From Bluestar Glass to Weihai Zhongbo

In the history of Chinese glass development, there are many cases of capital operation. In 2006, China Glass Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Glass Holdings") acquired blue star glass series enterprises as an example. As the origin of the once famous brand "Blue Star Glass", Weihai Zhongbo Coated Glass Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Weihai Zhongbo) is the largest production base of China Glass Holdings, with three float glass production lines and a daily melting capacity of 1500 tons; One offline Low-E production line and one BIPV thin film photovoltaic module production line.
After 14 years, Weihai Zhongbo has kept forging ahead, striving for development through innovation and becoming a strong enterprise. The online sunlight control coated glass has always occupied more than 50% of similar products in the domestic market, and has been exported to more than 100 countries. In terms of float online coating and body colored glass (colored glass for short), China Glass Holdings continues to develop its superior technologies, online low radiation coated glass (online Low-E), online TCO glass for BIPV film photovoltaic, online sunlight control coated glass, online sunlight control easy to clean glass, and online Sun-E? Energy saving coated glass, online Sun-C new type solar film glass and other functional glass with medium glass characteristics have been introduced to the market, applied in the field of building energy conservation and photovoltaic, and added luster to people's lives.
At the National Building Materials Industry Advanced Collective, Advanced Worker and Model Worker Commendation Conference held in August this year, Weihai Zhongbo was awarded the honorary title of "National Building Materials Industry Advanced Collective". Through field interviews, the reporter of China Building Materials News found that the acquisition of the title of advanced collective is recognition of the enterprise's unremitting pursuit and continuous innovation in product research and development.
Online coated glass is its "business card"
The predecessor of Weihai Zhongbo is Weihai Glass Factory established in 1965. "On March 27, 1989, the first piece of float glass in Shandong Province was born here," recalled Zhang Liming, deputy general manager of Weihai Zhongbo.
In the 1990s, guided by market demand, Weihai Zhongbo took the lead in developing blue and green mainstream color glasses in the market, such as natural green, F green, blue star grey, Ford blue, and prepared online sunlight control coated glass on these favorite color glasses. After being introduced to the market, Weihai Zhongbo became even more popular, and the "blue star glass" brand came into being.
"Some products are still named after blue star enterprises, such as blue star grey; natural green is our name." Ye Zhihui, general manager of Weihai Zhongbo, introduced to China Building Materials News. Weihai Zhongbo has achieved the goal of seeking product structure differentiation and breaking foreign technology and product monopoly. Before the online sunlight control coated glass of the "Blue Star Glass" brand came out in 1996, this product could only rely on imports, with a price of more than 100 yuan/square meter, which was not affordable for ordinary people, and profits were seized by foreign enterprises. With the success of independent technology and product research and development, foreign similar products have withdrawn from the Chinese market.
Today, Weihai Zhongbo's online solar control coated glass has occupied more than 50% of the domestic market, and its upgraded online Sun-C new solar film glass has also been successfully mass produced, which is better and stronger in terms of functions.
The first piece of online Low-E glass with proprietary intellectual property rights in China was launched from Weihai Zhongbo 3 # float production line. At present, the energy saving index of radiation rate of 0.13 has reached the international leading level.
In addition, in order to meet the diversified needs of customers for products, Weihai Zhongbo has also built an offline magnetron vacuum sputter coating glass production line, becoming the first enterprise in China to have both online and offline low radiation coating production lines and products. Both learn from each other and promote each other technically.
On line Low-E adopts the world's most advanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technology to continuously and evenly deposit coating materials in the form of gas on the upper surface of high temperature, clean and high-quality float glass, forming a film layer of metal oxide structure through chemical reaction. With the cooling of the glass, the film layer becomes a part of the glass. Stable oxide structure and high temperature coating characteristics make online Low-E glass chemically stable and free of oxidation problems; It is firm and durable, can be hot bent, tempered and stored in a single piece. The excellent physical and chemical properties make the energy saving effect of the building remain stable for a long time. It is processed into hollow or vacuum glass. The film will not deteriorate even if the adhesive ages and cracks and loses its sealing property, and the low radiation function will not fail. It is called "hard coated" glass.
