Otroligt! Baoji Titanium

incredible! "Baoji Titanium"!

Baoji's titanium production and processing volume accounted for 65 percent of the country and 33 percent of the world. In 2019, Baoji's advanced structural materials industry cluster entered the first batch of national strategic emerging industrial cluster development projects, marking the inclusion of "Baoji Titanium" into the national strategy.

Under de senaste åren har-high-end titanprodukter varit en bristvara och titanindustrin gynnas av kapital. Det investerar främst i grundläggande områden som metallkompositmaterial och titanlegeringssmältnings- och smidesproduktionslinjer, vilket gör Baoji till en viktig bas för avancerade material och starkare utrustning.

"Foreign Titanium" will not shake Baoji's status as "China Titanium Valley" for the time being. The reason is that at present, all other places are "single-point breakthroughs" and have not formed a comprehensive and overall advantage in the industrial chain. The advantage of Baoji's titanium processing center has not changed.

This year, the municipal party committee and the municipal government decided to build a key industrial chain around the city's advantageous industries and emerging industries. The titanium and titanium alloy industrial chain has become the top priority. Hui Jincai, secretary of the municipal party committee, will serve as the leader of the industrial cluster, and Wu Yong, member of the Standing Committee of the municipal party committee and director of the Propaganda Department Exceeding the length of the industrial chain, focusing on the implementation of the "Eight Major Projects", to promote Baoji from "China Titanium Valley" to "World Titanium Capital".

▲Titanium alloy manned spherical shell developed by Baoti Group

From the "Deep Sea Warrior" with a dive depth of 4,500 meters to the "Struggle" with a new record of 10,909 meters for China's manned deep diving, the titanium alloy manned spherical shell developed by Baoti Group serves as the core of the manned submersible. The components signify that China's deep-sea manned detection equipment has achieved a historic leap from "running side by side" with the world to "leading". This is another "masterpiece" of "Baoji Titanium" as an "industry pioneer".

På lagergården hos Yixin Titanium Industry Company finns det fortfarande en hög med avfallsmaterial. Det är det okvalificerade titanmaterialet som frivilligt återkallades från Norge Akersolution, ett Fortune 500-företag. Nu är denna hög med material som en bakgrund, som har sett Yixin. Steg-för-uppgraderingen av kvalitetsledningssystemet gynnas av de nya Fortune 500-företagen.

▲In Baotai Industrial Park (Photo: Li Nan)

As the world's largest gathering area for the development of the titanium industry, Baoji presents the myth of titanium wealth every day. You can think of it as a wave in the development of the titanium industry, but they are even more important for Baoji to build the "China Titanium Valley" and "world". The vigorous and upward force of "Tidu".

Baoji's titanium production and processing volume accounted for 65 percent of the country's total and 33 percent of the world's total. In 2019, Baoji's advanced structural materials industry cluster entered the first batch of national strategic emerging industrial cluster development projects, marking the inclusion of "Baoji Titanium" into the national strategy. Its advantages are beyond doubt. As a key area, Baoji has been given a new historical mission in the titanium and titanium alloy industry chain promotion plan laid out across the province this year. So, how can Baoji take advantage of the trend and occupy a favorable "niche" in the high-end titanium alloy and civilian titanium market? Recently, the reporter visited various parties and conducted research.

▲The products stored in the strip factory in Baotai Industrial Park.

The "Past and Present" of "Baoji Titanium"

Titanium is a representative of "gentle and firm" in the metal kingdom. As a material with low density, high strength, and corrosion resistance, titanium has outstanding application advantages in light-weight, high-strength, and severe high and low temperature changes. It is known as "Space metal" and "ocean metal" are important strategic metal materials in the 21st century.

The world's titanium industrial production began in 1948. The landmark event was that DuPont of the United States produced 2 tons of sponge titanium using the magnesium reduction method. The application of titanium began in the 1950s, starting from the aerospace industry in the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries. With the rapid development of the aerospace industry in our country, it is necessary to produce "lightweight, high-strength, high-temperature and corrosion-resistant" titanium alloys to solve the bottleneck problem, so Baoti Group, established in 1965, took on this important task.

▲Bao Titanium Group demonstrates the wide range of applications of titanium products

Historisk möjlighet valde Baoji för att låta titanindustrin slå rot i detta land. Baoti Group åtog sig omedelbart produktion, utveckling och provproduktion av de flesta av de inhemska titanbearbetningsmaterialen efter dess färdigställande, vilket gör Kina till det fjärde landet med ett komplett titanindustrisystem efter USA, Ryssland och Japan.

