A complete guide to the vaping supply chain

Injection molded parts Silicone parts Spring thimble magnets Disposablee-cigarettescartoning machine

As an electronic product, e-cigarettes involve a huge and complex industrial division of labor. However, after sorting out this article, I believe you can clearly perceive the structural distribution of this industry in your mind. This paper mainly combs the distribution of industries at the upstream supply chain.

Distribution of industries at the end of the supply chain

1. Quick overview of the structure of e-cigarettes

Before sorting out the distribution of e-cigarette supply chains, let's first take a look at what the structure of e-cigarettes looks like.

Types of e-cigarettesMany, disposable, replaceable, open, large smoke, etc., but no matter which kind of e-cigarette, it is inseparable from three major parts: atomizing components, electronic components, and structural components.

• Atomization components: mainly atomizing cores, oil storage wool, etc., which play an important role in atomizingsmoke oil, the role of storing tobacco oil;

• Electronic components: including batteries,microphone, plan board, etc., providing power, control power, temperature, automatic switching and other functions;

• Structural components: mainly the shell, but also includes the thimble connector, battery bracket, sealing silicone, filter tip, etc.

The supply chain of e-cigarettes

In the supply chain of e-cigarettes, in addition to the suppliers of the three major parts, there are also important components such as equipment and supporting services. The following will be carried out one by one.

2. Atomization components

The atomization components are mainly various atomization cores (ceramic cores, cotton cores),heating wire, oil conducting cotton, oil storage cotton, etc.

2.1 atomizing core

Among them, the atomization core is composed of heating metal + oil conducting material. Because e-cigarettes are currently mainly heated by resistance, they cannot be separated from heating metals such as iron-chromium, nickel-chromium, titanium, 316L stainless steel, palladium silver, tungsten alloy, etc., and can be made into heating wires, porous meshes, thick film printed metal films, PVD plating and other forms.

At the micro level, smoke oil is heated on a exothermic metal and then changes from liquid to gaseous. The macro expression is the process of atomization.

In practical applications, heating metals often have to be combined with oil conducting materials, such as oil conducting wool, porous ceramic substrates, etc., and combined by winding, embedding, tiling, etc. This design uses the oil conducting material to drain a small amount of tobacco oil to the heating metal, thereby facilitating rapid atomization of tobacco oil.

In terms of types, there are two types of atomizing cores: cotton cores and ceramic cores. Cotton cores include heating wire wrapped around cotton, etched mesh wrapped with cotton, etc., and ceramic cores include buried wire ceramic cores, mesh ceramic cores, thick film printing ceramic cores, etc. Also,HNBHeating bodies are available in sheet, needle, cylinder and other types.

Atomization core has cotton core, ceramic core two categories

2.2 oil storage wool

Oil storage cotton, as the name suggests, plays a role in storing tobacco oil. Its application has greatly improved the experience of using disposable e-cigarettes, focusing on solving the problem of serious oil leakage in early disposable e-cigarettes, and greatly increasing the number of mouthfuls.

Oil storage cotton follows disposablee-cigarette marketIt has risen due to the explosion of oil storage, but it does not stop at storing oil. It also has a lot of market space for the application of filters.

In terms of technology, oil storage cotton is generally prepared by extruding fibers, hot melt and other processes. In terms of materials, PP and PET fibers are common. For individual high-temperature resistant requirements, PA fiber or even PI will be used.# p#pagination title #e#

oil storage wool

3. Electronic components

Electronic components include batteries, microphones, solution boards, etc., and further include displays, chips, PCB boards, fuses, thermistors, etc.

3.1 battery

The battery determines the service life of the e-cigarette, and how long the e-cigarette can last depends on the battery capacity.e-cigarette batteryThere are soft pack and hard shell, cylindrical and square. When combined, there are cylindrical soft pack batteries, square soft pack batteries, cylindrical steel shell batteries and other types.

E-cigarette battery cathode materials include three types: pure cobalt series, ternary series, and a mixture of the two series.

The mainstream materials in the market are mainly pure cobalt, which has the advantages of high discharge voltage platform, large rate discharge, and high energy density. The voltage platform of pure cobalt is between 3.4-3.9V, and the ternary discharge platform is mainly 3.6-3.7V. There are also high requirements for discharge rates, with discharge rates of 8- 10C. For example, models 13350 and 13400 must achieve a continuous discharge capability of 3A.

battery

3.2 Miitou, plan board

The Mitek is currently the mainstream starting component of e-cigarettes. The ability of e-cigarettes to simulate the traditional smoking process cannot be separated from the Mitek.

At present, e-cigarette miters generally refer to the combination of capacitive miters + chips, which are installed on the square table board and connected to heating wires and batteries through lines to play the roles of intelligent startup, charge and discharge management, status indication, and output power management. In terms of types, there is a trend towards developing from electret to silicon wheat.

The solution board integrates various electronic components on the PCB, such as microphone head, display screen, MCU, microphone head, fuses, MOS tube, thermistor, etc. Board production processes include wire welding, SMT, etc.

