China’s manufacturing industry is going astray: starting from Gree Air Conditioner making mobile phones

Gree, which has always focused on air conditioners, has also started making mobile phones, which surprised many people in and outside the industry. When the air conditioner leader, which has always been steady and self-sustaining, seems to be willful, what is behind this is the anxiety and confusion of the entire traditional Chinese manufacturing industry facing the economic downturn. China's manufacturing industry has always been accused of being low-end, cheap, and lacking innovation advantages in exports. Everyone knows the reason, but the problem is that internal strength is not achieved overnight. Where should we find solutions and breakthroughs now? This is related to the fate of the manufacturing industry and social employment.

Behind Dong Mingzhu's mobile phone business, people can still see the strong will of the Queen of Gree. In the face of the unanimous belief that mobile phones are the only entrance to smart homes, Dong Mingzhu may not be willing to give up control. Dong Mingzhu is actually not wrong. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, at least she has adhered to the most basic position of manufacturers, has a deep and keen intuition about the development prospects and interests of manufacturers, and has an instinctive alertness to some so-called Internet thinking; it's just that she may not realize for the time being that the only entrance to smart homes is not mobile phones, and Gree has no need to make mobile phones. Gree Electric's advantage is air conditioning, and it is the leader in the domestic industry. For a country with such a large base in China, it is not only capable of promoting the development of smart homes, but also has the responsibility to establish universal standards for smart homes. The universal standards for smart homes should have been in the hands of the manufacturing industry itself.

The development of society means that the division of labor is constantly becoming clearer. In the future, society will have higher requirements for all kinds of things. It is destined that a company will find it difficult to lead in all fields. To this end, it is even more necessary to find its own entry point and improve based on its own advantages. Gree Air Conditioner should make use of its own advantages. Transitional cross-border diversification will hinder the development of its own advantages. With the recent economic downturn, many home appliance companies, even Gree, are more or less unavoidable from price wars caused by product homogeneity. It is precisely because of the lack of subsequent innovation in products that they expect the Internet to bring micro-innovation to give products higher value. This is the temptation of "Internet +" to traditional manufacturing.

In today's social environment and the changes in the current home appliance market, it is no longer necessary to maintain market position simply by market share, but to gain industry discourse power by quality. Therefore, it is necessary to transform the advantage of quantity into quality. Simply competing with quantity cannot maintain market discourse power for a long time. What is the so-called quality? In fact, it is product innovation. What needs to be done further is to establish industry standards. The establishment of industry standards is not a standard established for the purpose of monopoly (each company has its own communication protocol interface standards, etc.), but a universal standard that can tap into potential needs and see the market interest balance, and promote the establishment of industry concentration.

As the saying goes, one step back opens up a new horizon. In the development of smart home, we should not limit ourselves to establishing standards and building platforms with our existing products and let others implement our standards. We should be able to weigh the changes in current technology and costs, and the costs of communication and migration between different technologies. We should design standards based on market carrying capacity and establish a platform that everyone can participate in. The development of smart home will not make mobile phones a standard platform. Mobile phones are just a medium and one of the interactive operation methods, but they will not become a decisive control entrance. It is even more difficult for a one-stop company to make its own platform an industry standard if it does all the industrial lines.

The development of smart home relies on the further reduction of computer software and hardware costs, and what is more needed is the innovation of home appliance hardware itself. Some people say that home appliance R&D and innovation are also the business of home appliance manufacturers, and those who do Internet only add network control on their basis. What I want to say is that it is because those who say this are only "traditional" Internet companies. I call them traditional Internet companies, just as they call those traditional manufacturing industries. Because they can only cooperate with the manufacturing industry in a basic way, nothing more than adding a wireless module and APP packaging to the hardware to provide it to users, such as adding a control chip to the traditional hardware to achieve basic network control functions. There is no teaching of the so-called traditional manufacturing companies in their mouths, because these people do not really understand how the smart home market will develop, and of course they have no ability to teach others. Traditional Internet companies do not know how to upgrade hardware, let alone understand the relevant pricing strategies. They can't even think of how to create standards for smart homes that combine software and hardware. In fact, they only know how to establish standards based on software.

