A journey of transformation of an aluminum ingot - Longkou, China's top 100 forging "lightweight" economy

A one-ton ordinary aluminum ingot, worth about 10,000 yuan. Extruded through a 10,000-ton extruder, transfer to an import processing center to produce a standardized aluminum plate, which is then welded by a welding robot. The aluminum plate is spliced ​​into a car body module, and then transported to a locomotive factory for further processing.

Finally, this aluminum ingot has been transformed into an aluminum alloy section of the rail transit body structure, which has become a part of high-speed trains, subways and automobiles operating around the world and can cost more than 60,000 yuan.

From the low-end raw materials to high value-added products, the gorgeous transformation of this ordinary aluminum ingot originates from “Longkou Zhizhi”.

As the most abundant metal element in the earth's crust, aluminum is flexible, light, and rust-free. Lightweight vehicles made of aluminum alloys have the characteristics of good handling, sufficient kinetic energy, low fuel consumption, and less pollution. In Shandong, a small town in the north of Jiaozhou and Bohai Sea, Longkou, Shandong Province, uses aluminum as the industry. It is based on aluminum, and is driven by innovations. It transforms itself into overcapacity, leads the county economy of Shandong Province for many years, and ranks among the top 100 counties in China. It forged “ Lightweight "economic development sample.

Longkou, which is known as the “Aluminum Transportation City of China for Transportation”, has Nanshan Aluminum in the north and south of the country and runs through the mountains and seas. In the east, there is a Jungle Group, forming 45 square kilometers of energy, bauxite, and aluminum alloy terminals. The complete high-end aluminum industrial chain of products is the only aluminum industry base with the shortest distance and the most complete industrial chain in the world.

"Flying in the sky, running on the ground, swimming in the water, using it at home, and taking it... can see the figure of Longkou Aluminum." Cheng Renze, chairman of Nanshan Aluminum, said. It is understood that Longkou Aluminum products have already completed the transformation from building profiles to high-speed rail car body profiles, cans and aluminum foils. The domestic market share has reached 60%, 80% and 30% respectively. Nanshan Aluminum is working with Airbus and Boeing. Cooperation to enter the international aviation high-end aluminum market.

The transformation of this aluminum ingot is not easy. “Aluminium into gold” is based on solid innovation.

For many years, the county economy of Longkou City mainly relied on traditional advantages such as aluminum materials, auto parts, and food processing and storage. However, under the environment of overcapacity, the ability of enterprises to innovate is not strong, the number of products supporting multiple terminals is low, and the industry is low-end. There are few high-end issues, and the core competitiveness of regional development is not strong.

Faced with the challenge, under the call of China to vigorously promote the "China Manufacturing 2025" and "Internet +" and other industrial transformation and upgrading strategies, Longkou is determined to transform itself into an outbreak: relying on innovation to drive into the high-end.

“In the new economic situation, transformation and development are the inevitable choices. To make transformation and development really become an intrinsic, high-quality and sustainable transformation, we must rely on solid innovation,” said Han Shijun, secretary of Longkou City Party Committee.

In order to help the economy “go forward with care,” Longkou continued to “reduce its burden” on the policy for enterprises. It formulated a list of administrative power lists, lists of responsibilities, and administrative examination and approval items for government departments. It strived to create “best policy and least approval”. The "business-optimized" business environment, on the other hand, increases tax incentives for high-tech companies, stimulating the enthusiasm of corporate science and technology innovation, and increases talent recruitment, research, and investment to strengthen innovation.

Taking the aluminum industry as an example, through the establishment of a state-level engineering and technology research center and an enterprise technology center, Longkou high-end aluminum products and technologies have won numerous national science and technology awards, and have successively broken through restrictions on the use of aluminum in China's rail transit, defense and military, aerospace and other fields. The technical bottleneck of development and breaking the monopoly of foreign high-end aluminum alloys.

From Nanshan Aerospace Aluminum to Jungle Lightweight Vehicles, from Daoeng New Materials to Zhongyu Machinery... In the face of overcapacity pressure, Longkou focused on promoting reforms from the supply side, driving innovation as the top five development concepts, and driving innovation through technology. Product upgrading helps the leading industries to enter the top of the industry value chain.

“Insufficient supply at the high end and excess production capacity at the low end are significant development issues under the new normal of the current economy. Adapting to the new normal state means changing the mode of economic development. We must give more play to the dynamic role of scientific and technological innovation and institutional reform, and through the institutional reforms Reducing the burden and boosting its technological innovation will lead to a new normal, said Jia Kang, dean of the New Supply Economics Research Institute.

According to Han Shijun, in the past five years, the main business income of large-scale industries in Longkou City has increased by 12.8% annually, the proportion of high-tech industrial output in the industries above designated size has increased to 53%, and the high-end traditional industries and the scale of emerging industries have Become a normal development.

In fact, the transformation driven by innovation in Longkou is a microcosm of China's deepening of innovation and development. China’s “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” proposal proposes that under the increasingly fierce international development competition and the shift in China’s development momentum, it is necessary to place innovation as the starting point for development, form an institutional framework for promoting innovation, and create more innovation-driven, more Play lead-type development with first-mover advantage.

“If economic development wants to achieve growth, efficiency, and sustainable balance, it needs a lighter industrial structure. If the industrial structure wants to become lighter, we must forge a new development model through institutional innovation, technological innovation, and business model innovation. The economic structure is light, and it will be more vigorous when it comes to progress,” said Han Shijun.