With the smooth closure of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, various style venues, facilities, etc. have gathered global attention. Many aluminum alloy products such as curtain walls, doors and windows that participated in the construction of these "Asian Games" are supplied by Guangdong aluminum profile enterprises.
Providing products for the construction projects of the Asian Games is a window to observe the innovative development of Guangdong's aluminum profile industry. Recently, a reporter from Yangcheng Evening News visited Xingfa Aluminum Industry, a subsidiary of Guangdong Provincial Enterprise Guangxin Holding Group, and found that in the past 40 years since its establishment, the "Xingfa" brand has provided aluminum profiles for multiple landmark buildings with continuous quality control and technological precipitation; Continuously exploring high-end industrial aluminum profiles and exploring new "aluminum" processes in products such as subway tracks, solar photovoltaic, and new energy vehicles.
Xingfa Aluminum Industry Physical and Chemical Testing Center
Xingfa Aluminum Industry Aluminum Profile Products
At the Xingfa Aluminum Industry Physical and Chemical Testing Center, researchers use spectrometers to detect product components
Complete the delivery of 8000 tons of aluminum materials
Standing outside the "Big Lotus" in the main gymnasium of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the "petal" shape outlined by the aluminum alloy curtain wall catches the eye; Entering the Asian Games Village on the south bank of the Qiantang River, aluminum doors and windows with wind and sound insulation effects provide athletes from all over the world with a comfortable living experience... The aluminum profiles used in the "Asian Games Project" are widely used, some of which put a strong and beautiful "coat" on buildings, creating a magnificent landscape; Some incorporate exquisite design into the building to create a comfortable living environment.
Yuan Weigang, Deputy General Manager of Xingfa Aluminum, introduced that Xingfa Aluminum, as the main supplier, provides aluminum profiles for multiple construction projects of the Hangzhou Asian Games, including the main stadium of the Hangzhou Olympic Center, swimming pool, Hangzhou gymnasium, Asian Games Village, etc., providing a solid guarantee for the successful hosting of the Asian Games.
Participating in the construction of the Asian Games will have strict requirements for the comprehensive performance, installation coordination, and delivery time of our aluminum profiles, "Liu Hongqiang, Regional Sales General Manager of Xingfa Aluminum, told reporters. According to the construction progress requirements, Xingfa Aluminum needs to deliver aluminum profiles to multiple project construction parties at the same time. Through two production bases in Foshan and Chengdu, Xingfa Aluminum has fully powered and intensified production, completing the supply of nearly 8000 tons of aluminum materials with quality and quantity assurance.
Different usage scenarios have different requirements for aluminum profiles. Liu Hongqiang said, "Like the Hangzhou Asian Games main stadium 'Big Lotus', the shape is very unique, and the venue covers a large area and has a high height. Therefore, it is required that the hardness of aluminum profiles be relatively high to ensure building quality. The aluminum door and window products of the Asian Games Village project emphasize the sealing and waterproofing of the materials
Among them, for the Asian Games Village project, Xingfa Aluminum Industry optimized the window design in the early stage with the design and construction team, adopting a new window type called curtain wall window system, which improved the performance of sound insulation, wind resistance, and waterproofing, and made the appearance more lightweight and concise. On the one hand, the Asian Games Village needs to provide competition guarantees for athletes from various countries, representing the national image; on the other hand, after the Asian Games Village, it needs to be transformed into a future community model that integrates commercial commerce, leisure sports and entertainment, and ecological living. Therefore, we control product quality with high standards in our design and production. "Liu Hongqiang mentioned.
Products are found in high-rise buildings both domestically and internationally
At the headquarters building of Xingfa Aluminum, the model of the Khalifa Tower located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates stands tall. This world's tallest building, with a total height of 828 meters, uses aluminum alloy curtain walls made by Xingfa Aluminum. In fact, Xingfa Aluminum products are found in many landmark buildings in the world, such as the World Market Center in the United States, the New Yokohama Station Building in Japan, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower TV Tower in Shanghai, the Capital International Airport, etc.
Wu Xikun, Deputy General Manager of Xingfa Aluminum, has long been concerned about the company's technology and quality fields, and is familiar with these landmark construction projects. He smiled and said that every time he approached or boarded these well-known buildings, he would pay special attention to whether there were any thriving products and understand the use of aluminum profiles in the company. "This has become my 'professional habit', and seeing some aluminum profiles in buildings that have gone through more than 30 years of wind and rain, they still look in good condition and feel proud inside.
