Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi have stood in the market for a century, have always been recognized by global consumers through the changes of the times, and have stood firmly in the industry. In contrast, a number of new car-making forces that have emerged in recent years — Neta, WM, HiPhi, Ji Yue, Hengchi, Hozon, Aiways... once had huge marketing momentum and exaggerated concepts, but have successively fallen into operational crises and the predicament of delisting. Many users bought vehicles, but within a few years the company ceased to exist. Now parts cannot be purchased and vehicles cannot be repaired, there is no way to defend rights after sales, and the product has become a 'disposable consumer product'.

Being in the same market, why can the old classic brands survive the time cycle for a long time, while a large number of emerging forces are fleeting with vastly different endings?

Tracing the root cause, many new brands that hurriedly exited lacked the underlying foundation of long-termism. Without deep technical accumulation, the product quality control is weak; without a complete and sustainable after-sales operation and maintenance system, users directly bear all the risks once the enterprise encounters operational obstacles; without sufficient enterprise heritage and capital strength as support, they rely excessively on marketing packaging, emphasizing concepts over R&D. When the dividend of capital fades, without hard-core product power, complete service chain and long operating history as a moat, delisting becomes inevitable.

The reality of the automobile industry is actually a mirror for many equipment industries. This set of survival logic is also worthy of vigilance for all purchasers in the laboratory water-treatment equipment track.

In recent years, the market heat of laboratory pure-water machines, ultra-pure water, and laboratory wastewater and sewage treatment equipment has risen. A large number of new brands have sprung up like bamboo shoots after rain. The appearance design is flashy (except for a large touch screen, there is nothing in the core), the publicity copy is extremely exaggerated, parameters and concepts are piled up, and low-price gimmicks emerge endlessly. But under the lively appearance, do these new brands really have hard-core technical strength, or just do OEM assembly and rely solely on false marketing to harvest a wave of traffic?

Purchasing a laboratory pure-water machine is not buying a fast-moving consumer good. A qualified laboratory pure-water equipment is the basic core equipment of the laboratory, often expected to run stably for ten or twenty years, supporting daily experiments, testing and analysis, and water-quality stability directly determines the reliability of experimental data. Facing a wide variety of miscellaneous brands, purchasers cannot only look at the appearance, the quotation and the gorgeous publicity when selecting, but must dispel the fog and see the underlying cards and real heritage behind the company.

When selecting, you might as well ask yourself a few key questions:

• Are the company's complete qualifications complete and verifiable?

• How many years is the company's real operating history?

• Can the company's paid-in capital and operating hard power withstand the industry cycle?

• What is the scale of the company's insured employees? Does it have its own R&D and production team?

• Is the after-sales service the manufacturer's own system, with full-time technical engineers trained internally, or outsourced to third-party 'fly-by-night' order takers?

• Will this brand still be able to survive normally a few years later?

• When the equipment needs repair and replacement of consumable parts, can the manufacturer still be found?

  
  

Many new OEM assembly companies have no own factory (they just registered an empty shell company with a third party), the core components are purchased and assembled externally, there is no complete qualification certification, the number of R&D personnel is zero, and after-sales is zero. Occasionally, when a machine is sold, they directly find someone on 58.com to install it. Such companies have a short life cycle. Once there is no order, they disappear, and the subsequent parts, consumables and maintenance are completely cut off. Tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of equipment are directly idle and scrapped, bringing huge losses to the laboratory.

The market waves wash the sand. The brands and companies that can cross the cycle must stand firm relying on historical accumulation, technology R&D, complete qualifications, hard-core manufacturing strength, user reputation and their own high-quality after-sales service system. AiKe (AK), based in Chengdu, Sichuan, belonging to Chengdu Tang's Corning Technology Development Co., LTD, is the old source manufacturer that has been deeply cultivated in the domestic laboratory water-treatment equipment field for 30 years.

The enterprise originated in 1996 and formally registered and established its China mainland headquarters in 2003. Rooted in the water-treatment industry for nearly 30 years, it has its own purchased production base, independent R&D laboratory and complete office building. It is an entity manufacturing enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales and after-sales service, and is also a first-line high-end brand in the mouths of users.

