Xinxiang City, as an important domestic cluster of filter materials, has an air compressor filter element industry in a “dumbbell-shaped” structure. The upstream raw material supply enterprises such as meltblown fabric and fiberglass are located in Fengquan District in the northern part of the industrial belt, while the downstream finished product manufacturing enterprises are concentrated in the southern Economic Development Zone, forming a complete supply chain closed loop. Local practitioners introduced that this geographical distribution keeps the transportation radius from raw materials to finished products within 30 kilometers, effectively reducing logistics costs.
Technological innovation has become the key to breaking through. Xinxiang filter element enterprises generally increase the proportion of R&D investment to 5%-8%, which is higher than the industry average. The technical director of a medium-sized enterprise presented its newly developed “gradient filter layer” structure: by superimposing five layers of glass fiber materials of different densities, it reduces the initial pressure drop by 15% while maintaining a filtration accuracy of 0.01 microns. This technology has obtained a utility model patent, and the supporting products have been included in the supplier list of Sany Heavy Industry.
The market end shows obvious differentiation. Large-scale enterprises have opened up overseas markets through ISO 8573 certification, and their products are exported to Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The proportion of overseas business of a leading enterprise has reached 35%. Small and medium-sized manufacturers, on the other hand, focus on niche markets, such as specializing in anti-static filter elements for laser cutting or developing hydrophobic coating technologies suitable for high-humidity environments. This differentiated competition has increased Xinxiang filter elements’ market share in the domestic mid-range market to 28% (according to the 2023 industry white paper data).
However, industrial upgrading is confronted with practical challenges. In a certain industrial park in Hongqi District, the phenomenon of three small and micro enterprises sharing a testing laboratory is widespread. A business owner admitted frankly, “The price of a single imported testing device exceeds one million yuan, which is a heavy burden for small factories.” To this end, the local government has guided the establishment of a filter material industry alliance, which helps small and medium-sized enterprises reduce their R&D costs through equipment sharing, joint procurement and other means.
The transformation pressure brought about by environmental protection policies is equally obvious. The new national standard “Minimum Energy Efficiency Limits for Air Compressors” implemented in 2023 has put forward higher requirements for the energy efficiency impact coefficient of filter elements. Xinxiang enterprises responded promptly. Their mainstream products have achieved energy efficiency grade labeling, and some enterprises have begun to lay out the research and development of washable and reusable metal filter elements.
From an industrial perspective, the evolution trajectory of Xinxiang’s air compressor filter element industry reflects a typical path of China’s manufacturing transformation – against the backdrop of gradually losing cost advantages, through technological micro-innovations and industrial chain collaboration, new competitiveness has been built in niche fields. This kind of “gradual upgrading” may not be as astonishing as disruptive innovation, but it provides a realistic model for the sustainable development of regional industrial clusters.
Post time: May-15-2025