Yingshan, Sichuan: a rising Valve Industrial Park

In midsummer, when I visited the valve industrial park of Yingshan Economic Development Zone, I saw the orderly arrangement of plants and the roaring of machines in the plant, a thriving scene.

In recent years, Yingshan County, Nanchong City, Sichuan Province has successfully attracted a large number of valve enterprises to settle down through measures such as rural investment promotion, optimizing the business environment and increasing policy support. The valve industry has grown from scratch and become a "Park in the park" in Yingshan economic development zone.

Undertake industrial transfer to attract valve enterprises

Valves are widely used, ranging from precision instruments to household sluice valves. Yingshan is close to Chongqing Changshou, Fuling, Wanzhou and Guang'an, and the valve market demand is strong. Without industrial base, how to "unscrew" the valve? It has always been the focus of policymakers' thinking.

In 2019, Yingshan investment promotion team's trip to Taizhou, Zhejiang Province will brighten everyone's eyes. The number of local valve enterprises is staggering. Yuhuan city of Taizhou has developed the valve industry since the 1970s. After decades of development, it has become the leader with the most concentrated and largest scale in the domestic valve industry, and is known as the "valve city of China". In Yuhuan, there are about 20000 Yingshan technical workers engaged in the valve manufacturing industry, covering the upstream and downstream industrial chains such as valve R & D, manufacturing and sales. Many Yingshan people have also worked as the owners of valve enterprises from apprentices.

On the one hand, the rapid development of Yuhuan valve industry has caused problems such as land restrictions and low-quality competition in the industry, which has hindered the development of the enterprise, so that many bosses have no intention of it. On the other hand, Yingshan has the advantage of favorable time and place, the machinery manufacturing industry is booming, and the valve industry is a blank.

The investigation and visit were carried out continuously, and the investment promotion responded to concerns. The leaders of Yingshan County Party committee and government agreed that Yingshan has great potential to develop the valve industry through careful monitoring, and took it as the focus of investment attraction. Inspired by a series of investment policies, Zeng Jiansen took the lead in taking over the "olive branch".

In the 1990s, Zeng Jiansen, along with his parents, established a household workshop for HVAC and gas valve processing in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province. The HVAC and gas valves independently produced have been recognized by customers. In march2019, Zeng Jiansen went to Yingshan for an investigation, and thoroughly dispelled his worries through in-depth understanding of land, business environment and other factors. Three months later, the company completed the industrial and commercial registration in Yingshan and established Sichuan yibailin new energy Co., Ltd.

The company is committed to the intelligent research, production and development of HVAC, water separator, gas valve, heating valve and other fields. Yingshan economic and Technological Development Zone has provided the company with 3000 square meters of transitional plant and "one-to-one" considerate service. In October of that year, the equipment was installed in place and officially put into operation, realizing an output value of more than 5million yuan.

It was with Zeng Jiansen's exploration that valve enterprises competed to settle in Yingshan economic and Technological Development Zone, and Yingshan valve industry realized from scratch.

Both government and enterprises rush to build the valve industrial park

On June 26, the author saw in Sichuan yibailin new energy Co., Ltd. that a brand-new factory building came into view. In the spacious and bright production workshop, the CNC lathe operated at high speed, and intelligent mechanical arms carried out each process in an orderly manner.

"With the expansion of the market and the recognition of the business environment in Yingshan, our confidence in taking root in Yingshan has become stronger." Zeng Jiansen said that in 2023, he invested 110million yuan in the valve industrial park, built 8100 square meters of factory buildings, installed more than 100 sets of intelligent production equipment of mechanical arms and automatic equipment of valves, expanded important production lines such as valve production, assembly and packaging, and used industrial robots to produce, gradually realizing full intelligence of production equipment. The company has achieved an annual output of 7million copper valves and an output value of 150million yuan in 2024.

In the workshop of Sichuan Haocheng Valve Manufacturing Co., Ltd., which is adjacent to it, huangchengcheng's copper bars are sent to the quality inspection and packaging line one by one through the processes of machine cutting, forging, turning milling, shaping and polishing.

According to the person in charge of Haocheng valve, the company has a complete production chain of forging, numerical control, assembly, packaging and other valve production. Other valve enterprises settled in Yingshan can purchase copper bars and other raw materials and deliver them to Haocheng valve for front-end production.

"Our new factory has a construction area of more than 6300 square meters. It was put into use in May this year. All the equipment was relocated from Taizhou, Zhejiang. The company has formed a whole industry chain from raw material processing to late product delivery." the relevant person in charge of the company said.

"The factory has been built and expanded, and the local workers in Yingshan have returned to their hometown," said the relevant person in charge of the company.

