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By YAN YIQI yanyiqi@chinadaily.迷你倉com.cn h e successful missions of China’sShenzhou series of spaceships were made possible through the efforts of millions.Among the contributors to this historic project are Zhejiang’s inno- vative enterprises, which dedicate their research to furthering the cause of the nation’s aerospace industry.Zhejiang Four Brothers Rope is located in a small village of Taizhou, the province’s eastern coastal city. A three-hour drive from downtown Taizhou, the company appears to be no dif erent from any other small privately run factories in the prov- ince at i rst glance.But as the manufacturer of haw- sers, a type of thick cable, the com- pany has played a vital role in the Shenzhou project since 2000.With a diameter of 36 mm, its hawsers are made from ultra-high- molecular-weight polyethylene, a new material developed using high technology.To win the contract, the com- pany bested international suppli- ers, including the Royal DSM of the Netherlands.h e 80-meter-long hawser is capa- ble of pulling up to 60 metric tons.Hawsers made from the same mate- rial were also used on the Liaoning, China’s i rst aircrat carrier.It might be hard to imagine that such a highly competitive supplier for China’s two most strategical- ly important projects started as a small factory that produced hand- made ropes for i shermen.In the early 1950s, Zhejiang vil- lager Li Changfu started a small business making rope from natural fibers. The rope was sold to fish- ermen in his village and the sur- rounding area. The manufactur- ing process was simple and done entirely by hand.After he passed away, his four sons inherited this business and are now co-owners of the Zheji- ang Four Brothers Rope Company, which was established in 1980.“At that time, Taizhou port was underdeveloped. My brother Li Maoju went to Shanghai and bought used rope from international liners,” said Li Maochang, chairman of the company.“We studied their technique and reproduced the ropes. h ese ropes were warmly welcomed among i sh- ermen in Taizhou.”At er that attempt, a bold idea hit the four brothers. They wanted to sell their own ropes to international liners.“It was a dream that no one in our village had ever dreamt of at that time, but I think that because we dared to dream, we were able to become the industry leader in our country now,” he said.The four brothers shifted their business focus from providing ropes for i shermen to making hawsers for vessels and liners. Today, more than 70 percent of liners and cargo carriers in Ningbo-Zhoushan port and Shanghai port, China’s two larg- est international ports, use hawsers manufactured by their company. From a low-value-added business to high-tech products, the company had successfully i nished the task of industrial upgrading while many other private companies were still struggling.Last year, the company’s sales rev- enue reached 70 million yuan ($11 million). Exports accounted for 30 per文件倉ent of that.Li said that the most important contributor to the company’s success in its own field is that they always look up to the strongest player in the market.Obama Rope MFG Co of Japan is one of the leading companies producing ropes and hawsers in the world. Just like Four Brothers, Obama Rope is also a family busi- ness that has been developing for i ve generations.“Our equipment is no worse than theirs, and workers of both compa- nies are all very experienced, but our products are behind in terms of technology,” said Li.In order to catch up with the world’s leader in this industry, the four brothers invited researchers and workers of Obama Rope to visit their factory and exchange technical expertise. h e two companies have signed technological exchange deals to better cooperate.“h ey have better techniques, and we have cheaper labors and materi- als. h e combination enables both of our companies to benei t from the global market,” said Li.Li said that the cooperation with Obama Rope demonstrates the company’s commitment to devel- opment based on innovation and improvement of technology.“Technology is the only way out for companies like us,” he said.By the end of this process, the company will have established a research and development center focused on developing new materi- als.“It took us two and a half months to develop the material for the haw- ser used on the Shenzhou III space- ship. With the new R&D center, we can shorten this period to a mini- mum to realize higher proi ts,” said Li.Le Weizhang, senior engineer for rope and hawser testing at the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute, said that he was impressed by the company during the time he spent cooperating with their researchers.“h e company was already a very competitive rope manufacturer in China before they became deter- mined to develop high-end haw- sers,” he said.“I think it is their refusal to be com- placent with their current achieve- ments that makes them successful now.”h e Zhejiang Four Brothers Rope is just one example of how enterpris- es in Zhejiang pursuing a new mode of development based on innovation.h eir ef orts help to fuel the sustain- able development of the province’seconomy.“Made in Zhejiang” is no longer a symbol of low-end products with poor quality. Many of Zhejiang’sproducts can now be found in high- tech industries like aerospace and also in the global market, signaling that they are gradually stepping up the value chain and becoming more competitive.Zhejiang Governor Li Qiang said in July that the province should do everything in its power to speed up industrial upgrading. h e provincial government is pushing polluting and energy-intensive companies with low added value to shut down or upgrade equipment and technology.“We should make room for high- added-value and energy-efficient companies to develop, replace human labor with machines, save factory land usage and develop e-commerce platforms,” he said.存倉