Diligence Paves the Path to Innovation; Perseverance Navigates the Boundless Business Sea

In September 2022, relying on its outstanding product technology and professional team, SynMatic stood out from the fierce competition (against powerful domestic peers and foreign-funded enterprises) and won the bid for a large-scale project in the metal products industry. This marks the improvement of SynMatic's core competitiveness and significant progress in market expansion, elevating it to a first-tier brand in the metal products industry. It also demonstrates SynMatic's accelerated pace towards high-quality development. Director Chen of the Sales and Service Management Department and Director Liang of the Metal Products Business Line accepted an exclusive interview on industry trends, project details, and product innovation.

1. Awakening the Innovation Power of Industrial Control

Gallop: What is your understanding of the metal products industry?

Director Liang: The metal products industry has developed steadily in China for 40 years, with highly mature control systems. As a fundamental industry, it, like industrial automation, plays a solid role in fields such as vehicles, ships, and bridges. For example, all tires require steel cords, and as long as there is demand for vehicles, the demand for steel cords will never cease. In recent years, various manufacturers have successively launched new projects, springing up like mushrooms after rain. Taking a certain project as an example, the number of devices has doubled in five years.

Before SynMatic's involvement, the industry focused more on replacement by domestic products to reduce costs, lacking substantive innovation. The return of Director Jiang enabled the customization of new products for customers and led the innovation of electronic control systems in the form of special-purpose machines, comprehensively promoting industrial upgrade.

Director Chen: We drew on automotive electronics concepts to create disruptive products. Adopting the same domain controller as Tesla, we integrated passenger vehicle and industrial control technologies across industries, which constitutes a dimension reduction strike to traditional products. Although some enterprises have conceived similar paths, they failed to realize them due to conditional constraints. The industry has stringent requirements for quality. The consistency of steel cords, for instance, is a huge challenge.

The SynMatic team has been rooted in the keyword "innovation" since its establishment. It is fortunate to have someone like Director Jiang who can deeply integrate industrial control with the automotive industry, and a professional team capable of turning ideas into reality. Our customer praised, "Without this series of coincidences, such products would not exist on earth."

Gallop: Is the metal products industry the first industry SynMatic entered?

Director Liang: Yes, it is the first one. Initially, this product segment was monopolized by foreign brands. Huawei started developing general-purpose AC drives more than 20 years ago, and Director Jiang was the first person in China to apply the TD3000 vector control AC drive to the steel cord industry. The arduous R&D experience and long-term on-site practice at Huawei gave him a profound understanding of this industry, earning him a nickname in the industry — "Jiang Lasi" (a playful title derived from "steel wire drawing", highlighting his expertise in the field). Later, Director Jiang founded INOVANCE Automotive and made it the domestic leader in the sector. Deeply influenced by the forward development thinking of the automotive industry, Director Jiang has always pursued product excellence. Returning to the metal products industry, he has upgraded the products he developed more than a decade ago.

Gallop: How did we enter the market after confirming the direction?

Director Liang: Director Jiang had not worked in the metal products industry for many years. When embarking on this journey again to engage with customers, the professional, diligent, and sincere impression he left back then won him great recognition and trust from customers—this became our qualifying credential. On New Year's Eve 2018, we worked straight through the night at a customer's site — installing, wiring, and debugging our first water tank electronic control system well into the early hours of 2019. After the work was completed, Director Jiang carefully cleaned up all the screws, nuts, and cable ends on the ground. It is worth noting that he was already in his fifties. He stayed with us late into the night and helped us solve technical problems. I felt both moved and admired. I quietly took this photo. The sight of him cleaning, with his back to me, has become a lasting memory—one that inspires us to strive and work hard. In fact, this event is just a microcosm of his daily life. Director Jiang's sincere, pragmatic, and pursuit-of-excellence attitude and style earned SynMatic a high reputation, laying a solid foundation for us to revitalize customer resources in the early stage. Director Jiang also deeply encouraged every member of the SynMatic team.

早期我们就是这样⽤已有的关系、资源建⽴样板点，重点推进灯塔客⼾，再⼀步步向外推⼴。另一项⽬也是请姜⼯曾经帮忙做了⼀款480伏电压进口替代的产品，这批设备⼀⽤就是⼗多年。骏⻢的领导也因此对姜⼯⾮常认可，后来我们抱着集成控制器去骏⻢。

领导⼀看，“这是什么？电脑机箱吗？”

“不，这是拉丝机的电控。”

