Fangda Group's Northern Heavy Industries is  well-known in the field of heavy machinery manufacturing in China. Its prominence is not only underlined by over a century of history, but also by a series of star products such as TBMs, ball mills, stackers, reclaimers, and belt conveyors that are more than sufficient to attest to its industry status. These products are well-known and have contributed significantly to the high-quality development of industries such as transportation, mining, metallurgy, and power in China.

What is less known is that is that Fangda Group's Northern Heavy Industries also has a relatively small product segment: automotive parts. This product belongs to a branch of Fangda Group's Northern Heavy Industry - Northern Heavy Industry (Shenyang) Automotive Steering System Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Automotive Steering System Branch"). In 2024, this factory with only over 150 employees achieved product sales of over 100 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 40%.

Why do small businesses grow rapidly and win large markets? We walked into Northern Heavy Industries and the Automotive Steering System Factory to conduct on-site visits and answer questions.

Innovation Driven

Building Core Competitiveness

The Automotive Steering System Factory is one of the seven factories of Fangda Group Northern Heavy Industry, mainly producing automotive steering systems, automotive transmission shafts and other automotive components. Based on the rich experience of Northern Heavy Industry in related design and manufacturing fields, and in accordance with the requirements of transformation and upgrading, the enterprise has gradually entered the passenger car supporting market from the original single supporting commercial vehicle to system components, seizing the opportunity of rapid development of new energy passenger cars, closely monitoring the market, continuously innovating, and achieving rapid development.

Northern Heavy Industries has always regarded technological innovation as the fundamental driving force for high-quality development. In order to support product innovation and promote intelligent production in the automotive steering system branch, after strict selection, multiple professional R&D teams have been formed to focus on key technologies and challenges that are common to the industry. By gathering strength and dedicating ourselves to research and development, we have continuously achieved remarkable breakthroughs; Continuously increasing R&D investment, establishing a sound R&D system through the introduction of advanced equipment and processes; Building a modular platform, 10 passenger car steering system module products were developed and approved last year, and 48 enterprise passenger car test project standards were formulated. This not only improved product performance, but also achieved standardized production, greatly shortened the research and development cycle, provided strong support for rapid response to market demand, and accumulated scientific research strength, design foundation, and experience in achievement transformation. Last year, the company trial produced more than 20 new products and achieved mass production of 8 new product projects.

Seizing the opportunity for growth and embracing the wave of development in the new energy vehicle industry, Northern Heavy Industries continues to make efforts, using innovation as the engine, and deeply cultivating the field of automotive steering systems. In December last year, the factory completed the installation and commissioning of the automatic assembly line for the steering column introduced for BYD Auto's new product project, and began production. This further laid a solid foundation for the long-term cooperation between the factory and BYD Auto, and also accumulated experience in automated production for future cooperation with other domestic and foreign new energy vehicle enterprises.

With innovation as its foundation, the Automotive Steering System Factory has continuously strengthened its position in the domestic automotive steering industry, becoming a supplier to many car companies such as BYD, Geely, SAIC, Changan, Ford, and Jiangling. It has also been awarded the titles of National High tech Enterprise, Liaoning Innovative Small and Medium sized Enterprise, Liaoning Science and Technology Small and Medium sized Enterprise, and Liaoning Young Eagle Enterprise.

Quality First

Building a Solid Foundation and Expanding the Market

Quality is the foundation for enterprises to expand their markets and sustain their development.

In order to create excellent product quality, Northern Heavy Industries has established a CNAS laboratory for its automotive steering system factory and obtained third-party certifications from multiple automotive companies such as BYD, BAIC, SAIC, and Changan. It is equipped with advanced processing and assembly testing equipment and strictly adheres to quality inspection standards. From raw material storage to finished product delivery, every step undergoes strict testing to ensure stable and reliable product quality and performance. The laboratory not only serves as a quality control center for product validation in the early stages, but also provides strong support for the validation of new technologies and processes, becoming an important foundation for enterprise innovation and development.

Adhering to the dual support of the commercial vehicle and passenger car supporting markets, the Automotive Steering System Factory has developed a series of customized steering system solutions tailored to the characteristics of different vehicle models. In the field of commercial vehicles, the focus is on breaking through technical difficulties such as high reliability and lightweight; In the field of passenger cars, we focus on improving driving safety, steering stability, and ultimate operational performance. This differentiated development strategy has enabled the products of the branch factory to occupy a favorable position in the fiercely competitive market. Throughout the year, more than 40 passenger and commercial vehicle supporting products were developed, with a continuous increase in customers and market expansion.

Targeting market demand, Northern Heavy Industries continues to increase investment and improve the automation and intelligence level of its automotive steering system factory, empowering and strengthening product quality, stabilizing existing markets, and continuously expanding emerging markets. Over the past five years, a total of approximately 30 million yuan has been invested in the equipment renovation of the automotive steering system factory, resulting in an automation rate of over 90% and a significant improvement in production efficiency and quality.

Promote equipment updates and focus on intelligent manufacturing, with the automotive steering system factory achieving complete in-house production of core component products. According to statistics, reducing outsourcing of self-made components alone can lower costs by millions of yuan annually. At the same time, the automation and digitization of the production process also effectively ensure the stability of the product, optimize the production process, and make resource utilization more efficient.

Gao Jian, the director of the Automotive Steering System Branch, introduced that in the next step, the branch will closely follow the industry development trend, increase the development and application of digital and intelligent technologies in automotive steering parts products, promote continuous innovation and development of products, and contribute greater strength to the high-quality development of the domestic automotive parts industry.