Leading companies get in the zone for major growth

City firms look to ramp up production as govt seeks improved living conditions

Companies in the Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone are taking a range of measures to boost growth in the Year of the Rooster.

Weichai Power, which is involved in the research, development, manufacturing and sale of diesel engines, set its sights on becoming one of China's leading high-end diesel engine developers and producers when the company celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016.

The company's decision-makers said that they will focus on enhancing quality, developing core technologies and pursuing sustainability to ensure that the business continues to develop.

Weichai's agricultural equipment manufacturing and heavy-load engine production divisions reported strong sales volume growth in the first two months of 2017, thanks to China's upgraded emission regulations. More than 10,000 units of agricultural machines were ordered for January, said the company.

The company expects to produce 480,000 engine units in 2017 and plans to complete 180,000 units within the first 100 days of the year.

The industrial output of Weichai reached 20.83 billion yuan ($3.02 billion) in 2016, an increase of 61.6 percent from 2015, according to the company.

Huadian Weifang, a power and heat supplier in Weifang, has pledged to develop an advanced production system in response to the local government's plans for improving and upgrading living conditions and services. The company said that, as of the end of February, its production system had the capacity to supply an area of 12 million square meters within Weifang.

Huadian plans to keep increasing its supply capacity from the current level.

"We will provide heat for an area of 46 million sq m by the end of 2020," said Zhang Aijun, deputy director of Huadian's Environment Protection Center .

The optoelectronics industry, another of the zone's pillar sectors, also reported a significant increase in demand over the past two months.

Shandong Inspur Huaguang Optoelectronics, a major epitaxial wafer producer in the zone, has successfully increased the quality of its products while controlling costs. The yield rate of its production line has risen to 98 percent, up from 80 percent in previous years.

"We have greater bargaining power thanks to the quality products we are putting on the market," said Wang Chengxin, deputy general manager of Inspur. "We have seen our order numbers increase annually."

tangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn

Shengrui Transmission Co, the developer of the first frontengine, front-drive 8-gear auto transmission (8AT) in the zone, won the National Science and Technology Progress Award in January. The award is one of the top prizes devised by the State Council in recognition of scientific contributions made by both groups and individuals.

Shengrui launched the development of its 8AT project in 2006 and has developed a complete automatic transmission industrial chain. Construction work on the company's automotive transmission industrial park, which began in May 2016, is almost complete.

Shengrui marked a major milestone in November with the production of its 100,000th 8AT unit.

The company was capable of supplying 150,000 transmissions in 2016. It will boost its production capacity to 250,000 units in 2017.

The development zone, one of the first state-level economic zones in China, achieved outstanding business results in 2016.

The region ranked No 23 among 147 national-level economic development zones nationwide in terms of comprehensive development power in 2015, an improvement on its ranking of 25th in the previous year.

In 2016 the Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone reached regional GDP of 39.54 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent year-on-year.

Wang Weidong contributed to this story.