As of November this year, there are 37 similar forging and casting enterprises in Tangcun Town, Jiahe County. Located in the eastern part of the county, this town has a history of about 3,000 years in the forging industry. And now it has become a well-known “precision casting town”. 

 

Here, the power of innovation can be seen everywhere.

 

The steel hoes produced in Tangcun Town account for one-third of the national market share. A person in charge introduced that the production of steel hoes originally required to use round steels, with a cost of 4,500 yuan per ton. However, through technological innovation, waste steel rails were used to produce steel hoes, reducing the cost to 3,000 yuan per ton. 

 

Moreover, thanks to the excellent wear resistance of the steel rail, the quality of the steel hoe has also been greatly improved. 

 

The kitchen knife forging technique develop by a local knife manufacturer has been upgraded from manual forging to semi braking forging, which was listed as a provincial level intangible cultural heritage item. 

 

Tangcun Town not only pursues innovation in products, but also makes bold attempts in sales channels.

 

For instance, Aoyan Company has established friendly cooperation with platforms such as Alibaba International Station and Amazon, utilizing livestreaming channels for online sales, to deliver brand and characteristic products to other places.

 

Now, there are a total of 26 casting enterprises above designated size and 16 forging enterprises in the precision casting town, including 5 national high-tech enterprises, 1 enterprise listed on the Hunan Stock Exchange, 1 enterprise listed in the reserve resource database of Hunan province, and 1 provincial-level “little giant” enterprise. 

 

In recent years, enterprises in the town have introduced 158 senior professional and technical talents, and obtained a total of 55 national patents. In 2023, Tangcun Town added 15 new invention patents and authorized 5 patents, providing a solid foundation for innovation.

 

Innovation helps products made in Tangcun go global. For example, Zhiyuan Electromechanical exports products to Europe and America, with an annual export value exceeding 50 million yuan. Products of Dexin Hardware are exported to Thailand with an export value of 37 million yuan in 2022. Hongda Industry and Trade’s hoes are exported to many countries in Africa, with an export value of 29.8 million yuan last year. 

 

In recent years, Tangcun Town has provided personalized transformation and upgrading plans for 26 casting enterprises, further refined the transformation and upgrading standards for casting and forging enterprises, in a bid to promote transformation and upgrading of these enterprises. 

 

“While building a precision casting town, we focus on technological innovation, prioritize the real economy, and help promote the high-quality development of private enterprises in the town.” Li Xin, head of the town, said that in this era driven by innovation, products “Made in Tangcun” are stepping onto the world stage with the town’s unremitting efforts and wisdom.