sector will be integrated into the new energy vehicle supply chain and achieve re-growth. 

Figure 2: Operating income and growth rate of operating income in the motor sector in recent years

(Data source: public data collation) 

Figure 3: The net profit of the motor sector in recent years and the growth rate of the net profit of the mother 

Figure 4: Motor industry sales gross profit margin (unit: %)

(Data source: public data collation)

Under the influence of a series of market factors, the profit margins of most motor companies in my country have been further compressed. In the context of high costs and further strengthened environmental protection supervision, high-efficiency and energy-saving motors are an inevitable direction for the development of the motor industry.

In the "13th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Energy Conservation" and "13th Five-Year Plan for Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Industry Development" previously released, the energy conservation of the motor system was clearly included in the nine key energy-saving projects, and it was more clearly proposed to demonstrate the promotion of rare earth permanent magnets. High-efficiency energy-saving motor technology and equipment such as iron core motor and cast copper rotor technology for motor

The upstream of the high-efficiency and energy-saving motor industry chain is copper, aluminum, silicon steel, permanent magnet materials and other raw material suppliers, and the downstream is channel sellers and high-efficiency motor application manufacturers. The huge market demand space will enable the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to make certain adjustments around "efficient and energy-saving motors", the upstream supply structure will be adjusted, and companies with advantages in the production of special materials and components for efficient motors will reap more Market share and higher yield. With the large-scale mass production of high-efficiency motors, their supply will be enlarged, costs and prices will be relatively reduced, and downstream manufacturers will also use high-efficiency motors to upgrade their original products more widely.

  Second, the global motor industry development prospect forecast

Due to the introduction of strict electricity standards and rising electricity prices, the global demand for high-efficiency and energy-saving motors is rising, and the increasing output of downstream market drive systems has also increased the demand for motors. In addition, strict standards in the design and manufacturing process to improve the efficiency of the motor, encourage global manufacturers to develop efficient and energy-saving motors. The demand for motors is steadily shifting from standard-efficiency motors to high-efficiency motors. However, the lack of awareness of the benefits of high-efficiency and energy-saving motors and the high initial purchase costs are driving the growth of high-efficiency and energy-saving motors.

It is predicted that the global industrial motor market is recovering. In the next five years, the global industrial motor market is expected to develop at a comprehensive annual growth rate of 7%-7.5%. It is expected to exceed USD 800 billion in 2020 and reach USD 950 billion by 2023. . 

Figure 5: Forecast of global industrial motor industry market size

(Data source: public data collation)

  3. Development opportunities for the motor industry

1. New energy vehicles drive the development of permanent magnet motors

In recent years, under the policy support of the country's vigorous promotion of the development of new energy vehicles, the entire new energy vehicle industry has shown a vigorous development trend. The application technology of electric motors in the field of new energy vehicles is becoming more and more mature. In the field of new energy vehicles, permanent magnet synchronous motors are widely used. Rare earth permanent magnet materials are the first choice for driving motors, which can greatly reduce the weight of the motor, reduce the size of the motor, and improve work efficiency. The establishment of an upstream and downstream cooperation mechanism is conducive to breaking through the development barriers between new energy vehicles, drive motors and rare earth permanent magnet materials, and achieving mutual benefit and win-win results in the entire industry chain.

2. Energy saving

High efficiency and energy saving is the development trend of the entire motor industry. In recent years, the key content of our government's work is energy conservation and emission reduction. Among them, industrial energy conservation is the top priority of energy conservation and emission reduction, and motor system energy conservation is also an important content of industrial energy conservation.

3. Intelligent manufacturing services

"Made in China 2025" has proposed many development directions, the main direction is to promote intelligence, refinement, green, service, branding, etc., thereby enhancing the added value of manufacturing. While promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the development of new technologies, new formats, and new products is crucial. China has great potential for development in areas including the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and the sharing economy, and it has also developed rapidly in recent years. This is an important factor in the gradual stabilization and recovery of China's economy in recent years.

4. Analysis of the development trend of the motor industry-intelligent motor

For traditional motors, the control center (CMCC) consists of multiple motor control units MCC according to the number of motors to be controlled. Each MCC includes circuit breakers, contactors, thermal relays, motor starters, frequency converters, monitors and other equipment. These devices are connected to the test instrument through a large number of hardware wiring, the meter reading on the spot, then the control staff to check the collected motor operating parameters, decide the next operation of the motor, and finally send the operation instruction to the MCC for execution .

Due to the increasing informationization and automation of modern industrial production, the traditional motor control center has been unable to meet the user's control and protection requirements of the motor. With the development and integration of the industrial drive control field and the big data platform, a new type of motor system has been produced, called smart motor. It integrates the functions of motor motion, diagnosis, protection, control, communication, etc., which can realize the functions of self-diagnosis, self-protection, self-adjustment, remote control, etc. of the motor system. Further, if big data technology and cloud computing technology are combined, it is possible to achieve advance prediction of motor failure and life, and adaptive management of motor energy efficiency, thereby accurately matching the development direction of high-efficiency energy-saving and intelligent manufacturing.

With the development of my country's equipment manufacturing industry towards high, precise, and sharp, and the integration of industrialization and informatization, the development of smart motors will become an inevitable trend!