For more than 50 years, Baoti Group has undertaken more than 8,000 trial production tasks of new materials for China's material manufacturing and cutting-edge technology. The 4500-meter titanium deep-sea vehicle manned spherical shell produced here has broken the European and American deep-sea exploration Technological monopoly; precision-forged titanium alloy materials help the vehicles to be fast and fast; new-type titanium materials allow China's large aircraft to soar in the clouds...

▲Large titanium equipment

The history of Baoti's development is the history of riding the wind and waves of "responsibility for the country". It is precisely because of a series of "ice-breaking journeys" in the titanium field, such as anchoring the direction, cultivating technology, and opening up the market. A private enterprise that sprouts like small trees and grasses.

In the tide of reform and opening up, private titanium companies in Baoji have experienced a journey from barbaric growth to refined growth. Guo Jianfeng, general manager of Baoji Ouyuan New Metal Technology Co., Ltd., was an early group of people who caught up with the "sales of titanium materials to make money". He told reporters: "The titanium market was'crazy' in 2008. There is a paragraph describing Maying Town. People do business and negotiate the price with customers at noon. In the afternoon, the price of titanium material rose by several hundred yuan per ton, and the boss regretted that the price was set too fast. At that time, people who sold titanium materials easily made tens of millions of yuan a year. "

▲Titanium product display (Photo: Zhao Binrui and Xie Keqiang)

Oförutsägbart, oförutsägbart, oförutsägbart väder är den normala marknaden. Med det kontinuerliga tillflödet av bearbetningsföretag och marknadens ökande krav på bearbetningsteknik, produktion och kvalitet på titanprodukter, elimineras en grupp företag som är besatta av försäljning och inte studerar teknik gradvis av marknaden, och vissa Företaget strävar ständigt efter teknik, och ju mer kraftfull, desto bättre.

"The plant you see now is the third place I changed!" In the high-end equipment industrial park of Baoji High-tech Zone, the reporter saw Xu Cheng, general manager of Baoji Jinhaiyuan Titanium Standard Parts Products Co., Ltd., his factory was clean. It is neat and tidy, showing the demeanor of industrial aesthetics. The materials can be traced from storage to processing. It is normal for the finished product rate to reach 100 percent . The management is so meticulous that it is not a "overnight" effort.

▲Workers are processing titanium forgings

När titanindustrin blomstrade runt 2000, satte Xu Cheng upp en liten fabrik för titanbearbetning. 2006 besökte en japansk kund fabriken och upptäckte att deras produktbearbetningsprocedurer inte var standardiserade, saknade tekniska standarder, material staplades upp överallt och till och med toaletterna illaluktade och sa att de inte kunde samarbeta.

Xu Cheng didn't want to lose foreign orders. He started from training the quality of skilled workers, to equipment improvement, process control, rectification one by one, and even the toilet was refurbished twice. By the third year, they will be able to produce qualified products for Japanese companies, and they will have stable international orders in the eighth year. Xu Cheng believes that this kind of experience is worthwhile: fasteners are known as "the rice of industry". Fasteners are used in any manufacturing industry. What Jin Haiyuan is proud of is that the company's products use Baotai's 4,500 meters manned depth. On submersible vehicles and 10,000-meter-class manned submersibles, and the company is now the world's largest fastener stocker German Würth, and the United States quick button company's cooperative enterprises, its competitiveness is different from the past.

▲Product display of large-size thin-walled ring

Private enterprises such as Jin Haiyuan are today a typical representative of Baoji Titanium Enterprises' persistence and resilience. Facts have proved that after several rounds of market cyclical fluctuations in the titanium industry, companies that are able to prepare "winter clothes" when the market is good, and those companies that have survived difficulties when the market is bad are all powerful private enterprises left behind by the "big waves".

According to the reporter's investigation, some companies have opened up new territory in product serialization; some companies only make standard parts and become well-known suppliers in the industry; some companies specialize in serving foreign companies and manufacture various titanium processed parts; Although some companies continue to use old equipment, but the cost is well controlled, there is still market space; some companies have become invisible champions in a certain segment of the outdoor product market...

