" Scholars " in Market
September 5, 2001

On May 30, Zhejiang Daily "industrial and commercial News", carried a report introducing "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company" involved in reform of traditional industry. The full text is as follows:

They are a group of scholars. "Central Controlling Company" is composed of professors and college graduates, among whom 40% have master's degree or higher. They developed the first automatic controlling system in China, the first paperless recorder and the first on-the-spot controlling system based on network technology. All products made by them achieved world level.

But they are not just a group of intellectuals; they pursue market strategy and are good at finding chances in difficulties. They have made great contributions in reforming domestic traditional automatic equipment. One of every 5 automatic controlling systems in China has been designed by them. Many large enterprises such as Quzhou Chemical Company, Jinling Petrochemical Company, Yizheng Chemical Fiber Company, Qilu Petrochemical Company, Zhenhai Petroleum Distilling Company have purchased their central controlling systems. At present, the enterprise's gross assets is 80,000,000 RMB, with net asset at 50,000,000 RMB and their annual revenue last year was 150,000,000 RMB, twice that of 1999.

Industrial automation is a result of application of high technology in traditional industries. But before 1990s or before the establishment of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company", there was no enterprise manufacturing industrial automation systems. Since the end of 1980s, with the development of national economy, the renovation of equipment has become faster. The demand for automatic controlling systems for enterprises such as chemicals, petroleum, petrochemical, electricity, thermoelectricity, metallurgy, textile, construction materials, biochemistry and water disposal has increased quickly. Many large overseas enterprises sell their products in China.

Once, "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company" heard that some enterprise in Shandong invited a bid for automatic controlling systems. They sent their staff to Shandong to contact the department concerned. The enterprise examined the whole research, development and manufacture process of "Central Controlling Company", and thought that the system was cost-effective. But just several days before the bidding, the director of that enterprise rejected them and said, "Only overseas enterprises can participate in the bid".

When researchers of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company" finished basic frames of the system in a 8-square-meter basement laboratory and put the products into simple boxes in the workshop; when the first dispatch of marketing staff set on their way, the competition between overseas enterprises and Chinese enterprises for industrial automatic system market just began.

High-tech enterprises should also look downward, as long as there are markets. Faced with the situation that large enterprises in China had only faith in the overseas products, "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company" adopted the strategy of "countryside encircling city". They paid attention to provincial-level enterprises even small enterprises in cities and towns. Xiaoshan Longshan Chemical Factory could not afford overseas products, so they tried the products of ZUCCC. The result and quality were both good. Up to now, all automatic controlling systems at Longshan Chemical Factory are manufactured by ZUCCC. Beginning with medium-sized and small enterprises and then extending to super large enterprises, they finally attracted many domestic companies. Now customers will buy anything if it is a product of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company" .

Shandong Dong'e Group at first introduced the overseas products, but couldn' treach the anticipated production capability after running for two months, which resulted in deficit. After using the product of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company", their anticipated purpose was reached just in a week. Hangzhou Steel Group had used some famous American company's automatic controlling system which was known as the 3rd generation most advanced system in the world. But the system always stopped operation and reaction to data was slow. Finally, they used the central controlling system of ZUCCC. According to incomplete statistics, over 600 systems applied at more than one hundred enterprises in China created profits of several billion RMB every year. Multi-variant controlling technique along can improve the recover rate of light oil at petroleum processing factories and increase profits and taxes by more than 6 million RMB every year. Adopting expert controlling technique, the companies can improve the quality of products and reduce costs during the production process of formaldehyde synthesis, increasing the production value by 8,000,000 RMB every year. Having so enormous economical benefits, domestic enterprises have all given up the overseas products and introduced the products of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company".

The products of ZUCCC has rooted deeply in the domestic market. In the past, the price of overseas products was 200% higher than that of a similar product of "Zhejiang University Central Controlling Company", and their after-service fees were high, usually at 120-200USD per hour counting from their technicians boarding on plane. But now, prices of overseas products have declined to only 20% higher than those of the same local products.