In the construction of the qualification system, AiKe (AK) has a complete set of authoritative certifications: national high-tech enterprise, 'specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative' (little giant) SME in Sichuan Province, and provincial innovative SME; it has obtained ISO 9001 quality management system certification, ISO 14001 environmental management system certification, ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system certification, and EU CE certification; the products comply with GMP and GLP specifications, hold more than 70 national intellectual property certificates, and also have five-star after-sales service certification and information security management system certification; the products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions at home and abroad (Qixin.com). Complete and comprehensive qualifications are the basic guarantee of product compliance and the most intuitive proof of the enterprise's comprehensive strength.

The enterprise has real capital strength, its own large-scale production line, and R&D, production, sales and after-sales are all direct professional teams of the enterprise. It has a full-time technical engineer team trained by an internal systematic system, and rejects the outsourcing or 58.com-based after-sales model. A seamless service network is built nationwide, from early scheme customization, equipment installation and commissioning to later maintenance, consumable replacement and regular operation and maintenance, realizing full-lifecycle five-star service, ensuring that the equipment can run stably for ten to twenty years, and there is no need to worry about the manufacturer 'disappearing and running away', avoiding the embarrassment of being able to buy the equipment but unable to find after-sales later.

After nearly 30 years of market tempering, AiKe (AK) pure-water machines, ultra-pure water machines and laboratory wastewater treatment equipment have widely served tens of thousands of laboratories and production sites in various industries such as universities, research institutes, hospital testing departments, disease control centers, third-party testing institutions, biomedicine, chemical new materials, AI computing power, chip semiconductors and metallurgy. After a large amount of real, project-specific and long-term market verification, it does not rely on concept hype, and always insists on accumulating brand reputation with product stability and grounded, reliable services.

The lesson from the automobile industry is worthy of deep thought by instrument and equipment purchasers: the temporary marketing heat is ultimately illusory, and the fancy appearance and low-price gimmicks confuse the eyes. When purchasing laboratory water-treatment equipment, rather than chasing the endless stream of new Internet-celebrity brands, it is better to give priority to the entity source first-line brand manufacturers with a long operating history, complete qualifications, own production and R&D teams, self-built after-sales service system and stable operating status.

The market rises and falls. Let us wait and see: a few years later, how many of the large number of new brands that are now debut noisily will still exist? Only the brands with real hard power can cross the industry cycle and continue to provide users with long-term and reliable products and services.

Some cases of domestic 30-year-old manufacturers:

Sichuan University industrial pure-water equipment — 22 years

Shanggao Ecological Environment Bureau, Yichun, Jiangxi, Exceed series — 8 years

Zunyi Ecological Environment Monitoring Station, Guizhou, Advanced series (4 units) — 9 years

Aquatic Research Base of Jiangxi Institute of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, KL series — 20 years

Hubei Medical Device Quality Supervision and Inspection Research Institute, Advanced series — many years

Yingjia Gongjiu (Anhui), Exceed series — 13 years

Guizhou Steel, Advanced series — 13 years

Lian Zinc Industry (anonymous), 500 double-stage ultra-pure water industrial pure-water system — 18 years

Qingdao Museum, Shandong, Exceed series — 11 years

Sinopec Northwest Petroleum Research Park, Urumqi, Xinjiang, Exceed series — 13 years

Liuzhou Hydrology Center Station, Guangxi, Exceed series — 5 years

Gansu Normal University for Nationalities, industrial pure-water equipment — 18 years

Haidong Comprehensive Testing Center (Haidong Institute for Drug Control), Qinghai, AK4G series — 19 years

Gansu Steel Vocational and Technical College, Exceed series — 9 years

Longzihu Campus, Henan Agricultural University, KL series (2 units) — 20 years

Sinograin Zunyi, Guizhou, Exceed series — 11 years

Qinghai Health College, industrial pure-water equipment — 8 years

Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Exceed floor-standing — 18 years

Jie Lithium Industry (anonymous), Chengdu, Sichuan, industrial pure-water equipment — 5 years

China Certification & Inspection Group Guangxi Co., Ltd., industrial pure-water equipment — 10 years

Xiangguang Copper Co., Ltd., Liaocheng, Shandong, Advanced series — 11 years

Jiayu Printing and Packaging Co., Ltd., Datong, Shanxi, Exceed-cb-10 series — 11 years

Haitian Flavor (anonymous), Guangdong, Exceed series — 20 years

Lee Kum Kee (anonymous city), Guangdong, Exceed series — more than 10 years

Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, Xinjiang, Exceed series — 18 years