In the application of aluminum materials, construction is the main downstream consumption sector, and last year, China's construction aluminum still accounted for 26% of the total domestic aluminum consumption. Building aluminum profiles such as doors, windows, and curtain walls are also the foundation of Xingfa Aluminum Industry. However, in recent years, due to slowing demand and increasingly fierce industry competition, the development space of the building aluminum profile market has been squeezed.
In a reduced volume market, it better reflects the true competitiveness of enterprises. With the reduction of market size and the intensification of competition, if enterprises lack innovation and stagnate, they will face the loss of orders. Wu Xikun believes that in order to win market competition, it is necessary to optimize costs, ensure quality, and improve services.
At the sales end, providing consumers with systematic home decoration solutions has become an important trend. Wu Xikun stated that in order to improve service levels from the perspective of consumers, in addition to aluminum profiles, it is also necessary to systematically consider the selection of components such as glass, rubber strips, and hardware, and provide refined and customized service solutions to meet the needs of consumers.
Along the entire process from procurement of raw material aluminum ingots to sales of finished aluminum profiles, Xingfa Aluminum is also firmly promoting digital transformation. Xingfa Aluminum Foshan Sanshui Precision Manufacturing Base was fully put into operation in 2022, emphasizing digitization and overall production processes, significantly improving production efficiency compared to traditional factories. In addition, Xingfa Aluminum has quality control points in all aspects of casting, extrusion, molds, surface treatment, and delivery, which are strictly controlled. At the Xingfa Aluminum Industry Physical and Chemical Testing Center, the reporter saw that under the detection of a spectrometer, the composition of aluminum materials is clear at a glance. Here, the testing work of raw materials, semi-finished products, and finished products can be carried out to firmly maintain the quality of the products.
Entering New Energy Vehicles and Expanding Aluminum Space
In 1984, founder Luo Su founded an aluminum profile processing enterprise in Foshan, Guangdong, and named the brand "Xingfa", symbolizing prosperity and development. In the past 40 years, the golden signboard of "Xingfa" has become brighter and brighter. On the basis of strengthening and expanding traditional architectural aluminum profiles, it has continuously advanced towards high-end industrial aluminum profiles, endowing the brand with new connotations.
Nowadays, there is a shadow of Xingfa Aluminum's products in the Guangzhou subway that people use daily. At the beginning of the 21st century, Xingfa Aluminum developed rigid suspension conductive busbar aluminum materials, filling the domestic product gap. This material has the advantages of good conductivity, large cutoff surface, durability, and strong corrosion resistance, and has been applied for the first time in Guangzhou Metro Line 2. Now, Xingfa Aluminum has become the largest supplier of conductive aluminum profiles for subway locomotives in China.
In the past decade, the rapid growth of photovoltaic production and installed capacity, as well as the continuous increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, have broadened the imagination space of industrial aluminum profiles. According to CICC, aluminum for photovoltaic and new energy vehicles will contribute 1.05 million tons to China's aluminum demand in 2024. The aluminum profile industry is actively competing for the "cake" of these segmented markets.
Xingfa Aluminum has also accelerated the layout of new application areas and actively explored new additions to the market for aluminum. In 2022, Xingfa Aluminum entered the new energy vehicle supply chain for the first time, successfully expanding into new energy vehicle brand customers and supplying them with aluminum profile components such as battery trays and collision beams. In addition, Xingfa Aluminum has also obtained orders for aluminum oxide profiles applied in the photovoltaic field.
Wu Xikun introduced that from building aluminum to industrial aluminum, it is not just a simple change in installation position, but also a corresponding increase in product precision requirements. Taking the battery tray of new energy vehicles as an example, aluminum profiles need to follow the repeated vibration of the vehicle, so they need to have strong fatigue resistance. "In addition to performance, quality assurance ability is also important to ensure the long-term stability of the material.
In Wu Xikun's view, entering the new energy vehicle supply chain is inseparable from Xingfa Aluminum's mature research and development model and industry university research system. It is reported that Xingfa Aluminum has invested 640 million yuan to increase its independent innovation and research efforts, and has established multiple national and provincial R&D platforms and school enterprise joint demonstration bases to help Xingfa break through technological bottlenecks and lay a solid technical foundation for exploring new "aluminum" processes.
Source: Yangcheng Evening News