Made in China dimming glass to enter the international market

Dimming glass can make an open space immediately disappear invisible, but also allows hidden scenes to emerge instantly, and this change can be achieved simply by pressing a switch. This new building material, which sounds amazing, has actually been around for more than 20 years, but it is not known to the general public because it is expensive. At present, light-adjusting glass is mainly used in the field of tooling. For example, the auditorium of the National Theater and the observation window of the rehearsal hall, Chang'an Club, and the mobile business hall all use this kind of dimming glass.

The price gap between domestic and foreign dimming glass is obvious

Dimming glass is an ultra-high-end niche product in the international market. Take the Saint-Gobain Group, the largest architectural glass manufacturing company in the world, for example. Its dimming glass produced in Belgium is sold throughout Europe and the Middle East. Terminal quotes as high as 1,000 euros per square meter (equivalent to 1,400 US dollars), sales are extremely limited. The ex-factory price of dimming glass (EXW price) produced by Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. (NSG: Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.), the world's second-largest architectural glass company, is also nearly US$800 per square meter. Compared to the first two giants in the building materials industry, Polyvision, a small US-based LCD company, has a US$700 price tag for its North American OEM products. As a rising domestic Chinese manufacturing company, according to the Chinese dimming glass price quotation published on May 10, 2010, a total of six Chinese companies announced their dimming glass prices, with an average price of 4,000 yuan per square meter. If the export tax rebate is removed, the ex-factory price (EXF) should be around $550, which is less than half of the European market, 30% lower than Japan's plate glass, and 21.5% lower than the North American market. Obviously, the huge price gap has brought business opportunities for dimming glass exports.

Entering the international market, Chinese companies are setting sail

With the growth of China's indigenous dimming glass manufacturing enterprises in recent years, it is gradually escaping the simple processing and workshop-type production methods with low-tech, low-added, and low labor costs; and local companies have mastered the core technologies of independent intellectual property rights. And the scale of production has its own conditions for participating in the international market competition.

In terms of technology, China's leading company in dimming glass - Zhongzhi Tonghui Technology Co., Ltd. (abtech) for five years ago developed and has mastered the core technology of dimming glass production: dimming film manufacturing technology; At present, the fourth-generation large-size dimming glass (3000x1800mm) representing the world's top technology level was also born at ABTECH last year, and passed the most stringent EU product safety CE certification, and promoted to the European market.

The photo shows the local company ABTECH Tonghui Technology taking part in the 2010 German GLASSTEC exhibition.

In terms of production scale, the existing dimming glass manufacturing companies in the country and companies that have joined the industry have continued to expand. According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 50 domestic companies that have the ability to produce (process) dimming glass, and 3 of them have reached industrial enterprises above designated size (Note: industrial enterprises with a main income of RMB 20 million and above). According to the author's understanding, the National Standards Committee has drafted the "China Electro-Atomized Liquid Crystal Dimming Glass Industry Standard", which will become the world's first industry standard for dimming glass. This event shows that China's dimming glass has formed a new industry - and no longer like the international market is still talking about the company, the industry has no regulatory confusion.

The international market has seen the dawn of opportunities and challenges coexist

Since 2008, local dimming glass manufacturers have already made attempts to export in the international market. Here we also take the example of ABTECH, the leading dimming glass company in China. Since 2009, the company has participated in one of the annual international large-scale glass building materials exhibitions and won a lot. From 2009 to 2010, the value of its overseas orders received was close to 20 million yuan. It seems that this is only a small knife test of local dimming glass manufacturers, I believe that the local dimming glass manufacturers will occupy a more important position in the international market in the future.

Although the export market has great potential, due to the many characteristics of the dimming glass products, if more local dimming glass manufacturers want to enter the international market, they still have to face many practical problems.

For example, dimming glass is often tailored to the characteristics of the architectural design. For the international market, they will face challenges such as long lead times and complicated construction technology communication. In addition, regarding the installation scheme, after the Chinese market is used to purchasing materials, it is looking for decoration companies to artificially make keels or frames and install them manually. Foreign labor is expensive, preferring a simple and labor-saving solution such as a modular partition—the overall solution for dimming glass partitions is not familiar to local companies.

More important is the technical barriers outside China. The dimming glass and its accessories products exported to different countries need to pass strict product testing and qualification certification of various countries, including ISO9001, CE, UL, ROSH, environmental protection, etc.; The few dimming glass manufacturers passed the test and have qualifications and certifications.

The international market for dimming glass is vast and lucrative. In the face of this huge market cake, local manufacturers need to further develop marketable products, strengthen their own hard and soft strength, and devote more energy to development. The international market uses its own strengths and strengths to create international brands and take a place in this vast international market.