If traditional manufacturing wants to rely on itself, it must learn. It can refer to the example of computer upgrades. Imagine how home appliances can make people want to upgrade? Many times, a computer cannot be completely manufactured by one manufacturer. For manufacturing companies, how to take a step back is the key. First consider the cost of home appliance replacement, durable goods and consumables and some special functional modules, and even the outer shell "chassis", how to further split into functional modules, how to set which ones can be selectively upgraded, which ones are their own advantages, and which ones can be shared with other brands. The transition from a full series to a single product, or the transition from a complex single product to the splitting of functional components, thus formulating product development and pricing strategies (this customized smart home is like a customized assembled computer). Go your own way, and don't be led by some traditional Internet companies that only know how to control the network but have no real improvement in the innovative experience.

Smart home should take the path of experience, the path of intelligent linkage, and the path of sharing.

How does experience come from? For example, smart air conditioning technology needs to consider whether it is for home or commercial use. For large-scale home air conditioners, where can they be improved at present? From the experience, we can find out the need to change and upgrade the hardware. It is not just adding a mobile phone APP remote control to wear the hat of smart air conditioner. In 2013, when I was working on their cloud air conditioning project for Chigo Air Conditioner, I felt that the air conditioner was not smart enough, and the experience was not put first. The client APP was only compared to the ordinary remote control. At most, because the screen is larger than the air conditioner remote control, it is convenient to design a timer switch, and the so-called cloud customized elderly mode, children mode, youth mode and other automatic control modes are just one-way control of the air conditioner wind speed and temperature. Because I felt it was not smart enough at the time, I submitted the basic idea manuscript of my air conditioner intelligent wind guide temperature control system to Chigo Air Conditioner. Unfortunately, Chigo showed little interest. After that, I redesigned and sorted out the intelligent air conditioner wind guide temperature control system. The function of this system is to control the wind speed and stay time of different areas when the air conditioner changes up and down, left and right. In order to achieve a better experience, it helps to prevent air conditioning disease. This plan is posted on my blog (@玉尊2014) and colleagues are welcome to discuss and exchange ideas.

This smart air conditioning technology solution was also given to Zhou Hongyi of Qihoo 360, but unfortunately it was rejected. Later, I sent an email to him and mentioned that the entry point of smart hardware is in automobiles and medical care. Old Zhou did not get my detailed plan. I don’t know why he hurried to find Tesla. It was expected that he would be rejected. Is there room for you to participate in Tesla’s security? It’s impossible! Those will not be handed over to third parties, because cracking the safety of electric vehicles is not entirely based on software. Those who have watched the American blockbuster car theft know that security is a combination of software and hardware, and cannot be separated. The most important thing for the safety of the whole vehicle is hardware, and software is only auxiliary.

As for the entry point of the automotive industry, what can be done is the utilization of big data, and the smart hardware used in cars, based on our cost and risk considerations, is a product that improves the driving experience. I can now briefly mention products that can optimize and improve the driving experience, such as the car atmosphere air outlet system. Of course, this system is more suitable for car companies. The effect it achieves is that it can automatically adjust the air outlet according to the vehicle speed and congestion conditions. Not all road conditions are suitable for opening windows, and not all cars are convertibles. The faster you drive, the faster the air outlet, and you can define the rhythm, and even simulate the effect of convertible driving. The invention of in-vehicle smart hardware that can be used as a single product is a driving fatigue relief cushion. Many times, inventions come from laziness, because we want a more comfortable experience. I think this is human nature, and generally we want a more comfortable life.

Traditional Internet companies that do not understand experience and cannot do deep mining are unable to innovate smart hardware with sufficient value. Simply adding network functions and simple data analysis to traditional hardware cannot be called smart hardware. The car atmosphere air outlet system mentioned just now, like the car atmosphere light, head-up display and the like, can enhance the car experience and grade. It can be used as a basis for transactions with car companies and to help promote your other in-vehicle smart hardware. In today's world where copycats are prevalent, while allowing smart hardware to gain market share faster, you can also ensure your quality because of quantity.

