Warning and specific changes of COVID-19 to the evolution of building materials industry

A sudden epidemic COVID-19 caused China and even the world economy to shut down.With the exception of epidemic prevention materials, all markets are depressed. Therefore, many practitioners in the building materials industry have fallen into anxiety. But in my opinion, this anxiety is actually unnecessary. The building materials industry is mixed, and some building materials companies are backward and inefficient, and their original duties have not been done well. Even if there is no epidemic, they will be eliminated in 3-5 years. The epidemic only accelerates the speed of elimination. However, the suspension of various industries has given all companies a chance to correct their mistakes. Building materials are just needed in any country and any dynasty. If you do your own thing well, why are you anxious? Therefore, for companies with strong immunity, the current difficulties must be temporary.

Fortunately, under the increasingly fierce competition, many companies began to reflect on and make up for lessons, seeing the nature of the industry through external factors: the reason why the market truly accepts new building materials is nothing more than quality and convenience. Everything returns to the same origin, the same principle of all building materials: products and services. The logic of industry evolution has always been “continuous innovation around customer value.” No company is isolated. If the environment has changed, but the company itself has not changed, then it violates the evolutionary law of survival of the fittest and natural selection and it will also face the risk of being eliminated. Therefore, in the face of environmental changes under the epidemic, the building materials industry must also take the initiative to change. These changes are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Changes in the market brought by the epidemic: During the home stay, people can better understand the importance of Home & Decoration. After the epidemic, it will stimulate the secondary decoration market or increase the new house decoration budget, and promote the “home economy”. The increasing of home functions, the improvement of health requirements, and the improvement of storage space, rapid, healthy, green, and environmental protection will further become the mainstream consumer trend of home building materials and home improvement. In addition, personalized products will also receive more attention, personalized products that were not easy to promote will be better promoted.

Changes in marketing brought by the epidemic: the products that are sold must be “seen” by customers, which is still the goal of marketing. Online sales rely on content to gain customers, more precisely, value. The service concept will become an important means of linking enterprises and customers, and product details and effects will be more in line with personalization. After the popularization of 5G, online activities will become more and more open. Various forms such as graphics, short videos, and audio will emerge in an endless stream. The community construction of enterprises will become the core marketing position. Market research, new product research and development, product promotion, zero-touch transaction, smart logistics, and remote services will quickly promote the integration of online and offline, so as to realize the marketing concept based on customers’ deep-level needs. For offline stores, their functions will become more and more consumer experience rather than simply selling products.

R & D changes brought by the epidemic: R & D of products will not be limited to the products themselves, more attention will be paid to the convenience of application, and every effort will be made to minimize the amount of after-sales service. This requires companies to sell not semi-finished products, but “products + Service “complete system, including products and related tools, guidance, and can even help customers to “DIY”.

Management changes brought by the epidemic: The epidemic has actually practiced online office. According to statistics, on February 3, 2020, more than 200 million people of China worked online from home. For many companies, this is a new model, and the corresponding management mechanism needs to be improved, so as to achieve the goal of “Physically dispersed but mentally concentrated”. We call it “bulk management” for now. Because of the habit, the efficiency of online office will indeed be relatively poor, and not all types of work are suitable for online office, but the future is likely to be a state of online and offline parallel. This is very beneficial to small, medium and micro enterprises. Enterprises can save office, administrative and logistics costs, and employees can save transportation costs and commuting time. Except for cement, glass, ceramics, most of the building materials companies are small, medium and micro enterprises, they have a larger spread of these costs. Under the severe economic situation, as long as the management mechanism is improved, online office is very likely.

Production changes driven by the epidemic: The implementation of intelligent manufacturing, unmanned industrial production, and the intelligentization of upstream and downstream supply and marketing will accelerate the pace. The reduction of human factors will promote the development of the sharing economy more quickly. Brands, technologies, production, sales, finance, and logistics resources will be fully integrated. The idea of investment or factory construction will be completely changed, the upstream and downstream markets will be further integrated, and part-time sales of delivery drivers are increasingly common.

Positioning changes brought by the epidemic: After the environment changes, the structure of enterprises will change at the genetic level, leading to evolution. According to the model of “assembled enterprise”, it needs a clearer positioning from industry, enterprise to individual. First, employees should position their value, and then strengthen their capabilities in this field, so as to stabilize their position in one or more organizations and reap the corresponding rewards. This remuneration is similar to dividends, that is, employee bossing. “Assembly enterprise” assembly elements, without investment and construction of factories, without pre-employment training and daily expenses, is the most competitive organizational operation mode, and it has been implemented in the construction industry. After the employee bossing, the position of the boss will become the initiator and organizer. With insights into market demand and resources, the boss adjusts his position in the industry chain, establishes a brand-new product echelon, then organizes relevant elements, formulates cooperation mechanisms, establishes a digital and information management platform, and faces the market together.

The above changes are certainly not the full impact of the epidemic. All in all, all changes begin with a change in thinking. No change in thinking, everything will be impossible to talk about.

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