Starting from Jianyang Economic Development Zone in Nanping City, go south along the highway for about half an hour, and you will arrive at Longzhu Technology Company, which is "Dancing with Bamboo ***". In a stretch of green mountain forest, the blue and yellow buildings of the park give this bamboo products manufacturing company a unique sense of technology.
? Bamboo is specialized enough, new enough, hard enough, and beautiful enough. ?Company chairman Lian Jianchang summarized the scientific and technological innovation characteristics of Longzhu Technology in this way.
Don’t be a simple porter of nature. Do what others dare not think of and do what others dare not do. ?An experiment to lead industrial change through the innovative use of bamboo materials is unfolding in this bamboo-covered countryside.
The inconspicuous bamboo straw
The bamboo straw looks inconspicuous.
But walking into the Longzhu Technology production workshop, the winding bamboo straw experimental production line is the most eye-catching. Lian Jianchang talked about what he has been thinking about for many years: Can bamboo processing be further improved? Can there be more innovation in bamboo materials?
In November last year, Longzhu Technology received the "New Product Identification Certificate" issued by the China Forest Products Industry Association. After identification, the company's winding bamboo straws have reached the international leading level.
Why do small bamboo straws attract attention? In 2018, Europe issued a "plastic ban", and domestic discussions about replacing plastic with bamboo began. Lian Jianchang said frankly: "We have captured business opportunities." ?
At a bamboo industry expert demonstration meeting in July last year, nearly 20 experts focused on small bamboo straws. Expert opinions describe several key technologies used in Longzhu Technology's bamboo straws: round bamboo flattening, slicing, lengthwise lengthening, and winding forming.
When it comes to bamboo flattening, we have broken through the traditional scoring technology and adopted non-scoring round bamboo unfolding technology, which greatly maintains the flexibility of the bamboo and prepares for the next step of cutting continuous long pieces. Thin bamboo slices are prepared with the finest "front-end material". ?Introduced by the person in charge of the company’s R&D department.
? Flattening the arc-shaped bamboo tube into a bamboo flat plate is a key step in further making bamboo products. ?Lian Jianchang said.
?The bamboo slices obtained by longitudinal cutting technology are only 0.25 mm. ?The person in charge of the company's R&D department took out a roll of ultra-thin bamboo slices and said, ?With this cutting method, not only can the entire bamboo length be obtained, but the bamboo fiber can be extended without destroying it. This is what bamboo straws can do. An important guarantee for continuous industrial production. ?
From bamboo flat panels to bamboo straws, the added value of bamboo has been greatly improved.
The wrapped bamboo straw is an important breakthrough based on the innovative research and development of bamboo materials. Longzhu Technology also participated in the drafting of the "International Standard for Bamboo Drinking Straws" to promote the development of the industry.
The first bamboo straw series production line will be officially put into mass production in November. ?The bamboo industry gives people the impression of being a low-end manufacturing industry. Nowadays, bamboo straws with more complex processes are made, which shows that we have pushed China's bamboo products industry into the era of material research and development. ?Lian Jianchang said.
How does the little giant dance?
Nanping is known as the "Hometown of Bamboo in China". It has good resources and regional advantages, and has a long history of bamboo industry development. But Lian Jianchang was the first person to list the bamboo industry.
Lian Jianchang worked for a Nanping foreign trade company in his early years and quit his job when he was 30 years old. In 2005, he registered and established Jianyang Taihe Bamboo and Wood Products Co., Ltd., the predecessor of Longzhu Technology, and entered the bamboo industry track. Like most people at the time, Lian Jianchang also started with rudimentary products such as bamboo chopsticks.
In 2004, a tsunami in Indonesia led to a reduction in the production of natural rubber, one of the materials for kitchen supplies. Lian Jianchang saw business opportunities and led the company to take the lead in launching a series of kitchenware such as bamboo cutting boards, using bamboo instead of wood in the field of kitchen supplies.
After launching the kitchen supplies series, Longzhu Technology began to experiment with home storage and office supplies series.
In June 2019, a R&D center was established to speed up the development of new products, achieve cross-border integration of bamboo with wood, steel, ceramics, plastics and other materials, and design innovative products for various scenarios such as reception, restaurant, office, and bathroom. .
? Take this automatic lifting bamboo table as an example. With the same amount of bamboo used, integrating the automatic lifting table legs to make a bamboo table can have greater added value than making bamboo chopsticks. This is what we want to do. . ?In the Longzhu Technology Product Exhibition Hall, Lian Jianchang introduced.
Designing innovative products with high added value gave Lian Jianchang a taste of the sweetness. He became more convinced of the broad prospects of bamboo application and determined to pursue the path of independent research and development of bamboo products.
