Stainless steel ball sector shines in Shandong's Tai'an city

Known as the hometown of stainless steel balls in China, Ningyang county – in Tai'an city, in East China's Shandong province – has continued to upgrade its industrial development.

The stainless steel balls industry there started in the 1980s and now the county is home to over 320 manufacturers, with an annual output of 670,000 metric tons of stainless steel balls.

However, problems such as obsolete production equipment, the low technical level of workers, weak product research and development capabilities and vicious competition among rival producers restricted the industry's further development.

A machine sorts the stainless steel balls.  [Photo by Lin Teng for chinadaily.com.cn]

But in recent years, Ningyang has rolled out policy documents – including the Guideline on Accelerating the Development of the Stainless Steel Ball Industry – to support industrial development.

By introducing academicians and their research teams from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the county has assisted nine key company in adjusting process flows and equipment upgrades.

Moreover, Ningyang is now focused on major new projects to enhance its quality control. This year, it has introduced a green and intelligent manufacturing demonstration factory construction project worth 2.6 billion yuan ($356.95 million).

The county is known as the hometown of stainless steel balls in China.  [Photo by Lin Teng for chinadaily.com.cn]

This aims to provide wide-ranging services such as research and development designs, production and manufacturing, quality testing, warehousing and logistics and information consulting for industrial development across the entire county.

Looking ahead, plans are for Ningyang county to continue to strengthen the overall performances of its enterprises, refine the steel ball processes and optimize steel ball support facilities – with a goal of achieving an industry supply chain worth over 10 billion yuan in five years, said Ning Luyong, a county official. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)