Hailuhuanhuan: Why does “small business” shake up the national award?

Recently, good news came from the National Science and Technology Awards Conference held in Beijing. Zhangjiagang Zhonghuan Hailu Special Forging Co., Ltd. participated in the completion of the “Key Technology and Equipment Project for Precision Rolling of Ring Parts” and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.
From a little-known forging company to winning a national science and technology award in one fell swoop, how did Hailuhuanhuan, a native Zhangjiagang private enterprise break its cocoon and become a butterfly, and create a technological legend? With this question, the reporter walked into this company.
Layman
To win the national award
What is the “length” of the enterprise that can win the National Science and Technology Progress Award? This is a question that reporters have been thinking about during the interview. When we came to this company in the Metallurgical Industrial Park (Jinfeng Town), the reporter found that there were no splendid lintels or tall scientific research buildings. The sea-land ring forging, which had just won the national award, seemed to be the same as many small and medium-sized enterprises.
What surprised the reporter even more was that just three years ago, the company’s chairman Wu Junsan was an entrepreneur who didn’t even know the concept of technological innovation.
“Actually, my original concept of technological innovation was relatively weak. In the beginning, companies relied on imitation and imitation to break into the market, and the effect was good.” Wu Junsan told reporters. Imitation of advanced, this is the development path of many small and medium-sized enterprises, and it has also helped Hailuhuan to grow rapidly. In 2008, the company achieved sales of 320 million yuan, and in 2010 it reached 420 million yuan. But when the company reached a certain height, Wu Junsan found that although there are advanced equipment, but due to the lack of technical support, “the things made are still not ideal.”
In 2009, Hailu Ring Forging tried to develop new products for special-shaped ring forgings, but due to weak scientific research and substandard production technology, new products could not be launched. As a result, companies began to consider using foreign brains and attracting foreign wisdom.
“At that time, the leaders of the Metallurgical Industrial Park (Jinfeng Town) led the team and went to Wuhan University of Technology with us.” Wu Junsan said. Led by the government, Hailu Huanhuan and Wuhan Institute of Technology signed a cooperation agreement-the government of Metallurgical Industrial Park (Jinfeng Town) actively matched enterprises and colleges in the process of guiding the transformation and upgrading of enterprises. Hailu Huanhuan and Wuhan Polytechnic cooperated Benefit from this.
The signing of the agreement seems to have opened a corner of the curtain of charm technology for Wu Junsan. “At that time, experts from Wuhan University of Technology showed us a simulation test software for designing large forgings. This software has been advanced enough to display detailed data such as product structure and final temperature clearly.” Wu Junsan was shaken, And unswervingly “invest money” in it.
This cooperation made Wu Junsan truly feel the power of science and technology. Soon, he cooperated with Wuhan University of Technology to set up a large-scale ring forging R&D center. The first project jointly developed by the two parties helped the enterprise win the second prize of national scientific and technological progress in one fell swoop.
Technology for business
Plug in the wings
According to reports, the project that Hailu Ring Forging participated in and won the national science and technology award is called the key technology and equipment project for precision rolling of ring parts.
Although the name of the project sounds very convoluted, its product is very intuitive. It is a large ring forging with a diameter of 9 meters. It seems that it is only a little larger than ordinary ring forgings, but in fact, its technical content is quite high and its application fields are very wide.
Dai Yutong, deputy technical general manager of Hailu Huan Forging Company, told reporters that large forgings produced by new technologies are widely used in the petrochemical industry, offshore wind power and offshore oil extraction and refining industries, and the market prospects are quite broad. According to reports, at present, domestically produced ring forgings have an inner diameter of only 5 meters at most, while sea-land ring forging produces large ring forgings with an inner diameter of 9 meters. After the project reaches production, it will increase sales for the company by more than 80 million yuan each year.
After the great success of the project, its “halo” also radiated to other products of the company. “Take the US PH company as an example. Due to the increased confidence in our technology, the cooperation scale is expected to exceed 30 million yuan this year.” For the company’s chairman Wu Junsan, this technological breakthrough is just a step towards a higher level of corporate technological innovation. Start. “In addition to government subsidies, we also invest 3% of our annual sales in scientific research, injecting continuous impetus into technological innovation.”
At present, Hailu Huanhuan has completed the development and application of 15 industry-university-research projects in cooperation with Wuhan University of Technology. With the improvement of production technology, corporate sales are also increasing at a rate of about 30% per year. On the basis of achieving sales of 570 million yuan last year, in 2012, the company’s sales target is to exceed 800 million yuan and prepare to go public.
Wu Junsan has the confidence to achieve these goals, and his confidence comes from the scientific and technological innovation and talent plan: “This year, we plan to further strengthen cooperation with Wuhan University of Technology, use their platform to cultivate our talents, and plan to apply for postdoctoral workstations. .”
At present, in addition to Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wu Junsan has also “linked” with Shanghai Jiaotong University, University of Science and Technology Beijing and other institutions to collaborate on advanced technologies such as finishing rolling, automation, and non-oxidation. “In particular, a technology of Shanghai Jiaotong University that uses waste heat to process forgings. After it is put into production, it is estimated that about 70 square meters of natural gas can be saved per ton of forgings. This technology will also benefit the domestic forging industry. The development of the country has been greatly promoted.”
Reporter’s testimony: The blame “illness” of “emphasis on equipment and less technology” is not worth it
During the interview in Hailuhuanduan, what the reporter felt was the vigorous vitality of the company. Compared with some small and medium-sized enterprises, the reporter clearly saw the difference between the sea and land ring forging: the enthusiasm for technological innovation.
Technological innovation, the most important thing is to be the first and perseverance. From a traditional small and medium-sized enterprise to an upstart in technology research and development, what we see is the development concept of sea-land ring forging technology leading, technology-oriented, and unremitting.
How to achieve technological leapfrogging and industry breakthrough? This is a question that every company needs to think about. In reality, there are some small and medium-sized enterprises that started by imitating the advanced and achieved a certain height by introducing advanced equipment. However, in the following development, too many companies are still standing still and taking the old path of “imitation”. But no matter how advanced imitated it is, it still cannot be “advanced”.
Transformation is the only way for these companies to achieve “upgrade”.
Wu Junsan used his experience to tell us that in order to transform, we must first change the common problem of “emphasis on equipment, market and technology”, which is a common problem of small and medium-sized enterprises.
“The biggest problem facing small and medium-sized enterprises today is the relatively weak technology content. To compete with large enterprises and state-owned enterprises, you must develop technology.” This is what Wu Junsan said from the bottom of his heart.
How about technological innovation? Relying solely on the talent team of SMEs is obviously not enough to keep up with the ever-changing market. At this time, industry-university-research cooperation can be a shortcut that can produce both quickly and “economically”.
The success of Hailuhuan forging proves that industry-university-research cooperation is not only the patent of enterprises above designated size, but also a broad road for the transformation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises.