Xinghua, a county-level city in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, has witnessed a surge in investment in traditional industries, with 506 high-tech enterprises — the most in Taizhou — driving the transformation towards high-end, intelligent, and green manufacturing.
Shenyuan Group, a stainless steel pioneer, invested nearly 700 million yuan ($101.39 million) in a high-speed precision rolling line, pioneering the development of high-temperature alloy rods for aerospace and nuclear sectors. Its second-phase expansion boosted high-value-added products from 30 percent to 70 percent of revenue, while drafting 27 national and industry standards to cement its market dominance.
Intelligent transformation is key to production expansion efforts. Taizhou Boshite Precision Casting doubled its capacity and cut its energy use with an investment of 12 million yuan in automation transformation. Across industries, processes in stainless steel, excluding molten steel casting, have been mostly automated, while food processing/packaging have been completely automated. Xinghua has upgraded nearly 10,000 sets of machines and cultivated 21 national and provincial smart factories.
With 22 national "little giant" firms and 191 provincial specialists, Xinghua's traditional industries are climbing the value chain through innovation-driven upgrades.