Cctv.com News (Focus Interview) : An old Chinese saying goes, "A workman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools." Equipment is crucial if productivity is to be enhanced. In 2025, the state will intensify and expand the implementation of the "Two New" policy. Among these "two new" policies, the "new" is familiar to us all, which is the trade-in of old consumer goods for new ones, and the "new" is the large-scale equipment renewal. Driven by a package of policy "combination punches", China's industrial sector is experiencing an unprecedented wave of equipment renewal. Recently, a reporter's on-site investigation in Chongqing found that from traditional manufacturing workshops to intelligent industrial parks, enterprises are all seizing policy opportunities and accelerating the arming of themselves with advanced equipment. The government is also taking active actions and fully supporting enterprises in their transformation and upgrading. What exactly is the significance of this wave of equipment updates? What challenges do enterprises face?

Xiang Shaowei, the executive vice president of Chongqing Shunduoli Locomotive Co., LTD., said, "We plan to spend two years upgrading and replacing all the equipment on the production line."

Engineers from a processing enterprise specializing in key components of air conditioning compressors for new energy vehicles are currently debugging the newly introduced equipment. In the past, the vast majority of CNC lathes operated manually have been replaced by new fully automatic processing equipment. When processing the same components with the old equipment, previously, three people operating six CNC machines could process 200 such components in a day. Now, with the new equipment, 480 such components can be processed in a day.

Xiang Shaowei: "From the start of material input to the final product coming out, the entire process has achieved unmanned operation." Including loading materials, unloading materials and product quality inspection, all are accomplished by robots.

The production efficiency has been greatly enhanced, and the product quality and precision have become more stable. These are the achievements brought about by the enterprise's investment of 150 million yuan and the update of over 440 sets of equipment.

Zhou Jiqun, the chairman of Chongqing Shunduoli Locomotive Co., LTD., said, "After spending 150 million yuan, first of all, our production capacity has increased by 1 million sets this year, the output value will increase by 200 million yuan, and the cost will be reduced by about 10%."

An investment of 150 million yuan can increase the output value by 200 million yuan. All these are the direct benefits brought by the equipment update. If we take into account the economic account at the entire social level, the returns generated by the 150 million yuan investment are far more than this.

He Ying, director of the Planning Research Institute of the China Center for Information Industry Development under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, "For the entire industry, equipment renewal is also a growth point that drives industrial investment. Industrial investment plays a very important role in driving and promoting economic development." The promotion effect of equipment renewal on the production and sales of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain is also particularly obvious, because the equipment renewal in the industrial field itself will inevitably stimulate many new demands. These demands will be transferred and transmitted to the upstream equipment manufacturing industry, and it will also achieve a significant development.

Although the equipment update and promotion work of this enterprise seems to be going smoothly now, it was also extremely conflicted at the beginning of the project.

Zhou Jiqun: "Those devices in the past could also be used, but their efficiency and stability were not as high. It would be a pity to throw them away." "Keep using it. The quality level and the positioning in the customers' minds that there are no problems are accidental, but problems are inevitable and cannot be changed." "

With the continuous advancement of technology and the increasing labor costs, the market has put forward higher requirements for the production efficiency, production costs and product quality of enterprises. For traditional casting processing enterprises to further develop, equipment renewal, intelligent transformation and digital transformation are imperative.

Zhou Jiqun: "I have always had such an idea before, and I also have the willingness and have taken some actions." "Intelligent transformation and digital reform, when it comes down to it, can be summed up in just four words: it's very simple. In fact, true intelligent transformation and digital reform is not such an easy task."

For enterprises, the answer to whether traditional industries should transform towards digitalization and intelligence is yes. But when to make the change is a difficult problem facing enterprises.

Zhou Jiqun: "The first thing is where will the money come from?" The second issue is the shortage of versatile talents. For instance, those who understand technology do not understand coding, and those who understand coding do not understand the process flow. They must constantly improve and adapt to each other.

Whether it is the technical solution for equipment renewal or the cultivation of compound talents, both require financial support. For many small and medium-sized enterprises, the most difficult problem in equipment renewal ultimately lies in the funding gap.

After calculation, it is found that this enterprise needs to invest around 150 million yuan in equipment renewal. To come up with such a large amount of money for equipment renewal at once requires both courage and determination for the bosses of most small and medium-sized private enterprises.

He Ying: "There is an issue of investment return. Compared with the normal production pace, the investment return cycle is relatively long." So when enterprises make this decision, their willingness and motivation are greatly affected. Especially now, the economic situation and the international external environment are more complex and severe. On the other hand, there are also some issues at the operational level that make enterprises hesitate. After the new equipment is purchased, it is bound to be shut down for debugging, which will also cause a certain loss of production efficiency.

In March 2024, seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Implementation Plan for Promoting Equipment Renewal in the Industrial Sector". Through several rounds of investigations, Chongqing has found that over 50% of the more than 7,000 large-scale enterprises in the city have the need to update their equipment. Although many enterprises are willing, there are still some difficulties in actually implementing it.

Wang Zhijie, director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said, "Some enterprises need to solve the problems of not daring to change or not knowing how to change. Through special loans for technological transformation, fiscal interest subsidies, and some policies, enterprises can enjoy real policy dividends." By providing some moderate subsidies from the government to stimulate market entities and through a series of policy "combination punches" to help them carry out rapid technological transformation.

With the continuous advancement of the new round of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in policies by the state, the implementation of policies such as the ultra-long-term special Treasury bonds at the national level to support equipment renewal, re-lending for scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation, and the special loan for technological transformation at the Chongqing municipal level has added confidence to many enterprises in equipment renewal.