Lian Jianchang picked up a piece of bamboo split lengthwise. He said that the use of bamboo is mainly limited by the availability of bamboo materials. ?Bamboo does not grow uniformly. From the root to the tip, the inner diameter changes section by section. Previously, only the middle part was usually taken, cut into thin strips and then glued together. This resulted in a lot of waste of bamboo and high cost. ?
To dance with bamboo, you must eat a piece of bamboo and squeeze it clean to produce the greatest benefit. According to reports, based on key technological breakthroughs in the innovative use of a series of bamboo materials, Longzhu Technology has achieved a full bamboo utilization rate of 60%.
Lian Jianchang’s efforts have won the favor of the capital market. In November last year, Longzhu Technology was listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, becoming the first bamboo industry company in the country and the first in Fujian to be listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange.
Ye Xuecai, who has more than 20 years of business management experience in the bamboo industry, joined Longzhu Technology in 2019 and became a professional manager. ?The bamboo product line ranges from simple to complex, which shows that Longzhu is working hard to break through the development bottleneck of the original bamboo industry. This is the main reason that attracted me to join. ?Ye Xuecai said.
Among the people employed by Longzhu Technology, many people gave up their jobs in big cities and came here for the "first stock of bamboo products".
In order to establish a high-quality management and R&D team, Longzhu Technology has also hired 3 outstanding imported talents from Fujian Province. Currently, it has 231 authorized patents in core technologies, including 28 invention patents. item.
? Carrying Moso Bamboo? After tapping into the capital market, Longzhu Technology delivered an eye-catching report card in the first half of the year: operating income of 204 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43%, and net profit of 34.64 million yuan. , a year-on-year increase of 29.34.
Towards green intelligence
There are many bamboos in northern Fujian. Bamboo is not only a dominant industry that enriches the people and strengthens the city, but also an important part of building a green ecological barrier in Nanping.
Relying on the mountain and eating the mountain requires taking the path of sustainable development. The innovative development of bamboo straws is an epitome of Longzhu Technology’s determined direction of green development of the bamboo industry.
Starting from January 2021, my country’s “strictest plastic ban” has been implemented, and non-degradable disposable plastic straws have become the first batch of plastic products to be restricted.
?Whether it is in terms of performance or price, bamboo straws are a more ideal substitute. The most important thing is that bamboo should be re-recognized by the public as a new green and environmentally friendly material. ?Lian Jianchang told reporters.
At present, the proportion of bamboo used in daily life is much lower than that of wood and plastic, but it contains great potential in energy conservation and emission reduction. According to measurements, bamboo has a strong carbon sequestration ability. Its ability to fix carbon dioxide is 1.4 times that of wood. It also has a short production cycle and fast conversion ability.
In addition to bamboo straws, Longzhu Technology also vigorously promotes the research and development and production of bamboo fast-moving consumer goods such as bamboo hangers and bamboo containers.
Lian Jianchang said: The introduction of the "plastic ban order" has boosted the demand for non-plastic products and also brought imagination space to bamboo materials. The goal of Longzhu Technology is to continuously improve the quality of bamboo materials and multi-products. Adaptability, constantly solving the problem of replacing daily plastic products. ?
In addition to developing towards green, Longzhu Technology is also focusing on realizing the layout of intelligent factories.
In the No. 1 production workshop of Longzhu Technology, an automated bamboo bowl production line evoked Lian Jianchang’s memories: Bamboo bowls are one of our earliest products, and in the early years we relied on manual labor.
Now, the entire production line is basically automated, and labor costs have been reduced by two-thirds compared to before. ?
Automated production lines are running rapidly, robotic arms and smart conveyors are running regularly, and the busy figures of workers are interspersed among them. Following the automated bamboo bowl production line to the end, the pieces of bamboo material turn into exquisite and round bamboo bowls, and the vitality of bamboo gradually bursts out in each process.
On July 22, Fujian Province held a Digital Economy Innovation and Development Conference. In the centralized signing event for key projects, the Longzhu Technology Longmei Innovation Unmanned Smart Factory project was officially signed.
We have built 3 new factories, introduced domestic advanced equipment, and purchased a digital platform system for the entire industry chain. The bamboo straw project has realized intelligent and digital management throughout the entire process from material input, processing to inspection and packaging, laying the foundation for our comprehensive march into the fast-growing industry. Lay a solid foundation for the consumer goods track. ?Lian Jianchang said.
Previously, 10 ministries, commissions and bureaus including the National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Bamboo Industry", which focused on building a bamboo industry system, improving independent innovation capabilities, and strengthening policy guarantees. Promote the innovative development of the bamboo industry in all aspects.
In March last year, Nanping City issued an action plan for the high-quality development of the forest products industry cluster, proposing to seize the development opportunities brought by the EU plastic ban, research and development and production? Use bamboo instead of plastic? Use paper instead of plastic? Products will help accelerate the development of the bamboo-replacing plastic industry.