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Each injection molded lighter is sold for only 1 yuan, and the price has not increased for 20 years. How can we do this?

How can labor costs have dropped from 10 cents 20 years ago to 15 percent today?

Of the 20 billion lighters sold globally a year, about 70% of which come from a county-level city in central China. How can we win?

Not along the river, coast, or border, but it has developed into the world's largest lighter production base. The local company produces about 15 billion cigarettes annually and is exported to 120 countries and regions. Shaodong City, Hunan Province created this legend.

A lighter can reveal the mystery of China's production capacity and reveal the international competitiveness of Chinese-made products.

General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "Made in China has become an important part of the global industrial chain and supply chain and has made positive contributions.""With the advancement of China's modern industrial system, we will provide the world with more and better Made in China and created in China."

Walking in Shaodong and exploring the lighter industry chain, we can more truly feel the strong pulse of China's production capacity during the reform and opening up, and can more deeply understand China's development advantages such as "the talent advantages of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs."

(1)

Market competition puts quality first. The key to producing high-quality products lies in high-quality production capacity, and innovation is fundamental.

The mechanical "hands" rise and fall flexibly, accurately placing and transmitting rows of lighters; the inspection device presses the ignition three times in a row, and the flame jumps; the electronic "eyes" simultaneously identify the flame condition, and unqualified products are automatically eliminated... In Hunan Voss Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. In the quality inspection workshop, automatic fire inspection and fire control equipment is busy "doing physical examinations" for electronic lighters.

European and American countries are important markets for Shaodong lighter exports, but the height of the flame seedlings of some lighters is not up to standard, which once became an obstacle to entering this market. Shaodong Intelligent Manufacturing Technology Research Institute has carried out technical research on this and developed intelligent technologies such as rapid graphic precise positioning and flame information collection, allowing the machine to have a "golden eye" to detect the size of the flame, and the accuracy rate has been greatly improved... This set of equipment has been used in many Shaodong lighter companies.

It's not just about testing and adjusting fire. In recent years, Shaodong's lighter industry has continued to promote technological innovation and process transformation, achieving technological empowerment from research and development to production--

Design new lighters and introduce 3D printing technology to make models; install automated welding equipment for the most difficult welding links; install lighter gears and use machine vision technology... At present, more than 10 leading lighter companies in Shaodong have basically achieved all 12 processes Automation, leading the country in process technology.

Transformation and upgrading with new technologies and promotion of high-end, intelligent and green industries not only directly brings about a leap in product quality-lighters are welded more accurately, inflated more stably, and even the shell is smoother than before-but also makes production operations more "smarter".

Apply the digital production management system to solve problems such as unclear production plans, inaccurate product data, and unstable processing quality, so that the production of lighters "everything is under control"; install smart meters on the production line and optimize factory operations through data monitoring...

Driven by technological innovation and extending the value of lighters to both ends, Shao Dong drew a "smile curve", becoming a vivid epitome of China's manufacturing industry's ascent to the upper reaches of the value chain.

Windproof and explosion-proof lighters, household kitchen lighting guns, USB charging cigarette lighters, mobile phone holder lighters, lighters with Peking Opera masks printed on them... In the showcase of Shaodong's largest lighter company-Hunan Dongyi Electric Co., Ltd., hundreds of lighters with different styles and functions are dizzying.

In terms of quality control, the technical content has been continuously improved, the standard of high temperature resistance has become higher and higher, and the proportion of products with safety locks has continued to increase; in terms of product upgrades, the implementation of "unveiling the list and taking charge" has attracted talents to crack high-precision and cutting-edge parts such as constant flow valves. Technical problems; In terms of R & D and design, products are tailored to different customer needs. Europeans and Americans have larger palms, and the width of lighters sold to European and American countries is 5 mm wider than ordinary ones. Russian buyers like beautiful ones, so they spend time on the shell pattern; In terms of marketing services, explore new e-commerce sales models, open up online and offline channels, and create mid-to-high-end lighter brands...

Move towards "new" and move forward with "quality". At present, Shaodong's lighter industry has 3 national-level innovation platforms and 8 provincial-level innovation platforms, with more than 1000 R & D personnel, an annual R & D expenditure of 200 million yuan, and a total of more than 3000 scientific research results have been formed, with an annual product innovation rate of 38%.

General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out that "innovation is the source of motivation for an enterprise, and quality is the foundation of an enterprise." In the general trend of economic globalization, adhering to technological innovation and product quality first is the way for China's lighter industry to win.

This is especially true for China's new energy vehicle industry.

It is by no means a day's work for any industry to occupy a leading position in the fierce international market competition, nor can it rely solely on government subsidies. It is the result of the operation of economic laws.

Shakiir Ramai, CEO of the Asian Ecological Civilization Research and Development Institute in Pakistan, believes that Chinese companies have laid out in advance in the field of new energy and formed leading technological advantages after long-term R & D investment. During this year's Canton Fair, some import buyers from European and American countries said that China is a global leader in the field of new energy vehicles and hopes to purchase more new energy vehicle products here.

