1. Valve procurement supply chain management in Western industrial countries

The valve supply chain in Western industrial countries is generally managed in two types of business: "project procurement" and "daily procurement", with significant differences in corresponding procurement policies.

(1) Project procurement refers to the procurement of large-scale engineering projects. The characteristic is a large one-time procurement volume and complex technical requirements, but the procurement is highly planned, and the manufacturer has a relatively reasonable production cycle. This type of procurement method often involves direct factory procurement, where the end user or engineering company directly negotiates with the manufacturer for procurement. This is basically consistent with the current valve procurement supply chain in China.

(2) Daily procurement refers to the daily maintenance and upkeep procurement of each factory in the group. The characteristic is that the procurement volume is small each time, the technical requirements are simple, there are many unexpected events, and the procurement is often not planned, requiring timely delivery of spot goods. This type of procurement method generally involves purchasing from inventory vendors.

Usually, project procurement accounts for about 60% of the total demand of energy industry end users in Western industrial countries, while daily procurement accounts for about 40% of their total demand. The biggest difference between their management of daily procurement and that of China"s energy industry end users lies in purchasing directly from inventory vendors rather than factories. This reflects the further refinement of its social division of labor, and the market economy has reached a relatively mature stage.

Taking the UK as an example, before the 1970s, its sales channels for industrial valves were mainly factory direct sales. But with the development of the market economy, the timeliness and professionalism of procurement are increasingly challenging for end users. In this way, a new type of economic entity: inventory merchants emerged. Its functions are mainly manifested in the following aspects.

1) After adjusting the supply and demand balance, we reserve a large number of various types of valves in stock to meet the "one-stop procurement" and "real-time procurement" needs pursued by end users.

2) As a professional valve distributor, we provide industry development consulting to end users and business consulting for their supplier management.

3) Cooperate with end users to coach manufacturers, help them understand and master user technical specifications, and conduct routine procurement inspections on the quality of manufacturers" products (some Western oil companies, such as Shell Oil, rely entirely on inventory providers for routine procurement quality inspections, and are only responsible for purchasing quality inspections on special products to optimize inspection resources).

4) Provide other value-added services to end users, such as valve maintenance and restructuring, technical specifications, procurement specifications revision, etc.

2. Supply chain management of valve procurement in China

Before China"s reform and opening up, a typical planned economy was implemented for a long time, and valve enterprises did not need to face fierce market competition. Enterprises can easily obtain orders through industry "ordering meetings" or by directly assigning "tasks" to their superiors. The sales method of enterprises is direct sales, which means that whether it is large-scale engineering project procurement or daily maintenance procurement, they are sold directly from the factory to the end user. This procurement supply chain management still has a profound impact on China"s valve industry to this day. Compared with Western industrial countries, with the continuous development of China"s market economy, this direct sales model, especially for the daily maintenance procurement needs of end users, is clearly no longer suitable for economic development, as shown below.

1) The end user"s needs cannot be quickly responded to. Western inventory companies can provide a 4-hour delivery service commitment, but in China, even the most conventional products often require a procurement cycle of more than 30 days due to the inability to obtain spot purchases. This type of spear is particularly prominent in emergency maintenance situations.

2) Due to urgent procurement, end users often have to compromise and accept various technical requirements deviations from manufacturers, or have to replace the original high-quality brand equipment manufacturers and compromise to accept some miscellaneous factory products, which brings hidden dangers to the safe operation of system devices.

3) Manufacturers are not very distressed by the endless urgent needs of users. The unreasonable short production cycle forces manufacturers to make modifications to the original manufacturing process, which in turn leads to increased costs and quality hazards. Both doing and not doing are in a dilemma under the heavy pressure of end users.

Timeliness of supply requires manufacturers to respond quickly to user needs, which refers to the time required for product delivery to customers or service completion. The better a company is at meeting customer needs in a timely manner, the easier it is to obtain higher product value, thereby further strengthening its competitive advantage. The existence of Western industrial valve inventoriers is an inevitable product of market economy development leading to rational resource allocation and combination. Its existence has greatly optimized the response speed and efficiency of Western industrial valve manufacturers to the daily maintenance needs of end users.

4、 Conclusion

The differences in supplier chain management models for industrial valves between China and the West essentially reflect the differences between planned and market economy systems, as well as the differences between mature and emerging markets. By studying the development process of the Western industrial valve supply chain, we can to some extent predict the future development direction of the same industry in China. The key issue is when China can move towards the Western supply chain model, with two key prerequisites: ① the true transformation of China"s economic system from a planned economy to a market economy. ② Industrial valve manufacturers have eliminated most inefficient and low-quality small and medium-sized enterprises through industrial integration, forming one of the few advantageous enterprise groups that truly value quality and brand. When these two key conditions are met, it is foreseeable that a supply chain model similar to Western industrial valves will emerge in China.