In the Central Plains, there is such an eye-catching set of manufacturing marks:
More than 95% of the world’s artificial diamonds are born here. The largest artificial diamond of more than 30 carats can be cultivated, and the smallest can produce 5 nanometer diamond powder;
The production and sales volume of lithium hexafluorophosphate of Jiaozuo Duofuo Company ranks among the top in the world, and electronic-grade hydrofluoric acid has entered the supply chain of global chip giant TSMC;
In Changyuan, northern Henan, the top two in the domestic crane industry are located here, with an annual output of more than 300,000 gantry cranes and a domestic market share of 70%. The crane swing of Weihua Group has been reduced to 2 mm, making it an "artifact" for hoisting high-end precision equipment such as launch vehicles;
In 2022, at least 2 of every 10 shield machines in the overseas market will come from China Railway Equipment, and 1 of every 10 large and medium-sized buses in the world will come from Yutong Group. Pure electric buses will take the top sales in the European market, and the market share will jump to 11.5%;
One-half of the country’s ham sausages, one-third of its instant noodles, one-quarter of its steamed buns, three-fifths of its glutinous rice balls, and seven-tenths of its dumplings come from Henan...
From ranking first in the Midwest for many years in industrial scale to focusing on the world's technological frontiers to seize the manufacturing highlands, Henan, which is famous for its agriculture, has taken manufacturing as its main focus in recent years, focusing on cultivating strategic emerging industries, relying on technological innovation to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing, and "accelerating" on a new track for high-quality development of manufacturing.
Advanced manufacturing clusters stand up the backbone of the manufacturing industry
In the workshop of Zhecheng County Lili Diamond Co., Ltd. in Shangqiu City, rows of six-sided presses are running quietly, and the internal temperature is as high as 1,600°C, like small volcanoes. The graphite pillars placed among them can "grow" high-purity diamonds of more than 1 carat after two or three weeks of high temperature and high pressure.
"We can currently produce a maximum of 30 carats of artificial diamonds. Compared with natural diamonds, artificial diamonds are like 'ice in the river' and 'ice in the refrigerator'. There is almost no difference." The relevant person in charge of the company said, "The six-sided top press independently developed by my country has low production cost and high output purity. It has brought a disruptive revolution to the diamond industry, and its products are exported to India and the United States."
"Zhecheng has the reputation of the 'Diamond Capital'. It used to mainly produce diamonds for mechanical processing. Now through technological innovation, it has built a full chain of diamond products such as micro powder, single crystal, and diamonds, and the added value of the products has increased exponentially." Sun Ruomei, director of the Management Committee of Zhecheng County High-tech Zone, told reporters that the high-tech zone has settled in diamond superhardThere are more than 110 materials and related supporting enterprises, with an annual output of 5 billion carats of diamond single crystals, 10 billion carats of micron powder, and 4 million carats of rough cultivated diamonds and processed and sold diamonds. The output and export volume of micron powder account for 70% and 50% of the national market share respectively.
"In the past, the micropowder produced in our country was exported to foreign companies, and they carried out nano-level deep processing and then sold it back to my country. The price has increased many times. Now we have solved the technical problem of mass production of 5-nanometer micron powder and effectively achieved domestic substitution." said the technical person in charge of Zhecheng Huifeng Diamond Company.
From capacity crushing to product iteration, Henan diamond companies continue to strengthen their chains, innovate and develop in their respective segments, and seize the mid-to-high end of the value chain: Huanghe Tornado’s diamond wire saws used for cutting semiconductor silicon carbide are among the best in the world, and their cultured diamond synthesis technology is domestically leading; Zhongnan Diamond is committed to the research of new diamond semiconductor materials, and has prepared large-size ultra-high-purity diamond semiconductor wafers and diamond polycrystalline heat dissipation films.
In recent years, Henan has built, strengthened and extended chains around pillar industries, advantageous industries and emerging industries, cultivating a group of industrial ecology-leading "chain owners". Duofudo, a listed company specializing in the production and research and development of high-performance inorganic fluorides, is accelerating the extension of the industrial chain upstream and downstream with the strong competitiveness of lithium hexafluorophosphate, and is fully developing its efforts in the fields of new energy, high-performance functional materials, and lithium battery manufacturing. The company has developed soft-packed laminated lithium-ion batteries. Due to its superior performance, it has established long-term strategic cooperative relationships with many domestic new energy vehicle companies.
