Although Comrade Shen Liechu, the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Machinery Industry, is 92 years old, he still cares about the development of the machinery industry.
Recently, in view of the rapid breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and the rapid emergence of new technologies, some foreign giants have adjusted their layout in China and there are still shortcomings in core technology fields. With his keen sense of smell, he issued a warning: Under the wave of new technological revolution, the “new three basic” issues such as new materials, new processes, and new basic components are becoming new bottlenecks restricting the high-quality development of my country’s manufacturing industry, and must be addressed at the national strategic level.
The “three bases” are the lifeblood of the equipment industry and have always been the weakness of the machinery industry.
Before and after the reform and opening up, the leaders of the First Ministry of Machinery and the Ministry of Machinery at that time realized that the “three bases” (basic parts, basic materials, and basic processes) were the foundation of the manufacturing industry and had an important strategic position.
From the late period of the Cultural Revolution, Minister Zhou Jiannan organized a group of aspiring technicians from the Institute of Mechanical Engineering to begin research, planning, and organization of the “three bases” project, and formulated requirements for passing the “three hurdles.”
In 1978, Shen Liechu went abroad with an inspection team to six European countries and introduced 800 technologies to the Ministry of Machinery Industry, about 70 to 80 percent of which were “three-based” technologies. He accelerated the establishment of my country’s technological foundation and achieved a number of results.
In the early 1980s, the machinery industry faced severe challenges, with frequent problems such as unstable equipment quality and poor reliability. Due to the weak “three foundations”, users often complained.
For example, the Ministry of Electric Power reported that the 200,000 yuan thermal power generation equipment produced by the Machinery Department was not good enough. Shen Liechu was entrusted by the ministry to conduct research and rectification at Hebei Douhe Power Plant; he focused on coal mine explosion-proof equipment and improved it with the No. 8 mine in Pingdingshan, Henan as a typical example; there were problems with Gezhouba hydropower equipment, which were solved by establishing a test bed and other methods.
In order to effectively provide user service and full-chain quality work, the Ministry of Machinery has successively issued relevant orders, laying the “three bases” foundation for complete sets of equipment.
Enter the new era, the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the improvement of industrial basic capabilities, and will deploy and advance the upgrading of industrial basics as a tough battle.
After more than ten years of continuous research, the problem of my country’s weak industrial basic capabilities has been initially alleviated and important experience has been accumulated.
From the “three bases”, “four bases”, and “five bases” of industry to the “industrial foundation”, with the continuous evolution of the connotation of a strong industrial base, there is an additional guarantee for laying a solid foundation for the equipment manufacturing industry, which has become the foundation of the machinery industry.
However, the “three bases” of my country’s industry are still very weak in some areas. The “three bases” of high-end industry are basically controlled by developed countries or multinational companies. As a result, many core technologies of complete machine equipment cannot be mastered so far, and the key “three bases” products have to be imported.
Currently, the world is on the eve of the explosion of new technologies. The connotation and characteristics of the “three basics” will continue to be enriched. The “new three basics” have become the new driving force and main direction of the development of industrial foundations.
Taking Japan as an example, Shen Liechu pointed out that many Japanese OEMs have withdrawn from the Chinese market but are still able to choke China’s manufacturing industry because they are deeply involved in core components and basic processes.
Tesla’s integrated die-casting technology, metal injection molding process and the application of new materials in high-end equipment fields have all become “stuck” links.
Shen Liechu particularly emphasized that basic components such as sensors are in urgent need of breakthroughs.
He called on industry experts to discuss together and elevate the connotation of the “new three foundations” (industrial foundations) to a national strategic policy.
Otherwise, it will be difficult for major strategic products such as quantum chips, quantum computers, controllable nuclear fusion devices, and large aircraft to achieve breakthroughs.
He finally said that in the face of the “new three foundations”, long-term strategic focus and systematic organization are also needed.
