Technological Innovation in China's "Intelligence-made"

In the long history of human evolution, the 2.5 million-year history of tool manufacturing has driven the progress of civilization step by step. Today, while machine manufacturing is creating comfort and convenience for humanity, it is also driving the competition between the economies of the world. The equipment manufacturing industry, known as the "machine manufacturing industry for manufacturing machines," is the core of competition in the manufacturing industry in various countries.

Su Bo, Vice Minister of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the equipment manufacturing industry provides production technology and equipment for the simple reproduction of the national economy and the expansion of reproduction. It is a sign of industrial strength and economic strength: "Each economic power, we look at their history of development. , it has a strong equipment manufacturing industry, so the competition before the country and the country is worth mentioning, and the economic competition between countries is worth mentioning, which is essentially the competition between the equipment manufacturing industries between countries. At present, between high-end equipment manufacturing The competition is actually the core of the big country game."

Because equipment manufacturing industry involves a lot of sophisticated, sophisticated and sophisticated technology. For a long period of time, China's equipment manufacturing industry has been controlled by foreign brands in key components and core technologies.

In the 1980s, China's radial tire industry was completely subject to the monopoly and blockade imposed by Western developed countries. It spent billions of dollars of foreign exchange each year. It bought second-hand equipment that had been eliminated from abroad and used it to comply with harsh requirements. Restrictions. In order to overcome this bottleneck, in 1989, Tianjin Saixiang Technology Co., Ltd. embarked on the pioneering road of China's radial tire equipment. Shi Hang, general manager, said: “We have always focused on technological innovation since the establishment of the company, followed the pulse of technology advancement, and always stepped on the forefront of technology, filling the country’s many gaps in tire equipment manufacturing. The world's development trend."

Twenty years later, Saixiang Technology has not only grown into a “leader” in the Chinese rubber machinery industry, but also opened the door to the international market. In 2001, the president of the British Dunlop tyre company was amazed after visiting the race equipment production of Saixiang Technology and signed the purchase contract on the spot. However, just over a decade ago, China's first radial tire production line came from them.

In 2008, Saixiang Technology successfully developed the European and Indian markets. Its export revenue exceeded RMB 250 million. European tire company, India BKT Tire Co., Ltd. and European Airbus have become stable customers of Saixiang Technology. The head of the company, Liu Wenan, said that through tireless efforts, China's tire manufacturing equipment has been recognized by the world's manufacturing powerhouses.

“The equipment manufacturing industry has won a place in the international market. It is very rare. After we worked hard, we spent foreign exchange buying old equipment from abroad. We can now resell new equipment to them and explain the overall improvement of China’s equipment manufacturing industry. We are one of them."

Since the reform and opening up, along with the completion of the industrial system and related industrial chains, China is extending from the low end of the manufacturing industry to the high end. The equipment manufacturing industry, which is a core component of the manufacturing industry, has formed an industrial system with complete categories, large scale, and a certain level of technology in China, and has become an important pillar industry of the national economy.

According to statistics, in 2013, the scale of output value of China's equipment manufacturing industry exceeded 20 trillion yuan, accounting for more than one-third of the global equipment manufacturing industry, and the majority of product output ranked first in the world; 13 Chinese mainland equipment manufacturers entered the world's top 500 rankings. The international competitiveness has obviously increased. In November 2013, Premier Li Keqiang of the Chinese State Council stated in his speech in Romania: “Made in China can be said to have swept the world. In the development of the Chinese economy in recent years, Chinese equipment has made new achievements in certain fields. China has already begun to have The relatively mature and complete equipment manufacturing industry is relatively advanced, especially in the fields of railways, nuclear power and other power, roads, ports, telecommunications and other fields, with rich experience in construction and operation, and Chinese equipment is competitive. It is trustworthy."

To open a cave, build a tunnel, repair a railway, or dig a subway requires a special kind of equipment, a boring machine. It is widely used, but its technology is complex and its cost is high. For a long time, the heading machine equipment manufacturing technology was completely monopolized by a few countries such as Europe, America, Japan and so on. Today, after more than a decade of efforts, China is becoming a world giant in this field.

