Big names attest to city's parts prowess
By Liu Mingtai ( China Daily )
2016-05-20
Few owners of Macbooks know that the aluminum shell of their laptops is made in Liaoyuan, Jilin province.
Even fewer would know that the city is also a supplier of China's high-speed train carriage bodies.
The rise of the aluminum industry in a city that has no aluminum mining resources speaks to Liaoyuan's ability to innovate.
Liyuan Precision Manufacturing Co has been an exclusive parts supplier for seven Apple products since 2007. Wei Xiaowei, director of the company's mold-making facility, said the facility has more thana 20,000 kinds of molds that allow the company to begin production immediately upon receiving an order.
"The products we provide to Apple Inc show Liyuan's strengths in casting, extruding and processing. These products are more exquisite than art wares," said Luo Yingjun, deputy general manager of the company.
Luo said Liyuan can achieve 99.99 percent aluminum purity in its products, a rare feat in an industry that has difficulty reaching 98 percent purity. In its 7,000-square-meter mold factory, fewer than 60 workers operate machinery.
Luo said the company, which has made a point of acquiring advanced equipment from around the world, bought six extruding machines through government loans more than 10 years ago that have led to its rise in production.
Jilin Midas Aluminum Co in Liaoyuan makes more than 50 percent of the aluminum alloy sections and parts for railway vehicles used in China. Ninety percent of China's exports in aluminum rail products come from the company. Among its 1,700 employees, more than 140 are involved in R&D.
"We started our R&D in the aluminum alloy sections and parts for railway vehicles in 2011 to take advantage of our large extruding machines, which are used to produce electric pipes," said Li Zhenyu, general manager of the company.
The company began to cooperate with CRRC Corp, China's main railway vehicle manufacturer, in 2003 after it began producing aluminum sections and parts.
"At that time, we were the only company that could make these products in China," Li added.
After that, the company started to export its products to the European market. It is the supplier to global railway vehicle manufacturers such as Alstom of France and Bombardier of Canada.
Liaoyuan can process 200,000 metric tons of aluminum products and cast 300,000 tons of aluminum a year. In 2015, the city's production value of high-precision aluminum hit 4.56 billion yuan ($697 million), up 16.8 percent year-on-year, according to city government data.
Chu Xiaoliang contributed to this story.
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(China Daily 05/20/2016 page10)