"Under the influence of the 'chain master' polyfluorocarbon, the number of new energy battery materials and related supporting companies in Jiaozuo City has increased from 14 last year to 39, and the product types have increased from 16 to more than 30 types." Fu Xiqiang, director of the Jiaozuo Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, said that the continuous expansion of the industrial chain has laid a solid foundation for the creation of a "double 100 billion" industrial cluster for new energy and new materials in Jiaozuo City.
Vigorously developing strategic emerging industries is the key to seizing the commanding heights of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. Industrial clusters promoted by the government and driven by "chain owners" are rapidly emerging in Henan. Zhengzhou Information Service Industry Cluster, Zhengzhou Next Generation Information Network Industry Cluster, Pingdingshan New Functional Materials Industry Cluster and Xuchang Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Industry Cluster have been selected as national strategic emerging industry clusters.
According to reports, during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the added value of Henan's strategic emerging industries grew at an average annual rate of 10.4%, and it has initially built a globally important intelligent terminal manufacturing base. The research and development and industrialization of agricultural machinery equipment, aviation bearings, diagnostic reagents, etc. are at the national upstream level. The technology in fields such as shield machines, new energy buses, optical communication chips, superhard materials, and influenza vaccines is nationally leading, and the market share ranks first in the country.
Starting in 2021, Henan will vigorously implement the "three batches" ("sign a batch", "start a batch" and "put into production a batch") project construction to build a first-class innovation ecology and industrial ecology. By the end of 2022, 13,110 "three batches" projects will be promoted and implemented on a rolling basis. Many famous companies such as FAW Group, CATL, Huawei, etc. have entered the layout, and a large number of high-quality manufacturing projects have taken root in Henan.
The recently held Henan Provincial Industrial and Information Work Conference proposed that by 2025, the scale of Henan's materials manufacturing industry will exceed 2 trillion yuan, the scale of the equipment manufacturing industry will reach 1.5 trillion yuan, and the scale of the food manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, and light textile manufacturing industries will exceed one trillion yuan.
"Three modernizations" accelerate value transition
Continuing to transform and develop towards high-end, intelligent, and green industries and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises are a key link for Henan Manufacturing to achieve a value jump.
Yutong Bus is a local enterprise in Henan that grew up from a repair factory. Since its establishment in 1963, it has grown into a leader in new energy buses in China. "Yutong buses have taken on important passenger transportation tasks at the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum, the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, and the Boao Forum." Chen Ya, head of the Yutong Bus Brand Department, said that 950 high-quality buses, including hydrogen-fuel buses, were used as support vehicles for the Beijing Winter Olympics. They have won praise from all parties for their performance of "zero faults, zero delays, and zero complaints."
Over the years, Yutong Bus has continued to accelerate the pace of "three modernizations" development. Its R&D investment has continued to remain at more than 5% of operating revenue. It has 7 national-level innovation platforms and a team of more than 3,000 R&D engineers, helping the company to be at the forefront of the industry in new energy, intelligent network core technologies and industrialization. Recently, Yutong's pure electric buses won the 2022 European pure electric bus sales champion with its high-end product strength.
Hydraulic supports are heavy equipment used to lift the mine pressure on coal mining faces. Currently, the hydraulic support with the highest support height of 8.8 meters in the world comes from Henan Zhengmei Machinery Group. In October 2022, Zhengzhou Coal Machinery Smart Park will be put into operation and reach production. Compared with traditional factories, manual on-site operations have been greatly streamlined, replaced by the seamless connection and smooth operation of artificial intelligence computing, intelligent robots, and fully automatic intelligent production units. Space utilization has increased by 50%, production efficiency has doubled, manufacturing costs have been reduced by 60%, delivery time has been shortened by 68%, and the number of personnel has been reduced by 70%.
