Shandong continues to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, attracting many leading foreign companies to continue to increase capital and expand production. The stock of foreign investment in Shandong ranks first in the north.
Since Bekaert, a global leader in metal deformation and advanced materials, settled in Weihai, it has increased capital four times and built the world’s largest single steel cord production factory.
Not long ago, Bekaert’s high-performance steel cord product “Betawe” developed in Weihai was successfully equipped with the world’s leading giant engineering tires, successfully passed high-strength testing in Southeast Asian mining areas, and achieved industrialization for the first time.
Zhang Qinghua, operations and quality manager of Bekaert (Shandong) Steel Cord Co., Ltd., said that this product achieves the first cobalt-free salt addition in the tire manufacturing process, which can help green tire production and manufacturing. Giant engineering tires can greatly extend their service life under extreme working conditions.
For a long time, cobalt salts have been widely used in rubber formulations as adhesion promoters, but their strong oxidizing properties will reduce the aging resistance of rubber.
Bekaert’s R&D team found a new way to solve this problem that has plagued the tire industry for more than 60 years. They concentrated cobalt on steel cord coatings and developed “Betawe” technology, breaking the tradition of adding cobalt salts to rubber.
However, after the advent of the technology, due to the need to transform and upgrade the existing production process, it has been difficult to find a suitable application carrier.
With the help of the local government, Bekaert and Weihai’s leading tire company Triangle Tire launched joint research and development, targeting giant engineering tires that operate in complex and harsh working conditions such as large mines.
Liu Liangliang, the technical leader of Triangle Tire’s engineering tire and giant tire design, said that the new technology has improved the anti-aging properties of rubber and the bonding layer of rubber and steel cords.
The failure rate is greatly reduced under harsh working conditions, and the service life is increased by more than 15%.
The latest news is that the test has been very good, customers have placed additional orders, and it is very popular.
Today’s R&D breakthroughs stem from investment choices made many years ago.
Bekaert aims at China’s rapidly growing radial tire market and decides to invest in China.
Weihai City regarded the tire industry as one of the ten advantageous industrial chains, set up a special team to follow up in a timely manner, and soon completed a manufacturing plant covering an area of 240,000 square meters. This is the largest European capital project that Weihai has attracted investment.
The person in charge of the European and American Investment Promotion Center of the Weihai Economic and Technological Development Zone Investment Promotion Center said that from the market, energy conditions, and some hardware supporting conditions that companies are concerned about, they actively and proactively connect, and then form a comprehensive solution. This project can provide good collaborative support for the local tire industry.
Bekaert’s R&D capabilities have driven its continued expansion. Since it was completed and put into production in 2004, it has subsequently increased capital four times in a row. The registered capital has increased from US$12 million to US$105.5 million, and the company’s total investment in Weihai has increased from US$29.9 million to US$309.4 million.
Last year, the company listed investment plans to prepare for automation upgrades and energy-saving and emission-reduction transformation of production lines.
The director of the Economic Development Bureau of Weihai Economic and Technological Development Zone said that a one-on-one service relationship has been established, and relevant departments will be organized to work on-site at the company as soon as possible to guide the company to complete the project establishment according to the actual situation of the company. Currently, 150 million yuan has been established, which has strengthened the company’s confidence in the next investment.
Today, this factory has become the largest single steel cord production factory in the world of Bekaert Group, with a total daily steel wire production of more than 1.3 million kilometers, helping Weihai to sell more than 5,000 varieties of six categories and more than 50 million tires to the world every year.
Fan Zhijian, general manager of Bekaert (Shandong) Steel Cord Co., Ltd., said that they are confident in their development in Shandong and will continue to increase investment in research and development in the future, bringing more high-end products to Weihai for global premiere and manufacturing in Weihai, and will continue to deepen cooperation with local tire companies to jointly enter the international market.
