In the northeast of Yueqing, Wenzhou, there is a mountainous town with an area of less than 90 square kilometers – Furong Town.
It has given birth to a hardware tools industry cluster with an annual output value of over 7 billion yuan. For every 10 construction drill bits sold in the world, 8 are made in Furong.
From high-strength drill bits at construction sites to lithium-battery cordless nailers that are only the size of laptop computers, Furong Town’s hardware products are using amazing innovation to write new cases of “Made in China” in the global market: making the seemingly “niche” track more refined and bigger, creating a different kind of world.
The mountain town has a national brand.
Furong Town’s hardware tool industry began in the 1980s, and it won the national title of “China’s National Drill Bit (Construction) Industrial Base” 20 years ago.
At present, it has become the largest construction drill bit production base in the country. The town has gathered more than 150 hardware tool companies and ancillary supporting companies, including 3 companies with an annual output value of over 100 million yuan and 14 companies with an annual output value of over 50 million yuan.
Products are exported to Europe, the United States and other places, becoming a key link in the global construction hardware supply chain.
“Our advantage lies in the complete industrial chain.” The relevant person in charge of Furong Town said, “From raw material processing to finished product delivery, all links can be completed in the town, and not a single screw needs to be purchased outsourced.” This highly concentrated industrial ecology makes Furong hardware tool companies highly competitive in terms of cost control and production efficiency.
As fast as you grow, there are as many worries as you want.
“Our annual output value leads the domestic industry, but there is a serious shortage of factory buildings, so we can only rent sites in surrounding towns and villages.” Zhang Pinshou, the person in charge of an alloy tool company in Zhejiang, said with a wry smile.
This company focuses on the research and development of high-end hardware tools. The emery bits it develops are used in aerospace, power trains, ships and other fields due to their unique magnetic and wear-resistant properties.
However, due to limited production space, corporate development had to slow down its pace of expansion.
The shortage of land resources is the biggest bottleneck restricting development, and similar difficulties are common in Furong Town.
Some hardware tool companies have tried to relocate, but have encountered problems due to the imperfect local industrial chain.
This experience of “departure-failure-return” has made local entrepreneurs deeply aware that only by breaking through the existing model can sustainable development be achieved.
Transformation turns to nirvana and rebirth.
Faced with challenges, Furong enterprises began to collectively turn to technological innovation.
In the exhibition hall of a tool company in Yueqing City, more than 10 models of folding lithium battery cordless nail shooters are particularly eye-catching.
“Through independent research and development, we have transformed from spare parts production to complete machine production.” Cai Xiangxing, the person in charge of the company, said that in 2020, the company launched the research and development of pneumatic electric complete machines. Now, many series of the company’s products have passed TüV Rheinland and EU CE certification, becoming a new force in the international market.
Lin Xiang, the head of a tool company in Zhejiang, is a post-85s generation. He has set his sights on the semiconductor industry. The CMP diamond discs, wafer thinning grinding wheels and other products developed by his company have become key consumables for chip manufacturing.
Digital transformation and the participation of the younger generation have injected new vitality into this traditional industry.
More and more “second-generation hardware” are bringing new ideas such as e-commerce marketing and cross-border e-commerce, and promoting the transformation of enterprises from OEM to branding.
Currently, Furong Town is planning a larger industrial blueprint: building a 300-acre precision tool industry intelligent manufacturing center, which is planned to be included in the city’s “15th Five-Year Plan” major industrial platform, to break land factor constraints for hardware tool companies and accelerate industrial transformation and upgrading.
“Our goal is to make ‘Made in Furong’ a synonym for high quality and high technology.” The relevant person in charge of Furong Town said that the Furong hardware tool industry has moved from family workshops to the global market, from OEM production to independent brands, and cannot do without the strong support of the Yueqing Municipal Party Committee and Government. It also relies on the industry’s endogenous self-revolution in order to remain innovative in the global market for a long time.
Today, entrepreneurs in Furong Town are still exploring and working hard to make the “Made in Furong” sign even brighter.