"We originally put forward the technical route of preparing oxide functional films in the annealing area, used micro nano structure oxide film materials with better physical and chemical stability than silver, and invented the coating process in the annealing area in accordance with the technical characteristics of Luoyang Float Method to achieve the efficient preparation of float online Low-E." Dr. Shi Guohua, the research and development center of China Glass Holdings, told reporters that the company's online Low-E glass also has the highest energy saving index, The emissivity of online Low-E of foreign technology is between 0.16 and 0.2, and the emissivity of online Low-E produced by Weihai Zhongbo reaches 0.13, meeting the high-end demand for building energy conservation.
"When we mention Weihai Zhongbo, we first think of colored glass and coated glass, which has become a business card." According to He Linbing, the sales director of Weihai Zhongbo, the company's products are not only sold in China, but also exported to South America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, North Africa and other places in the world, with a high proportion of exports.
Close integration of production, teaching and research, and independent innovation to bridge the gap
In order to maintain the leading level of online coating technology in China, catch up with and surpass the world's advanced level, and bridge the technological gap, in 2001, Zhejiang University Bluestar New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhejiang University Bluestar), a high-tech enterprise integrating production, teaching and research, was jointly established by 14 professors and senior engineers who have been engaged in the research of online coating technology for float, Weihai Bluestar Glass Co., Ltd. and Zhejiang University, Registered in National University Science and Technology Park of Zhejiang University, mainly engaged in research on float online coating technology and new product development; Zhejiang University Bluestar became its R&D center after being merged and restructured by China Glass Holdings in February 2007.
The R&D Center of China Glass Holdings, Zhejiang University and Yanshan University have formed an industry university research consortium, which adheres to the path of combining production, learning and research closely, and is united in good faith with complementary advantages. The research and development center of China Glass Holdings is the core carrier of technology research and development, and the research and development team has been engaged in the development and research of online coating technology; Weihai Zhongbo provides major research funds, provides a technology research and development platform, and organizes and participates in semi industrial, industrial experiments and industrialized production; Establish an organizational system for testing and industrialization; Zhejiang University and Yanshan University are responsible for the research of basic theories to ensure a high starting point for research and development.
In 2001, the production university research consortium of China Glass Holdings jointly undertook the national "863" plan project "Float online preparation technology of composite functional films and development of new energy-saving coated glass". On April 16, 2004, the project passed the national acceptance. The main acceptance conclusions are as follows: the development of light pollution free colored sunlight control coated glass with silicon and silicon carbide nanocomposites prepared online and the completion of industrial demonstration tests are an example of high-tech transformation of traditional industries, which is innovative and has reached the international advanced level; The problem of key equipment design in raw material vaporization and coating system has been solved, the industrial production technology of low radiation coated glass has been developed, and a high-quality and stable R&D and production team has been cultivated. As a project participant, Weihai Zhongbo has completed the construction of the demonstration line.
In 2010, the industry university research association jointly undertook the national "Twelfth Five Year Plan" support plan "Research on Low cost Manufacturing and Multifunctional Composite Key Technologies of Online Low Emission (Low-E) Glass" project, focusing on the design of high-efficiency energy-saving coated glass film system and multi-layer composite mechanism, the regulation of high-efficiency energy-saving coated glass microstructure and performance, and the large-area preparation technology of float online multi-layer composite functional film The key technologies and equipment, such as raw materials for online coating precursor and waste gas recovery technology and equipment, were systematically studied. The project has completed all the contents specified in the assignment, met the requirements of the assessment indicators, and passed the acceptance with high quality. As a project participant, Weihai Zhongbo has completed the construction of the demonstration line.
In 2016, the industry university research consortium jointly undertook the research task of the national "13th Five Year Plan" key research and development project project II "Full spectrum multi-function float online coated glass research and float online industrialization demonstration", specializing in online coating technology and products, aiming to achieve the goal of online Low-E radiation rate of 0.1, develop online sunlight control low radiation coated glass with good sunshade effect, and meet China's vast geographical Different requirements for building energy conservation due to large differences in thermal environment. The project is being prepared for national acceptance. As a project participant, Weihai Zhongbo has completed the construction of the demonstration line.
In Weihai, the reporter of China Building Materials News saw that there were three signs on one side of the door of the research and development center laboratory of China Glass Holdings, which were respectively printed with the words of School of Materials Science and Engineering of Zhejiang University, School of Materials Science and Engineering of Yanshan University, School of Space Science and Physics of Shandong University and School Enterprise Cooperation Laboratory of China Glass Holdings Technology Center.
