Hit enter to search or ESC to close
July 03, 2025
On the 11th, automated production lines were running smoothly in the workshop of Hongguang Handan Cast Foundry Co., Ltd. in Hebei Province, where batches of smart manhole covers destined for Thailand were being manufactured intensively. Embedded with sensor modules, these seemingly ordinary manhole covers can monitor displacement, water level, harmful gases and other data in real time, realizing intelligent functions of independent analysis and judgment.
"After integrating technological elements, our product added value has increased by more than 30%," said Zhao Liqiang, General Manager of the company. Widely applied in smart city construction, these smart manhole covers have been exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and America.
Besides technological empowerment, cultural elements are also incorporated into local manhole covers. The company integrates distinctive idiom culture of Handan into product design by engraving classic idioms on manhole covers, breaking people’s stereotype that manhole covers are bulky and crude. At present, these featured manhole covers have been laid in numerous parks, scenic spots and historical and cultural blocks across the country.
It is known that Jize’s foundry industry took shape in the 1970s, and there are currently 149 foundry and equipment manufacturing enterprises here. To cope with environmental pressure and fierce market competition, Jize County promotes industrial transformation and upgrading by cultivating distinctive local industries.
The county has completely phased out coal-fired cupolas and adopted electric furnaces to realize clean production. It guides enterprises to deploy industrial robots and automated production lines, and supports the development of high-end products such as auto parts, high-speed rail fittings, intelligent drilling rigs and special valves. Over the past five years, a total of 68 renovation and upgrading projects for the foundry industry have been carried out, greatly cutting energy consumption per ten-thousand-yuan output value.
Statistics show that Jize now has 41 high-tech enterprises and 32 provincial-level specialized, sophisticated, distinctive and innovative enterprises in the foundry industry. The annual production capacity of local foundry and equipment manufacturers reaches 600,000 tons with an annual output value of nearly 6 billion yuan, and its municipal castings account for 28% of the national market share.
Scientific and technological innovation serves as the core driving force for industrial upgrading. Jize has established cooperation with over ten universities and research institutes including China Agricultural University, Zhejiang University and Shandong University, and built academician workstations and R&D institutions. The settlement of the branch of the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Manufacturing of High-end Construction Machinery of Shandong University has filled the blank of national key laboratories in Jize.
Yue Sujing, Director of Jize County Development and Reform Bureau, stated that the county will accelerate the high-end, intelligent and green transformation of the foundry and equipment manufacturing industries. It strives to raise corporate production efficiency by 50% by 2030, keep the annual growth rate of industrial output value above 15%, and build an important high-end foundry industrial base in northern China.