Located in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China's east-west and north-south traffic artery, Zhongzhou Avenue, a 100-meter-wide, two-way, 14-lane traffic artery, is as usual. People on the road did not notice that they were at their own feet. A tunnel project of more than 100 meters in length was under construction. The “protagonist” of the construction is the “big guy” with two square-headed brains and strange looks – the world’s largest rectangular shield boring machine independently developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group. The project manager of the tunnel, Yang Hongjun, said: “The biggest risk to human intervention is the safety risk. Another possibility is that we must break this axis. The machine is safe to do, and the construction environment is clean. I promise you to wear it. The shoes still go up, but if you do it artificially, the dust is very big. The hardest thing is that safety is beyond control."

According to reports, if a traditional tunnel is used to excavate such a tunnel, it will be open for at least one year, but it will take only two months to use a rectangular shield boring machine. While the construction period is greatly shortened, the biggest advantage is that the road is free from the pains of “opening up and breaking the belly”, traffic will not be blocked, and construction dust and noise pollution will also be avoided.

Unlike people’s impressions that the tunnel site is crowded with various machines and equipment, the tunnel construction site has only a dozen workers, and the actual operation is more than 10 meters wide, more than 7 meters high and weighs more than 400 tons. There are only one person in a rectangular shield tunnelling machine, and it is still on the ground. It does not need to go underground. “We only need to operate these buttons, and everything else is not moving, it is very convenient. In addition, we have some alarm status in the historical record, that is, what is wrong with the operation, or what is the irrationality of the parameters? Shows that all systems including the following equipment are our own."

In the 1990s, China started to introduce shield tunnelling machines. However, because foreign companies control the core technologies, China not only has to spend huge sums of money to purchase, but it also often faces the technology that “foreign equipment” has appeared in China. The failure seriously affected the progress of the project. As a result, the manufacture of Chinese own shield tunnelling machines was put on the agenda.

In 2008, China’s first domestically-made shield machine successfully went offline at China Railway Equipment and achieved great success during the trial period, thus completely breaking the monopoly of foreign brands.

As of the end of June this year, in the construction of subways in more than 20 cities in China, the shield tunnelling machines of China Railway Equipment Co., Ltd. were used, and the market share reached more than 50%.

In addition to cost-effective, personalized customization and service is a "trump card" when China's shield tunneling machine competes with international giants. Cheng Yongliang, deputy general manager of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Group, stated that their services are comprehensive. “Each customer has its own construction habits, so that in the process of designing or manufacturing, our customers are involved in this and provide him with a special equipment that is more suitable for his application. Most of our customers use this equipment to generate greater value, which also reflects the value of our services and manufacturing."

In 2013, China Railway Equipment purchased a long-term partner and is also a competitor of the internationally renowned hard rock boring machine manufacturer, the German company Wilt. Mr. Widding, a senior representative of the company, said that China Railway Equipment is their ideal "buyer." “Several companies have entered our sights, of which China Railways equipment is the most professional. It has ambitions and we believe that China Railway Equipment can develop our tunnel equipment business in the best possible way to make it flourish.”

After the successful acquisition of the company, China Railway Equipment has become China's first and the world's second-largest roadheader manufacturer, truly realizing the dream of top international brands. On July 25 this year, the Turkish Anyi High-speed Railway, which was contracted by China Railway Construction Corporation, was officially opened to traffic. This is also the first project in which China’s high-speed rail has truly gone out. “The singles we have received have used Chinese standards and then used some of China’s equipment. In the near future, we will affirm the export of equipment and the export of equipment will be substantial.”

At present, China Railway Equipment has established four major international marketing centers in Hong Kong, Germany, Brazil and Australia, and is actively exploring markets such as Iran, Azerbaijan, India, and Russia. Regarding this, Yang Huayong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that: “The current level of shield technology for China Railway equipment is technologically advanced and the overall technical level has reached the international advanced level. Individual technical indicators have reached the international lead. So far, the market share in the Chinese market is the highest. In the global market, it also reached the second place in the world."

Equipment manufacturing industry is the deepest and most influential industry that transforms science and technology and knowledge into productive forces. It is also a comprehensive embodiment of the country’s industrial strength. As the level of China's equipment manufacturing industry has risen sharply, equipment products are shortening their distance from developed industrial countries and stepping toward a manufacturing powerhouse.