This "fake" is not that "fake" — where exactly does the LED display industry go "fake"?

Recently, with the arrival of the International Consumer Rights Protection Day, various news media have exposed counterfeit and shoddy products in various industries. The number of products and quantities exposed is jaw-dropping. Perhaps, none of us thought that the meals we had at Ele.me, the dentures made at Beikou Dentures, the second-hand cars we bought at Yipai.com... would be Sanwu products with questionable quality. Now that we think about them, we must be sweating. As an LED person, the author would like to take this opportunity to uncover the "fake" aspects of our LED display industry.

However, as we can see, the LED display screen is not an ordinary consumer product. It is both an electronic product and an engineering project. Therefore, compared with the wave of anti-counterfeiting LED lighting products, our LED display industry always seems so calm. So, is there any "fake" in our LED display industry? Where is the "fake"? Below are some of the author’s opinions from the companies he visited.

LED company big shots talk about "fighting counterfeiting"

Jiang Zhongyong, general manager of Hangzhou Meikale Optoelectronics Co., Ltd.: The LED industry is different from other industries, and it is difficult to say whether there are fake ones. Because the industry is not very mature yet, products lack standards and specifications. What is fake? One is that the quality is not up to standard, that is, we think the product quality is not good enough. Therefore, if there are no national or industry standards to require it, it is difficult to define whether it is fake or not. Another option is to use someone else's trademark and counterfeit other people's products. This situation is relatively rare. After all, the industry is a small circle and everyone is familiar with it. Counterfeiting other people's products should be relatively rare.

Li Zhi, general manager of Shenzhen Yiping Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.: The LED display industry is an emerging industry. Many specifications have not been well established, many measurement standards and definitions are not unified, and the country does not have relevant laws and regulations. It is indeed quite confusing. For example, for the same brightness value, each company has different standards in all aspects, so we cannot say whether it is true or false. We can only say that there are differences due to different positioning standards and different testing methods. Therefore, the key is to look at a company's positioning, conscience and emphasis on its products.

Xie Fusong, general manager of Shenzhen Royal Display Technology Co., Ltd.: I think the so-called "fake" cannot be discussed in our industry. It is mainly cutting corners and there is no standard for the materials used in products. For example, a PCB has three standards, 1.6, 1.2 and 1.0. Each manufacturer has different quality requirements for it and uses different materials, but there is no difference between true and false.

Wang Aimin, Sales Director of Zhejiang Intelligent Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.: With the overcapacity in the industry and the oversupply of LED display products, some companies that cut corners for profits have taken advantage of the situation and seized market share by lowering prices. In fact, their quality is not up to standard, so it does not matter whether it is "fake" or "not fake". The key is quality.

It is difficult to define the authenticity of the industry, and quality problems are the culprit

Obviously, it is difficult to define whether there is "fake" in the LED display industry. Generally speaking, "fake" is divided into two categories. The first category is counterfeit products, that is, when the product is manufactured, it realistically imitates the appearance of someone else's product, or it copies and sells a product protected by intellectual property rights without authorization to pass it off as someone else's product. As Jiang Yongzhong said, this kind of situation is rare. After all, the circle is so big, and everyone "looks up but doesn't see you when you look down." The other category is fake and shoddy products. The quality and performance indicators of these products fail to meet the requirements stipulated by national standards and industry standards, and even bring safety risks to consumers. In layman's terms, it means "passing off inferior goods as good ones", using inferior materials to pass off as well-known brands.

As we all know, the entry threshold for the LED display industry is low. Many small-scale and small-scale workshop companies that just want to "make a profit" do not take technology research and development as the guide after entering the industry. Instead, in the face of fierce competition in the market and the pressure brought by rising raw material costs, they do not hesitate to sacrifice the quality of the products and blindly rely on price wars to compete. This kind of blind entry and low-end competition has led to the entire LED display market being chaotic and difficult to manage.

At the same time, the current LED display industry has only been around for a few decades since its birth. Generally speaking, it is still relatively "new". The country does not have clear regulations and specifications on the definition of industry standards for LED display products. Perhaps the same LED product has different production standards for each company, which has also led to uneven quality of LED display products and market confusion.

Therefore, there is no doubt that the LED display industry is the latter. For example, a company in the industry that produces display screens claims that all its products are packaged with Cree chips, but in fact it only uses a part of them; another example is that a company advertises that its products are all made of Barco lamp beads, but in fact they only use some "leftover materials."