China Pingmei Shenma Group, located in Pingdingshan City, was reorganized from Pingmei and Shenma. Previously, Shenma Group was my country’sThe largest nylon chemical production base, but has been unable to obtain a stable source of important raw material hydrogen, which is a derivative of Pingmei Group's coal chemical industry. After the reorganization of the two companies, a hydrogen pipeline penetrated the barriers of upstream and downstream industries, opening up many world-class coal-based chemical industry chains from coal to nylon, carbon, high-purity silane, electronic grade (zone melting grade) polysilicon, etc., and gave birth to three core industries of coal coke, nylon chemicals, and new energy and new materials. A piece of dark raw coal was "eaten and squeezed" here, and the company has since entered the fast lane of green development.
Up to now, Henan Province has established 138 national-level green factories, 12 national-level green industrial parks, 128 provincial-level green factories, and 4 provincial-level green industrial parks.
Reshaping the innovation ecosystem and empowering industry nirvana
The key to promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry lies in innovation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Henan has accelerated the construction of a first-class innovation ecosystem and made every effort to build a national innovation highland. The strategies of innovation-driven, revitalizing the province through science and education, and strengthening the province through talents are the first of Henan's "ten major strategies" and are being implemented in depth.
According to Chen Xiangping, director of the Henan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, "National Technology Transfer Zhengzhou Center, National Supercomputing Zhengzhou Center, National Agricultural Machinery Equipment Innovation Center, National Biological Breeding Industry Innovation Center, Zhengzhou National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Development Pilot Zone and other "national brand" platform carriers have successively settled in Henan. Since 2021, Henan has focused on major national strategic needs and industrial transformation and upgrading needs, reshaping and reconstructing the provincial laboratory system, forming an innovation pattern of "core + base + network" with provincial laboratories as the core and high-quality high-end innovation resources for collaborative innovation.
At present, Henan has built 10 provincial laboratories including Songshan, Huanghe, and Longmen, and has achieved a number of landmark results. Longmen Laboratory has successfully conquered the key core technologies for the purification of electronic-grade polysilicon, and its key technical indicators have reached the international advanced level.
By improving system construction, Henan has created four pillars and eight pillars for R&D innovation. At the beginning of 2022, 34 fiscal policy measures were introduced to support the development of scientific and technological innovation, with a maximum subsidy of 50 million yuan; on January 1, 2023, the "Henan Province Innovation-Driven High-Quality Development Regulations" were officially implemented to create a good innovation-driven atmosphere in an all-round way.
Henan Yinjinda New Materials Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research, development, production and sales of green functional membrane materials. In order to help enterprises establish the "Henan Advanced Membrane Materials Industry Research Institute", Xinxiang City provides all-round support from finance, finance, science and technology, and talents.
“The departments of industry, information technology, and science and technology worked with us to visit scientific research institutes in the south and north, which ultimately led to cooperation with Tsinghua University and the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the institute was able toIt was successfully established and put into operation, and now it has become the core of corporate R&D innovation and achievement transformation. Zhou Hongtao, director of the Yinjinda Innovation Collaboration Center, said that relying on the research institute, the company has hatched a high-performance alloy film project and formed an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of high-performance alloy films. It has made major breakthroughs in key technologies for high-value utilization of recycled polyester films and is promoting industrialization.
The person in charge of the Henan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology said that in recent years, a large number of specialized and new enterprises in Henan Province have emerged strongly. In 2022, the total number of high-tech enterprises in Henan will exceed 10,000, the number of national science and technology small and medium-sized enterprises will reach 22,000, and a total of 2,211 specialized and new enterprises have been cultivated, including 370 "little giant" enterprises, accelerating the release of corporate innovation vitality.
Lou Yangsheng, Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, said that we should resolutely take the high-quality development of manufacturing as the main direction, deepen the supply-side structural reform as the main line, coordinate the promotion of quality development of traditional industries, cultivate and strengthen emerging industries, and proactively layout future industries, promote "Made in Henan" to enter the key link, mid-to-high end of the domestic cycle and the domestic and international dual cycle, and accelerate the formation of an advanced manufacturing system with "higher energy level, better structure, stronger innovation, more momentum, and better benefits".