▲Workers are inspecting plates

At present, there are more than 590 titanium production and processing enterprises in Baoji, including 104 regulated enterprises (more than half of the country), 26 enterprises with a value of more than 100 million yuan, and 1 enterprise with a value of more than 20 billion yuan. In 2020, the production and processing capacity of Baoji Titanium is about 50,000 tons, Baotai has 21,300 tons, and private enterprises have 28,300 tons. Baotai's absolute leadership is evident.

After more than 50 years of accumulation, the Baoji titanium industry has formed a unique industrial "landscape": The country's largest leading enterprise, Baoti, has achieved more than 600 scientific and technological achievements here. Baoji Titanium is available for research on submersibles from 4500 meters to 10909 meters. It has the most complete industrial chain in the country and can produce more than 5,000 specifications of materials; it has the right to speak in the industry and is the high ground for the formulation of national titanium industry standards. The country's important titanium testing institutions and research institutions are gathered in Baoji.

"China Titanium Valley" is striding forward to "World Titanium Capital"

In recent years, the titanium industry has been favored by capital, and Baoji's investment boom began in 2018. Several business executives told reporters: "The supply of foreign titanium ore resources has become scarce, and the domestic demand for titanium dioxide and titanium metal has increased. The output of sponge titanium products is increasing and the price is rising. New equipment and new processes can be used. Catch up with this wave of development!"

▲Customer-to-business certification product quality

För närvarande ökar efterfrågan på högkvalitativa-titanmaterial i nedströmsapplikationer som flyg, fartyg etc. Liksom Baoti Group är dess befintliga-avancerade titanprodukter en bristvara. För att möta marknadens efterfrågan planerar gruppen att investera 5 miljarder yuan från 2020. Till 6 miljarder yuan, genomföra projekt som uppgradering och kapacitetsutbyggnad av titansvamp, utveckling av titanmalmsresurser och den tekniska omvandlingen av uppgraderingen och kapacitetsutvidgning av tillverkning av marinteknisk utrustning. Bland dem är högpresterande titan- och titanlegeringsprojekt inom industrin för uppgradering av plåt med hög prestanda optimistiska.

In February 2021, the additional issuance project of Baoti Co., Ltd. was officially implemented, mainly for the construction of high-end titanium alloy material production lines and testing centers. After the project is put into operation, it is expected that the company's titanium product production capacity is expected to exceed 30,000 tons in 2023.

▲Titanium belt display

Den civila produktmarknaden har gett kapitalet mer utrymme för fantasi. För närvarande har matlagningsapparater och hårdvaruindustrin för daglig-bruk mogna produkter och en konsumentbas, vilket lockar fler människor att uppmärksamma titanprodukter.

This year, a large number of "titanium" super projects have started construction in Baoji, focusing on Baoji's industrial ambition to build "China Titanium Valley" and "World Titanium Capital", as well as the titanium industry's ability to produce and process and gather elements. In particular, Zhengwei International Group, a Fortune 500 company, was attracted by Baoji's complete titanium industry cluster and the advantages of the entire industrial chain. The materials industry park, the Northwest headquarters of Zhengwei and the three supporting sub-projects strive to optimize and upgrade the supply of the element platform with Baoji Titanium Industry, and promote the integration of Baoji Titanium Industry into the global industrial chain supply chain.

▲Large titanium equipment

In addition, including the investment of 1 billion yuan in metal composite materials and titanium alloy smelting and forging production line construction projects, it is necessary to realize the entire industrial chain of metal composite materials, closed intelligent production and manufacturing; and the high-end investment of Baoji Topuda Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. The whole industry chain project of titanium and titanium alloy products for equipment, the newly developed "Titanium Kou" series of titanium daily necessities project by Baoji Jucheng Titanium Industry Co., Ltd., and the "Shaanxi Hercules Aviation Industrial Park Technology" under construction by Baoji Goxinxinglong Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. Projects, etc., have made new developments in improving technology and supplementing production capacity.

Baoji plans to reserve 60 projects in the library, with a total investment of 29.92 billion yuan, which will promote the development of titanium industry clusters and parks. These titanium and new materials industry projects will help "China Titanium Valley" integrate into the global industrial chain supply chain and move towards the "world titanium capital", realizing the transformation from an industrial cluster to an industrial community.

