Jiaxing Fengwo: press forward for the rise of China's auto parts industry

On April 15th, good news came from the workshop of Jiaxing Fengwo Supercharging Technology Co., Ltd. The first turbocharger was successfully rolled off the production line. This means that Jiaxing Fengwo's "new project with an annual output of 1.5 million turbochargers" has been officially put into operation. This year, the company expects to achieve an output of 300,000 units and an output value of 300 million yuan, lighting up a new star on the development zone (Gaoqiao Street) and even the entire automobile industry map of Tongxiang, and adding confidence to Tongxiang to build a highland of intelligent manufacturing.

Looking at the entire auto industry, the emergence of Fengwo has also injected fresh blood into the rise of China's auto parts industry. In recent years, especially when new energy power has not been fully popularized, traditional internal combustion engine models continue to grow, and fuel consumption and emission regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, it can significantly improve power input, be more efficient, fuel-efficient, and more environmentally friendly. Significant turbocharged engines are favored by car companies and consumers. Unfortunately, for a long time, self-owned brand turbocharger manufacturers have little market share in this field, and this huge domestic market is monopolized by foreign brands.

As an independent brand supplier focusing on turbocharging systems for passenger cars, Fengwo started its own business in 2010. The company has gathered a group of top turbocharging technology experts at home and abroad, concentrating on research and development, and meticulously manufacturing internationally renowned products. The leading level of high-efficiency exhaust gas turbocharger is committed to providing high-quality products and system solutions for main engine customers. With the birth of the Fengwo brand turbocharger, the domestic turbocharger independent brand has since broken the monopoly of foreign companies and erected the backbone of Chinese manufacturing.

How did Fengwo rely on technology to become the number one domestic turbocharger independent brand? What kind of development ambition does Jiaxing Fengwo carry for the entire Fengwo Group? How will Jiaxing Fengwo affect the entire domestic auto parts industry in the future? Focusing on these issues, the reporter recently walked into Jiaxing Fengwo Booster Technology Co., Ltd. and had a conversation with Xu Minghao, the deputy general manager of the company.

【Business card】

Jiaxing Fengwo Supercharging Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiaxing Fengwo") is a wholly-owned subsidiary invested and constructed by Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharging System Co., Ltd. in Tongxiang Economic Development Zone (Gaoqiao Street), mainly engaged in gasoline engine supercharging Machines and other auto parts processing and manufacturing.

Jiaxing Fengwo was established in August 2017. It is located on the south side of Gaoxin 1st Road and the east side of Wenhui Road in Tongxiang Economic Development Zone (Gaoqiao Street). It covers an area of ​​68 mu, with a construction area of ​​34,000 square meters and a total investment of 1.05 billion yuan. Committed to building a world-leading intelligent chemical factory, it plans to build an intelligent manufacturing base integrating the manufacturing, management and public power center of turbochargers for passenger cars. On April 15, the first production line of the first phase of the project was successfully put into operation. After the entire project is put into production, it can reach an annual production capacity of 1.5 million turbochargers and an annual output value of 1.8 billion yuan.

Reporter: What was the original intention of establishing Fengwo at that time?

Xu Minghao: The company's start-up team is a team of auto parts technicians with rich experience. At that time, everyone saw the monopoly of foreign giants on the domestic turbocharger market. On the one hand, they hoped to contribute to the rise of national brands. On the other hand, I also saw the huge business opportunities contained in it, so I wanted to flex my muscles in this field.

Reporter: In the face of foreign technology monopoly, how did Fengwo achieve a "zero" breakthrough?

Xu Minghao: At that time, Ningbo Fengwo Turbocharger Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2010. Dr. Chen Weide, the general manager, mentioned that he wanted to produce his own automobile turbocharger. A group of technicians came together with the same dream in mind. "Daydream" started in two rented small black rooms.

The technical difficulty of the turbocharger is that it must not only meet the high temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius, but also solve the turbo lag after supercharging. Through so many years of rich experience and technology accumulated by our team, it took two years to overcome this technical problem, and thus achieved a "zero" breakthrough for domestic independent brands in this field.

Reporter: The birth of an independent auto parts brand is a long process from research and development results to market acceptance. How does Fengwo open up this market?

Xu Minghao: You are right. It is not easy to open up this market, especially when it has been monopolized by foreign giants for a long time. At the beginning, everyone did not trust domestic independent brands.

Just like the difficulties encountered by all Chinese auto parts companies at the beginning of their business, Fengwo, which has no mass-produced vehicle assembly cases, has suffered countless rejections, and no complete vehicle company is willing to try to use Fengwo's turbocharger. Even though we have implemented higher and stricter testing standards.

At this moment, Haima Automobile (Zhengzhou) extended an olive branch to Fengwo. At that time, Haima Automobile went to a well-known auto parts company to cooperate in the development of turbochargers, but the other party proposed very harsh cooperation conditions, so they chose Fengwo. The emergence of Fengwo not only broke the monopoly of the industry, but also lowered the procurement cost.

At the beginning of 2011, Ningbo Fengwo and the Haima Automobile (Zhengzhou) R&D team officially started cooperation on the 1.5T project. After more than two years of simultaneous development, Fengwo turbocharger has successfully passed a series of strict tests and assessments. In the end, the Haima automobile engine project equipped with Fengwo supercharger was successfully mass-produced as planned. Since then, Fengwo has become the first self-owned brand in China to cooperate with OEM, marking the first breakthrough of a domestic self-owned brand in the field of gasoline turbocharging technology.

