Build Industry Quality Benchmark Elaborately – Exclusive Interview for NMS President Gong Youliang by China Mining News

50 years’ development in hardship, forge forward for brilliance. The year 2020 is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Nanchang Mineral Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “NMS”). Recently, a reporter from China Mining News (CMN) interviewed Gong Youliang, President of NMS. The dialogue between two sides focused on how did NMS achieve transformation and successfully create “NMS brand” in the past 50 years, and how to realize the digitization and intellectualization of the equipment, respond to the Belt and Road Initiative and discuss international capacity cooperation.

On November 11th, CMN published an article entitled “Build Industry Quality Benchmark Elaborately – Exclusive Interview for NMS President Gong Youliang” and released it on its official website, WeChat account and other platforms.

The original report is as follows:

Build Industry Quality Benchmark Elaborately

——Exclusive Interview for NMS President Gong Youliang

When I was fifty I knew what was predecided by fate was not within my reach, I had come to this life. Nanchang Mineral Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “NMS”) has experienced 50 years of hardship, and it has come to its successful “year of destiny” this year.

Through 50 years’ development, product types and quality of NMS have made a qualitative leap. It has established a NMS brand in the industry. It not only has a firm foothold in the domestic market, but also has set up a number of overseas branches. Its end users are all over mining, hydropower, nuclear power, stone, building material, chemical industry and other industries home and abroad. The equipment is exported to more than 60 countries and regions and serves several world’s top 500 enterprises.

50 years of brilliance has laid a solid foundation for the future high-quality development. Standing at a new historical starting point, how will NMS get new achievements and breakthroughs? Recently, the chief reporter of CMN exclusively interviewed Gong Youliang, President of NMS.

CMN: In recent years, China’s equipment manufacturing industry has developed rapidly and the competition has intensified. As an old enterprise, how does NMS achieve perfect transformation?

Gong Youliang: Founded in 1970, NMS is one of the first three enterprises entering the screening field in China. It is also the unit designated by former Ministry of Machine-building Industry of the PRC and Ministry of Coal Industry of the PRC to manufacture washing & separating and crushing & screening equipment. In the early 1990s, NMS began to transform. It cooperated with Tangshan Branch of China Coal Research Institute, the original technology was introduced from Humboldt, Germany, and the circular vibration screen was developed and manufactured. On the basis of introduction, digestion and absorption, NMS had carried out a series of improvement work relying on its own technical team, so the vibration screening equipment developed and produced had been successfully applied in many coal washing & separating factories in China.

However, due to the small market share of coal separation, products with less varieties and other reasons as well as the subsequent depression of the coal industry, the initial transformation of NMS did not receive the expected effect. The annual sales revenue was only 23 million yuan and was swallowed by the chain debt. The enterprise was simply maintained, but did not get great development. At the beginning of 1994, after hearing the news of the commencement of the Three Gorges project, we immediately went to Beijing to communicate and report to the leaders of Ministry of Machine-building Industry of the PRC. Relying on our sincere persistence and good reputation of enterprise screening equipment in the coal industry over the years, as a small and medium-sized state-owned enterprise, we finally won nearly 90% of the market share of screening equipment for the Three Gorges Dam project. The Three Gorges dam was an important display platform for the hydropower system, and the screening equipment of our company had set up a trump in the water system. In the later period of 1996 and 1997, with the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, our screening equipment had made huge achievements in China’s hydropower system.

From small trial in the coal industry to set the hydropower industry on fire, our company began to develop rapidly. In the middle and late 1990s, we started to move into the crushing equipment and produced very traditional jaw crusher at that time.

After the restructuring of the enterprise in 2003, with the advantages of the system and mechanism as the support, we did not stop innovating. We launched new products every year, and began to develop and produce JC series jaw crusher and HS series impact crusher with independent intellectual property rights. At the third bauma CHINA in 2006, our JC series jaw crusher made a great sensation on its debut and attracted considerable domestic colleagues to visit them. Since then, we had actively participated in every bauma CHINA fair and different products had been put into the market, from JC jaw crusher, CC single cylinder hydraulic cone, MC multi-cylinder hydraulic cone, VS impact crusher to HS impact crusher and various screening equipment. In recent 10 years, through strengthening scientific and technological innovation and extending the industrial chain, we have gradually developed into a well-known domestic mining machinery and equipment provider and the whole industry chain operator of general contracting of mine treatment with feeding, crushing, screening, grinding, grading, mobile crushing & screening equipment and complete system research and development, production and sales as its core business. Our sales network covers mine, hydropower, nuclear power, stone, cement and building materials industries home and abroad.

CMN: Quality is the foundation of establishing an enterprise. How does NMS create its brand through quality management?