▲Civilian titanium products (Photo: Zhou Shuli)

Reflections on the "Pain of Apple Silk"

Now that the market is good, companies are busy with projects, but while chasing the heat, they must also make a calm judgment and avoid blind investment. In the mind of the person in charge of the titanium company, the "pain of apple silk" cannot be forgotten. Eight years ago, the screws used inside Apple mobile phones were made of titanium alloy. At that time, an order from a screw processing company to Baoji was more than a dozen tons, while private companies only sold dozens of tons a year.

▲The first line of titanium equipment production (Photo: Kou Minghu)

Companies that have been doing titanium wire instantly became "sweet and sweet". Customers demand as many products as there are. The market is "thirsty". This triggered Baoji Titanium Enterprises to quickly install new wire equipment, and everyone flocked to supply them, resulting in titanium wire The output continues to increase, and customers change from "hungry for food" to "picking the bones in the egg": it turned out to be a cash-on-delivery product, which becomes a cash-on-delivery, and then returns to the situation after use and returns at every turn. Companies that are late to install equipment and lose millions or tens of millions of dollars abound.

According to analysis by Qi Haigang, executive chairman of the Baoji Titanium Industry Information Council, this heavy blow has exposed the problems of low technology, low innovation capabilities and low quality in the Baoji titanium industry, except for the leading and backbone enterprises. Once the big market opportunity comes, many companies can't catch it.

▲Titanium products displayed at the Titanium Expo (Photo: Zhao Binrui and Xie Keqiang)

En teknisk chef för Baotai sa till reportern att det finns oändlig kunskap om fysik och kemi att borra i materialvärlden, och forskare måste förstå genombrottet och göra ett bra jobb med att bearbeta enligt användningsriktningen för varje material. Processforskning och design av länkar. Att få ett relativt vetenskapligt värde kräver otaliga resor till och från laboratoriet och verkstaden, och det tar mycket tid och pengar att uppnå det.

Utmärkta material är en förutsättning för att all industriell tillverkning ska förbli utmärkt. Industrin betonar teknisk ackumulering och tysk tillverkning är stark. Anledningen är att företag grundligt har undersökt en produkt från RD till produktion, och kan tillverkas rigoröst i hundratals år för att behålla sin livslängd. Flera företagsledare tror att privata företag inte vill producera högkvalitativa-produkter, men de saknar sin egen RD-kapacitet och teknisk vägledning. De gör bara grovbearbetning och tjänar bearbetningsavgifter och kan inte borra in i djupare områden.

▲A private enterprise in Baoji is issuing a new batch of titanium products (Photo: Kou Minghu)

In recent years, through the continuous policy guidance of the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government and the support of RD institutions, Baoji has successfully introduced the Shaanxi Branch of the National Numerical Control System Engineering Technology Research Center, the Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Center, the Rapid Manufacturing National Engineering Research Center, and the Baoji Innovation Center. The Baoji Special Aircraft Engineering Research Institute and other national RD centers have realized the rapid flow of talents and technical services, and greatly enhanced their innovation capabilities. Baoji, Tsinghua University, Xi'an Jiaotong University and other universities as well as foreign research institutes such as Russia, the United States, Germany and other foreign research institutes have implemented more than 30 RD projects, and have successively obtained a number of representatives in the fields of nuclear power transmission equipment, manned submersible spherical shells, and deep-sea materials. Major scientific and technological achievements of the world's advanced level.

Will "foreign titanium" shake Baoji's status?

De senaste åren är också satsningen och utvecklingen av titanindustrin på andra platser värd att uppmärksammas. Det utländska investeringsfenomenet för privata företag i Baoji började omkring 2018. Enligt Baoji Titanium Industry Association och relevanta företagsledare har sedan 2019 mer än 10 företag, inklusive Titanium Metal Composite Materials och Innet Medical Titanium successivt investerat i och byggt fabriker i Panzhihua City, Sichuanprovinsen, och till och med flyttade hela sina fabriker till Panzhihua.

▲The first line of titanium equipment production (Photo: Kou Minghu)

Den främsta anledningen till deras utåtriktade investering är att de stötte på flaskhalsar i utvecklingen av Baoji. Baoji saknar lokala titanmalmresurser. När titanföretag utvecklas och växer måste de utvidgas till uppströmsindustrier utifrån råvarukvalitet och kostnadskontroll. Vissa företag kan inte transformera och uppgradera lokalt på grund av miljöskyddspolicykrav. Stanna, så leta efter möjligheter utanför; vissa företag behöver mark i Baoji