People's Daily Network2026-05-15 08:40

In Guangrao, the competitiveness of a tire company is no longer measured only by how many production lines it has, but by how much “service” has been integrated into those lines.

Some time ago, during a market survey in East Malaysia, Li Xiaodong, General Manager of Foreign Trade Sales at Shandong Hongsheng Rubber Technology Co., Ltd., discovered a special requirement: vehicles carrying palm oil locally had to drive first on muddy dirt roads and then turn onto flat, paved roads, making the trip back and forth several times a day. Ordinary quarry-pattern tires and standard patterned tires could not meet both needs. The company immediately organized sales and R&D personnel to conduct multiple on-site measurements and repeated testing, and eventually launched a product capable of handling both road conditions at the same time. The customer was very satisfied, and now more than 1,000 tires are shipped stably every month.

The company has also developed a variety of winter tires for the winter demand in Northern Europe, Russia and Central Asia, tailored to different scenarios and consumer groups, with annual exports reaching 2 million tires.

From “selling whatever we have” to “making whatever is needed,” Hongsheng Rubber's transformation is a vivid reflection of Guangrao's tire industry moving toward service-oriented manufacturing.

At the pilot base of the Guangrao Rubber Industrial Research Institute at Qingdao University of Science and Technology, a new rubber material containing “hollow microspheres” has been developed into a silent, high-wear-resistant tread compound. This innovation, made in collaboration with the neighboring research institute, has opened a new breakthrough for Shandong Huasheng Rubber Group in solving the noise-control challenges of new-energy vehicle tires.

“We mainly rely on built-in sound-absorbing cotton solutions to reduce tire noise, but they have issues such as complex processes and added weight,” said Xiao Shenglong, R&D Director of Huasheng Rubber Group. In response to the company's R&D pain points, the institute precisely matched requirements, and the two sides joined forces to tackle the challenge by using silicon-based hollow microspheres at the micron level to replace part of the carbon black, achieving synchronized optimization of cost and performance.

Such results have become the norm in Guangrao. The institute has already brought more than ten technologies, including dual-drive intelligent vulcanization machines, to local enterprises. After the vulcanization machine project was put into production, capacity increased by 8%, creating economic benefits of more than 50 million yuan.

Once R&D services were embedded into the production line, Guangrao's tire competitiveness quickly gave rise to a higher level of “service spillover” — technology output.

Not long ago, Shandong Huasheng Rubber Group reached a technological cooperation agreement with Pakistan's GTR Tire Company and established a joint venture in Pakistan. Huasheng is no longer merely a product supplier; instead, it is providing complete core processes and equipment support as a “technology exporter.”

“China's tire industry is among the world's leaders, and Huasheng is our best partner for upgrading,” said Karim, production manager at GTR. GTR holds a 70% market share locally and has an annual capacity of 4 million tires. This cooperation is not only a strong alliance, but also marks Huasheng's strategic upgrade from product export to full-scale export of technology, standards and experience.

“From selling high-quality tires worldwide to taking mature technologies abroad, this is a brand-new starting point for service-oriented transformation,” said Zhang Jing, deputy general manager of Huasheng Rubber Group.

Technology exports require quality escort. In the Guangrao County Tire Product and Material Quality Inspection Center, the tire rolling resistance tester is operating at high speed. The center's testing results are mutually recognized internationally, with an annual testing capacity of 2,600 tires.

“In the past, inspection cycles were long and costs were high; now the testing center is right at our doorstep,” said Song Jian, director of the office of Yongsheng Rubber Group.

Inspection services have made manufacturing upgrading more convenient and efficient. Yongsheng Rubber has built an Industry 4.0 smart factory, with a digitalization rate of more than 95% for core equipment. “We have reduced labor costs by 2/3, while both production efficiency and quality have improved simultaneously,” said Hao Yufeng, director of intelligent manufacturing. At present, the digitalization rate of leading tire enterprises in the county has reached 90%, and the “tire industry brain” is about to go live.

Service-oriented manufacturing also requires a complete industrial ecosystem as support. Guangrao has formed a complete industrial chain centered on tire manufacturing, integrating rubber, additives, carcass materials, carbon black, molds and more, with a local supporting rate as high as 75%. Building on this, Guangrao has innovatively launched the “tire-as-a-service” model, established a lifecycle management platform, and promoted the extension of the industry across the full chain of R&D, testing, marketing and operations.

On May 15, the 16th Guangrao International Rubber Tire Exhibition will open. With the theme of “Global Manufacturing, Guangrao Services,” this year’s expo will, for the first time, set up a service-oriented manufacturing exhibition area and concurrently hold a service-oriented manufacturing innovation and development conference. “Ten years ago, when I first came to Guangrao, tires competed mainly on low prices; now, with superior quality, high-end products sell for more than 1,000 yuan each, and cost performance remains leading,” said Mussa, an Algerian customer, witnessing the transformation of Guangrao tires.

From R&D services to technology output, from customized design to inspection and certification, from smart factories to an industry brain, from supporting industrial clusters to exhibition platforms — Guangrao tires' transformation path is clear: rooted in manufacturing and driven by service, so that every tire is “packed” with added value from services. （Yang Ke Li Ming Tan Fang Zhong Pengfei）

Source: People's Daily client