In 2024, the investment scale for equipment renewal of this enterprise was 150 million yuan, of which 50 million yuan was self-raised by the company and 22.5 million yuan was subsidized by the national ultra-long-term special Treasury bonds. Additionally, through the loan policy support in the field of equipment renewal, this enterprise obtained an 80 million yuan credit loan from the bank, significantly reducing its financing costs. The original loan interest rate was around 3.3%, but after receiving dual interest subsidies from both the state and local authorities, the enterprise saved over two million yuan in interest each year.

Yang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Economic and Information Technology Commission of Beibei District, Chongqing City: "From the perspective of the national re-lending policy, there is a 1.5 percentage point interest subsidy." From the perspective of the special loan policy for technological transformation at the municipal level, there is a 50% interest subsidy. Overall, after weighting, the interest rate of enterprises is approximately below 1 percentage point.

For enterprises like Shunduoli, which have certain strength of their own, due to the large investment scale in equipment renewal, they can enjoy some subsidies and loan interest subsidies in accordance with relevant policies. The process of equipment renewal and transformation is relatively smooth, and the benefits of transformation are also very obvious. However, for many small and medium-sized enterprises of different industries and scales, the reporter's investigation found that There are still some thresholds in the reward and subsidy policy for equipment renewal.

Wu Pengfei, Deputy Director of the Planning and Investment Division of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology Overall, the policies of the state have different scopes and conditions of application. For instance, the support scope of the ultra-long-term special Treasury bond is very clear. Meanwhile, for the direction of equipment renewal, there is a project investment application threshold of 20 million yuan. As for the policy of special re-lending for technological transformation, which has a wider coverage, Last year, there was also a declaration threshold of 5 million yuan. The purpose of doing this is to enable some projects urgently needed for the high-quality development of the national manufacturing industry, including the renewal of industrial and energy-consuming equipment, and the renovation of old elevators and other key areas, to be renovated first. Therefore, the number of enterprises that can receive support from national debt and re-lending interest subsidies is still relatively limited.

Xisai Power is a small and micro enterprise specializing in the processing of auto parts in Wansheng Economic Development Zone, Chongqing. In the past, this enterprise mainly undertook the processing business of fuel vehicle parts. However, with the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, in June 2024, Xisai Power received an important business order - to provide processing services for the subframes of new energy vehicles. Facing new market demands, outdated production equipment has become a bottleneck for the development of enterprises.

Huang Xingbing, the financial director of Chongqing Xisai Power Machinery Co., LTD., said, "Our original equipment was too old and the processing accuracy couldn't meet the requirements of the other party."

To meet the high-precision processing requirements of subframes for new energy vehicles, enterprises must introduce new production equipment. However, purchasing new equipment requires over 1.5 million yuan, which is undoubtedly a huge expense for a small and micro enterprise. Xisai Power has attempted bank loans and social financing to solve the company's capital problems, but neither has been successful.

Huang Xingbing: "Banks now need to provide collateral or credit, but in the current situation of our enterprise, we can't provide credit and can only offer collateral." However, the factory building is not our own. There are only equipment. Under the current loan policy of the bank, it is not supported to take out equipment mortgage loans.

Just when enterprises were in trouble, another financial policy introduced by Chongqing brought about a turning point. According to this policy, enterprises can lease relevant equipment from financial companies through financial leasing, pay rent to the financing companies on a monthly basis, and the government can also subsidize part of the financial leasing expenses.

Through financial leasing, Xisai Power successfully introduced six new pieces of equipment, which not only enhanced production efficiency and product quality but also opened up new business areas for the enterprise. After a period of operation, the economic benefits of the enterprise have significantly improved, and the cash flow has also been enhanced.

During this round of large-scale equipment renewal, although a considerable number of industrial, energy, transportation and logistics enterprises have received various policy subsidies, there are still many enterprises that are not within the subsidy scope and find it difficult to obtain relevant policy support. To this end, starting from this year, the state has increased its support for equipment renewal projects in key areas. The scale of funds for supporting equipment renewal in key areas through ultra-long-term special Treasury bonds has been increased. On the basis of last year, the scope of support has been further expanded to areas such as electronic information, work safety, and facility agriculture. Localities with conditions are encouraged to take industrial parks and industrial clusters as carriers to make overall arrangements and implement equipment renewal on a large scale. More and more enterprises will benefit from it.

He Ying: "The state's support policies for equipment renewal are getting stronger and more extensive." Firstly, the funds were increased. The ultra-long-term special Treasury bonds rose from 150 billion to 200 billion. In addition, the threshold for enterprises to apply is also constantly being lowered. The threshold for using re-lending for technological transformation has been reduced from 5 million to 2 million. Meanwhile, the scope of benefits from the policy is also constantly expanding. With the in-depth promotion of policies, more enterprises will receive policy support, and an increasing number of enterprises will be willing to join in equipment updates.

The practice of Chongqing enterprises in the process of equipment renewal has provided rich samples for the development of China's industry. This is not only a reshaping of enterprises' own development, but also a microcosm of China's manufacturing industry seeking breakthroughs in the global competitive landscape. Of course, we must also face up to the existing problems. Besides the trouble of shortage of funds, some enterprises are also troubled by the lack of compound talents, and some enterprises have not yet met the threshold of the award and subsidy policy, etc. These problems that hinder the comprehensive promotion of equipment renewal still need to be further solved. We look forward to the future collaboration between the government and enterprises, with the joint efforts of multiple parties, taking advantage of the favorable opportunity of equipment renewal to drive China's manufacturing industry towards a new stage that is greener, smarter and more efficient.

Source: CCTV.com