In the ensuing years from 2015 to 2017, Ningbo Fengwo concentrated its efforts and made great achievements. Driven by the growing market demand and continuous upgrading of product capabilities, the company's turbocharging system products have successively welcomed Geely Automobile, Zotye Automobile, Southeast Automobile, Dongfeng Liuqi and many other automakers' models.

Promote independent innovation and face international competition

Reporter: Why did you choose to come to Tongxiang to establish Jiaxing Fengwo?

Xu Minghao: Generally, it takes about two years for us to complete the gasoline engine supercharger project. After the batch production of Haima in 2014, the quality of our products has been recognized by the market. The batch production of other users' projects will take two or three years, that is, after 2017, so we are very confident in the later market. In addition, we have comprehensively improved our overall operating capabilities, quality assurance capabilities, production capabilities, new product research and development capabilities, and supplier layout and management capabilities. Let us have full confidence in the company's subsequent development.

On the other hand, we predict that my country's turbocharged market will maintain an average annual growth rate of 15%. According to this rate of development until 2021, the total annual demand for turbocharged engines in China will be around 18 million units, a year-on-year growth rate of 15%. The total demand for 8 million to 9 million units in 2017 will double on the current basis in the next four to five years. According to this development trend, our base in Ningbo can no longer meet the company's future development needs, so we need to find another larger development space.

At this time, the investment recruiters of Tongxiang Economic Development Zone (Gaoqiao Street) came to us. After the negotiation, the two parties were moved by the geographical location and overall supporting facilities in Tongxiang. Because Tongxiang is adjacent to Shanghai, the same city effect is obvious, and the future development of the company is inseparable from the introduction of high-end talents. The location advantage here is of great help to us in introducing talents, so we chose to establish Jiaxing Fengwo in Tongxiang.

Reporter: What is the difference between Jiaxing Fengwo and Ningbo Fengwo?

Xu Minghao: It should be said that the products produced by the two companies are the same, but our construction requirements for Jiaxing Fengwo are equivalent to version 2.0 of Ningbo Fengwo factory.

Because the main customer group of Ningbo Fengwo is China's mainstream independent auto brands, which currently occupy about 10% of the entire market, and there is huge room for future growth. The construction requirements of our entire Jiaxing Fengwo are a high starting point and high standards.

Reporter: From what aspects can we reflect our high starting point and high standards?

Xu Minghao: First, Jiaxing Fengwo fully adopts the intelligent MES manufacturing system. The manufacturing of each product adopts QR code traceability to realize the full control of the manufacturing process and further improve product quality. Second, on the basis of Ningbo Fengwo, we use automation equipment in Jiaxing Fengwo in large quantities. For example, the original manual loading and unloading is now realized here by robotic arm loading and unloading, which improves labor efficiency. Third, we adopt the design and construction of a fully enclosed factory area. The outer walls are all made of metal composite aluminum panels to ensure a clean environment in the workshop. The 24-hour air conditioner ensures a constant temperature environment in the workshop. Fourth, the layout of our entire production line is more reasonable, more flexible, and has higher production efficiency. The use of centralized liquid supply can achieve zero discharge of cutting fluid, and the entire production process is more environmentally friendly.

High starting point and high standard construction to build Ningbo Fengwo 2.0 version

Reporter: The construction period of Jiaxing Fengwo is only 13 months, which can be said to be very fast. Can you talk about the reason?

Xu Minghao: First of all, I would like to thank the Tongxiang government for its support to Jiaxing Fengwo. Tongxiang's "run once at most" allows enterprises to get a detailed list of services in all aspects of business handling in the early stage of the project. According to the list, enterprises can prepare the materials required for business processing in advance, which greatly shortens the time for certificate processing. Enterprises fully feel the convenience brought by Tongxiang's "one-stop" service.

Secondly, we would like to thank the Development Zone for its support to Jiaxing Fengwo. In particular, the supply of pipe piles was tight at the beginning of the project, and the project stagnated for a while. After understanding the situation, the leaders of the development zone visited the construction site in person, held an on-site office coordination meeting, coordinated various resources, and ensured the smooth progress of the project.

Reporter: What kind of development vision do you have for the future?

Xu Minghao: We, Fengwo, have established multiple gasoline engine turbo technology platforms to strengthen our advantages in technology development. At the same time, the test center with a total area of ​​1,600 square meters has the functions of supercharger performance test, supercharger durability test, engine durability test, engine performance test, etc., and also provides reliable support for related technology research and development and matching. Based on this, Fengwo continues to optimize and upgrade on the basis of the existing product series, and has continuously made breakthroughs in the future research and development of turbocharging technology.

In 2018, after the completion of the Ningbo Fengwo project with an annual production capacity of 2 million units, its market share rose to the fourth place in the industry. Now with Jiaxing Fengwo put into production, Fengwo's future output will reach 3 million units. It can be said that Fengwo already has the "confidence to dare to challenge the world's giants", and has grown into a leader in the domestic automobile turbocharger industry.

Nowadays, the rise of self-owned brand cars has become an inevitable trend, and self-owned core component companies are constantly refreshing their own strengths. Fengwo's successful breakthrough of the technical barriers of international giants is just the beginning. In the future, the company will continue to lead the development of turbocharger technology and strive to become the leading enterprise of domestic turbochargers. At the same time, Fengwo will also drive more independent component companies to participate in international competition.

Taking Jiaxing Fengwo as a new starting point to dare to challenge the world brands

Source: Jiaxing Daily - Tongxiang News