Miitou, plan board

3.3 Display, fuses, thermistors, etc.

Display screens were first used on Big Tobacco products to display power, battery capacity, and even develop interactive gameplay methods. Later, they were used on a few bomb-changing products. The current application hotspots areDisposable cigarette, starting from the hit model of a certain leading brand, the industry has followed suit, mainly to display the amount of oil and electricity.

It is reported that fuses are about to come on site, and there are mandatory requirements in the U.S. market to prevent risks such as shorting and explosion of e-cigarettes during use. Some foreigners like to take apart disposable e-cigarettes, re-oil them, and charge them. This process of refilling requires a fuse to protect the foreigners.

4. Structural components

Structural components include shell, oil bin, battery bracket, sealing silicone, spring thimble, magnet and other components.

4.1 Shell (plastic, aluminum alloy)

No matter what kind of e-cigarette or HNB heater, it is inseparable from the shell. As the saying goes, people rely on clothing, and products rely on shells. Whether consumers choose you or not plays a very important role.

There will be some differences in the shell materials of different products. For example, disposable e-cigarettes are mainly made of plastic shells and are made of PC and ABS. Common processes include ordinary injection molding + spray paint (gradient color/monochrome), as well as flow pattern, two-color injection molding, sprinkled, spray-free, etc.

Of course, disposable e-cigarettes also have solutions to use aluminum alloy shell + hand paint. In order to provide a better hand feel, most of them use aluminum alloy. If they are like cigarette products, zinc alloy will also be used in order to increase the hand feel. Such a shell.

Of course, not all shells are made of a single material. They can be combined and used, as long as they look good. For example, a certain brand of crystal disposable e-cigarettes that launched a counterattack in the UK uses a PC transparent shell to create a crystal clear texture, with gradient anodized aluminum alloy tubes inside supplemented by rich colors.

In terms of surface treatment processes, oil spraying (painting) is more common. In addition, there are also direct stickers, skins, IML, anodic oxidation, etc.

housing

4.2 Plastic parts such as oil tanks, battery brackets, bases and other

In addition to the outer shell, the e-cigarette also has oil compartments, battery brackets, bases and other components. The materials are:PCTG(commonly used in oil silos), PC/ABS,PEEK(commonly used in HNB heaters), PBT, PP, etc. are basically injection molded parts, and alloy parts are rare.# p#pagination title #e#

Plastic parts such as oil tanks, battery brackets, bases and other

4.3 hermetic silica gel

The use of sealing silicone for e-cigarettes is mainly to prevent oil leaks and at the same time make the e-cigarette structure more compact and compact. Application parts such as nozzle covers, air duct plugs, oil tank bases, microphone bases, and replacement productsthe cartridgeSealing rings, sealing rings for smoke atomizing cores, etc.

hermetic silica gel

4.4 Spring thimble, magnet

Spring thimble, also known as Pogo pin, spring pin connector, charging pin connector, probe connector, etc., is mainly used in spring replacement type,CBDatomizer, large smoke products, and HNB heaters, because these types of atomization structures are separate from the battery rod, a thimble is needed to connect, and is usually used with magnets.

Spring thimble, magnet

magnet

5. Equipment

Equipment runs through the entire industrial chain. As long as there is processing, there is equipment, such as oil injection machines, cartoning machines, laminating machines, laser equipment, CCD optical machines, automated testing machines, automated assembly, etc. There are general market models, as well as non-standard customized models.

device

6. Supporting services

Among supporting services, it mainly refers to logistics, financial account opening, agency certification, testing and certification, etc.

6.1 logistics

To export e-cigarettes, logistics is indispensable. It is reported that there are more than 20 companies specializing in e-cigarette logistics in Shenzhen, and the competition is very fierce. In the field of customs clearance, there are also many hidden knowledge.

6.2 Financial account opening

The scope of finance is very large. In order to avoid misunderstandings, the emphasis here is on opening accounts, mainly involving banks. It is not fully understood that many people who open accounts overseas for e-cigarettes have turned to HSBC; and the domestic business cooperative banks of the State Administration of Tobacco are China Merchants Bank and Everbright. In addition, some banks with unique service products are also looking at the e-cigarette market, such as Bank of Ningbo, which is reported to have a system that can track the movements of overseas funds in real time.

6.3 Agency for certification

It is easy to understand that to carry out production in China, a license is needed. There will be some specialized consulting organizations in this area, such as Siyu. At the same time, there will be similar policy requirements in some overseas countries and regions. For example, Indonesia, according to reports, also has certificate requirements. Similarly, there are some specialized agency certification agencies.

6.4 testing and certification

In the area of testing and certification, for example, exporting to Europe, there will be some TPD certifications, and different countries and regions will have some certification requirements, which requires some professional testing and certification agencies to provide services.

7. Summary

The above is a review of the e-cigarette supply chain. It can be seen that behind the small e-cigarette is a huge and complicated industrial system.