In recent years, it is not surprising that negative reports on LED display quality issues have frequently appeared in the press. For example, LED display products were subject to random inspections and were rejected for export if they failed to pass the quality inspection, LED stage displays collapsed, and LED advertising screens frequently caught fire, etc. In addition, it is understood that due to the blind pursuit of large area and high brightness of some LED display products, severe light pollution directly interferes with the sight of motor vehicle drivers, causing accident risks and also affecting residents' normal life and night rest. At about 5:30 on October 29, 2015, in the Guangxi Sports Center, the LED display screen and stage light stand that were being built for Jolin Tsai's concert suddenly collapsed, which was a tragedy caused by quality problems.

Countermeasures? Establish brand and improve quality

We do not doubt that shoddy, cheap and inferior products are common problems in China's manufacturing industry today. However, as an emerging industry, the LED display industry should not be reduced to relying on this "road" to make a living. Therefore, regarding this issue, Wang Junkuan, general manager of Shenzhen Getron, and Wang Aimin, sales director of Zhejiang Intelligent, believe that in the current era of "overbearing" price wars, companies should not desperately pursue product prices, but should spend more funds on research and development, and strive to provide higher guarantees on product quality and performance.

Shen Xiaojun, general manager of Changzhi High-Tech, believes that in view of the uneven prices and product quality, manufacturers need to establish and identify the product brand and make a clear promotion on the label so that consumers can buy and use with confidence.

Compared with the speeches of the previous business people, Li Fan, chairman of Mingchang Optoelectronics, seemed calm and relaxed. He bluntly said that the market has a natural function of survival of the fittest. To prevent "fake goods" in the industry, it takes time and the market to speak. Because, in the end, there may only be a handful of companies left in the market, and the remaining companies may be industry giants. At this time, the brand and quality can finally be formed, and the market can be healthy and orderly.

Author’s opinion

In the author's opinion, strong quality will make the country strong, and quality will make the nation prosper. On November 10 last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the reform proposal of “strengthening supply-side structural reform and improving the quality and efficiency of the supply system” at the 11th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group; at this year’s Two Sessions, Premier Li Keqiang deployed the main goals, tasks and major initiatives during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period in the government work report. When taking measures, he clearly proposed "building a quality power"; on March 29, at the second China Quality Award Ceremony, Li Keqiang once again gave important instructions, requiring all regions and departments to vigorously implement the strategy of quality power, adhere to reform and innovation, strengthen policy guidance, and use quality improvement as an important starting point to promote the upgrading of supply structure and demand structure.

Therefore, the author believes that with the strong support of policies, the government should strengthen the supervision and management of the LED display industry and improve quality standards. Efforts will be made to create a good quality development environment by increasing quality guidance and cracking down on counterfeit and shoddy products.

At the same time, efforts should be made to cultivate quality culture and entrepreneurship, and encourage enterprises to take a longer-term view between long-term quality development and short-term interests. Encourage the development of quality social organizations, unblock consumers' channels for quality and safety appeals, and create a good atmosphere in which everyone cares about quality and everyone shares quality.

Secondly, from an enterprise's production perspective, the production of LED display screens ranges from strict production management to professional development and design; from the company's selection of components and materials to strict quality control of the production process (including the aging treatment of intermediate components), every link affects the quality of LED display products. Therefore, LED display screen manufacturers must promote the spirit of craftsmanship.

The so-called craftsman spirit refers to the spiritual concept of craftsmen carefully crafting their products and striving for excellence. Craftsmen have high requirements for details and are obsessed with improving quality from 99% to 99.99%. Only by continuously improving production and manufacturing processes and strengthening product quality can we ensure the continued demand for LED displays and achieve higher market competitiveness.

In addition, under the pressure of homogeneity in the LED display industry, LED screen companies must first increase capital investment, increase research and development of new products, and increase the added value of products. Second, they must make technological breakthroughs, innovate, and create their own core competitiveness. Only in this way can they win the market in the face of customer demands that increasingly focus on high-quality and high-tech products.

2016 is a critical year for the supply side and the beginning of the 13th Five-Year Plan. Under the new normal, the important role of quality in economic and social development continues to be magnified, and improving quality has become an important internal driving force for promoting supply-side structural reform and even the transformation and development of the entire economy. The author hopes that LED screen companies must clearly realize that product quality is the foundation of a company's survival. No matter how popular the gimmick is, it cannot make up for the negative impact of inferior products. Enterprises should spend more attention on product research and development, improve service quality, and launch more "down-to-earth" products based on customer feedback, so that they can last for a long time.