"In the past, I have been working in Zhejiang valve enterprises and accumulated work experience. Now I go back to my hometown to work. The treatment in all aspects is OK. The most important thing is that I can take care of my family and earn money. It is killing two birds with one stone." Wei Liu, who is working on the mold production line, told the author that the working environment in the valve industrial park in my hometown is good and the salary is stable. She and her colleagues are full of confidence in the future.

It is worth mentioning that the construction of Yingshan valve industrial park also shows a vigorous development trend, providing a strong support for the rapid development of the industry. More than 20 valve enterprises, such as Yichuan valve industry and Xinlei valve, have been completed and put into operation. Like Haocheng valve, most of them come from Taizhou, Zhejiang. With a batch of valve enterprises in Yuhuan and surrounding cities put into operation, Yingshan's valve industry highlights the scale effect. In 2024, Yingshan valve industry association was officially established, realizing the transformation of Yingshan valve enterprises from fighting alone to developing together.

It is understood that almost all valve enterprises in Yingshan valve industrial park have similar experiences. First, they use the transitional plant provided by Yingshan economic and Technological Development Zone for production. With the market expansion and smooth production and marketing, they all have the desire to "take" the land to build factories. In terms of materials, they cover all kinds of materials such as copper, iron and aluminum. In terms of use, they cover all kinds of products in the valve industry, including temperature control valves, fire valves, stop valves and other major categories. At present, there are 12 Enterprises above Designated Size in the county, and the total industrial output value will exceed 1billion yuan in 2024.

"It is the two-way rush of government and enterprises that has given birth to the formation of the valve industrial park." according to relevant leaders of Yingshan County Government, in 2023, the valve industrial park in Yingshan economic and Technological Development Zone broke ground, with a planned area of 300 mu, a total investment of 2billion yuan, a planned plant of nearly 150000 square meters, supporting office space and related ancillary facilities. Now there are 21 settled enterprises. After all of them are officially put into operation, it is expected to achieve an annual output value of 2billion yuan and provide more than 1500 jobs.

Cultivating industrial clusters to realize cluster forming

It is only the first step to put into production and incubate into a park. How can the industry achieve long-term development? Technological innovation and clustering are the key.

On June 28, the author saw in phase II of Yingshan valve industrial park that new plants were built and new equipment in the plant came into view. The project is located in the valve industrial park, Chuangye Avenue, economic development zone, Yingshan County, covering an area of 60 mu, with a total planned investment of 300million yuan. It will be started in February 2023 and completed in June 2025. The project has built a standardized workshop of 35000 square meters, supported by office space and related ancillary facilities, and mainly installed more than 200 sets of intelligent equipment such as six axis robots, double axis knife row CNC lathes, red punching forging, ball valve automatic assembly lines, etc., forming an annual production capacity of 30million pieces of various valves, which are mainly sold to the southwest, northwest, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.

With the goal of building industrial clusters, a number of supporting enterprises with clear division of labor are arranged around the "chain owner" enterprises, and the cooperation between the "chain owner" enterprises and upstream and downstream small and medium-sized enterprises is strengthened to achieve coordinated development and win-win cooperation among enterprises. At present, the valve industry chain enterprises and the machinery and auto parts industry have realized mutual support, and are actively exploring new high-end intelligent R & D and manufacturing tracks, which will form an industrial cluster integrating R & D, production and sales.

The gradual improvement of the industrial chain has led to the agglomeration effect of Yingshan valve industry, and some coastal enterprises have come one after another. Chenshigong, chairman of Sichuan Weijie Valve Manufacturing Co., Ltd., originally operated a valve enterprise in Wenzhou. It was precisely because of the favorable weather and geographical conditions of Yingshan valve industry that he chose to move some production lines to Yingshan.

"The upstream and downstream industrial chains are complete, which effectively saves logistics costs." chenshigong said that his enterprises in Wenzhou have many Yingshan employees, and everyone has the desire to work nearby. Now the factory is built in their hometown, which is a win-win situation for enterprises and employees.

"Starting from scratch, it has developed into an industrial cluster, which seems to have started from scratch, but actually there are traces to follow." Tu Sheng, deputy director of the Management Committee of Yingshan Economic Development Zone, said that in the next step, Yingshan will continue to improve the valve industry R & D, manufacturing and sales chains, help valve enterprises open up the western market, and promote the valve industry to achieve quantitative growth and qualitative improvement.

To this end, Yingshan has also actively introduced relevant supporting enterprises to settle down, built a "power island" of the industrial chain and realized the internal circulation among enterprises according to the raw material supply of enterprises in various industrial chains and the complementary demand of downstream industries. A logistics company has been established, and three special lines have been opened to Taizhou, Dongguan and Chongqing every day, effectively reducing the logistics production cost of enterprises and driving more enterprises to gather in Yingshan and support each other.

"We strive to cultivate more than 30 valve enterprises in three years, with an annual output value of more than 4billion yuan, so as to realize the origin effect of 'Western valves in Yingshan'." Tu Sheng said. (Zou Gang)