Text / Pang Wuji
"Why use a bull's knife to kill a chicken?" But some people did the opposite.
Imagine using the cavitation jet technology originally used to clean parasites below the waterline such as submarines and aircraft carriers to wash dishes and wash dishes;
The aerodynamic principles and precise control technology commonly used in rocket launches are used in the design of range hoods.
These practices may seem whimsical, but it is this "brain-opening" that has driven China's kitchen appliance industry to break through the bottleneck of scale, and has also pushed local companies to catch up with "foreign brands" in a comprehensive manner and become the dominant player in the high-end market.
Fangtai Group, an advocate and practitioner of this approach, still focuses on "solving 'small problems' with 'big technology'".
Recently, the Press and Publicity Center of the National Space Administration and Fangtai Group reached a framework agreement on the cooperation intention for the transformation of aerospace technology achievements. Fangtai will help the civilian research and application of aerospace technology.
In an interview with China News Agency Guoshi Express, Li Bin, Dean of the Central Research Institute of Fangtai Group, said that kitchen appliances and aerospace seem to be very far away, but in fact, many of Fangtai's innovations are inspired by aerospace.
For example, the fan volute structure of the core power system of the range hood is combined with the design of the aerospace rocket shroud, thereby improving the flow efficiency and reducing the starting noise of the product.
He pointed out that since about ten years ago, Chinese kitchen appliance companies have completed the leap from "following" to "running side by side".
Application technology innovation based on foreign brands can no longer meet the needs of Chinese families under the new national conditions, so domestic brands have begun to independently develop new categories to meet market needs and enhance their differentiated advantages.
Sun Liming, vice president of Fangtai Group, also said: "From following to running and now to leading, we once crossed the river by feeling the stones, but the stones in front are gone. Chinese kitchen appliance companies need to find the direction of their own technological upgrading." This has also become a microcosm of the transformation and upgrading of China's manufacturing industry.
Excerpts from the interview are as follows:
The country is a through train: the rise of domestic products in recent years, the national tide has become popular.
Fangtai is also one of the domestic brands. What do you think of the rising momentum of domestic products?
Li Bin: First of all, with the deepening of cultural self-confidence, Chinese consumers' "technological worship" of international brands has gradually returned to rationality, and the recognition of high-quality domestic brands has continued to increase.
At the same time, under the trend of consumption upgrading, shopping scenarios and forms are also more diversified. Domestic brands can influence consumers through rich online communication and convey brand stories and concepts.
More importantly, domestic brands continue to innovate.
Taking kitchen appliance companies as an example, local brands have made efforts in the high-end market, accelerated the deployment of intelligence and integration, and have comprehensively surpassed international brands in terms of experience, function, appearance, and cost-effectiveness.
Therefore, it can be said that the rise of domestic products is inevitable.
The country is a through train: In the field of kitchen appliances, domestic brands have made many improvements and technical upgrades according to the needs and characteristics of Chinese families.
Looking back, when do you think this change happened?
How is this different from the products and technologies of foreign brands?
Li Bin: It started about ten years ago, and Chinese kitchen appliance companies have completed the leap from "following" to "running side by side". Application technology innovation based on foreign brands can no longer meet the needs of Chinese families under the new national conditions. Therefore, domestic brands began to independently develop new categories to meet market demand and enhance their differentiated advantages.
The biggest difference from foreign brands is that domestic brands are closer to consumers and understand the pain points of Chinese cooking, so they better understand the needs of Chinese families for kitchen appliances.
For example: Chinese people are accustomed to cooking with high heat, and the fumes are relatively heavy. The hood must have strong suction and high efficiency, and the hoods and stoves equipped in most western home kitchens are difficult to meet such needs.
Another example: sink dishwashers are very practical for a large number of Chinese families with limited kitchen space.
China is a through train: In the past 5-10 years, the trend of consumption upgrading in the Chinese market is very obvious.
How does Fang Tai see this trend?
Which products lead or follow this trend?
Li Bin: In the past ten years, with the continuous growth of the economy, consumption upgrading in the field of kitchen appliances is reflected in the continuous emergence of new demands, and the original categories have been unable to meet the demands.
As a result, new categories such as integrated cooking centers, water purifiers, sink dishwashers, etc. came into being, and the kitchen appliance industry has also stepped out of the scale bottleneck of traditional categories such as hoods and stoves.
Fang Tai has produced a number of blockbuster products with original technology on the new category track, mainly focusing on hard technology innovation and product form reconstruction.
For example: in 2015, the sink dishwasher was launched; in 2019, the mother-infant water purifier and integrated cooking center were launched.
On March 16, it released the integrated cooking center Z series, the integrated cooking center fully concealed lifting series, a new generation of high-energy bubble washing with dishwashing technology, built-in dishwasher G1, a new generation of extremely hot direct-injection gas stoves, and a foldable " A series of new products and new technologies such as the "Cube Stove".
The country is a through train: people may think that the technical threshold in the field of kitchen appliances is not very high.
However, many of Fangtai's products seem to use a lot of high-tech in a down-to-earth way. Please introduce the specific situation.
Li Bin: In the past, it was generally believed that kitchen appliances did not have much technical content in essence.
But in 1996, when Fangtai was established to make the first range hood, it was found that the product had problems in various aspects, such as poor oil fume absorption, dripping oil, cleaning, and electricity leakage.
Some problems are unique to Chinese kitchens - Chinese people's cooking habit is heavy oil and heavy smoke, while some problems reflect that our comprehensive technical level in the field of basic industries is not high.
The same is true for the difficulty of washing dishes in Chinese kitchens. Heavy oil and fire are a major feature of Chinese cooking. After a meal, all kinds of greasy dishes are daunting, especially when it comes to claypot rice, steamed eggs, shredded sweet potatoes, and aged The "big problem" of kitchen cleaning such as tea stains.
Therefore, we began to carry out technical research, such as: using cavitation jet technology in the development of dishwashers.
Until now, this is still the most advanced underwater cleaning technology in the world, and is used to clean up parasites attached to the aircraft carrier's waterline.
The core of the cavitation effect is to reconstruct the microstructure of "force" and "air" through the speed of water flow and artificial low pressure.
Using it in dishwashing technology, Fangtai invented high-energy bubble washing, that is, the direct drive system is used to quantitatively supply air to the water flow, forming a local negative pressure lower than 0.15Kpa, and with the high-speed water flow with a gap of 30m/s, the formation speed is relatively high. The ordinary water flow is 20% higher than the cavitation jet.
Once the high-energy bubbles in the water flow burst, they will cover the dishes with an impact 2.7 times that of pure water to wash away the oil.
In this way, "big technology" solves "small problems".
Another example: although aerospace and kitchen appliances seem to be far apart, the underlying technical logic is the same, and aerodynamics is required.
The shape of the rocket and the return cabin should not only meet the principles of aerodynamics, but also solve complex problems such as pressure, gravity and noise. This is what kitchen appliances, especially the fans of range hoods, can learn from.
The fan of the range hood is a very important power component. How to improve the propagation speed of the range hood, efficiently capture it, and reduce the noise is the key to the technical upgrade of the range hood.
Through more than 20 years of product research and development, we realize that there are still many technical difficulties in the field of kitchen appliances, and we also expect to further innovate products through in-depth cooperation with aerospace technology.