Gong Youliang: NMS has put forward a vision of “quality benchmark of the industry, model of happiness enterprise, international well-known brand”. Its core and premise are quality.

For product quality, we strictly control and improve it in many aspects. First, adhere to the high starting point and forward-looking of R&D. Quality benchmark of the industry is not said but done. The forward-looking technology positioning, including high starting point and high standard technology research and development, is the source of our product quality. This requires us that we must have a thorough understanding and analysis of international and domestic technology for the R&D quality positioning, and the starting point must be very high. And the quality control system in the process of processing and manufacturing of the back-end is very difficult to make up for the lack of technology in the front-end research and development. Only when the front-end R&D position of the product is high, the technology involved is new and forward-looking, can the quality of the product be guaranteed from the beginning.

Second, adhere to the high standard benchmarking. The so-called high standard benchmarking is to keep up with international first-class colleagues and select suppliers with high standards. Our accessories of raw materials are benchmarked with high standard. For example, rough part and forging, including our FAG/SKF bearings and supporting systems, are purchased by referring to the international and domestic first-class colleagues, and even some of them are the same suppliers. Only the raw materials in the front end are guaranteed, can the quality in the process be guaranteed.

Third, we pay close attention to the quality control in the process. We implement the IS9000 system for all the staff, employ the quality executive director with high salary, establish a quality control team of 20 quality groups with more than 80 professionals. Starting from the basic, we ensure the full implementation of the quality system in terms of quality standard implementation, quality awareness, system construction, organizational structure, etc.

Fourth, this year, we have introduced lean management with full participation from the outbreak of novel coronavirus, which mainly includes delivery (efficiency), quality, 6S, TPM (equipment management) and process module, which fundamentally solves the deficiency in the current quality process. Simultaneously, we will strive to implement the MES system of the whole process and the whole life cycle in the production process by end of this year so as to make the manufacturing process of our products transparent. It turns out that we can only see the final product results in the process from order scheduling to delivery date. After the implementation of this system, we resolve all the deficiencies of the manufacturing process, so that each part, operation station, daily production situation and the work efficiency of each person can be fully digitized. Quality can’t be improved by one move or one slogan. Only by improving the quality awareness of the whole staff can the quality be guaranteed.

It is precisely with the above quality insurance that NMS has been developing rapidly in recent years and has been recognized by international well-known enterprises. Last year, Lafarge appointed special personnel to investigate our company, and visited Shenshan project which was the largest manufactured sand & aggregates benchmark production and processing base in the world. We had 50 sets of equipment used on the site. During the epidemic period this year, Lafarge headquarters appointed a third-party organization to test our factory, and designated us as its global cooperative supplier. It planned to integrate us into its global procurement system. In recent years, the most profound thing I feel is: the communication and cooperation with multi-national groups every time, their new ideas, thinking, means and measures will have a great impact on our quality inspection team and core management team, especially the manufacturing center. We may not feel the gap in China because our product quality control system is awesome in China. However, compared with multi-national companies, especially in the process of cooperating with foreigners who are serious, we can feel that there is still a lot to learn. Our quality control is also developing in the process of continuous learning not overnight.

CMN: Digital and intelligent mine is the future development direction. How can NMS support the modernization, safety and green development of mine with the digitalization and intellectualization of equipment?

Gong Youliang: The premise of mine digitalization and intellectualization is the digitalization and intellectualization of equipment. No intellectualization of equipment and mining technology, no intelligent and green mine. In recent years, we have been working hard in this area to replan intelligent and digital work. First of all, in the research and development of the original crushing and screening equipment, we have cooperated with several famous intelligent science and technology companies in China, and also cooperated, discussed with international groups to make intelligent planning including the current intelligent system of the whole company. The goal is to make the company an intelligent factory supported by intelligent tools and software so as to lay a foundation for the development and manufacture of intelligent equipment.

Second, we are now making the process planning of internal logistics. Previously, during seven or eight processes of traditional machining such as turning, clamping, planing, milling and grinding, the waiting time in the middle plus the processing time may be several times of the actual processing time. In recent years, with the development of national equipment manufacturing, including international equipment manufacturing, we have begun to move towards intelligent manufacturing. We have invested 50 million yuan and introduced a large number of horizontal and vertical machining centers to solve the processing efficiency of small rotary and shaft parts. Originally, there were about seven or eight processes for shafts from feeding to finished products. However, after debugging the current horizontal machining center, these processes can be formed on one machining center at one time. After these work are completed, we will initially realize the semi-intelligence in the process of product manufacturing. Most importantly, after these centers are put into use, not only the waiting time and calibration time of turning, milling, planning, grinding, drilling and boring are all deleted but also the dependence on people is reduced to the greatest extent, and the processing efficiency and quality are radically addressed.

