As is well known, major technological breakthroughs cannot be achieved without the advancement of scientific research instruments. Today, China's science and technology have reached a turning point from tracking to leading. As a multiplier for the development of scientific research, research instruments will undoubtedly become important tools for science and technology competitions in various countries, and even the key to victory. Therefore, major universities and institutions are increasing their investment in scientific research instruments and actively purchasing high-level equipment to enhance their research capabilities.

Correspondingly, with the increasing demand for various scientific research instruments and equipment, the demand for instrument maintenance, repair, consumables, and other aspects is also growing day by day. The research instrument maintenance service market includes: repair, maintenance, leasing, second-hand instruments, instrument relocation, certification calibration, application training, technical consulting, consumables, etc.

With the increasingly mature development of China's scientific instrument market, the demand for instrument maintenance services is also growing day by day. The instrument maintenance market has gradually become a "hot commodity" that major instrument companies are competing for.

Firstly, the current research instrument market has entered the second half, with a surge in service demand. Many customers have a wide variety of instruments and equipment from different manufacturers or suppliers, but they do not have a dedicated equipment maintenance department. Solving instrument maintenance needs has become a new profit opportunity.

Secondly, compared with the increasingly fierce competition in instrument and equipment, the pricing power of after-sales service is still in the hands of the seller, and there is a certain profit margin for the pricing of accessories and services. So compared to the profit margin of instruments, after-sales service has become a new profit growth point, and many companies are more interested in it.

Thirdly, compared to selling instruments to customers, providing timely assistance and solving problems through after-sales service is more likely to capture customers' hearts. Many times, sales and after-sales engineers receive vastly different treatment from customers. Many customers have a cautious and skeptical attitude towards the sales of instruments to them, while they regard the urgent instrument maintenance engineers as guests of honor. Through after-sales service, it is easier to obtain customer resources. Many companies establish repair departments, sometimes not to make big money, but to add icing on the cake for customer maintenance and development.

Fourthly, the mindset of 'heavy purchasing, light maintenance' is changing. Nowadays, many laboratory users are pursuing higher efficiency in their laboratories. In addition to purchasing high-precision and cutting-edge instruments to improve efficiency, many users and laboratory managers have begun to realize the importance of maintenance and upkeep of instruments and equipment. Only when the instruments run smoothly without stopping can we truly improve experimental efficiency.

However, the current situation of supplier monopoly in the field of instrument maintenance and repair is severe, with a serious lack of competition. Some suppliers abuse their market dominance by setting unfair high prices or unfair terms, resulting in losses of research funds for the country and procurement units, and affecting the progress of research projects.

At the same time, some instrument suppliers have taken advantage of their market dominance by arbitrarily raising prices, lowering service standards, preventing third-party suppliers from repairing, and setting unfair terms such as "only replace, not repair" to obtain high amounts of improper benefits. According to publicly available data, the maintenance and repair revenue of some suppliers exceeds 30% of the total domestic sales revenue and has been increasing year by year.

However, it is gratifying that the monopoly phenomenon in the field of scientific instrument maintenance has received attention from relevant personnel. At the 2019 National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, member Lan Minbo put forward a proposal on "adopting anti-monopoly measures in the field of scientific research instrument and equipment maintenance".

In the proposal, Lan Minbo suggested conducting anti-monopoly investigations on some suppliers suspected of abusing their market dominance, strengthening anti-monopoly and purchaser protection legislation in the field of scientific research instruments; Establish an open market system for the maintenance of scientific research instruments and equipment, and establish a pricing negotiation mechanism.

In 2019, with the efforts of relevant national departments, the monopoly practices of foreign companies were broken, safeguarding the rights and interests of domestic scientific research institutions and researchers, and promoting the healthy development of the scientific research instrument and equipment maintenance market.

The field of scientific research instrument maintenance has achieved "maintenance openness", and third-party units have finally entered the maintenance market. However, due to insufficient technical strength and other aspects, there is still some gap in the service level between third-party maintenance service units and instrument suppliers. Third party units can only gain more market share by improving their own management systems and workflow, cultivating more professional service talents, and enhancing the quality of consumables and accessories.

Undoubtedly, the instrument maintenance market looks very beautiful and is a "hot commodity", but not everyone can afford it. But powerful enterprises or manufacturers are like "pigs" standing on the wind, it's hard not to get fat!