The "One Yuan Era" of Photovoltaics: Manufacturers & Distributors Break Through!

In October 2023, the industry was shaken by the first appearance of a bid price below one yuan, at 0.993 yuan/W for photovoltaic modules. Since then, the photovoltaic industry has entered the "One Yuan Era," where prices close to or below 1 yuan/W have become common. This is all due to the intensifying internal competition within the industry. The continuous influx of new players, the increasing maturity of new technological routes, the growth and strength of the industry's supply chain capabilities, and the development of refined management have accelerated the industry's growth.

The "One Yuan Era" is an era of a hundred flowers blooming, but also an era of fierce competition. How to survive, how to develop, and how to achieve differentiated competition are important issues for every photovoltaic enterprise in this era.

Industry Challenges:

· As the photovoltaic industry shifts from "Made in China, Sold Globally" to "Made Globally, Sold Globally," the lengthy supply chain will lead to long delivery times and supply uncertainty, which can easily lead to delayed delivery and difficulty in controlling the supply status of goods.

· Material, inventory, and cost data are difficult to be accurate in real-time, cost control is chaotic, and product management is not clear and transparent; at the same time, traditional systems find it difficult to trace each module and each batch of batteries, and it is impossible to timely understand which link the problem comes from, such as which batch of batteries from which supplier has a problem, or which lamination was wrong on which day, or what went wrong with logistics, making it difficult to achieve refined quality management and tracking.

· Technological iteration will inevitably lead to the upgrading of production lines. The derivation and changes of business require a flexible and scalable elastic system to adapt to the changes in product data, production line maintenance, and various daily operational data fluctuations; in addition, data analysis capabilities are also essential basic skills.

Under the trend of the industry and the trend of the times, if photovoltaic manufacturers and distributors want to take advantage of the situation, they must have the spirit of courage to innovate, innovate in the market, channels, technology, and systems, and open up new opportunities. However, any innovation in production and operation business, without precise and effective system support, cannot truly implement innovation and achieve refined operation.

PVMDS - Photovoltaic Manufacturing and Distribution Solution

Shanghai Hitpoint Cloud Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Hitpoint Cloud), as an expert in enterprise information systems, ERP, APS, MES consulting, has keenly captured the IT system construction challenges of the "One Yuan Era" in the photovoltaic industry. With this, Hitpoint Cloud has launched PVMDS - a photovoltaic industry manufacturing and distribution solution based on the Oracle NetSuite cloud ERP system, working with Oracle NetSuite to help Elite Solar, Xiehang Energy, SEG Solar, Longrui New Energy, and many other photovoltaic enterprises successfully innovate enterprise management models.

PVMDS can provide the following capabilities:

· Adapt to the photovoltaic module and battery industry's logistics data management function plan, and improve the easy-to-use component serial number, battery batch, other raw material batch management functions, and in the battery production management, the plan and functions for managing production by efficiency grade and color, helping enterprises achieve real-time penetration of logistics, procurement, and product attribute information.

· Business and financial analysis models and functions include order-based accounting models, order-based full chain cost, profit models, production cost, direct cost analysis, indirect cost analysis, cash flow health monitoring and prediction models, helping enterprises establish an operational analysis system, and no need to purchase and develop additional BI systems.

· Advanced finite capacity scheduling and PMC planning (APS+MRP) optimized for the production characteristics of components and batteries, supporting both order production and spot production modes, achieving automatic production and procurement plans, optimizing PMC plans, delivery commitments, and delivery warnings.

· Group financial consolidation statements, group internal transaction automation, multi-accounting standard conversion automation, and support for local languages, currencies, finance, and tax localization in more than 180 countries and regions globally.

· Complete CRM functions for advance planning, precise control of business opportunities and quotations, reasonable planning of order delivery; in addition, convenient customer portals and supplier portals allow customers to place orders online, receive and pay invoices, and inquire about component serial number traceability, while suppliers can receive orders online, update logistics status, and complete reconciliation.

· Warehouse management combined with PDA can easily complete barcode scanning, purchase entry quality inspection, warehouse location, inventory, receiving and shipping, and inventory counting; at the same time, import and export logistics management can help accurately control detailed sales and purchase logistics progress and costs, and provide logistics warnings.

· A full chain, multi-scenario OA approval without the need for integration and operation of dual systems. Support for order approval, gross profit approval, purchase comparison, payment approval, etc., without the need to purchase, implement, and integrate OA systems, such as when approving battery piece purchases, you can directly see the historical quotations and purchase price data of 3 suppliers; and a variety of optional MES options can adapt to different production maturity.

The successful practice of Elite Solar

Take Elite Solar as an example, Elite Solar is a global photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer and photovoltaic system service provider. Its global manufacturing factories in Vietnam and Cambodia have an annual production capacity of 6GW of silicon wafers, 7GW of batteries, and 5GW of components. With the recovery of the global photovoltaic industry, the orders of Elite Solar in Europe and America have increased significantly, and the battery factories in Vietnam and Cambodia have been put into operation. There is an urgent need for a globalized ERP to replace the previous ERP to efficiently manage the global business of Elite Solar. Elite Solar hopes to penetrate the global trade chain through the same platform, while managing the overseas Vietnamese and Cambodian factories and the external production of component business in the whole process, achieving full traceability of all orders and associated transactions, and refined accounting of order cost and profit.

Make full use of "data" for intelligent management

· Group and global operations, penetrate the global trade and production chain of Elite Solar;

· A set of systems supports multiple formats, in addition to global trade, it also provides comprehensive support for the global supply chain;

· Integrated overall group procurement and production planning, meet the refined management needs of external order management, overseas Vietnamese and Cambodian battery production factories, and the entire order delivery process is clearly visible;

· Unified financial control of the group, achieve full traceability of orders and refined accounting of order cost and profit.

Core technology, capacity expansion, cost advantages, and government incentive policies have become the confidence for photovoltaic new energy enterprises to go global. The entire market is developing upwards, but the fierce competition that comes with it also requires enterprises to be well-prepared. Digitalization takes a different path, achieving overtaking in the soft strength of enterprises, and radiating to all aspects of the business, accelerating the construction of a "photovoltaic +" diversified layout!