Always adhere to innovation-driven and green development, and unswervingly "promote the transformation of Made in China to Created in China, China's speed to China's quality, and Chinese products to Chinese brands." China's manufacturing industry will not only achieve transformation and upgrading, but also enhance industrial competitiveness., contribute more high-quality production capacity to the world.

(2)

"The transformation and upgrading of traditional industries can also develop new productive forces." General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out. The practice of the development of Shaodong's lighter industry shows that Chinese products can be of high quality while maintaining cost performance, are competitive, and benefit consumers.

The lighter industry is known as the "wandering industry". It was founded in Spain and "blossomed everywhere" in European and American countries. It moved to Japan and South Korea and other countries in the 1960s and 1970s, and entered Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places in my country in the 1990s... The lighter industry with low profits went wherever the cost was low.

Walking into Shaodong and experiencing its extreme cost control firsthand, we can better understand why China's production capacity is so great.

"When I first came to work for Dongyi Electric in 2014, the company had not yet carried out automation transformation. At that time, this welding workshop was crowded with more than 200 workers, but it was difficult to produce 1 million lighters a day."

Nowadays, in Dongyi Electric's welding workshop, automatic welding machines are operating efficiently, automatically welding casings, screw sleeves, air intake bases and other accessories, which is very efficient. Bai Jiabao, deputy general manager of the company, said,"Now this workshop only needs 30 workers, but it can weld 5 million lighters a day."

In recent years, Shaoyang has been committed to building an advanced manufacturing highland. Shaodong has continued to promote the automated transformation of "machine substitution" in the lighter industry. Three generations of injection molding machines have been replaced, three generations of welding machines have been replaced, and five generations of inflators have been replaced... Continuously "Small steps" Fast ", per capita efficiency has increased by 30 times, and the labor cost of each lighter has been reduced from 10 cents to 1 cents and 5%.

It is the high degree of automated production that reduces labor costs.

Hunan Shaodong Xinhui Packaging and Printing Co., Ltd., machines sound, paper shuttles, and a smell of ink comes to your face. Who would have thought that this printing factory hidden in the village could produce more than 300,000 lighter packaging boxes every day, accounting for more than 90% of Shaodong's export lighter packaging boxes. It is a well-deserved "invisible champion" in this field.

Although the lighter is small, the industrial chain is not short. Packaging boxes, wind shields, power generation ceramics, ignition springs... almost all of the dozens of spare parts needed for a lighter can be produced within a radius of 20 kilometers. Many times, the finished product assembly factory and the spare parts factory are separated by a road or a wall, and the "left and right factories" are the "upstream and downstream". Today, Shaodong has 27 lighter manufacturers, 87 upstream and downstream supporting companies, and more than 200 accessories are supplied locally.

The complete industrial chain and strong industrial supporting capabilities accelerate the speed of material transfer and product iteration between factories. Judging from the newly compiled Shaodong lighter industry map, 10 towns (streets) have undertaken different industrial supporting links in the lighter industry chain, forming multiple industrial clusters such as high-end machines, domestic sales machines, design and research, packaging and printing in the international market.

It is the ultimate industrial chain integration that improves production efficiency.

When the production of electronic lighters was first started, there were no local companies producing electronics, so the government department tried to bring the technicians from the electronics companies to their families and "invite them to Shaodong."

One of the important reasons why the lighter industry has grown from small to large is the active guidance and reasonable layout of government departments.

From trying every means to attract investment and improve the layout of the lighter industry chain; to continuously integrating small businesses and small workshops, guiding enterprises to achieve large-scale production and improving the "yield per mu" of land use; to tailor-made tax services to help enterprises "go into battle with ease"...

It is efficient government services that help enterprises reduce costs.

Fu Zaihua-one of the founders of Shaodong's first lighter company. Now that she is in her sixties, she still sticks to the front line of production management.

"In the workshop, you can always see workers working diligently to complete every process. If the same equipment and production lines are placed in other parts of the world and a batch of workers are replaced, the output may be reduced by half." Lu Shenghua, president of the Shaodong Lighter Association, sincerely praised the workers in the lighter industry.

Entrepreneurs are down-to-earth and work hard. Industrial workers study technology and practice hard,"dig out" costs bit by bit, steadily control quality, and jointly help the development and growth of enterprises.

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Today, the reason why China's new energy vehicles have comparative advantages in the global industrial division of labor and comprehensive advantages in production costs and product design relies on the long-term planning and R & D efforts of Chinese companies, and on the substantial improvement of total factor production efficiency. The quality and cost advantages brought, rather than relying on government subsidies.

In the Yangtze River Delta, through the coordinated development of industrial clusters, a new energy vehicle factory can supply the required supporting parts and components within a 4-hour drive, forming a "4-hour industrial circle" that reflects the characteristics of a modern industrial system. An article on the website of American Diplomatic Scholars believes that Chinese electric vehicle companies can provide advanced technology at competitive prices and reduce logistics, labor, raw materials and transportation costs through their supply chains.

