Shandong continues to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, attracting many leading foreign investors to continuously increase investment and expand production. The stock of foreign investment in Shandong ranks first in the north.
Bekaert, a global leader in metal deformation and advanced materials, has increased capital four times since settling in Weihai, building 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: “For the first time, cobalt-free salt addition has been achieved 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 its strong oxidation characteristics 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: “The new technology has improved the anti-aging properties of rubber and the bonding layer between rubber and steel cords. It has greatly reduced the failure rate under harsh working conditions, and at the same time increased the service life by more than 15%. The latest news is that the test has been very satisfactory, and customers have placed additional orders, which 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 in.
Yin Zhiwei, head of the European and American Investment Promotion Office of the Weihai Economic and Technological Development Zone Investment Promotion Center, said: “From the market, energy conditions, and some hardware supporting conditions that companies are concerned about, we proactively connect and then form a comprehensive solution. This project can provide good coordination for the local tire industry.
With the same supporting facilities.”
Bekaert’s R&D capabilities have driven its continued expansion. Since it was completed and put into production in 2004, it has subsequently increased its capital four times. 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.
Wang Dengpan, director of the Economic Development Bureau of Weihai Economic and Technological Development Zone, said: “We have established a one-on-one service relationship. We immediately organized relevant departments to come to the company to work on-site and guide the company to establish projects based on the actual situation of the company. At present, we have established 150 million (yuan), which is more determined
This has given the company confidence in making further investments.”
Today, this factory has become the world’s largest single steel cord production factory of the Bekaert Group, with a total daily steel wire length 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: “We are confident in our development in Shandong. In the future, we will continue to increase investment in research and development, bring more high-end products to Weihai for global premiere and manufacturing in Weihai, and continue to deepen cooperation with local tire companies to jointly enter the international market.”
