With the rapid development of ceramic production technology in China, personalized products are becoming prominent in the fire equipment market, and product development is beginning to trend towards the high-end. Currently, Chinese fire equipment companies are targeting the high-end market, emphasizing the adjustment of product structures and the enhancement of product value-added, while also considering the overall interests of the industry. By striving to increase the technological content of products, boosting independent innovation, and cultivating domestic brands, they aim for sustainable development. Here, we reflect and summarize the current situation of the domestic fire equipment industry, and propose six concepts that the industry needs to transform. 1. "Fire equipment being heavy indicates its practicality"
Historically, the market competition has been characterized by the perception that "thick" is a competitive advantage to outmaneuver competitors. Coupled with the traditional mindset that "more is better," there's a common belief that "fire equipment should be thick to be authentic, substantial, and not to skimp on quality." However, fire equipment products are essentially surface decorative materials, industrial goods with artistic, decorative, and protective surface qualities. What people primarily use is the surface decorative effect. As long as the equipment meets the actual usage requirements in terms of destruction resistance and load-bearing capacity, it can fully utilize the purpose of fire equipment products.
Fire protection equipment boasts numerous advantages over natural stone, such as high strength, light weight, resistance to aging and corrosion, and consistent coloration. Due to its high-temperature firing process, fire protection equipment of the same thickness exhibits far superior resistance to destruction compared to stone. Moreover, the better the sintering quality of the fire protection equipment, the higher its resistance to destruction. This is the distinct advantage of fire protection equipment over natural stone, rendering the heavy, thick feel of natural stone unnecessary.
Moreover, the thicker the fire protection equipment, the greater the difficulty in sintering the product, resulting in a decrease in sintering quality over the same cycle, and an actual reduction in its ability to withstand damage – a factor determined by the firing process of fire protection equipment. In addition to consuming more raw materials, thicker fire protection equipment also requires more energy to achieve the required sintering quality, which contradicts the national policy currently strongly advocated for "energy conservation, resource conservation, and emission reduction." Therefore, to achieve sustainable and low-carbon development in the building ceramics industry, thinning of fire protection equipment is an inevitable trend. We call on all individuals in the industry to promote to the public consumers the message that "thicker is not always better for fire protection equipment" and that "fire protection equipment can be made thinner." This is especially crucial for our market sales personnel, as they are the disseminators of fire protection equipment culture, and must instill the concept and understanding of "thinning fire protection equipment" among consumers.
"White-body Firefighting Equipment Products"
In the market, the belief that "the whiter, the better" for fire equipment blanks has become the norm, largely due to the industry's own misleading of consumers. Tracing back to the 1980s and 1990s, imported fire equipment products from Italy and Spain were all red blanks, and consumers were willing to pay premium prices for them. By the 21st century, the domestic market gradually shifted to white blanks for fire equipment, with "whiteness" becoming a competitive edge to suppress imported products and compete with rivals. This has gradually led consumers to the belief and perception that "only white fire equipment blanks are good products."
As previously mentioned, fire protection equipment products themselves belong to surface decorative materials. It is the surface layer of the fire protection equipment that truly fulfills the decorative function. As long as the body's strength, water absorption rate, and other performance indicators meet the product standard requirements, and the body layer does not impart color to the surface layer, what difference does it make if the body is white, red, or black? After the fire protection equipment is installed, who can see the color of the base layer? Therefore, the notion that "the whiter the fire protection equipment body, the better" is purely self-inflicted harm by the industry. It is now a daunting task to change consumers' perception of white body consumption.
As raw materials like white坯 continue to diminish and deplete, and with the industry's demands for clean production, circular economy development, and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, fire equipment products must break free from the constraints of "white坯." They must expand the range of raw materials used, fully utilizing widely available materials such as red mud and poor-quality sandy mud, and shift towards producing red坯 and gray坯 fire equipment products, truly achieving zero waste emissions in fire equipment production. This requires collaboration within the industry and joint guidance from enterprises and industry associations, with widespread promotion in standards development, policy advocacy, and marketing. Especially, the sales teams of each enterprise, as disseminators of fire equipment culture, should positively promote and advocate for non-white坯 and red坯 fire equipment products. At the same time, enterprises should focus on product design for the坯体 layer and surface decorative layer, gradually enhancing the quality of non-white坯 products and gradually transforming consumers' attachment to "white坯."
"Fire Equipment Industry Lacks Patent Achievements"
The fire equipment industry is a traditional sector with a high degree of technological maturity. A wide range of technical materials, including textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, papers, and patents, cover the field. Over the past 30 years, the development of the fire equipment industry has been characterized by the adoption, imitation, and improvement of foreign fire equipment technology and equipment. Imitation and improvement have become the norm in industry development. In such an environment, there are not many patented technological innovations, and even fewer are those with originality and protective value. The patents that have been applied for or authorized are mostly combinations or local innovations, with a narrow scope of protection for innovative points. More importantly, industry professionals have a blurred understanding of patents, lack patent knowledge, and have a weak sense of patent awareness. As a result, the general consensus among industry personnel is that "the fire equipment industry has no patent achievements."
