Xiwang Special Steel Co Ltd has entered into a Technology Licence and Cooperation Agreement with the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMR) and the IMR Key Personnel. The group obtained ten licensed special steel production technologies including some products for a period of ten years. The group shall also be authorised to use the Licensed Technologies for free after the expiration of the said period. Meanwhile, IMR will provide technological services and support related to the Licensed Technologies, to facilitate the group to improve product quality, refine production technology and enrich product mix. Through increasing the proportion of high-end special steel products, it is expected that the group’s profitability could also be enhanced.
The ten special steel production technologies authorised by IMR consist of metal smelting, metal casting, mould cleansing, slab and ingot production technologies which aim to give rise to higher quality steel products, more efficient production process, less production cost and wider range of special steel products. Pursuant to the Technology Licence and Cooperation Agreement, the group is licensed to apply and further develop the Licensed Technologies and to manufacture and sell such products directly resulting from the use of the Licensed Technologies without any territorial restrictions on the terms and conditions set out in the Technology Licence and Cooperation Agreement. The group will also have the first right to be granted the licence for the use of such improved or further developed Licensed Technologies.
In regard to the development of cooperative products, IMR and the group shall cooperate to establish new production lines at the production plant of the group for the production of high-end steel for use in equipment such as mid-to-high-end tool and die steel and marine steel, develop steel slab for use in various industries. Furthermore, the group shall establish a technology centre at the Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, which will focus on the research and development of production technique of special steel; whereas IMR shall establish a technology centre at Xiwang Industrial Area in Zouping Country of Shandong Province, China, which will focus on the transformation of existing production techniques, development of new products and its commercialisation, training of operational technicians and the marketing of products.
Founded in 2003, Xiwang Special Steel was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February 2012. As the only special steel enterprise with mass production capability of bearing steel bar and wire rods products inShandong Province, the products of Xiwang Special Steel manufactured mainly include high-quality and high-strength building materials including bearing steel, gear steel, engineering machinery steel, with an annual output capacity of 3 Mt of steelmaking and steel products respectively.
After ten years of development, the company formed a high-quality special steel production and operation mode which mainly focused on the production of bearing steel, gear steel, steel cord, automotive steel and Engineering Machinery steel. Xiwang Special Steel gradually transformed into a high-end steel production enterprise, and strives to become a “sophisticated special steel enterprise in Shandong Province”.
IMR was founded in 1953 in China. It positions itself as a base for materials science and engineering research in China. Research at IMR focuses mainly on high performance metallic materials, new types of inorganic non-metallic materials, and advanced composite materials. IMR’s research is directed towards the understanding and characterisation of materials properties, structure and performance, as well as materials synthesis and fabrication, processing, and application, with emphasis on the transformation and commercialization of products of scientific research and development. IMR has established the Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, the State Key Laboratory for Corrosion and Protection, the Shenyang R&D Center for Advanced Materials, the Environmental Corrosion Center, the National Engineering Research Center for Corrosion Control of Metals and the National Engineering Research Center for High Performance Homogenized Alloys in furtherance of its research area.