Starting from precision and adhering to craftsmanship, Hai'an Rubber Co., Ltd. has overcome a series of technical difficulties over the years, independently researched and developed the "first tire in China" - breaking the monopoly and creating a brand.
Young research team studying and analyzing new technologies in the workshop
Today, the company has successfully developed 11 series and 35 specifications of giant tire products, covering a full range of mining dump truck tires suitable for 90 tons to 400 tons, and has successively obtained 2 national invention patents, 22 utility model patents, and 12 design patents.
Yesterday, at Fujian Haian Rubber Co., Ltd., on the busy production line, workers were skilled in their actions. A batch of new pattern all-steel giant tires was loaded onto trucks, ready to be transported to Russia. Huang Jingjing, the director of the technical center laboratory, watched this scene and recalled the development process of the company's first all-steel giant tire, and the stories that had happened to the team over the past decade, playing back like a rewind.
As early as the beginning of the company's establishment, the construction of the talent team was put on an important agenda. Huang Zhenhua, the company's deputy General Manager and director of the technical center, a senior engineer, was one of the first talents discovered and recruited by the company. Together with Shi Daquan, Guo Qiyen, and Huang Jingjing, who had just graduated from university at the time, they formed a four-person R&D team.
Starting from precision and adhering to craftsmanship, such a team has grown stronger, enduring all the flavors of life, and independently developed giant tires belonging to the Chinese people. Before this year's May Fourth Youth Day, the company's R&D team was awarded the Provincial May Fourth Youth Collective Medal.
"At the beginning, the company was blank in terms of equipment, formula, and process, and independent R&D was urgent," Huang Zhenhua recalled. At that time, the development of giant engineering tires was strictly confidential abroad, and the domestic industry was just starting out. Coupled with long cycles and high costs, it seemed like a series of huge mountains lay in front of the team.
In order to break through the foreign technological blockade, under the leadership of Chairman Zhu Hui, the technical R&D team worked tirelessly day and night, striving for perfection and boldly innovating, achieving major breakthroughs in key technologies. Xu Zhizhan, the deputy manager of the process department in the technology center, clearly remembers that in terms of tire body structure design, the team used a variety of technologies to innovatively design multiple types of tread patterns. Through repeated experiments and brainstorming sessions, the team, with no way back and a determination to innovate, overcame a series of technical difficulties in rubber formula, manufacturing equipment design, and vulcanization process design.
In early June 2008, the company began comprehensive commissioning of the production line. As many of the equipment were the first of their kind in China, there were numerous difficulties when starting trial production. "The chairman, along with our technical team and production backbone, stayed on the front line, sleeping only 4 hours in four days and two nights," said Huang Jingjing, one of only two female colleagues in the team, who did not miss out on any of the R&D procedures that her male colleagues experienced. To everyone's relief, after relentless efforts, on the 30th of that month, Haian's first all-steel giant tire was successfully launched. This is the 37.00R57 giant engineering radial tire, known as "China's First Tire," which broke the international monopoly.
However, this was just the first step of a long journey. "Due to the immaturity of the technology, the lifespan of the first tire could only last for a dozen hours, while the normal lifespan of tires produced abroad at that time was 4,000 hours," said Huang Zhenhua. The team was acutely aware of the gap and felt the pressure on their shoulders. Despite being in a loss-making state, the company continued to invest funds in support of R&D as always. Facing the difficulties and setting out again, the team continuously researched and analyzed, and made multiple trips to mines for investigation. After several months of continuous testing, they finally increased the tire's lifespan to more than 1,000 hours, achieving a qualitative leap.
In April 2009, Haian Rubber Tire's production technology was appraised by the national industry ministry, becoming the only manufacturer in the country to pass the standard appraisal. Subsequently, through solid technical research and the equipping of advanced equipment, the tire life was continuously extended to over 4,000 hours. At the beginning of 2012, the company began mass production of giant tires. By overcoming a series of technical difficulties, they have now successfully developed 11 series and 35 specifications of giant tire products, covering a full range of mining dump truck tires suitable for 90 tons to 400 tons, and have successively obtained 2 national invention patents, 22 utility model patents, and 12 design patents. (Continued from A1 edition) With the continuous investment in R&D strength, more and more technical talents have joined the R&D team. Among the 22 people on the team, most are post-80s, who not only have mature technical experience but also maintain the passion and creativity required for research and development. Zhu Zhipeng, the director of the formula room, is a native of Haian Village. From admiring local enterprises to joining them and being influenced by them, he truly feels the vigor and vitality of the R&D team. At the "external camp" in the mine front line, they go to the ground to investigate environmental characteristics; in the drum site laboratory, they are immersed in "dissecting" giant tires... The team's hard work and research can be seen everywhere. Among the tires developed by the company, the smallest diameter is nearly 3 meters, and the largest is more than 4 meters. Accompanied by such "giant tires" day and night, everyone on the team has a more determined gaze, clearer thinking, and greater confidence in their hearts.
With each ounce of confidence, every step forward by Haian Company becomes more steadfast. The company allocates 10% of its annual output value to research and development innovation and receives subsidies from various levels, continuously investing in scientific research and production. Today, Haian's technical level has reached 90% of that of three international giants, yet the price is only 70% to 80% of theirs. At the same time, the company arranges technicians to be stationed at major mines all year round to provide technical services. The new strategy of "R&D manufacturing + technical services" quickly opened up the market, and the company has successively carried out "one-stop service for the fixed quota contract of engineering tire consumption costs" with various large domestic mining groups, and exported to more than 50 countries including Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, India, and the United States.
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