The development history of gypsum board

The most apt analogy for the production of gypsum board is to make biscuits. The gypsum is spread on the assembly line according to thickness, paper is glued to both sides, and the biscuits are cut to size and placed in a pan to dry. For special flavors, fibers or additives can be added to the gypsum to create special boards that are water-resistant or fire-resistant.

Gypsum board was initially used as an interior decoration material in Europe and the United States, replacing wood panels and bricks. It was already widely used in the 1970s and boasted exceptionally fast installation times. However, due to differing traditional interior decoration practices in China, it lacked a market. The earliest gypsum board products appeared in Beijing in the late 1970s. The manufacturer, the Beijing Light Building Materials Company, was located near the current Dahongmen Shoe City and produced the Great Wall brand. Initially, the warehouse overflowed with product, leaving the entire factory in a state of panic. Under the planned economy's construction system, few organizations within the government used it for interior decoration, and design firms were even less familiar with its use.

However, with the opening of the market, foreign construction technology was widely adopted, especially driven by some foreign design companies and high-end hotel decoration. The market began to accept paper-faced gypsum board and it became unstoppable. Demand began to blow out. The factory came back to life and became an excellent benchmark enterprise. It also established a joint venture with Australia's Cessel Professional Gypsum Board Company to produce a joint venture brand. The first generation of paper-faced gypsum board agents quickly became the first to get rich.

The core technology behind the earliest gypsum plasterboards was foaming. Gypsum boards without this technology were both wasteful and weak. Excessive foaming also resulted in increased risk of breakage, further weakening the board. The foreign partners in the joint venture controlled the key foaming technology, preventing Chinese access. The equipment and formula were kept strictly confidential. I've read the text of these measures; the foreigners were truly resourceful. However, they didn't realize their competitors never played by the rules. Before long, through seemingly unidentified channels, various companies had acquired the same key technology, leading to a significant improvement in the quality of gypsum plasterboards. The Chinese were truly exceptional in this area, and ultimately, the foreign partners were forced to withdraw from China due to high costs. Looking at the payroll at the time, Brother Long saw that the costs of one foreigner alone were significantly higher than those of the entire factory staff combined. All the money went to these foreigners, and it was a shame that the nascent brand market was aborted.

The good times for those early-stage gypsum board companies did not last long. It was really like the Yangtze River where the waves behind pushed the waves in front, and the waves in front were washed away on the beach. The latecomer BeiXin Building Materials - "Longpai" gypsum board survived to this day by relying on the two magic weapons of innovation and brand. It has become more and more mature and stronger in the competition. However, those earliest entrepreneurs either went bankrupt or were acquired by mergers and acquisitions for various reasons. They have long disappeared without a trace and have been eliminated by history.

Today, China's gypsum board industry has grown into the world's largest producer, with its market growth speed and scale astonishing its global peers. However, several challenges remain:

One of the problems: the backwardness of application technology will seriously hinder the healthy development of the gypsum board market. Many domestic companies only focus on market price competition and do not make plans and long-term investments in market application technology development. In recent years, as long as BeiXin Building Materials continues to develop new products and supporting keels, it is a breath of fresh air that is worth reassuring. Other companies are more concerned about the benefits during their term of office, and their investment in science and technology is loud thunder but little action, or it is empty talk, and only some superficial work, such as changing facial tissue, claiming that it has this function or that function, and no one comes to care, which brings a vicious cycle to the industry.

The second problem is that the gypsum board market remains unevenly distributed, with counterfeit goods prevalent (even major brands are ubiquitous in the market). Overproduction has led to price volatility, with rampant shoddy workmanship and material cutting. National industry standards are weak, and industry regulations are weak in enforcement. Fortunately, the environmental crackdown in 2017 drove inferior brands out of the market, providing some relief. The outbreak of the Sino-US trade war in 2018 also had a significant impact on the gypsum board industry. A sluggish construction market and declining sales have permeated the nation, leaving leading Chinese companies with a long and arduous journey ahead.