An unremarkable band saw blade. Hunan Taijia New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Taijia Shares) has developed 2 major categories, 7 major brands, 33 major series, and 429 types of sawing products, which are exported to more than 50 countries and regions including the United States and Germany.

Twenty years of sharpening the sword. Focusing on the core technology research of "artificial intelligence + machine vision", Aiwei Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Aiwei Technology), located in Hunan Xiangjiang New Area, has filled many international gaps in the field of automated morphological testing of medical microscopes, and is known as the "father of automatic microscopic testing".

The Xiangjiang River is surging, and the innovation is surging.

Data shows that in 2022, Changsha newly cultivated 74 national-level specialized and new "small giant" enterprises, with a total of 141, ranking 13th nationwide and 4th among provincial capital cities.

Gathering wisdom and attracting talent

Cultivating fertile ground for development

Walking into the Aiwei Technology production workshop, technicians are busy debugging various automatic microscopic examination equipment. Just put the test samples on the test tube rack, you can realize batch loading, automatically complete the inspection and issue an inspection report, without any manual intervention throughout the process.

Aiwei Technology was established in 2000 and was listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange in June 2021. It is a national-level specialized and new "small giant" enterprise. "In these more than 20 years, we have only done one thing: to achieve automated microscopic examination." Lin Changqing, the company's vice general manager, told reporters.

Aiwei Technology has taken the lead in the world in applying artificial intelligence and machine vision technology to clinical morphological testing of blood, urine and other specimens, changing the history of manual microscopic examination (manual operation of microscopic examination), and filling many international and domestic technology gaps.

"An experienced laboratory technician can test about 10 samples per hour using a traditional manual microscope. Our independently developed and manufactured fully automatic microscopic examination equipment can test 80 to 540 samples per hour depending on the specifications and models, with a comprehensive recognition rate of over 95%. " Lin Changqing introduced that automated microscopic examination greatly improves testing efficiency, reduces patient waiting time, and better meets the testing needs of hospitals. Compared with manual microscopic examination, it also greatly reduces the disadvantages and risks of misjudgment and cross-infection.

The road of scientific research is arduous. As an industry "pioneer", Aiwei Technology has overcome numerous difficulties and made tremendous efforts from project establishment to research and development, production, and market entry.

"There are no ready-made standards to refer to. Each parameter and each data must be obtained and accumulated through countless repeated experiments, and then constantly compared and optimized. The product has also undergone many iterations and upgrades." Lin Changqing said.

At present, the company has accumulated more than 300 patent applications, and the domestic market share of its main products exceeds 40%. Products are exported to many countries and regions in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia-Pacific.

As a technology-intensive enterprise driven by innovation, Aiwei Technology's achievements in recent years are inseparable from the support provided by Changsha in terms of business environment, policies, and talents. It is understood that the company has established industrial-academic-research cooperation relationships with many well-known universities such as Xiangya Medical College of Central South University. Among the more than 550 employees, the proportion of R&D personnel is over 20%.

Gathering talents and attracting wisdom to activate the "spring water" of innovative development.

Public information shows that Changsha currently has 58 academicians of the two academies and 730,000 college students. The total number of talents in the city has increased from 500,000 in 2012 to 2.8 million, an increase of 4.6 times. The proportion of high-end talents concentrated in strategic emerging industries reaches 95%, laying a solid "intellectual foundation" for building an innovation ecosystem and promoting enterprise development.

Independent innovation

Boldly climbing the technological peak

Around 500 BC, Luban made a saw. Entering the industrial age, the domestic band saw blade market was once "full of foreign brands".

Today, through persistent independent innovation, Taijia Shares has achieved its original intention of "serving the country through industry and replacing imports" with its strength of "one out of every four band saw blades sold domestically is made by Taijia", and has assumed the mission of "making the world have no materials that are difficult to cut".

Behind the remarkable achievements lies the unremitting cultivation of this enterprise in the sawing industry for more than 20 years.

From cars and airplanes to ocean-going vessels, the first process in the manufacture of all mechanical parts is cutting and blanking. Sawing products are therefore known as "artisan hands" and "industrial teeth", with characteristics such as high cutting precision, high efficiency, and good section quality, and are widely used in automobile manufacturing, aerospace, rail transit, and other fields.

Edge trimming, welding, flattening... On the high-speed production line in the Taijia Shares production workshop, batches of band saw blades go through more than 20 processes before being uniformly packaged and shipped to various provinces in China and exported to more than 50 countries and regions including Germany, the United States, and Japan.

Band saw blades are industrial consumables. Li Hui, general manager of Taijia Shares, introduced that in the 1990s, foreign bimetallic band saw blades and cemented carbide band saw blades once accounted for more than 80% of the Chinese market.

Since settling in Changsha in 2003, Taijia Shares has focused on market demand and is determined to "make the best band saw blades in China" through technological innovation. In 2005, the first bimetallic composite steel strip production line was completed and put into operation; in 2006, the first bimetallic band saw blade production line was put into operation; in 2009, the national key new product cemented carbide band saw blade was developed and industrialized; in 2013, the production capacity of bimetallic band saw blades exceeded 13 million meters, and the production scale ranked among the top five in the world; in 2017, it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's SME board...

"Last year, the company's production capacity was 25 million meters. At the same time, last year, the company further expanded the production capacity and comprehensive competitiveness of bimetallic band saw blades by integrating industry enterprises." Li Hui said that in recent years, through continuous increase in R&D investment and production, the product line has achieved full coverage of high, medium, and low-end products, and has achieved customized and small-batch flexible production.

At present, Taijia Shares is a manufacturing single champion demonstration enterprise recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the drafting unit of the national standard for bimetallic band saw blades and the industry standard for cemented carbide band saw blades.

Engineering machinery is one of Changsha's five 100-billion-level industrial clusters. In recent years, driven by "chain-leading enterprises" and leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises have grown into "small giant" enterprises. In a recent industrial survey conducted by the city's engineering machinery association, among the 50 engineering machinery supporting enterprises sampled, there are 22 national, provincial, and municipal specialized and new small and medium-sized enterprises.

Going forward, we will continue to focus on the city's 22 industrial chains, increasing support for high-quality SMEs in terms of talent support, financial support, and optimization of the business environment. A relevant official from the Changsha Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology stated that they strive to exceed 1000 specialized and sophisticated SMEs and 300 specialized and sophisticated "small giant" enterprises during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Driving high-quality development through technological innovation, allowing "small giants" to unleash great energy!