Having seen so many crowdfunded smart hardware products fail, we know that volume can help share costs, establish a brand, and more importantly, ensure product quality while controlling costs. Crowdfunding is always a niche, and it is inevitable that there are many limitations, especially when smart hardware products lack standards and specifications in the Internet of Things. Whether it is smart home or a large range of smart hardware, it is necessary to find differentiation and have a certain degree of industry concentration at the same time.

How to establish a universal standard for smart home? First of all, we must understand the feeling of home. When people are in the house, which variables will have an impact on people, and which variables are the variables that people need to operate. The standard starts with the universal basic measurement unit, and then continuously defines new units and visualized variable types as it develops. Don't think that my platform is the main one, and don't think that the microcomputer air conditioner with a network chip will become the center of the platform and the master of the smart home. Instead, you should think that your smart air conditioner or smart router will be the main one, and you want everything to be controlled by me, and all other home appliances are my subordinates. This idea is not advisable. In the future, no home appliance will be the absolute master of the real smart home. So the key is to have the concept of replacement. Any one of the whole smart home can be replaced. With this concept, you will know the steps of the development of smart home. Thinking from the perspective of business cost and industry technology recognition, you can know the development stages that smart home will go through.

The primary stage is the development of a single product, the intermediate stage is the linkage of different hardware, and the advanced stage is the home butler of the "mobile brain".

Back to the topic of air conditioning, from the perspective of user needs and economic affordability, the most important thing to build in the early stage of smart air conditioning is the indoor air flow regulator.

To be more specific, air conditioning needs to be redefined, because what we want is not basic cooling and heating, but a comfortable experience. Just as in the past, people only wanted to fill their stomachs, now they want to enjoy delicious food. When you deeply feel what you need, you will no longer be bound by how the air conditioner was made in the past. I also have a more detailed and better three-in-one air conditioning solution (not just the intelligent air guide system). If possible, I hope that this technology can represent one of the Chinese brands to break out of Asia and compete with rivals around the world.

From the perspective of consumer concepts, the first is home, followed by sports, and then medical, which are cross-border big data integration applications. Smart homes can be used in conjunction with sports smart hardware information, and can also be used and interacted with medical data.

As a durable product, air conditioners can also be upgraded. Why should they be upgraded, how should they be upgraded, and the upgrade costs and services will be what air conditioner companies need to consider. The initial stage focuses on hardware, supplemented by software.

In the early stages of smart home development, the manufacturing industry needs to do more to improve its own products. Don't think that you have entered the door of the Internet of Things just because you have the Internet and data. Without innovative hardware or the development of new fields, you can't maintain vitality in the ecosystem of the Internet of Things. Soon, the hardware products of the home appliance manufacturing industry will generally improve the universal interface, and wireless control and application programs can also be separated. When the home appliance manufacturing industry has a universal low-cost network hardware module, stripping these away, what the manufacturing industry will compete with is its most original product. Only when the original hardware products are continuously innovated and the quality is improved can the manufacturing industry be the most core competitive. (You can think of this as computers being very cheap and everyone has installed a small computer on their home appliances. At this time, it is not your own product that is being compared). So although the manufacturing industry is not good at computer network control now, it cannot be regarded as a gold medal for packaging. Don't be fooled by some traditional Internet companies that smart homes rely on these. When home appliances have brains, powerful Internet companies can further play their strengths.

What does the Internet of Things include? First there are things, then the network is established, and then there is data interaction. The highest value of the Internet of Things and smart homes is big data, which is cross-border data processing of different hardware and different fields. As an Internet company, it is the responsibility of Internet companies to establish data exchanges for different hardware, and it is also the field where they can create the most value. Some people say that it is difficult for Internet companies to transform at present, and it is even more difficult for traditional manufacturing industries to transform. If some Internet companies can only think of the basic data utilization of the most basic smart hardware, then they are either short-sighted or incapable, so they will deliberately compete with traditional manufacturers for power and profit in the basic data based on their own parts that should belong to each manufacturer. Really powerful Internet companies will not focus on this. The role of the Internet is communication. Establishing communication between people, communication between people and things, and communication between things is the work of Internet companies. In the joint application of data across industries, brands and hardware, value is mined and created in communication and linkage, rather than being limited to the primary value of smart hardware.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.