Forging a "chain" into a "group", scientific and technological innovation bravely breaks down barriers--Observation on the high-quality development of Baotai Group

The development of new materials is an inevitable requirement for China to change from a big manufacturing country to a manufacturing power, and it is also a fundamental measure for China to get rid of the "sticking neck" of key materials and technologies. Titanium, which looks like steel, is 45% lighter than steel and is regarded as an important strategic metal material in the 21st century. As a metal material with low density, high strength and corrosion resistance, the application scene of titanium is extending from aerospace, medical, sports equipment and other fields to automobile, mobile phone and other fields. This brings new development opportunities to Baoti Group, the leading enterprise in China's titanium industry.

  , founded in 1965, is the founder and leader of Shaanxi Baoji titanium industry from scratch. The developed titanium alloy manned ball module helps Chinese divers to dive to the 10909-meter Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean. The developed titanium alloy materials are widely used in key projects such as the "Shenzhou" series of spaceships, leading the formulation of the first international standard in the field of titanium and many other titanium standards. On the journey of building China into a powerful country in the titanium industry, Baoti Group continues to refresh its history.

   witnessed Baoji Titanium Industry from scratch

   is in the cold winter, but the wire rod factory of Bao Ti Co., Ltd. is a hot production scene. After a series of processes such as heating, rolling, drawing, annealing and surface treatment, the 150 mm thick bar becomes a coil wire with a diameter of only 0.8 mm. According to Liu Tao, party general branch secretary of Baotou Titanium Wire Rod Factory, this is China's first independently designed and developed titanium and titanium alloy hot continuous rolling production line. The products range from bars for "big country heavy equipment" to high-precision bars for surgical implants in daily life, which are widely used in aviation, aerospace, marine, medical, electronics and other fields.

   Baoti Group Co., Ltd., the parent company of Baoti Wire Rod Factory, also plays a more important role-the main enterprise of Shaanxi titanium and titanium alloy industry chain.

   more than 600 titanium industry chain related enterprises, the production of more than 5000 specifications of titanium products, annual output value of more than 60 billion yuan, 65% of the country's titanium materials are produced here. Why does Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, which is far away from titanium ore, take the lead in the titanium industry, the field of materials? The password is closely related to Bao Ti Group.

   it is understood that the application of titanium began in the 1950s, from the aerospace industry of the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries. With the rapid development of China's aerospace industry, the production of lightweight, high-strength, high-temperature corrosion-resistant titanium alloy has become an urgent task at that time. During the third-line construction period, a large number of state-owned industrial enterprises settled in Baoji, an important industrial town in the west, including the 902 plant invested and built by the state in Baoji in 1965, the predecessor of Baoti Group.

After the completion of    Bao Ti Group, it immediately undertook the production, R & D and trial production of most of the titanium processing materials in China. After nearly 60 years of development, Bao Ti Group has become the largest professional production and research base of rare metals based on titanium and titanium alloys in China. It has formed a complete titanium industry chain from sponge titanium mining to smelting, processing, deep processing and equipment manufacturing, leading the formulation of more than 90% standards in China's titanium field, laying the foundation for the vigorous development of China's titanium industry and promoting China to become after the United States, Russia and Japan. The fourth country with a complete titanium industrial system.

   leading, casting "chain" into a "group". Driven by Baoti Group and nurtured by the local government, the upstream titanium material processing and downstream application production market continues to expand, and more than 600 rare metal production, processing and trading enterprises such as titanium and titanium alloys have settled in Baoji one after another, forming a cluster development cluster effect.

At present, as a national key R & D and production base of titanium and titanium alloy, Baoji has formed a complete industrial chain of "titanium ingots-titanium forgings-titanium processing-titanium parts-titanium equipment". The annual production and processing volume of titanium is nearly 70, 000 tons, and the industrial scale ranks first in the country, and the products are exported to more than 70 countries and regions.

   fills many gaps in titanium alloy research.

The    Pacific Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean in the world, is known as the "fourth pole of the earth".

   November 10, 2020, China's independent innovation, self-developed 10,000-meter manned deep submersible "Endeavour", carrying three divers to 10909 meters in the Mariana trench, setting a new record for China's manned deep diving, reaching the world's leading level. Among them, the titanium alloy manned ball cabin developed by Baotian Group, as the core component of manned submersible, has withstood the test, filled many gaps in the research of titanium alloy in China, and put an end to the situation that China's manned submersible module relies on import.

   dived into the deep sea for nine days. In addition to deep-sea submersibles, China's first hydrogen bomb successfully exploded, the first nuclear submarine was successfully launched, the first soft landing satellite successfully returned to the ground, the first successful launch of carrier rockets into the Pacific Ocean, the "Shenzhou" series of spaceships, the Chang'e project, C919 and other key projects, all have titanium and titanium alloy materials provided by Bao Ti Group.