Third, carry out intellectualization for the management in an all-round way. Lean production is the introduction of a concept, which will promote productivity when it is organically integrated with production process in the practical application. After the comprehensive promotion of efficiency, 6S, quality, TPM and process in our company, the most obvious feeling is that the efficiency has risen sharply. In addition to the improvement of delivery quality and efficiency, all kinds of data are also fully clearly displayed, which provides a solid data foundation for us to promote the application of MES system in the fully intelligent production process. The premises of intellectualization are automation and digitization, and then intellectualization. These are three levels. Our work in intelligent construction is very solid and we have been working on the preparation of intellectualization in the process. We are still working on an operation and maintenance system. In the early stage, we have embedded the Internet of things into this system. The ultimate goal is to use very little manpower and investment to transfer the data of our operation and maintenance hosts, including the system, to the backstage hall of the delay center through the Internet of things technology so that the whole expert team in the backstage can understand the front end in real-time, our backstage can better understand its equipment operation status than the customer service, and solve user’s issues radically. Simultaneously, the Internet of things can also embed the processes from equipment, order, production scheduling to the whole manufacturing process. At that time, customers don’t need to call the sales personnel. Just one password or one number, they can check the whole process system like what’s the progress of the production and when the product can be delivered. Timetable is so clear. It is also the dream of leaders of this generation in our company to truly realize the whole life cycle control of equipment from order input to operation and maintenance of equipment.

CMN: As a national initiative, the Belt and Road has been highly recognized and welcomed by the international community. How can NMS participate in it, actively carry out international capacity cooperation and resound the world with “made in China”?

Gong Youliang: NMS’s participation in the Belt and Road is relatively early. We are one of the first members of ENFI Alliance. Since 2011, we have entered the international market. In 2016, we began to think the way to lay out overseas market and took part in the construction of the Belt and Road. We have established five international sales companies in Johannesburg (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Perth (Australia), Moscow (Russia) and Phoenix (USA). Through these five companies as well as agents in North America and South America, we have supported our overseas sales network. After the epidemic, we will continue to face the changes in the international and overseas markets and deploy our sites in emerging markets quickly.

In the process of “going global”, we mainly adopt the following-up strategy. We take the “going global” strategy of central enterprises and local state-owned enterprises as a platform and springboard for us to go overseas and strengthen cooperation and support with them. What we are now more distinctive is the cooperation with Sinosteel in South Africa. Sinosteel Group is an early state-owned enterprise to “going global” and is the first director of Chinese enterprises in South Africa. Through the influence of Sinosteel group and other Chinese funded enterprises in South Africa, we have established a stable cooperative relationship with all central and local state-owned enterprises in Southern South Africa. At the same time, they have solved the difficulties of many central enterprises “going global” through our participation. For example, in the equipment accessories procurement of central enterprises, valves with 80 to 100 yuan in China will be sold at 1000 US dollars in some overseas place, and if they don’t have, they will have to stop production. In this place, the operating costs of central enterprises are very high and unimaginable because this area is completely monopolized by our international counterparts. After we went in, we were so welcomed by the central enterprises, and completely solved the problems of technical support, including the market supply of accessories. In addition, in the process of CNNC’s (China National Nuclear Corporation) “going global”, as the international standards for nuclear reactor construction are increasingly high, high-strength concrete with C60 or higher standards is needed. Through the investigation and cooperation with us, they made us become the supplier of high standard concrete aggregates, and solved this problem very well.  

There is also benchmarking strategy. It is the key point to refine the theme after our future international market is developed. Moreover, the establishment of our international counterparts is 100 years before us, and they have set up many metal mines all over the world, including sand and aggregates enterprises. Overseas markets like Africa and many other regions did not have Chinese enterprises such as NMS, these international competitors basically monopolized the local after-market. We found that local mining enterprises, including central enterprises were very eager to choose the reciprocal after-market and high cost-effective accessories and wear-resistant parts to support the system operation. Especially the metal mines were under the recession, this demand is stronger and more urgent. Through benchmarking with international counterparts, we have solved the after-market problems of mining equipment. Next, we will introduce our mainframe market, including our own warehousing, supporting, logistics and so on. We firmly believe that a match will set fire to a large building. We adopt the mode of “encircling the city from the countryside”. First, we set up sales companies and service teams in South Africa and Southeast Asia, and then gradually extend to the European and American markets, and finally enter the high-end mining market to form a new pattern of overseas development of NMS.

Our company has put forward the goal of 70% share from overseas market and 30% share from domestic market in the future. This goal is very arduous and high. Some experts predict that in three or five years, the domestic sand and aggregates industry will definitely go down, which urges us to enter the overseas market. I believe that as long as we firmly concentrate on the overseas market and steadily advance in accordance with the established strategies and objectives, this goal will surely be achieved!