Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world has entered the "era of optical intelligent manufacturing", and high-end industrial technology led by lasers has become the technical support for the high-quality development of the mainland manufacturing industry. Driven by the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the long-term goals for 2035, the mainland government has listed the laser industry as a strategic emerging industry and increased support for the laser industry.
Relevant data show that the market size of the mainland laser processing equipment industry has increased from 49.5 billion yuan in 2017 to 93 billion yuan in 2022, and the application scenarios cover many industries such as industry, medical treatment, communications, and military. Among them, Shenzhen JPT Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "JPT"), a member unit of our association and a pilot enterprise of strategic emerging industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2023, plays a pivotal role in the process of localization substitution.
PART.01
{ Firmly be the leader of fiber lasers }
Founded in 2006, JPT adheres to the product positioning of "laser light source +", and has been deeply involved in the field of laser industry for a long time, and is a national high-tech enterprise focusing on lasers, lasers, optical intelligent equipment and optical fiber devices and other products, integrating technology research and development, production and sales. After years of development, the company has now built a business system with dual R&D centers in Shenzhen + Singapore, domestic production and global sales, forming a market map of two-wheel drive development at home and abroad, leading the innovation and development of the laser industry, and helping the transformation from a manufacturing power to an "intelligent manufacturing" power.
Every enterprise that has developed and grown has been on a blue road, and every entrepreneur has achieved nirvana in the tempering of the mind. At that time, domestic fiber lasers basically relied on foreign imports, and the overall technology of the domestic laser industry lagged far behind the international level. The ambitious Huang Zhijia and Dr. Liu Jian, who had just returned from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, hit it off because of their like-minded belief in the laser industry, and the company was established.
At the beginning of the company, the company was committed to being an industry leader, not a follower. Huang Zhijia, chairman of Jeput and a "pioneer figure" of strategic emerging industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2023, hopes to do something different. He said that we will not touch the mature products and technologies of others, and we will do things that are difficult to do in the world. To this end, they consulted industry experts everywhere to conduct research and analysis on the domestic market and products. It is also learned that MOPA pulsed fiber laser as a non-contact processing tool has just started in China, and the laser products on the market are all imported and the price is very high, but there are many application scenarios that the laser can process. After in-depth research, they finally chose fiber lasers as the company's main development direction and began to get involved in the research and development of pulsed fiber lasers.
Huang Zhijia said: "After determining the direction and goal, we found that there was a lack of professional talents, so we found Dr. Cheng Xueping, who was studying fiber laser at Nanyang Technological University, to join the team, and introduced several junior disciples from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Dr. Chunguang Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, to form the earliest fiber laser research and development team."
Technology research and development often requires a long cycle. Fiber lasers, in addition to talents, professional equipment, laboratories and other hard cost investment, the survival of enterprises is the first thing entrepreneurs need to consider. Therefore, in the first few years of the company's establishment, the company also developed the business of optical communication devices, and successfully cooperated with Huawei, ZTE, Nokia, and Siemens to ensure the smooth research and development of fiber laser technology.
Huang Zhijia said: "If a company wants to succeed, it must focus on its main business and work intensively on a track. I firmly believe that the most difficult things in the world are the easiest to succeed. "The fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold. In October 2019, JPT was successfully listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (stock code 688025, referred to as "JPT"), which is the best embodiment of the company's accumulation.
PART.02
{ Concentrate on originality to achieve localized substitution }
In the 60s of the last century, China began to study the laser industry and developed the first laser in the mainland, which was the starting point of China's laser industrialization. In the 80s, the first laser research institute in mainland China - Shanghai Laser Research Institute was established, and in the 90s, China's laser industry entered a stage of rapid development, and the strength of the domestic laser industry continued to expand. Since the beginning of the 21st century, China has formulated a series of technical development goals and industrial policies according to the current situation of the laser industry. With its strength and unprecedented policy support, it has successfully bred different types of enterprises to enter the high-speed development track, and JPT is one of them.
In 2007, JPT officially established the project and began to develop MOPA pulsed fiber lasers. The first MOPA laser was prototyped in 2008, but the actual test found that the reliability of the laser was not enough, and due to the lack of experience, the MOPA laser has not been able to match the application needs, and the market has not been opened. The R&D team continued to try to update and upgrade the design scheme, and the company's employees once burned out more than 10 machines at one time during the experiment, losing millions of yuan. From R&D to production, it took more than seven years before and after, without making a penny.
