On the morning of January 30, the China (Jinzhong · Taigu) Masteel Foundry Industry Investment and Trade Fair, a specialized town with Shanxi characteristics, opened grandly. This trade fair attracted more than 180 exhibitors and more than 3000 dealers from home and abroad. At the opening ceremony, 20 strategic cooperation agreements were signed on the spot by the government, banks and enterprises, and the school, local business association, with a total investment of about 3 billion yuan, and a transaction volume of 2.6 billion yuan reached on the spot, which sounded the call for the construction of professional towns with Shanxi characteristics in 2023.

Taigu malleable steel industry has once again focused on the global vision.

In September 2022, "Taigu Masteel" was successfully selected as one of the first ten provincial key professional towns in Shanxi Province and upgraded to the provincial strategy. After nearly 50 years, the traditional foundry industry has ushered in a new opportunity to reshape its development advantages and high-quality development.

Strive to achieve the reputation of "the capital of malleable steel in China"

The scientific name of malleable iron is forged iron. Its performance is close to that of steel. It is an important branch of the casting industry. There is a huge demand in water heating, fire protection, gas, hardware tools, construction engineering and other fields, and it is also widely used in automobile manufacturing, rail transit and other fields.

In 1976, the production of malleable iron and steel was introduced into Taigu. At first, the malleable iron and steel industry was highly related and required a large amount of labor, so it soon became the livelihood industry of Taigu. Until now, the malleable iron and steel industry has always been the leading industry and the main source of tax in this traditional agricultural county, which lacks mineral resources. The achievements of numerous Taigu people, large and small, have created a monument for the development of the Taigu malleable steel industry. The Taigu malleable iron and steel industry has grown from scratch, from large to large, and from large to strong. Together with modern agriculture, it has become the pillar industry of the two major countries in Taigu, enjoying a reputation in Shanxi and radiating across the country.

Today, Masteel has been rooted in Taigu for nearly 50 years. From the original state-owned Taigu Masteel Plant to the current Masteel Co., Ltd., it has achieved a modern enterprise management model centered on quality management, which has further promoted the technological upgrading, capacity expansion, output doubling and market share of Masteel enterprises. Today, Taigu Masteel's six major categories of products are sold at home and abroad with their characteristics of wide variety and excellent quality. Among them, Masteel's steel pipe fittings account for 2/3 of the national market, electric power fittings account for 4/5 of the national market, and grooved pipe fittings account for 1/5 of the national market. There are more than 3000 distribution outlets nationwide, and the products are sold to more than 40 countries and regions. The saying "World Masteel is in China, and China Masteel is in Taigu" has made it famous as "the capital of Chinese Masteel", It has successively won the honorary titles of "China Masteel Industrial Base" and "China Masteel Foreign Trade Incubation Base".

Today, Taigu has 112 various types of malleable steel enterprises, with an annual output of 1 million tons of malleable steel pipe fittings, an annual output value of more than 7 billion yuan, and more than 30000 direct employees and nearly 100000 indirect employees.

Transformation and upgrading to promote high-quality development of Taigu Masteel industry

Kanev Group is the leading enterprise in Taigu Masteel industry, and its subsidiaries are mainly Shanxi Kanev Pipe Industry Co., Ltd. and Kanev Group (Shanxi) Pipe System Co., Ltd. In 2022, the output value of Carnev Group will reach more than 600 million yuan.

As a well-known brand of China's malleable steel pipe fittings and a high-tech enterprise in Shanxi Province, Carnevma steel pipe fittings have been used in major domestic projects such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Wanda Plaza, and have established long-term strategic partnerships with China Water, China Construction Third Bureau, Country Garden, and Fuli Real Estate. Facing the international market, its products are mainly concentrated in more than 40 countries and regions in the four main battlefields of America, Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa, which has expanded the influence of Chinese pipe fittings in the international market.

On the outer wall of the office of Zhou Yongjun, General Manager of Carnegie Group (Shanxi) Pipeline System Co., Ltd., two lines of slogans stand out: "lead the digital and intelligent transformation of the traditional casting industry, and create a new green and environmentally friendly production plant", which is the company's struggling goal at this stage. Zhou Yongjun told reporters that the company has always been striving to break through the old and innovate, upgrade and transform. There is no end point, only better and more advanced.

