FOTILE Steamer, Activating Chinese Cooking with Technology

Article source: China Enterprise News Author: Xu Yiqiang

For many Chinese families, the steamer may be just a machine for cooking food in the kitchen; for Fang Tai, it is the innovation of thousands of years of steaming culture to bring healthier and more convenient cooking methods to Chinese families. important platform.

If the star kitchen appliance of China's home appliance industry in 2018 is the sink dishwasher, then the star kitchen appliance of China's home appliance industry in 2019 is the steamer.

In the first-tier market, many consumers' perception of the steamer is like "suddenly the spring breeze comes, thousands of trees and thousands of pears bloom", not only Fangtai, boss, Vantage, Shuaikang and a large number of professional kitchen appliance enterprises collectively Overweight, Chinese and foreign home appliance companies such as Haier, Midea, Siemens, and Whirlpool, as well as small home appliance companies such as Galanz and Joyoung, as well as Internet innovation companies such as Xiaomi Ecological Chain, have launched their own steamer products.

Behind the increase in the number of brands in the steamer market, it is from last year that many comprehensive and professional home appliance companies have keenly felt the role of steamers in the future of Chinese kitchens driven by the wave of consumption upgrades in the first-tier market. and location, it will not only be a cooking equipment, but a new healthy cooking platform and lifestyle.

As the pioneer of the steamer in the Chinese market and the pioneer of household popularization, Fang Tai as early as 2009 promoted the healthy steaming cooking method for Chinese families through the self-developed embedded steamer, and in just 10 years It not only builds the most complete steamer industry chain, from pure steamer, steam-bake all-in-one machine to micro-steamer all-in-one machine, but also creatively launches new categories such as stove steam-bake cooking machine and two-box full steam-bake cooking machine. Precise satisfaction of different user groups and kitchen spaces.

Talking about his commitment to the market promotion and user education of steamers in China as early as 10 years ago, Sun Liming, vice president of Fangtai Group, said frankly, "Compared to frying, roasting and frying, steaming is the most abundant and healthy cooking method in China. It has a history of more than 3,000 years. The independent innovation and market promotion of the steamer is one of the important achievements of Fangtai to convey the original intention of benevolence to Chinese families.”

From the perspective of home appliance peers, in the past 10 years, Fangtai's greatest contribution to the steamer industry has not only been activated by technological innovation and has driven the continuous expansion of steamer product lines, but also developed steamer, At the same time, based on the in-depth insight into the kitchen space in China, based on the development trend of integrated kitchens, new products such as stove steaming and roasting and two-box full steaming and roasting machines have been launched, which has completed the transformation from one to one. Products, a technology to an industry and a trend, and then to the transformation of healthy cooking methods in Chinese kitchens, in one fell swoop, expanded the category boundaries of China's kitchen appliance industry, and the iteration of Chinese home healthy cooking.

Steaming health, Fang Tai's original intention

The Chinese people's exploration and pursuit of food is a history of the origin and evolution of civilization. In the eyes of Wang Renxiang, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Steamed food is a mainstream and healthy cooking method that can open up the food culture of northern and southern China. Northerners are used to steaming staple foods, while southerners are good at steaming dishes. The deliciousness that steam brings to us, nourished our ancestors for nearly 10,000 years."

Compared with the cooking method of "frying and roasting", which is the most well-known in Chinese families, steamed food is the earliest practice of human beings to use steam energy, and it is also a unique healthy cooking method that Chinese people have inherited from generation to generation. Until today, Westerners rarely use steaming in cooking, and even chefs in some countries do not even have the concept of steaming.

In the face of steamed food, a unique cooking method in Chinese traditional culture, it is more in line with the modern people's pursuit of healthy food. Fang Tai, the leader of kitchen appliances, launched the first electric steamer SCD26-01 in 2009, which has become the current Chinese cooking method. The home appliance industry is the first enterprise engaged in independent research and development and market promotion of embedded electric steamers. In the following 10 years, Fangtai has maintained major technological innovations and functional iterations of products every 2 years, as well as the formulation and improvement of related technical standards, around steamer products.

In 2013, Fangtai launched the Jingzhi series steamer, which used dual-steam technology for the first time. In addition to more steam and more accurate temperature control, it achieved a qualitative leap in cooking effect. Originally invented the steaming and micro-integrated machine, realizing professional steaming, professional steaming, and creating a unique cooking method of steaming and micro-combination; in 2016, Fangtai launched the Royal Kitchen series steamer, with automatic flip-top water tank, intelligent recipes, 110 degree high temperature steaming, 39L large The four major innovative inventions such as volume provide a new idea for the technological innovation and consumption upgrade of the steamer industry.

In 2018, Fangtai led the drafting of the [Made in Zhejiang] standard "Embedded Electric Steamer" (T/ZZB 0347-2018), which provided the steamer industry with no standard to rely on from main technical indicators, monitoring methods, quality commitments, to The unified quantitative standard of cooking time indicators and testing methods, including heating time, steam supply capacity, etc., leads the Chinese steam oven industry to accelerate the rapid development of "from scratch" after the completion of "from scratch".

With the advent of the IoT era and the implementation of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud platforms, for many families, the steamer is not just a cooking device for cooking food, but a management platform for healthy food. Therefore, Fang Tai once again promoted the cross-border innovation of the steamer. Based on the FIKS smart home system, the steamer and multiple kitchen appliances worked together to achieve a simple three dishes and one soup in 15 minutes. The functions of film and television entertainment, online sharing and offline experience completely open up the originally closed Chinese kitchen, so that the busy kitchen of one person becomes a center for the family to share joy.

