The gap is power. Shougang speeded up the pace of catching up——

When happening upon streams, we bridged them to scale new heights

Since 2013, Shougang has actively promoted the strategy of “manufacturing + service”, organized the efficient cooperation between Shouqin Company and the Shougang Institute of Technology, and established a bridge steel product development model combining production, marketing and research. Through close cooperation with MBEC, the leading enterprise of the bridge industry, Shougang realized a number of technological innovations and technological breakthroughs, and undertook a number of excellent projects, thus scaling new heights and contributing greatly to the development and construction of national bridges.

——Build up the “entrepreneurship bridge” to open up the market

In order to find a breakthrough in fierce market competition, Shougang has adopted direct sales mode for bridge steel since 2013. To this end, Shouqin Company set up a bridge steel propulsion team led by the leadership of the company, and its members are made up of the personnel of Shougang Institute of Technology stationed in Shouqin Company and the Market Department of Shouqin Company. Although there are only a few members, they take on the core task of the bridge steel production and marketing research. The reason why Shougang bridge steel has achieved leapfrog development in recent years is inseparable from the responsibility of the team which wants to do something, is able to do something and takes the initiative to start up business.

Focusing on the promotion of the high-end products and improvement of the market share, the bridge steel team began to build the “entrepreneurship bridge”, established the policy of “research and development of a batch, reserve of a batch, production of a batch”, had clear principles that “the products provided are not always the most expensive, or the cheapest, but must be the most cost-effective”. Team members had a clear division of labor, and closely cooperated with each other to conduct in-depth and detailed research in the bridge steel market. At the same time, they focused on the potential needs of users, and closely followed all the nodes such as project planning, project approval, project design, manufacturing, construction and maintenance to promote the product and market development.

The New Baishatuo Yangtze River Bridge is the first double-deck railway steel truss girder cable-stayed bridge in the world. It is also a key tracking project established at the beginning of the establishment of the team, which has carried out a lot of technical pre research and accumulation. In March 2013, this project started bidding and had high-difficulty technical standards that the type was high performance 420MPa grade bridge steel and the yield ratio was not more than 0.88. Moreover, the time of delivery was very tight. After full preparations and winning the bidding, team members were determined to solve this tough issue. They communicated with the design unit actively, strengthened cooperation and exchange with users, carefully organized technical tackling and product production, and finally met the contract schedule delivery requirements well, thus solving the users’ urgent need, and winning the trust of the users. The success of this project made Shouqin Company the second supplier in China which was approved by MBEC and whose products were applied to the railway bridge in bulk. Shouqin Company ranked among the leading suppliers after that.

By taking the initiative to venture out into the market, Shouqin Company has set up a long-term cooperation and exchange platform with MBEC, the leading enterprise in the domestic bridge industry, China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co., Ltd. and China Railway Engineering Consulting Group Co., Ltd., Yanshan University and other units, grasped the new direction of the development of the bridge steel and studied the new technology together. We regularly communicate with the bridge girder manufacturing enterprises and participate in the international and domestic bridge steel conference to understand the new needs of the users and the progress of the key bridge projects. The team cooperation featuring the early, coincidental product development (advance research + opportunity), the excellent sales, the strong technology, the guaranteed production has gradually laid the leading position of the Shougang bridge steel in the industry.

——Set up an “integrity bridge” for service users

“Preliminary intervention, honest service, what new requirements the users put forward, and what products we develop” is the basic strategy for Shouqin Company to practice the concept of “manufacturing + service” and develop products with users as the center, and the integrity bridge through which they can continue to win users and markets.

Shouqin Company officially signed the contract with MBEC in Bangladesh’s Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge project. The part of the greatest technical difficulty and the largest thickness is produced in Shouqin Company. In the face of strong competitors, team members insisted on early intervention, tracking the project from July 2013, and doing everything possible to meet the bidding requirements. The project used high-end bridge steel S420ML which required a maximum thickness of 115mm, while Shouqin Company could produce a certified maximum thickness of only 60mm at that time. The team members raced against the clock and overcame many difficulties. It took only two months to complete the expansion of the specification certification. The maximum certification thickness reached 120mm and it was qualified. At the same time, they also used this as an opportunity to strengthen technology marketing, accelerate the development of a user-centric service system, and communicate with users in depth. In order to ensure the quality of products, a number of competitive recommendations such as bridge flaw detection have been proposed to provide users with confidence.

The Padma Bridge project in Bangladesh enabled Shougang to successfully develop a 115mm thick S420ML extremely thick bridge steel with high-strength, low-temperature impact, and easy-to-weld performance. When it was applied in bulk, a breakthrough was made in the development of extremely thick bridge steel. On this basis, 150mm thick Q345qE bridge steel was developed and successfully applied to key projects.

Integrity service earns trust. The Shouqin bridge steel team is in the process of developing leading technologies for low yield ratio, easy-to-weld TMCP + tempered Q420qE bridge steel, and the yield ratio requirement is the most difficult among the steel grades of the same grade. Through multiple on-site tracking, the team members finally found a targeted rolling process based on the characteristics of different thicknesses of steel plate. The production technology level was deeply trusted by the users and the product quality was leading domestically. Shougang also became the most important supplier of bridge steel of that grade in China. In 2015 and 2016, Shougang was consistently rated as an “excellent supplier” by MBEC.

——Strengthen the “bridge pier” for technological innovation

If the bridge steel industry itself is regarded as a “bridge”, then winning the users is the other shore and the market goal; the bridge is the product and service and the market demand to the other shore; and excellent technical strength is foundation, guarantee and the “bridge pier” supporting the entire bridge.

In the process of product and market development, the Shouqin bridge steel team has always regarded technology accumulation and innovation as the cornerstone of success, conquered various technical difficulties, and achieved diversification according to market demand, delivery status, steel grades, and specifications. The supply ability and level have been fully improved. According to user requirements and steel grades, it can be delivered in such states as hot rolling, TMCP, normalizing, and TMCP + tempering.