“Little Giant” leads the “big track”
On December 20th, with the rollout of the 36th coke quenching car this year, Licheng Hengtai Precision Casting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Hengtai Casting) achieved its development goal of doubling the output of coke quenching cars for four consecutive years, and also created A “miracle” with annual sales of 57 million yuan. “It is not a problem to double output and profit next year.” When it comes to the company’s development, the company’s general manager Xing Weiping has a calm expression. The key to making him so “calm” lies in the core technology in hand.
A new type of self-developed quenching car could have applied for 50 or 60 utility patents, but Xing Weiping did not take these into consideration. From the successful test and application in 2013, to the approval in 2015, the launch of the quenching car liner in 2016, and the mass production of the quenching car in 2021, Xing Weiping sharpened his sword for ten years, only to solve a key problem—— “A medium-carbon high-chromium alloy cast steel liner for water quenching vehicles and its manufacturing method”. And this subject is exactly where the core technology of Hengtai Casting’s “Booming Product” coke quenching car lies.
Walking into the Hengtai Foundry Plant Park, you can’t see the full-blown scenes you imagined. The slightly outdated office area is even a bit “shabby”, but the new factory building is full of the taste of “tackling key problems”. On two neatly arranged rails, workers are busy cutting their unique steel plates with advanced machinery. Under their knives, the steel does not splatter, but is uncharacteristically “gentle”, in an atmosphere that resembles artistic creation. , They use craftsman-like perseverance and “explain” the connotation of “specialization and newness”. “Technical Liu”, who is in charge of the company’s coordination and operation, said proudly: “We are here. We have completed national invention patents, created more than a dozen new records in the industry, and broke many of the “China Impossible” in the industry. ”
How good is the core technology of Hengtai Casting? The answer can be found from a set of simple data. The quenching car they made became popular because of the strong resistance of the core component lining board developed by them independently-resistant to rapid heat, rapid cold, abrasion, and corrosion.
In the production process of coke, quenching is a key step. The temperature of the coke that has just been fired from the furnace is as high as 1000°C. During the quenching process, the quenching car needs to withstand the sudden cooling and sudden heat change from 0°C to 900°C within seven or eight minutes. Coke car liners are a major test.
For many years, the industry’s traditional liner production has not made breakthrough progress in the research and development of the material ratio. Therefore, the lifespan of traditional quenching cars is mostly only three to four months, and after several major repairs, it only lasts for one year.
However, the liner plates and quenching vehicles produced by Hengtai Casting have extended their lifespan by three to four times with their unique technology. “From the feedback of current users, our quenching car does not need to be repaired after one year of continuous use, and it is not a problem to use it for two or three years. This is equivalent to our quenching car, which has to withstand 100,000 times in two years. The test of sudden cooling and heating between ℃ and 900 ℃. The high requirements for materials can be imagined.” Xing Weiping said.
The core technology comes from the heart of craftsmen. Xing Weiping first came to Licheng to invest and build a factory, and he was also engaged in the production of traditional castings. However, fierce market competition and backward production technology made Xing Weiping realize that following in the footsteps of others, he can only see the sky of others.
In 2013, Xing Weiping learned during an inspection tour of Hebei Huafeng Coking that the short life of the quenching car and many problems became technical problems that they were difficult to break through, and suddenly his eyes were bright. Isn’t this the way to go?
After returning from the inspection, Xing Weiping headed into the foundry workshop and started the research on new materials for lining plates. “Four-resistant” materials are easy to talk about, but difficult to make. A difficult problem that the industry has not solved for so many years. How easy is it to make a breakthrough in this “small workshop”?
“Turn the impossible into possible.” In just half a year, Xing Weiping, after hundreds of experiments, finally found the core element of chromium in dozens of metals, and matched them with dozens of metals and iron. Developed today’s special alloy materials, making it the core component of the new quenching car.
However, when Xing Weiping rushed to Hebei University of Science and Technology and Hebei University of Engineering to find relevant experts for identification, he was poured cold water. “This kind of sorbite metallographic structure has only been seen in the relevant literature, and we have not seen the actual product.”
The words of the experts did not make Xing Weiping discouraged. He believed that “practice is the only criterion for testing truth.” Therefore, Xing Weiping applied for a national invention patent while transforming his own research and development results. That year, the first batch of liners produced by Hengtai Precision Casting were shipped to Hebei Huafeng Coking, where the problem originated, for actual inspection. After half a year of use, the facts proved Xing Weiping’s invention-the liner he developed has a life span of three to four times longer than that of traditional products.
The results of the actual combat test did not make Xing Weiping happy for too long, because there was news from Beijing that a Japanese company also submitted an application for the patent he applied for. Therefore, in the following year and a half, Hengtai Foundry and the Japanese company began a long alternate complaint.
In September 2015, Xing Weiping finally obtained the long-awaited invention patent certificate after layers of argumentation, difficult appeals, and publicity. “This lawsuit is not in vain. Foreigners are competing with us, which shows that our craftsmanship has reached the international advanced level.”
This is not the end. With the maturity of liner technology and mass production, the brand “Licheng Hengtai” has become famous in the industry. At this moment, Xing Weiping focused his attention on the production of the quenched car.
Traditional quenching cars are mostly cumbersome due to defects in the lining material, and they also waste steel. Xing Weiping used the advantages of his company’s liner materials to make substantial technological innovations in the manufacture of traditional quenching cars, which not only saved a lot of raw materials, but also greatly increased its service life.
In 2017, the first new coke quenching car produced by Hengtai Casting was successfully rolled off the production line, and it was officially delivered to Hebei Xuyang Coking, the leader of the domestic coking industry, and it was a success in one fell swoop. In 2020, Shanxi Jinmao Coking Co., Ltd. signed an order for a 6.55-meter coke oven quenching car with Hengtai Casting, and at the same time it also threw a blockbuster “bomb”-terminating the cooperation with its old customer Dalian Heavy Industry, and fully introducing The quenching car produced by Hengtai Casting. This was an emergency to Dalian Heavy Industry. They immediately approached Xing Weiping for consultation and reached cooperation on the terms of Hengtai Casting’s comprehensive upgrade and transformation of Dalian Heavy Industry’s coke quenching car and Dalian Heavy Industry’s payment of Hengtai Casting salary.
In the following four years, Hengtai Casting increased the company’s performance from the annual production of 3 coke quenching cars to 10, 20, and 36. It also gained cooperation with industry leaders such as Dalian Heavy Industry and Taiyuan Heavy Industry. It has been favored by the top five domestic coking companies in China Qinghua, Shanxi Pengfei, Ningxia Baofeng, Shanxi Sunshine, and Hebei Xuyang, and has rapidly grown into the industry’s “single champion” in the production of new quenching cars.
As early as 2019, Hengtai Casting has submitted a second invention patent application to the State Patent Office-the invention patent application for the new type of coke oven door closing knife edge web, which is expected to be approved in 2022. Knowledge must be applied in practice, and competitiveness must be embodied in the technique of “stuck neck”. Xing Weiping said that their goal is to follow these values, become a “national team” and lead the “big track”.