Kanev is a microcosm of the development process of Taigu Masteel industry. From the original extensive production to the industrial reorganization in the 1990s, from the establishment of the Shanxi Magang Quality Inspection Center and the founding of the Foundry Industry Association to the digital transformation and green transformation, the entire Taigu Magang industry has ensured the inexhaustible power of its high-quality development and the vigorous vitality of the entire industry in the process of continuous self-elimination, transformation and upgrading.

In the development process of more than 40 years, Taigu Masteel has always grasped the core technology and the development trend of new technology in the steel industry, supporting and leading the technological progress of the steel industry in China. Liu Liangdong, the general manager of Shanxi Carniff Pipe Industry Co., Ltd., said with deep feeling, "Taigu Masteel still has its advantages, but its disadvantages are obvious. In the past, we always held the mentality of 'wait and see first', which led to the whole industry renovation always on the 'renovation and improvement road' of minor repairs. Practice has proved that only by constantly surpassing and breaking the old and creating new ones can we further improve the brand influence of Taigu Masteel."

From 2017 to 2020, the Taigu malleable iron and steel industry has implemented high-quality development actions of upgrading, in-depth governance and benchmarking rectification of the casting industry for four consecutive years, dismantling 124 cupola furnaces of 10 tons/hour and below, and replacing molten iron with electric furnaces. Through rectification, 74 malleable iron casting enterprises were rated as Grade B in performance grading, and key leading malleable iron and steel enterprises are making full efforts to advance to Grade A standard. Today, Taigu Masteel is once again forging ahead on the road of digital and green chemical plant transformation.

Provincial professional town construction to build a century-old malleable steel with the spirit of craftsman

There is no doubt about the influence of Taigu Masteel in the national and global industries, but looking at the domestic steel industry, the weakness of Taigu Masteel is still clear.

The total output value of Meidema Steel Group in Jinan, Shandong Province will reach 10 billion yuan in 2022. Although this is the total output value of the group's malleable iron and steel industry and associated industrial clusters, it is also sufficient to compare the obvious differences in the scale of Taigu malleable iron and steel enterprises. The "Mike" steel pipe fittings brand registered by the group is the first well-known trademark in China in the same industry, and the brand construction is one step ahead of Taigu Masteel.

At the same time, Taigu malleable steel products have an advantage in output, accounting for a large proportion in the market of low-end products, while high-tech enterprises and high-end products do not have an advantage.

The current situation of Taigu malleable iron and steel industry may be as Liu Liangdong said: the advantages are still there, the weaknesses are obvious, and the torrent is brave to advance.

In 2022, the establishment of a provincial specialized town will undoubtedly be a good time for the current Taigu iron and steel industry. In the words of Zhou Yongjun, "provincial professional towns are the most important policy opportunities in the history of our steel industry". How to make good use of this opportunity? Zhou Yongjun believes that starting with the quality and quality of products, the most basic and important link of the malleable steel industry, we should build a century-old malleable steel industry with the spirit of craftsman.

At present, under the influence of the continuous downturn of real estate, there has been vicious competition in the national malleable iron and steel industry, and a price war has been launched in succession. Many enterprises have ignored the quality of products, and the situation of national standard products being run by non-standard products is becoming increasingly fierce.

"We should hire 'smart group' from the government level as soon as possible, dig deep into the big data of the industry, let professionals do professional work, and then guide and intervene at the government level. Only by working at the same time, can we finally achieve the credibility of" dare not fake "and" cannot fake "in the field of anti-corruption, and achieve the reputation of Taigu Masteel as the synonym of" national standard "products." Zhou Yongjun said.

Fortunately, since "Taigu Masteel" was selected as the provincial key professional town, the Taigu District Committee and the district government have directly faced the problems of large and weak steel industry, low product added value, low inter-enterprise correlation, and unclear brand effect, and have issued the "Implementation Plan of Taigu District in Jinzhong City to Promote the High-quality Development of Masteel Professional Town", comprehensively carrying out the "Ten Actions" for the revitalization of the steel industry, Vigorously implement the "2345" project in the malleable steel industry.

"We are actively introducing professional and high-end talents in the field of malleable iron and steel industry, actively strengthening the in-depth cooperation with universities, strengthening the technical standard work of specialized towns, fully supporting enterprises to take the path of specialization, refinement, specialization and innovation, comprehensively improving the whole Taigu malleable iron and steel industry, creating a smart, popular and vibrant malleable iron and steel casting professional town, and fully polishing the business card of the 'capital of malleable iron and steel in China'." Liu Wei, member of the Standing Committee of the Jinzhong Municipal Party Committee, deputy mayor and secretary of the Taigu District Party Committee, said.