"With the combination of production, teaching and research, we are at the forefront of the industry," Tian Lanjun, deputy general manager of Weihai Zhongbo, told China Building Materials News.
Seeking Benefits from "Three Refinements" Management
From Weihai Glass Factory to Bluestar Glass, and now to the subordinate enterprises of China Glass Holdings, the leadership of Weihai China Glass has changed several times. Tian Lanjun frankly said that a long history, culture and heritage do not mean advanced management and good benefits. Although in the first eight months of this year, Weihai Zhongbo has made considerable profits, the management of the enterprise has clearly recognized that there is still a gap between Weihai Zhongbo and outstanding enterprises in the industry.
"In the past, the management was really extensive, and we realized our own gap, and we should be brave after knowing our shame. We should make up for our weaknesses and catch up." Tian Lanjun introduced that on July 28, Weihai Zhongbo officially released the Implementation Plan on the Implementation of "Three Fines" Management, and established a leading group to focus on improving the company's performance, focus on the core business of float, give full play to the role of performance incentives, and truly implement the "Three Fines" management, In accordance with the requirements of "full marketization and full internationalization", strive for the goal of leading enterprises in the industry.
"Better organization, better management and better operation" is an advanced management model covering enterprise organization, management and operation, which can also be considered as a set of major methods. In 2018, China Building Materials Group summarized the "three refined" management model.
Ye Zhihui, the general manager, believes that the implementation of the "Three Refinements" management can be considered in combination with the "6S" management and integration of two technologies that the company has been implementing, and conduct all-round benchmarking with advanced enterprises to learn from each other's strengths. To implement the "Three Refinements" management, we must pay attention to actual results, and must never formalize or go through the motions.
In the opinion of Zhang Liming, the deputy general manager in charge of production, the current "three refined" management is consistent with the business idea of improving production, reducing costs and ensuring quality advocated by the company. He summarized it as the "1331 Project": stable production is a main line, which is based on three prerequisites of environmental protection, energy and safety, and three indicators of output, quality and cost.
Zhang Liming told the reporter that although the mechanical equipment of Weihai Zhongbo is not superior to the leading enterprises in the industry, its product quality has been continuously improved in recent years. For example, the time for the production line to change the glass thickness and clean the tin bath water bag is much shorter than before, thanks to the attention paid by the headquarters of China Glass Holdings to innovation. The "rationalization proposal" activity carried out in recent years has made the enterprise make significant progress in technology, cost and efficiency.
In addition, the total yield, a key indicator of glass production, has also been increasing in the past three years. "So far this year, the actual total yield rate is 92.46%, which is not much higher than that in the industry." Zhang Liming said that, compared with other ordinary float glass production lines, Weihai Zhongbo often meets the requirement of changing the thickness, as well as the color and film system, during the production process. It is quite difficult for the total yield rate to exceed 90%.
In 2019, Weihai Zhongbo Float Line 3 will be upgraded. Under the condition of not increasing production capacity, the furnace, tin bath, annealing furnace, cold end and online coating equipment will be technically upgraded to achieve upgrading of technical equipment and products; 16 sets of industrial robots, visual identification detection system, robot automatic small material feeding system, small material micro weighing automatic material feeding system and other equipment have been purchased; In the cold end glass stacking link of the original production line, industrial robots are used to replace manual grasping and stacking of glass, and small raw materials are also automatically added and weighed.
"The whole production line now has more than 100 people, working in three shifts and 30 people in one shift. Most people are on guard posts. The degree of automation is already very high, and there will be more people unless there is a rush repair." Gu Zufang, the director of the comprehensive office of Weihai Zhongbo, told the reporter that the number of employees in the whole base is about 800 at present.
Zhang Liming recalled that during the Weihai Glass Factory, the capacity of a six machine flat glass kiln was 200 tons/day, and the maximum number of employees was 2400. Of course, the whole industry and society are making continuous progress. Weihai Zhongbo should not only benchmark itself, but also other production bases in the group and other outstanding enterprises in the industry.
After nearly half a century of hard work, Weihai Zhongbo has developed from an unknown local small glass factory to the largest online coated glass production base in China. In the new era, Weihai Zhongbo may usher in a broader development space through technology and management innovation and improvement.