The fourth Standing Committee conference of the First Vacuum Insulated Glass Professional Committee of China Architectural and Industrial Glass Association was held in Qingdao on May 27, 2016. Attendants include: 15 people including the Executive Vice President and Secretary General of China Architectural and Industrial Glass Association Baiheng Zhang, Deputy Secretary Hui Li, along with Deputy Director of the Vacuum Insulated Glass Professional Committee, members of the Standing Committee, specially invited representatives, secretariat staff of the professional committee. The conference was co-sponsored by Qingdao Rocky Technical Glass Co., Ltd.

Deputy Director of the Secretariat of the professional committee Guodong Liu presided over the meeting and approved first the motion to add Caizhu Industry Co., Ltd of Zhuhai as the new member organization of the standing committee.

At the beginning of the conference, the Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the association Baiheng Zhang delivered an opening speech. He first congratulated the new member to the vacuum insulated glass standing committee. He pointed out that our vacuum insulated glass industry must have the ambition to be the world champion. The world of vacuum insulated glass would look upon China for leadership, while the future of vacuum insulated glass in China would depend on all of us present at the meeting. The attendants represent not only the current level of technology in China, but also the level of the world.  

Vice President Zhang acknowledged all the work accomplished in the past year by the vacuum insulated  glass standing committee, the preparatory work and arrangements for this meeting, as well as the direction of committee’s further work. He then asked the committee members to implement the consensus after full discussion and promote further the healthy development of the vacuum insulated glass industry. Vice President Zhang also noted that both vacuum insulated glass and glass-ceramic were the products strongly supported by the policies. vacuum insulated glass was marked by the joint promoting efforts of several enterprises on the market under the leadership of industrial association, driving the industry advancement.

However, there were still some unfavorable factors constraining the industrialization of vacuum insulated glass in three areas including productivity, safety, and market competitiveness: where the bottlenecks in productivity still waiting for breakthroughs, product safety limiting large-scale applications, and certain dissenting voices on the market imposing adverse effects on fair competition. He then expressed his expectation on the future development of vacuum insulated glass industry: to address the aforementioned issues, we should look into both internal and external factors.

As the overall benefits of current external environment outweigh the shortcoming, we should focus on the resolution of any internal problems. He urged the standing committee to allow market research, the trend of technology development, and policy-oriented research to take the priority, to enhance product R&D by strengthening the exchange and cooperation among enterprises through the patent sharing mechanism for vacuum insulated glass; to prevent vicious competition by regulating market order through price coordination and self-discipline; and to follow and implement the policy guidance stipulated in the documents issued by the State Council, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other authorities. Meanwhile, we should take high-end energy efficient glass as the opportunity, continue working towards governmental policy support and securing more funding for a fast rise of the industry.

This conference was co-sponsored by Qingdao Rocky Technical Glass Co., Ltd. In the speech, Chairman of the board Jie Wei said that as a glass processing company listed on “the New Third Board", they stepped into vacuum insulated glass industry through capital market in March and immediately recognized the superior features of vacuum insulated glass and its market potential. Rocky had decided to further investment in the vacuum insulated glass industry and promote the development of the products.  

Deputy director of the glass association and chairman of the vacuum insulated glass professional committee Hui Li reviewed the work of the industry association and the vacuum insulated glass professional committee in his speech. He then briefed the agenda of this conference: the secretariat of the professional committee would first deliver a report summarizing the economic operation analysis and status of the work plan for the past year; each director of the standing committee would then make a speech respectively to discuss the development planning of the industry and share their opinions followed by discussions over the work plan for the next year. 

Deputy Director of the Secretariat Guodong Liu reported to the participants the overall operating status of vacuum insulated glass industry in 2015. The report analyzed the internal and external opportunities for vacuum insulated glass industry from the aspects of domestic and foreign policy environment, market, upstream and downstream industrial chain, and products, as well as the existing problems and responses. He then summarized the work of the vacuum insulated glass professional committee in 2015, and reviewed the completion of each task set forth in the standing committee’s work plan for 2015. In the report, he acknowledged the support received from all member organizations of the standing committee during the industrial standards formulation process and their active participation in other important events.

When planning the work for the following year, chairman of the vacuum insulated glass professional committee Hui Li expressed gratitude to each and every deputy director, member organization of the standing committee and their representatives for their efforts and support to the professional committee; under the auspices of Director Hui Li, the participants made an article-by-article commentary on professional committee's 2016 work plan and reached a consensus. Finally, he commented on the meeting preparatory work, attendance, and put forward the expectation to committee’s work in the future.   

During the meeting, from an industrial perspective, each member of the standing committee expressed their opinions on present industry status, market order, technical bottlenecks, implementation of policies, and future development. Members came to an agreement covering areas such as communications between governmental departments, product standards, industrial self-discipline, and statistical information, etc. The meeting also conducted in-depth discussion over the necessity of forming industrial alliance and patent alliance. It further evaluated and determined the preliminary work directions. 
Before the end of the meeting, it was also discussed and passed the resolution to add three new members to the expert team (for more information, refer to the association website), subject to public notice and Association’s approval. 

“Idle boast the strong pass is a wall of iron, with firm strides we are crossing its summit.” Based on its achievement in 2015, after full evaluation of its success and failure, the vacuum insulated glass professional committee developed the work plan for the following year. Facing the opportunities and challenges, bearing the tasks that the industry lays upon us, we have a long way to go towards fulfilling our duty. Let us under the leadership of the Association, play our full part in Association's function of “Lead, Coordinate, and Serve”, create innovative work mode, and enhance communication and cooperation for the healthy growth of vacuum insulated glass industry!