Huang Zhijia's determination came from the concerted efforts of the team, and it took more than a year to focus on improving quality and controlling costs. It was not until 2010 that the first commercial MOPA pulsed fiber laser was successfully implemented, and in 2014, the fiber laser division officially became profitable.
"Since the establishment of the company in 2006 to determine the direction, it took 7-8 years to really make the fiber laser project, and the real 'eight years to sharpen a sword'," Huang Zhijia sighed. The road to realizing the dream is precisely the persistent embodiment of one's own beliefs, without the support of the team, the enterprise cannot blossom and bear fruit.
In 2015, JPT's MOPA pulsed fiber laser shipments surpassed competitors in the United States and the United Kingdom, ranking first in the world in terms of sales, accounting for more than 70% of the domestic market share, and winning the global sales championship for many years in the following years.
At the same time, JPT has also replaced Japanese products in the field of optical precision testing equipment, defeated Japanese and Taiwanese manufacturers in the field of laser resistor regulators, and became the "invisible champion" of the industry, ranking first in the global market share. The so-called hidden champion is an enterprise that may not be well-known to the outside world, but has absolute market share and bargaining power in the subdivided industry. Huang Zhijia believes: "The hidden champion is not to be big and complete, but to be stronger, longer and longer. The hidden champion pursues to solve various incurable diseases in the subdivided field and create higher added value for customers. ”
At present, JPT has become China's first commercial manufacturer of "Pulse Width Tunable High Power Pulsed Fiber Laser (MOPA Pulsed Fiber Laser)" and a leading provider of optoelectronic precision testing and laser processing intelligent equipment, as well as a "National Manufacturing Single Champion (Product) Enterprise".
PART.03
{ Specialized, refined, special and new empower "intelligent manufacturing power"}
As a highly sophisticated technology, lasers, atomic energy, semiconductors, and computers are known as the four most important inventions of mankind in the 20th century, and laser technology is known as "the fastest knife" and "the most accurate ruler". It is understood that in 2022, the global industrial laser system market will reach more than 20 billion US dollars, and China will account for about 36%, making it the world's largest laser market.
"Insist on originality and do something different!" Independent R&D and innovation are the development genes engraved in the Jeput enterprise, and it is also the core competitiveness of the long-term development of enterprises in the field of laser technology. Since its listing, the company has continued to increase its R&D efforts, and its product line has expanded from single to diversified, in addition to MOPA pulsed fiber lasers, it also lays out CW fiber lasers, solid-state ultraviolet, solid-state green light and ultrafast lasers. Huang Zhijia called this fusion "laser +", "in terms of domestic precision laser light sources, JPT is the most complete product in industrial processing applications. The products are sold at home and abroad, and our partners include BYD, CATL, Kedali and other enterprises.
Talent is the lifeblood of high-quality development of enterprises. JPT takes equity incentives as an important starting point to attract and retain talents and grow together with the company. Before and after listing, the company carried out three equity incentive plans, which stabilized the core management team and core technical personnel. Today, JPT has established a R&D team led by overseas returned doctors and high-level talents, with more than 600 R&D personnel, accounting for one-third of the total number of the company, more than 20 doctoral talents introduced, and more than 600 patented technologies.
The company has formed a pattern of dual R&D centers in Singapore and Shenzhen, bringing an international vision while manufacturing in China, setting up a fiber laser industrial park in Huizhou, responsible for the refined production of the company's products, and having subsidiaries or offices in South Korea, Japan, the United States and Taiwan, China, and an agency in Europe, with sales and technical support covering 29 countries on 5 continents, basically realizing the timely response of global customers within 24 hours.
Create value with leading light technology and serve mankind. This is the corporate mission written by JPT. Over the years, JPT has adhered to this belief and gradually made the corporate vision a reality, with high-performance MOPA pulsed fiber laser technology, taking a differentiated development route, and becoming the world's leading laser light source solution provider with high-quality and stable product quality and efficient service.
In 2021, JPT won the title of "National Specialized, Special and New Little Giant". With professional technology, we will develop a refined market, create characteristic products, and concentrate on one thing to achieve the ultimate. The R&D and industrialization process of MOPA lasers is very consistent with the concept of specialization, refinement, and innovation. In this way, Jeput is moving steadily on the road of laser with the attitude of a cultivator.
The above content is from Shenzhen Zhanxinhui
Yangtze River Delta G60 Laser Alliance Chen Changjun reprinted!
At the same time, welcome to the 2nd Conference on the Application of Laser Intelligent Manufacturing in the Energy Storage Industry held by the Yangtze River Delta G60 Laser Alliance in Nanjing (Nanjing, April 23-25, 2024)