Weichai park seeks to bolster industrial chain

Weichai International Supporting Industrial Park, located in Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, is piloting industrial chain investment promotion and exploring a new way in achieving high-quality development in the market economy.

The park, in East China's Shandong province, has introduced 36 leading companies including Switzerland's Tyco and Japan's Iwatani, two listed companies on the A-share main board and nine foreign-invested enterprises.

"The park is being developed via the Shandong Gaochuang Construction Investment Group's self-raised funds. It provides enterprises with customized factory buildings through flexible methods such as long-term leases and lease-to-transfer," said Cheng Hui, deputy director of the zone's management committee and Party secretary and chairman of the group.

The group focuses on incubating enterprises in the park and boosting research and development. The 300,000-square-meter workshops in the first phase of the park have been completed and are ready for enterprises to move in. Juyuan Electronic is one of those enterprises that have settled in the park, which will enter full operation before the end of the year.

The output value is expected to reach 50 million yuan ($7.8 million) this year and will exceed 200 million yuan next year.

A large number of high-end supporting enterprises have gathered to build a global power equipment industrial chain. After the park is fully completed, it is estimated that more than 500 enterprises will be introduced, and the annual output value will be 500 billion yuan.

Hu Jie, chairman of Gaochuang, said: "We carry out in-depth cooperation with top domestic fund managers, target global top 500 enterprises and industry-leading companies for targeted investment promotion.

Sun Wenfeng, director of the economic development bureau of the zone, said of the 36 companies in the park, there are nine foreign-invested companies, among which the global top 500 companies account for one-third.

"Next, we will lock in key regions such as Germany, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and accelerate the introduction of key projects.

"We have set up a government guidance fund of 2 billion yuan to offer support to eligible enterprises that settle in the park, and introduced a customized admission policy to give enterprises the greatest protection in 10 aspects such as land, finance and investment," said Sun.

Innovation model

At the beginning of this year, with the construction of a national fuel cell technology innovation center by Weichai Group, the zone elevated the construction of an innovation platform to an unprecedented strategic height. The high-efficiency synergy advantage of Weichai's supply chain has rapidly spread to the innovation chain.

As one of the first enterprises to settle in the park, Yutai Intelligent Technology developed two new products in this year, which have been applied to Weichai National VI products, and the efficiency of R&D and application increased by more than 30 percent.

"Now there is a 'circle of friends' between Weichai and upstream and downstream companies. Together, everyone can concentrate on doing big things," said Wang Zhaoyu, chairman of the company.

To date, the park is home to five national-level laboratories, 24 provincial-level enterprise R&D institutions, nine public technology platforms and seven post-doctoral research workstations, as well as 18 technical demand projects with a total value of 44 million yuan.

The collaborative R&D mechanism for automotive electronics, key components, powertrain and other sub-fields is accelerating the expansion.