General Secretary Xi Jinping summarized the advantages of my country's development as follows: "The institutional advantages of the socialist market economy, the demand advantages of the ultra-large-scale market, the supply advantages of a complete supporting industrial system, and the talent advantages of a large number of high-quality workers and entrepreneurs." From "one-dollar lighters" to new energy vehicles, the global competitiveness of China's production capacity is the result of the combined effect of these advantages and is fully in line with economic laws and market principles.

(3)

Fair competition is the basic principle of the market economy. Only by persisting in development while opening up, growing in competition, and daring to fight the storms in the vast ocean of the international market can we continuously enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.

In Beilun District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, a truck carrying 1 million lighters is unloading goods in the dangerous goods storage warehouse of Yonggang Haian Logistics Company. The truck departed from Shaodong a day ago and arrived at Zhoushan Port in Ningbo after traveling more than 1000 kilometers. Here, the lighters from Shaodong go through the processes of ordering, warehousing, packing, customs declaration, etc., and are loaded onto an ocean-going cargo ship for their destination-Malaysia.

This smooth and smooth operation, every step at the beginning is full of arduous development.

In 2002, Fu Zaihua went to the exhibition for the first time and promoted her lighter to foreign businessmen. She did not understand English, and asked her daughter, who was studying in college, to be an interpreter... Subsequent communication turned her daughter and her roommate into "Temporary sales", which eventually resulted in the first export business.

In 2008, Lu Shenghua planned to attend the Panama International Expo, but failed to obtain a visa to the United States as a transit point. "Even if I go around the earth, I will go to Panama." More than 50 hours of tossing and turning paid off."The lighter I brought at that time was snatched away, and I also met many customers."

The development and growth of enterprises cannot be separated from government and policy support. A market-oriented, legal and international business environment is conducive to enterprises enhancing their global competitiveness.

The inspection and supervision of export lighters need to pass type tests. If Hunan had no conditions, the association led the enterprise to Tianjin; lighters are dangerous chemicals, and a single enterprise does not have the transportation strength, so the association established a dangerous goods transportation company, with 42 professional transportation trucks directly reaching the port...

With this spirit of daring to venture, dare to try, and face difficulties, Shaodong people have gradually established a direct global sales network, successfully exported their business abroad, and achieved a "single champion" of the manufacturing industry that has become "popular" all over the world.

Chat with entrepreneurs and often hear them mention the Canton Fair. At this exhibition, known as the "foreign trade vane", Shaodong Shunfa Industrial Co., Ltd. won the "first order" for Shaodong lighter exports, and Dongyi Electric's salesmen talked to major Bolivian customers...

From implementing "scheduled inspection" to achieve on-demand inspections, improving inspection efficiency and saving customs clearance time; to building a regional lighter testing laboratory, reducing the overall testing time by 30%; to implementing the reform of the parametric management model for processing trade unit consumption, To truly reduce the foreign trade costs of enterprises...

The story of lighters "riding the wind and waves" witnesses the continuous improvement of China's level of opening up; China's door to opening up wider and wider, further promoting lighters to better enter the world.

From small lighters to the "three new things" such as new energy vehicles, the journey of Chinese products to the sea is not smooth, but it confirms a simple market rule: no matter what product it is, no matter what field it is in, who can achieve It has excellent quality, good service, close to the market, and fair prices, who can win consumers in full competition.

Janos Pastor, former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Climate Change, said: "I am currently building a house in Switzerland to install Chinese photovoltaic products because they are the best and cheapest on the Swiss market." It can be said to reveal the secret of Chinese products going global in one word.

"China's new energy industry has developed real skills in open competition and represents advanced production capacity. It not only enriches global supply and alleviates global inflationary pressure, but also makes great contributions to the global response to climate change and green transformation. Whether from the perspective of comparative advantages or global market demand, there is no so-called 'China's overcapacity problem'." General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly pointed out.

Globally, new energy industry production capacity is in shortage rather than excess. Some people in the United States are hyping up the so-called "China's overcapacity problem". The essence of this is to curb and suppress the development of China's emerging industries, attempt to lock China at the low end of the industrial chain, find excuses for its implementation of trade protectionism, and seek a more favorable competitive position and market advantage for the country. As Luo Siyi, former director of the London Economic and Commercial Policy Office, pointed out, the United States is worried that more and more of its products will not be able to maintain its high-end position in the value chain in international trade.

There is a simple and profound truth behind Luo Siyi's words: If the price of a Chinese-made "one-yuan lighter" remains unchanged for 20 years and has become the world's largest production base and export base, no one says this is overcapacity, and world consumers continue to benefit from it. So today, when China's new energy vehicles, which are at the high-end of the world's industry and have competitive cost performance, are beginning to be favored by more and more consumers in the international market, some people in the United States rely on the hat of "China's overcapacity" to resist the trend of green and low-carbon development, let alone hinder the development of China's new energy vehicle industry.

From the "one-dollar lighter" to the "three new things" such as new energy vehicles, under the general trend of economic globalization, China will always adhere to a high-level opening up to the outside world. The world is also looking forward to more Chinese opportunities, China's contributions, and sharing green and low-carbon development. Well-being.