Shangshang eyes development of high-tech cable

A worker operates a machine at a production line of Jiangsu Shangshang Cable Group. [Photo/Xinhua]

Jiangsu Shangshang Cable Group, the top cable producer in China, aims to develop more high-tech products to meet customer demand and gain a cutting edge amid intense global competition.

The company, based in Liyang, Jiangsu province, now masters more than 30 of the world's most advanced cable technologies. It has established a national postdoctoral research station and won more than 180 national patents so far.

Shangshang has the world's most advanced extra-high voltage cable production equipment and 17 advanced production lines for various kinds of cables. Its products are exported to more than 80 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia and Singapore.

According to the company, its annual sales between 2011 and 2015 exceeded 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion). Its president, Ding Shanhua, who is in his late 60s, has worked for the company since 1983. He and his team invented China's first mine signal cable in 1985, which doubled the company's profits in the same year.

It also spent 20 million yuan to import equipment in the 1990s to guarantee the quality of the medium voltage cable invented by the company.

Ding later shifted to nuclear cables after recognizing the market demand, and managed to produce various kinds of them.

In 2013, the AP1000 third-generation nuclear cable developed by the company was put into use. Shangshang has mastered some of the most advanced technologies since then, and is investing heavily in the development of new nuclear cables.

"Sales of nuclear cable are increasing by 1 billion yuan every year," said Ding. "We are developing fourth-generation nuclear cables and trying to find the proper material, which should be resistant to radiation, high temperatures, pressure, and can be used for many years."

Besides nuclear cables, the company has also developed other special cables, the sales of which now account for 30 percent of the company's total.

In 2006, a pagoda in a temple in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, caught fire. Though the pagoda was seriously damaged, workers found that the Shangshang cables used in it were still functional and the light on the top of the pagoda was still shining.

Also in 2006, the copper price soared soon after Shangshang won a $30 million bid for a Singaporean power company. It would face a loss totaling 60 million yuan if it continued to honor the contract terms.

It did and suffered a loss of 20 million yuan due to the drop in the price of copper, but it won a loyal customer and has cooperated with the Singaporean company since then.

In 2007, when many areas of East China's Zhejiang province were suffering from freezing weather, Ding held an emergency meeting right after he saw the news on TV. He ordered a contingency plan to prevent damage and repair the cables for the local grid company and sent workers and materials immediately to Zhejiang province from Liyang.

"Our customers believe in us," said Zhu Hongxiang, a senior management member of Shangshang. "We try to think ahead and provide the best service."

"Innovation, quality-control and good business ethics have brought us this far," Zhu said. "Only by providing the best products and service can we be recognized by our customers."