Shanxi Dingxiang: Using Digital Empowerment To Give Wings To The Flange Forging Industry

Dingxiang County, Shanxi Province, is the "Hometown of Forging in China" and is famous at home and abroad for its flange industry. It is the largest flange production base in Asia and the largest flange export base in the world. With the advent of the "Industry 4.0" era, digital and intelligent transformation has become the main direction for the development of Dingxiang's flange industry.
Traceability "Your flange has been shipped out of the warehouse"
"In recent years, the group has been undergoing a 'technical revolution'. We have completed the first phase of the project. Through the collection of product data, we have improved and upgraded the flange forging process, and the raw material utilization rate has increased from the original 40% to 60%." Shanxi Yan Zhilong, deputy general manager of Tianbao Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianbao Group") said so.
"After accessing the digital platform, customers can understand the entire process of making goods from blanking, forging, and cooling, and each product can be refined to the precise traceability of the production steps." During the interview, Yan Zhilong told a reporter from the China Economic Times, Tianbao Group It took three years to cooperate with Huawei to create the "Intelligent Manufacturing Expansion Project for Wind Power Ring Forgings Based on 5G+ Cloud Platform". All product information has been digitized, effectively improving the company's digitalization, intelligence, and automation levels.
Digital reform is the only way for enterprises to transform and upgrade. In recent years, Dingxiang forging companies have deeply realized this and are carrying out industrial digital informatization reforms in batches. "We have built a digital management platform that integrates 'production, supply, marketing and financial storage'. It can not only trace the origin of products, but also collect business data and automatically generate financial statements, which greatly reduces the investment in manpower and material resources." Shanxi Guanjia Yingfang Xu Yuanfei, executive deputy general manager of Forging Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guanjiaying Group") introduced.
Up to now, six leading flange forging companies in Dingxiang Economic Development Zone have completed basic digital transformation. Not only that, as one of the first 10 provincial-level key professional towns built in Shanxi, Dingxiang Economic Development Zone also plans to invest 95 million yuan to build forging industry digital services based on the model of "characteristic professional town + development zone + industrial chain" Platform and smart park construction projects. "The project will establish a digital economic development support system in the 1+1+N (i.e., 'one screen overview, one network service, N modules') model, and is scheduled to be completed in 2025. In addition, we have also built a 'low-carbon cloud' Account' platform has helped more than 370 flange enterprises in the district and county establish carbon accounts. The combination of the two can provide data support and empowerment for enterprises' energy conservation, carbon reduction and financial services." Dingxiang Economic Development Zone Party Working Committee Song Haiping, secretary and director of the management committee, said.
Change your thinking: The talents you need exist in the "library"
"Digital transformation is a necessary process for enterprise development. Although we are actively promoting it, many problems have arisen in the process, among which the shortage of talents is the biggest problem." Xu Yuanfei told reporters.
During the visit and survey, the reporter found that the scarcity of talents is an urgent problem that Dingxiang enterprises need to solve. In this regard, Song Haiping said that professional and technical talents are a prerequisite that directly affects the digital transformation of enterprises. The development status of the integration of traditional employment positions and digital technology has greatly increased the industry's skill and quality requirements for employees. Dingxiang has always been dominated by the basic foundry industry, which has resulted in a surplus of ordinary skilled workers and a shortage of high-skilled talents. situation.
In order to solve the talent problem, Dingxiang Economic Development Zone has established cooperative relations with Chongqing University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, and Shanxi University, and continues to deepen provincial-school cooperation. By increasing the docking efforts with universities, it has smoothed the docking channels between enterprises and technical expert teams. In addition, Dingxiang has also actively established a "cloud" expert database for enterprises to assist enterprises in technological innovation; it has also implemented a more open talent policy to increase the release of policy dividends, hoping to "open up talent sources" for enterprises.
"Next step, we will actively implement the talent introduction and talent cultivation mechanism, promote the integration of digital professional and technical talents with the traditional forging industry; at the same time, actively carry out corporate digital transformation work, introduce corresponding digital transformation support policies, and build Dingxiang Flan Professional Town It will become a 'new benchmark' for the construction of professional towns in Shanxi Province and provide a sure answer for Shanxi's all-round promotion of high-quality development." Song Haiping said.