Air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines ... In daily life, most people can not do without these household appliances, the industry to these people can replace people's housework, or provide a higher quality of life of electrical products called "white goods."

In the "white goods" maintenance industry, more and more practitioners have started exploring the road (photo by Lei Weidong)

In recent years, with the improvement of the design and manufacturing level, the above-mentioned household appliances have experienced a reduction in the failure rate, an increase in the service life, and an increasingly fierce market competition. Many businesses have introduced measures such as the extension of the warranty period, and even implemented "a lifetime warranty for important parts." "... These changes have brought better protection to users and have also quietly affected the corresponding maintenance industry."

"Not only did I change my business, I used to engage in 'white goods' (electricity products that can replace housework, mainly including washing machines, kitchen appliances, air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. In the early days, these appliances were mostly white, hence the name). Among my friends, as far as I know, more than half have given up.” He is 49 years old and has 15 years of “white goods” maintenance experience. In the summer of 2010, he left this area after careful consideration, although Don't give up, but it can only be so in the face of reality.

"From 1995 to 2010, the 15th year of my career, I felt the deepest changes in the business volume. I can use the term 'parabolic' to describe it." He said that the best time for business is around the year 2000, when air conditioning was used. For the representative of the "white goods" quickly into urban and rural families, and many brands of after-sales service system is not yet perfect, which gives the maintenance industry has set aside a small market space. “The three maintenance personnel in the store are busy almost every day and their income is considerable. Some of the maintenance personnel’s vehicles are changed from motorcycles to cars.”

“From 2005 onwards, this trend has changed significantly – in the fields of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, etc., there has basically been a pattern of 'big brands leading,' which means that these major brands are The after-sales service system gradually formed.” He Wei told reporters that it was from this period that the business of these small repair shops gradually entered the downward track, and by 2010, the business volume had dropped to about 20% of its peak period. "A lot of time there is nothing to do. Several maintenance staff often sit in the shop and use the DVD player to watch movies. We also thought of transitioning, such as working with some less well-known brand manufacturers to become an authorized maintenance point. , but the actual effect is not satisfactory, and ultimately had no choice but to leave the field."

The reality is that the product segmentation is difficult and the maintenance business is difficult. “Now, the degree of specialization in the research and development of 'white goods' products is very high. Different products are developed for different fields and different groups of people. While segmenting markets, It can also satisfy more consumers with different needs.” Mr. Wang, a service representative of a well-known brand of air conditioner manufacturers in China, said that corresponding to the above trends, the types of spare parts of products have also increased suddenly, for example, the same type of air conditioners, According to different use environments and requirements, several different models are subdivided. The specifications of each model are different. "If it is not the manufacturer's own after-sales service system, it is difficult for a general repair shop to find suitable spare parts in a short period of time. The difficulty in carrying out maintenance operations can be imagined."

Tang Le, who has been engaged in the maintenance of "white goods" for nearly 30 years, confirmed the above statement. “Remembering that in the mid-1990s, customers came to repair electric appliances such as washing machines. After I carefully identified the breakdown, I would normally go to a nearby park or an electronic building by bicycle. There are many shops selling electronic parts because there are a lot of zeros. The versatility of the accessories is very strong, buy it back, next time the repair of other appliances is likely to be useful." Tang Le said, now the difficulty of repairing "white goods" is obviously increased a lot, some spare parts are dedicated And the trend of “modularity” is becoming more and more obvious, that is, if a fault occurs in a certain part of an electrical appliance, it can be solved through local maintenance in the past. Now, most of them need to replace the faulty system as a whole. "For systems that need to be replaced, we have to buy them from manufacturers or their after-sales service outlets. The cost is going up. It is really difficult for us to make money."

In an interview, the reporter found that some of the “white goods” maintenance practitioners interviewed said that manufacturers are now also interested in protecting their own after-sales service systems, such as using less versatile parts in their products, or even dismantling electrical appliances. The equipment that detects faults also has strong "dedicated" features ... These are all intended to "force" the maintenance practitioners outside the after-sales service system.