Reprinted from: Bengbu News Network
Set industry benchmarks, tell Chinese stories well, convey Chinese voice, and fully demonstrate the soaring Chinese economy, the rising national brand and the upward entrepreneurial spirit. Recently, the special series of programs on “Rising National Brands” talked with Mr. Lin Shida, Chairman of Tianjin Shiya Mold Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianjin Shiya), to discuss the path of innovative development in the mold field.
With the rapid development of the automobile industry today, every car driving on the road carries countless technological innovations and technological breakthroughs. As the core guarantee of the safety structure of the automobile, the accuracy and reliability of the mold are directly related to the life safety of the driver and passengers. Tianjin Shiya Mold Co., Ltd. breaks through technical barriers with its ingenuity and uses innovative molds to escort the travel path.
Break the deadlock: Reshape the industry structure with core technologies
“Molds are the soul of automobile safety structural parts.” Lin Shida pointed out straight to the point in the interview. In the field of automobile manufacturing, the production of safety parts such as front and rear bumpers, door sills, and door frames are inseparable from the support of high-precision molds. When traditional molds face ultra-high strength steel plates with tensile strength of 1180MPa, they often face technical bottlenecks such as rebound and cracking. Tianjin Shiya successfully achieved precision processing of this type of material through its independently developed cold stamping forming technology.
This technological breakthrough is no accident. Lin Shida recalled that the R&D team had faced three major difficulties: the material deformation mechanism is complex, the mold wears violently, and the forming accuracy is difficult to control. To this end, the company has built a collaborative innovation system of “production, education, research and application”. On the one hand, it cooperates with universities to establish a material database and uses CAE simulation technology to simulate the stamping process; on the other hand, it introduces high-end equipment such as five-axis linkage machining centers to improve the mold manufacturing accuracy to the micron level. Today, Tianjin Shiya’s products have covered more than 30 mainstream car companies, with a market share exceeding 25%.
Deeply cultivate: Use standardized systems to build a solid foundation for quality
In the production workshop of Tianjin Shiya, a steel plate must undergo 23 processes before it can be transformed into a qualified mold. Lin Shida emphasized: “We have established a full-process standardization system from design, manufacturing to testing.” The company's independently developed modular design platform can shorten the mold development cycle by 40%. At the same time, by implementing DFM (manufacturable design) specifications, the product's one-time pass rate will be increased to 98.6%.
This ultimate pursuit of quality is more valuable in the wave of lightweighting of new energy vehicles. Lin Shida showed a set of comparative data: the ultra-high strength steel body structural parts produced using Shiya molds reduce weight by 30% compared with traditional thermoforming processes, and the impact resistance is improved by 25%. At present, the company has developed 12 lightweight molds for many new car companies, of which a certain battery pack frame mold has been successfully replaced by imported products, and the cost of a single set of molds has been reduced by 600,000 yuan.
Yuanming: Empower industrial upgrading with digitalization
Faced with the “new four modernizations” trend of the automobile industry, Lin Shida showed a forward-looking layout. In Tianjin Shiya's smart factory, AGV cars shuttle between CNC machine tools, and the MES system monitors the operating status of 128 devices in real time. “We are building a 'beacon factory' in the mold industry.” Lin Shida revealed that by deploying an industrial Internet platform, enterprises have achieved the interconnection of design data and production equipment, the equipment utilization rate has increased to 85%, and the order delivery cycle has been shortened by 35%.
This digital transformation is not only reflected in the manufacturing process. Tianjin Shiya has built a cloud mold knowledge base, integrating process parameters and failure cases accumulated over 20 years, and engineers can quickly retrieve the optimal solution through AI-assisted design systems. Lin Shida specifically mentioned its cooperation with large car companies: “We are developing a remote operation and maintenance platform based on 5G+ edge computing, which can realize real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance of mold status in the future.”
Responsibility: Use national brands to practice industry to serve the country
As a representative of private mold companies, Lin Shida has a profound insight into the pain points of the industry. He pointed out that there is a phenomenon of “three more and three less” in the domestic mold industry: more small and medium-sized enterprises, more low-end production capacity, more homogeneous competition; few high-end talents, few core technologies, and few international brands. To this end, Tianjin Shiya implemented the “three-step” strategy: the first step is to complete the localized replacement of core technologies in 5 years; the second step is to build a national innovation center in 3 years; the third step is to build a global service network in 2 years.
In terms of talent training, enterprises have created a “dual-track” growth system. New engineers need to rotate in the workshop for 18 months to master the full process skills from smelting to assembly; at the same time, they jointly build a joint laboratory with Tianjin University, and invest 5% of their annual revenue for basic research. At present, the proportion of R&D personnel of enterprises accounts for 32%, owns 47 invention patents, and leads the formulation of 3 industry standards.
Outlook: Let Chinese molds shine on the world stage
At the end of the interview, Lin Shida drew a blueprint for the “three-stage leap” of enterprise development: the short-term goal (2025) to achieve a market share of automotive safety parts molds exceeding 35%, the medium-term goal (2028) to build an intelligent unmanned factory, and the long-term goal (2035) to rank among the top five in the global mold industry. “We want to be the 'Huawei' in the automotive mold field.” He hopes that Tianjin Shiya will also form an independent and controllable technical system in the fields of mold materials, precision processing, etc.
When asked about suggestions for young entrepreneurs, Lin Shida's message: “The mold industry needs the determination to sit on the bench for ten years, but it must have the spirit of “not returning if you don't destroy Loulan.” The nine-character motto “Experience in craftsmanship, craftsmanship in the heart, and practice in action” hanging in his office may be the code for Tianjin Shiya to grow from a local enterprise to an industry benchmark.
In the wave of transformation of the automobile industry, Tianjin Shiya Mold Co., Ltd. is sailing towards the deep blue sea area of intelligent manufacturing with innovation as its oar and craftsmanship as its sail. This mold revolution on safety and quality not only reshapes the genes of China's automobile industry, but also contributes Chinese solutions to global travel safety.
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