Recently, by the gradual disappearance of the tunnel boring machine in a project site, TBM"Endeavour" broke through to the open air from underground. This giant machine, independently designed and manufactured by Northern Heavy Industries Group Co.,Ltd. (NHI) under Fangda Group, has become the first open type hard rock TBM in the world engineered with a diameter of 7.83m and a design life cycle of boring up to 33 kilometers. It has achieved accurate penetration in a section of Kalasuke tunnel of ehe construction and Management Bureau, with the tunnel measurement error far below the standard level. During the operation period of the TBM, the utilization rate is 42%, the rate of the equipment in good condition is 96%. TBM“Endeavour”has registered a new record of a maximum monthly advance of 752 meters and a maximum daily advance of 40.8 meters. The precise completion of the first section of the excavation of this bid section has laid a solid foundation for the creation of the world record on single machine excavation, and it has further demonstrated the leading position of NHI under the Liaoning Fangda Group in the TBM market in the world.

Break the Foreign Monopoly, Become the World Leader

In 2004, NHI began to enter the market of full section TBM industry, and in April, 2006 manufactured the first domestic Φ5.93m hard rock double-shield TBM, which broke the long-term monopoly by foreign countries, filled in the national technology gap, and was successfully applied in the construction of Qinghai " Drain Datong River to Huang River" Project. On September 29th of 2006, theΦ11.38m slurry balanced TBM, which took 7 months to manufacture, started to work in Wuhan Yangtze River tunnel project known as "the first tunnel in Yangtze River", which opens a new era of domestic TBM crossing rivers and seas.

Over the years, NHI has gradually owned independent intellectual property rights and patent technologies of various types of TBM products through technology introduction, digestion, absorption and independent innovation. By means of research, development as well as manufacturing of various full-section TBMs, NHI has accumulated rich experiences in technology to develop and manufacture all kinds of full section TBMs from Φ3m to Φ15m, including earth pressure balanced TBM, slurry balanced TBM, open hard rock TBM , double shield Hard Rock TBM, dual-mode TBM, micro shield machine and coal tunnel TBM, etc. As a result, NHI has successfully ranked among the world-class full section TBM R&D and manufacturing bases, and become an important leader in the global full section TBM industry.

Exploration and innovation Never Stop

As long as closely follow the market demands, customer-centered and speed up technical upgrading and innovation of the products, NHI can stand firmly in the fierce market competition.

The kalasuke tunnel has a complex geologic conditions, the proportion of Class II and III hard surrounding rock accounting for about 93.73%. After the full analysis of the geological profile, construction planning, surrounding rock support and other engineering interfaces, NHI design engineers have carried out a comprehensive and systematic design of the TBM machine, including cutter head, shield, cutter head drive functional components, etc., which meets the requirements of high wear resistance and long life of key components such as cutter head, drive, main bearing and seal under the geological conditions Requirements. The design of matching the main parameters with the support system meets the requirements of the rapid excavation. In particular, the large-diameter main bearing and 20 inch disc-shaped hob fully adapt to the strength of surrounding rock with uniaxial compressive strength of more than 200 MPa. Meanwhile, the automatic arch support and bolt equipment have successfully solved the problems of frequent broken fault zones and sudden mud and water gushing of faults.

After the first section of TBM "Endeavour" is connected, it will be transferred to the other site. Our company has sent technicians and maintenance personnel to the site for technical support before the epidemic is over, so as to ensure the stable operation after the transfer and make new contributions to the water conservancy of ehe River.

Technical Innovation Activated By Mixed Ownership Reform

On April 30th, 2019, NHI successfully completed the judicial reform following the guidance of mixed ownership reform. Liaoning Fangda Group had become the largest shareholder of NHI by laws. NHI had changed from a state-owned holding company to a mixed ownership company jointly held by Liaoning Fangda Group and common financial creditors.

Liaoning Fangda Group is a large-scale enterprise group, engaged in multi-industries, trans-regional development, diversification and strong international competitiveness, with over 60000 employees and annual sales revenue of over 100 billion yuan. Moreover, Liaoning Fangda Group had successfully participated in the mixed ownership reforms of Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. and Zhongxing-Shenyang Commercial Building (Group ) Co., Ltd. in Shenyang.

Technical innovation is the lifeblood of enterprise’s survival and constant development. After the mixed ownership reform and with the support by Liaoning Fangda Group, the once endangered NHI revitalized and continued to increase investment in product research and development. NHI invested 13.65 million yuan to purchase and replace 2 graphic workstations, 2 servers and 254 computers, and to buy and upgrade 9 software such as ANSYS and SolidWorks. The conditions of product design and development were greatly improved. By the time of accelerating the technical upgrading and transformation of traditional products and bringing the upgraded products to the market promptly, the design, research and development of new products are taken as important supports to create new economic growth point, which provides a technical innovation, research and development platform for the majority of technical engineers to show their talents.

"The vitality stimulated by the mixed ownership reform of enterprise gives us the motivation of technical innovation." Mr. Bu Rui, director of the NHI tunnel equipment branch, expressed his emotion for the vitality of the enterprise after the mixed ownership reform.

Complying with the market development demands, NHI will courageously keep on exploring and innovating on its road to the research , development and innovation of full section TBMs.