Bao Ti Group, which used to write history by   , is constantly making new history. In 2023, Bao Ti Group won the China Industrial Award, the highest award in China's industrial field. The reporter learned that in recent years, Bao Ti Group has implemented more than 190 scientific research projects, including 71 national key projects.

  -- developed 8 titanium alloy products, such as high precision profiles for aerospace, wire for aviation fasteners, etc., which have successfully realized domestic substitution and met the material requirements of key types of equipment.

  -- successfully manufactured a single PTA (refined terephthalic acid) specialty equipment weighing more than 1200 tons, broke through the foreign key technical barriers, and became a leader in the specialty non-standard equipment industry.

  -- the titanium roof of Baoji Grand Theater and the titanium landscape platform of Shilinxia in Beijing have created a precedent for the large-scale application of domestic titanium in the field of construction.

  , a vacuum creep correction furnace, has solved the difficult problems of shape correction and residual stress control of high-performance titanium alloy plates that have plagued China's titanium industry for many years, and won the national patent gold medal.

   reform stimulates vitality and leads high-quality development

As an old state-owned enterprise with more than 8500 employees,    has many problems, such as inflexible system and mechanism, unreasonable salary management, and restrained enterprise integration and development, which are the hurdles for the high-quality development of Baotian Group.

In    2020, Bao Ti Group issued the three-year Action implementation Plan for deepening the Reform of State-owned Enterprises (2020-2022), which established and refined 55 reform tasks. Through the reform, Bao Ti Group has formulated a new salary system, and the salary distribution is skewed to the backbone staff, especially to scientific and technological personnel, highly skilled personnel and front-line key positions.

   "forging, melting and casting positions, with great pressure and heavy responsibility, no one was willing to do it before. After the reform of the company's salary system, the income of front-line workers has increased significantly, and the salary gap of posts at the same level has been widened, making it a 'hot cake' to earn more money." Cui Fei, a technician at the forging plant of Bao Ti Group, said that the most intuitive manifestation is that the annual income of front-line production workers has increased significantly after the reform.

In April of    2022, the international standard "Titanium and Titanium Alloy naming system" led by Bao Ti Group was officially released, which filled the international gap in this field. In the 11-member team that sets international standards, 8 scientific and technological personnel are rated as the first and second grades of the technical backbone of Baoti Group. "the first and second grades of the backbone are the new promotion channels created by Baotian Group for scientific and technological personnel." Feng Junning, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Baotian Group, said, "before the implementation of the reform, even if scientific and technological personnel were promoted with professional titles, the income gap was not big." After the reform, the annual income of the backbone is basically the same as that of the middle deputy of the company. "

In order to realize the "catfish effect",    has tried out the "professional manager" system in its subordinate enterprises since the second half of 2022. In the metal composite company that took the lead in the pilot project, the members of the original leading group competed for the post of head of the enterprise again. After a series of fierce competition, a former deputy came to the fore and became the first "professional manager". Geng Aiwu, director of the enterprise management and operation department of Bao Ti Group, said that the purpose of the trial "professional manager" system is to enhance the "vitality value" of enterprises through measures such as full decentralization, salary incentives and reverse targets.

The dividend of    reform gives birth to the driving force for development, and innovation breaks the wall to stimulate the vitality of enterprises. Through deepening the reform, the main business indicators of Bao Ti Group have continued to improve, and the output of titanium products has exceeded 30,000 tons in 2021. At the same time, in the face of the difficult challenges such as the decline in Chinese demand, the adjustment of industry structure and the sharp fluctuation of raw material prices, the operating performance of Baoti Group has gone up against the trend, and its profits have continued to grow substantially, which has continued a good momentum of development.

In the next step of   , Bao Ti Group will give full play to the role of the main enterprise of Shaanxi titanium and titanium alloy industry chain, according to the requirements of Shaanxi Nonferrous Metals Group to implement the multiplier plan to build a modern industrial system, further extend the chain, complement the chain, and strengthen the chain, promote the construction of regional industrial layout and three-dimensional support pattern of listed companies, and lay a more solid foundation for the high-quality development of Baotian. To make greater contributions to the development of industrial economy in Shaanxi Province. " Wang Jian, deputy secretary of the party committee and general manager of Bao Ti Group, said.