以前产品很⼤，现在只有机箱⼤小。那时候产品还没经过⼴泛地验证，但是骏⻢还是再⼀次选择相信姜⼯，选择安驰。

陈工：我们的打法跟很多公司都不⼀样，我们是先到客⼾现场，寻找到市场落脚点，再去规划产品。所以我们定义出来的产品可以说是箭⽆虚发。

《驰骋》：公司现在在⾦属制品⾏业发展怎么样呢？

梁工：分为存量和增量市场。增量市场60%-70%都是我们安驰的，我们在两块市场上都是有⼀定影响⼒的。

《驰骋》：我们的⽔箱拉丝机具体有什么亮点？

梁工：以前的电控是⻛冷的，制品⾏业在⽣产过程中会产⽣⼤量的⾦属粉尘，灰尘进⼊电控容易引起误报警，甚⾄炸机，现场产品经常⼀年多就坏了。为了避免这个情况，有的公司甚⾄⽤通⻛管接在机器出⻛口，以防粉尘进⼊，现场显得很滑稽。我们做的是拉丝机驱控⼀体系统，产品巧妙地借⽤了⽣产⼯艺上的拉丝皂液来做冷却，因此整个电控系统是全封闭的，完全阻挡了灰尘的进⼊，我们也为此申请了专利。另外，因为拉丝作业⼯艺的要求，皂液的温度恒定在40-45℃之间，这对电控系统来说相当于⼈呆在25℃空调房⾥⼀样舒适。所以我们的电控系统故障率极低，而且随着客⼾群体的丰富，我们的功能越来越完善。⽐如结合客⼾⼯艺做了⾃动排线功能，极⼤地降低了⼯⼈的劳动强度。集成产品体积小、故障率低、安装维极其⽅便，产品的出⾊表现为我们打开了市场。

陈工：我们产品符合国家碳中和、碳达峰的相关政策，也可以和智能化、数字化做匹配，适应了⾏业发展趋势。

二、“电脑主机”的突围

《驰骋》：可以跟我们讲讲这次聚焦的项⽬吗？

陈工：项目本⾝是做这个⾏业更上游的产品，之前我们彼此并不了解。刚开始知道中天项⽬的消息是在去年8、9⽉份，已经⽐较晚了。2022年1⽉，姜⼯带队，还有我和王⼯，抱着机器去客户总部做技术交流。客⼾听完很感兴趣，当即提出安排试机。

后来中天集团下属的⼦公司测试了⼏个⽉，对我们的产品也表⽰认可，最终成功中标。这也是我们⼯业板块到⽬前为⽌最⼤的项⽬。

《驰骋》：⼀共是哪⼏家进⾏招标？

梁工：有四家公司参与了招标。其中两家是上市公司，还有⼀家产品⽤的是ABB的变频器，除我们之外都是⼯控领域的知名企业。

《驰骋》：这中间有什么意想不到的困难吗？

梁工：原本以为挺顺利，毕竟我们的设备市场应用广泛且稳定。没想到他们⼦公司与别的⼯⼚要求都不⼀样，技术⼈员多数是⻉卡尔特出来的，⻉卡是做钢帘线最⽼牌的企业之⼀，技术体系和国内有很⼤不同，对细节要求也很严格。当时很不巧，我们和设备⼚因为疫情管控的原因都没能到现场调试。产品的⼯艺程序都是按照原有的直接发到现场去了。⼈家着急要⽣产，我们的设备⼯艺不匹配，到了现场就⾮常被动。而且现场有很多机型，拉丝机、捻股机、重绕机等等，每个机型都要调，当时因为要隔离，我们只派了2个⻓期在外的市场拓展⼈员去现场⽀持，肯定搞不定的。

陈工：调了4天以后现场还有问题，团队其他成员全都扑上去了。加上隔离，在镇江⼀呆就是⼗⼏天。姜⼯每天晚上亲⾃组织会议复盘，经常到深夜。到了7⽉份，这个项⽬才全部完成。这个情况也正常，我们这⾏就这样，要精益求精，要把产品做好，把⼯艺吃透，就得在现场多花些功夫。后期，我们的控制器达到应有的⽔平之后，⼜花了很多时间在帮客⼾找外围的原因，并且解决了⼀系列问题。这是我们的附加值，是和别的公司不⼀样的地⽅。

《驰骋》：现在回想起来，⼤家觉得我们取胜的关键是什么呢？有哪些可以复制到其它项⽬的经验呢？

陈工：产品肯定是⼀个重要因素，是基础。跨界做了这款产品之后，我们在⾏业⾥也有了⼏年的积累。听说这个项⽬的时候，正好我们的产品也验证充分。回归商业的本质，是产品对客⼾有价值。客⼾⽤了之后觉得确实是个好东西，就会愿意帮你，愿意分享更多的商业机会。从市场的⻆度，这个项⽬的商业模式值得思考。市场上⼀些传统公司只做设备⼚家，或只做终端，这对我们创业公司来说⾏不通。我们需要得到两边的认可，项⽬才能推进。在⼤项⽬⾥可以把OEM和市场端结合，精⼒、⼈⼒都会相对集中。