If you have the production capacity, you can get the order! The production schedule of the head lithium power equipment factory is tight and the gross profit margin may be loosened.

"I haven't had a rest for more than 50 days in a row." The complaint of the skilled workers of a lithium power equipment factory in eastern China reflects the current situation in the lithium power equipment industry. Recently, the Financial Associated Press reporter learned from a number of lithium equipment listed companies, the head lithium equipment enterprises have full production capacity, basically have the capacity to get orders.

According to incomplete statistics, there are 37 domestic lithium battery investment projects in the first half of this year, with a total investment of about 314.8 billion yuan. Nevertheless, SNE Research predicts that the gap in power batteries will widen further between 2023 and 2025. Under the accelerated expansion of the production capacity of battery manufacturers, the prosperity of the lithium equipment factory is high. A person from the lithium equipment factory said that for orders with a relatively urgent construction period, the price offered by the downstream battery factory has also been "loosened." in the past, the lithium equipment factory needed to cooperate with the battery factory to reduce the price.

The head enterprise is full of production capacity.

The production process of lithium battery mainly includes the stirring coating stage of electrode production (front stage), the winding injection liquid stage of cell synthesis (middle stage), and the packaging inspection stage of forming package (latter stage). In addition, auxiliary processes are needed in the production process, such as auxiliary electrode manufacturing, cell packaging, cell PACK and other processes for all kinds of welding equipment.

It has been learned from multiple research reports that at present, each GWh capacity corresponds to 2-250 million yuan of lithium power equipment, and the proportion of the value of the equipment before, during and after the lithium power generation is 39%, 31% and 30%, respectively. Among them, the coating, winding and chemical separation testing equipment are the most critical equipment in the front, middle and back, respectively, and their value accounts for 20%, 15%, 20%, respectively.

The application of lithium power equipment of 300457.SZ is mainly the main process in the middle and front section. The relevant person in charge of the company told the Financial Associated Press that the company is currently saturated with production capacity. By the middle of June this year, the company had signed orders for lithium power equipment of more than 4.4 billion yuan, an increase of nearly two times compared with the same period last year.

688559.SH, which provides power battery laser and automation equipment, signed more than 1.3 billion yuan in new orders for lithium-ion equipment in the first half of this year, far exceeding the company's revenue of 486 million yuan for the whole of last year. In addition to indicating that there are sufficient orders on hand, the relevant person in charge of Haimu Star said that the first phase of Jiangmen production base has been put into use and the scheduling operation is full; the first phase of Jiangsu production base was put into use in 21 years, and the scheduling work is carried out in a steady and orderly manner.

People involved in the Tou Lithium equipment Factory, which spoke on condition of anonymity, said frankly that the first-line Lithium equipment Factory is basically full of production, and there is even an overflow from the first-line Lithium equipment Factory to the second-and third-line Lithium equipment Factory. "now as long as you have production capacity, you can get an order. (second-and third-line lithium equipment factory) may be difficult to enter the head battery factory, but the entire lithium battery industry is expanding."

"I have not had a rest for more than 50 days in a row. After going back to the company to deal with some work recently, I have to go into the lithium power plant to continue to install equipment." A skilled worker at a lithium power equipment factory in eastern China said. The person in charge of Yinghe Technology also said that with the continued exuberance of the supply and demand side of new energy vehicles, battery enterprises are accelerating production expansion, and the overall order of the lithium battery equipment industry is relatively abundant.

From the point of view of the order volume, the number and amount of major bidding for lithium power equipment have increased significantly since the second half of last year. In the second half of this year, the amount of lithium equipment orders disclosed by leading Intelligence (300450.SZ), Yonghe Technology, 688499.SH and Haimu Star exceeded 12.8 billion yuan, close to the annual level of mainstream enterprises in the industry last year.

Feng Sheng and Xie Jiahui, analysts at Zhongtai Securities, estimate that the average annual market space for lithium power equipment will be close to 50 billion yuan from 2021 to 2022 and close to 60 billion yuan in 2023. It is expected that the next three years will be the golden cycle of lithium power equipment.

The gross profit margin may be loosened.

Guangfa Securities recently pointed out that even after considering the annual increase in production, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025, the global power battery is still expected to have the capacity gap of 17/30/45/370GWh respectively. With the gradual landing of the current production expansion plan in 2023, the capacity gap will be alleviated, but if there is only the current production expansion plan, there will be a large-scale power battery demand gap around 2025.

The above-mentioned head lithium equipment factory said that at present, orders for lithium power plants are generally very urgent, and the prices offered by downstream lithium power plants have also been "loosened" for orders with a shorter construction period. "in the past, lithium equipment factories needed to cooperate with battery factories to reduce prices, but this year the trend is expected to ease."

According to the research summary recently disclosed by the pilot Intelligence, the revenue of lithium battery equipment accounted for more than 55% of the total revenue in 2020, and the overall gross profit margin was 33.53%, mainly due to the decline in the gross profit margin of the equipment in the rear section of the subsidiary Titan New Power. The company's gross profit margin has returned to more than 40% in the first quarter of 2021.

Trapped by rising raw material costs, rapid order growth, but slightly slow pace of supply chain expansion and other reasons, Yonghe Technology official said that the company's gross profit margin is still under pressure in the short term. Its further analysis said that the company has increased a lot of labor and material reserves for the new order, and the cost has increased, but it will take some time to deliver the goods and confirm the revenue.

The company hopes to resolve the pressure of gross profit margin by strengthening the cost control of the overall production process and improving turnover efficiency. With the continuous improvement of the company's shipments and the appearance of economies of scale, as well as the stabilization of raw material prices, the company's profit situation is expected to improve gradually. " The person in charge of Yinghe Technology said.

Some people in the industry have pointed out that equipment factories with full-line capacity or core special equipment are expected to increase the scale of gross profit. In addition to strong service capacity, timely supply capacity is also relatively strong. It is reported that at present, the equipment companies that have the ability of the whole line are pilot Intelligence, Hangke Technology (688006.SH), and Liyuan Heng.

As for what kind of companies are expected to be top-notch in the future, the relevant person in charge of Yinghe Technology believes that lithium-ion equipment enterprises with strong R & D strength, obvious scale advantages and strong delivery capacity are expected to accelerate their development and better share the growth of the industry.

As for the main factors affecting capacity expansion at present, the relevant person in charge of Haimu Star said that as an equipment manufacturing enterprise, capacity expansion is mainly affected by comprehensive factors such as manpower, site, capital, supply chain resources and so on. The above-mentioned head lithium equipment factory said that the production capacity of high-end lithium equipment is mainly for engineers and sites, and the expansion cycle is about half a year without considering capital and supply chain.