By DIAO YING (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-14 17:13

Finally he came. After two hours of waiting, Shen Wenrong, the president of China's largest privately owned steel manufacturer, arrived for our interview.

"Now my time is all yours," said the 61-year-old heavily built man dressed in a plain yellow T-shirt.

My colleague and I were relieved, although we were also aware that time was precious - he was scheduled to leave for a meeting in another city in two hours.

The interview with China Business Weekly was delayed by the famous long queue of staff waiting for directions in front of his desk from as early as 6:30 am, as he is still the only "absolute authority" at Shagang, a coworker says.

Before the newly built office building was completed this year, Shen would appear at the entrance of the factory every morning and give assignments to main managers of the company one by one. Back then, seven or eight senior managers of the nation's No 4 steel maker worked in one shabby office equipped with desks and chairs dating back to the 1970s when the factory was first built.

Yet only 100 kms away is China's largest steel producer, State-owned Baosteel Group Corp. Shen says efficiency and controlling costs were key to the survival of Shagang amid State-owned steel giants.

Shagang has around 10,000 workers, while other steel mills of similar scale might have double that number.

The steel mill in East China's Jiangsu Province now covers an area of 10 sq km.

"I have been here for three years but only rested for three days," said Chen Xiaodong, a colleague of Shen, who says the entrepreneurship of Shen is deeply rooted in the factory.