Since entering 2019, Fangtai has not only achieved technological innovation for the steamer, but also completed the crossover of functions and the upgrading of experience: the stove-steaming cooking machine built for the integrated cooking center can realize 36 kinds of cooking in 1 square space. Switching, 6 dishes and one soup can be easily realized in 30 minutes; the industry's first two-box full-steaming and roasting cooking machine, dual-chamber structure and professional functions of double-strength steaming and roasting, break through the vast majority of steaming and roasting all-in-one machines on the market to "bake" The status quo is mainly based on steaming and supplemented by steaming, and realizes the freedom of steaming and roasting.

Combing the steamer business road of Fangtai in the past 10 years, based on the only engine of technological innovation, based on the technological innovation of products and the upgrading of users' needs, a criss-crossing drive system has been established: on the one hand, rooted in steamer products, it has achieved a A series of technological innovations have created emerging categories such as steaming, stove steaming, and two-box full-steaming cooking machines, and promoted the formulation and improvement of product standards; The heart promotes the user education of steamed food, a healthy lifestyle, and realizes the leap from steaming box hardware to steaming healthy life experience with the help of the IoT cloud platform

Defining healthy cooking with love

Steamer, a cooking tool in the eyes of others, is a platform and carrier for delivering healthy cooking methods in Fangtai's market strategy. More importantly, in the process of user education and marketing for more than 10 years, Fangtai has continued to promote the healthy and tasteful upgrade of Chinese home cooking methods with love as the medium and healthy lifestyle as the core. In the end, this also won the unanimous recognition and praise from the market and users for Fangtai.

Data from Aowei Cloud Network shows that in the declining channel of the kitchen appliance industry, the shipments of steaming and baking machines with steaming function have also been dragged down a lot. As of October 27, 2019, the retail volume and retail sales of embedded electric steamers in the national offline market fell by 9.52% and 12.61% respectively, and Fangtai became the only company among the top 5 top brands to achieve contrarian growth. They rose by 4.35% and 2.11% respectively, highlighting the strength of technological innovators.

To the outside world, Fang Tai’s growth against the trend in the steamer market is not accidental. There are not only life concepts and lifestyle changes brought about by external consumption upgrades, but also internal product technology innovations and functional iterations, bringing a new cooking experience.

On the one hand, in the big wave of consumption upgrading, especially as the protagonists of kitchen cooking become the post-80s and post-90s, their understanding of kitchen cooking is completely different from that of their parents. In addition to pursuing healthier cooking methods, they will also The family's emotions are injected into cooking, and the steamer, which has the advantages of health and fastness, just plays the role of this medium and platform.

On the other hand, Chinese kitchen cooking is in a period of collision between Chinese and Western food cultures. Baking brought by Western ovens has become a fashionable and fun-sharing cooking method. The Chinese cooking carried by the steamer has special value that cannot be replaced by ovens, because "steaming", a cooking method with less oil, less salt and original flavor, has always been Loved and respected by the people.

At present, the existing traditional cooking tools such as steamers and steamers in Chinese families are out of tune with modern kitchens in terms of ease of use, operation experience, and overall kitchen collocation. People need a simpler and quicker to use modern cooking tools, and they want a high-value integrated kitchen. Therefore, the popularity of new technology products that are convenient, smart, and high-value like embedded electric steamers, as well as the rapid launch of new categories such as steaming, steaming, steaming and steaming all-in-one machines, release the healthy steaming charm created by technology.

In terms of product technology, from the original dual-steam generation technology, which increases the maximum cooking temperature of the electric steamer to 120°C; to the introduction of auxiliary heating film, top-mounted water tank, smart menu and other functions based on user pain points, Fang Tai let steam No dripping on the top of the box, continuous "steaming" of water, and intelligent operation have become the innovative consensus and consumption trend of the steamer industry. This has also achieved the "unique" competitive advantage of Fangtai Steamer in the first-line market competition.

"Seeing the rapid promotion and detonation of steamers in the first-line market and more families, as the founder and leader of the steamer industry, Fang Tai is undoubtedly the happiest person", Wu Xianjian, deputy secretary-general of China Household Appliances Business Association Driven by Fangtai's unique competitive advantages of "scientific and technological innovation, cultural heritage, and benevolence", the steamer is not only an important tool for inheriting and innovating traditional cooking methods, but also a healthy cooking platform that conveys love and care to family members.

From the launch of the first embedded electric steamer ten years ago, the core technology of steam generation technology has been iteratively upgraded to the fourth generation. Fangtai is in the "steaming" technology maturity, performance stability and product durability. Continue to lead the industry. At the same time, it has also achieved independent originality in the cooking technology of steaming micro-combination and steaming-baking combination. With the help of the intelligent cloud platform, it has successively launched products more suitable for Chinese families and smart steamed food menus more suitable for Chinese eating habits, and finally achieve a better cooking experience. a healthier dining experience.

Sun Liming revealed that in the future, Fangtai will focus on the cooking method of "steaming" and use the driving force of technological innovation to promote the diversification of products and in-depth changes in the market, and ultimately return technological innovation and product development to the improvement of user experience value. More new technological products bring better cooking experience.