At 2:10 a.m. on June 30, Shen Wenrong, chairman of the board of directors of Jiangsu Shagang Group, died of illness at the age of 78.
Shagang, the "sand" in its name originates from Zhangjiagang's original name of Shazhou County. Shen Wenrong, a name that is like thunder in the steel industry, is known as "China's Carnegie" because of his lifelong infatuation with steel and making big shagang. Over the past 40 years, he has devoted himself to the steel industry and led Shagang people to refresh many records in the steel industry in China and the world. He is the most hardcore hard-core changer in China's steel industry, and he is also the first private entrepreneur in China to enter the world's top 500.
From a small workshop to a Fortune 500
In 1946, Shen Wenrong was born in a peasant family in Shazhou County, Jiangsu. At the age of 22, after graduating from secondary school, he came to Shazhou County Jinfeng ginning factory to become a fitter, and since then he has successively served as the leader of the factory fitter group, squad leader, director of the machine repair workshop, deputy secretary of the party committee and other positions.
Lead the first batch of rolling workers to go out to learn rolling technology
In 1974, Bluestar Ginners raised 450,000 yuan to build a small steel rolling workshop, and Shen Wenrong, as one of the builders, led 23 workers to a nearby steel mill to learn steel rolling technology. At the end of that year, the rolling workshop was successfully put into trial production, and in March of the following year, it was officially put into operation and renamed Shazhou County Iron and Steel Plant, which was the predecessor of Shagang Group.
In 1984, the steel mill was separated from the cotton processing plant, and Shen Wenrong was appointed director of the steel plant. He keenly grasped the market context and set his sights on the small market that large enterprises ignored - the field of window frame steel. In the following few years, the market share of shagang window frame steel rose from 4% to 70%, and it became the largest production base of window frame steel in the country. The small window frame steel successfully made Shagang earn more than 100 million yuan.
Signed the contract articles of association for steel plate project with POSCO, South Korea
In 1988, Shen Wenrong took out all his family resources to introduce the first domestic ultra-high electric furnace continuous casting and rolling short process production line from the British Bizton Steel Mill, which was praised by the domestic steel industry as "the model of the third revolution in China's iron and steel industry", which shortened the shagang and the international advanced level by 20 years.
In the following years, under the leadership of Shen Wenrong, Shagang continued to introduce international advanced technology. In 1994, it integrated the advanced equipment of many countries such as ultra-high power vertical electric furnace in Germany to build the "first furnace in Asia"; In 1996, it had a joint venture of more than 200 million US dollars with POSCO, the world's second largest steel company, to produce cold-rolled stainless steel sheets; In 1998, the United States introduced cold-rolled stainless steel technology and invested heavily to upgrade the entire production line...... These important decisions not only reflect Shen Wenrong's outstanding vision, but also add a strong touch to the development history of Shagang.
In 1992, Shagang Group, which was established with Shazhou Iron and Steel Plant as the main body, was formally established and completed its restructuring in 2001. Under the leadership of Shen Wenrong, Shagang entered the ranks of the world's top 500 for the first time in 2009 and has been on the list for 15 consecutive years. After years of development, shagang has successfully realized the gorgeous transformation from a single steel production enterprise to a diversified and international large-scale enterprise group.
Ranked sixth among the world's steel companies
Shagang Group is the largest private iron and steel enterprise in China, and its products cover major categories such as general steel, excellent steel and special steel, which are exported to more than 100 countries and regions around the world, and are widely used in infrastructure construction, industrial production, high-end equipment, people's livelihood consumption and other fields, as well as many major international and domestic projects. At present, Shagang Group has an annual production capacity of 33.65 million tons of iron, 41.5 million tons of steel, and 38.65 million tons of rolled products, ranking sixth among global iron and steel enterprises.
After continuous accumulation, rolling development and joint reorganization, Shagang Group's main steel industry has five production bases, covering Jiangsu, Liaoning, Henan and other places, and is a leader in the domestic and global steel industry. In 2023, shagang ranked 18th among the top 500 private enterprises in China and 14th among the top 500 private enterprises in China's manufacturing industry. On the "China's 500 Most Valuable Brands List" released in June this year, Shagang once again ranked 151st on the list, and the brand value reached a new high, which is also the 17th consecutive time that the "Shagang" brand has been selected into the list.
Shagang Group not only pays attention to economic benefits, but also regards environmental protection and sustainable development as an important cornerstone of enterprise development. In terms of green development, shagang has invested heavily in the construction of environmental protection facilities, actively promoted the construction of "zero-waste group", and is committed to achieving cleaner production. Through continuous technological innovation and management innovation, shagang is making every effort to build a green, intelligent and efficient modern iron and steel enterprise.
While deeply cultivating the main steel industry, Shagang Group actively expands the diversification strategy, takes the vertical extension and horizontal expansion of the steel industry chain as the main line, vigorously develops diversified industries such as resources and energy, metal products, financial futures, trade logistics, venture capital, big data, etc., and provides functional platforms such as warehousing and distribution, extended processing, e-commerce, bonded logistics, financing guarantee, and comprehensive services, and actively cultivates new strategic support points and benefit growth points, injecting new vitality into the long-term development of Shagang.
Create many miracles in the history of steel in the world
Since 1996, China's steel production has ranked first in the world, accounting for half of the world's total for more than 20 years. Among them, Shagang Group, a leading private steel enterprise, is an important page in the history of the development of China's iron and steel industry.
"When we started, Shagang had a clear goal." Shen Wenrong recalled that shagang has its own five-year plan since the establishment of the plant, from the initial small goal of "Suzhou first" to the big goal of "entering the top five in China's iron and steel industry and the top ten steel enterprises in the world" determined by the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the plant, shagang adheres to the feelings of "developing national steel" and unswervingly forges ahead.
Under the leadership of Shen Wenrong, shagang has created many miracles in the history of steel in the world. In 2003, shagang opened a new era in the history of China's iron and steel, and for the first time acquired the steel enterprise of ThyssenKrupp in Dortmund from abroad. What's even more amazing is that it took only one year for Shagang to relocate and transform the steel giant to the bank of the Yangtze River, 20,000 kilometers away, which is known as the "great relocation of the century" that has never been seen in human history.
In October 2009, shagang once again ushered in a historic moment. At that time, the world's largest blast furnace was completed and put into operation in shagang, "the molten iron created by shagang is a package into steel and finished products, which is widely used by the steel industry, and many production lines at home and abroad have the shadow of shagang production lines." Shen Wenrong proudly said that this is an important contribution made by shagang to the steel industry.
After the "Century Relocation" and "Rebirth" technological transformation from the Rhine River to the Yangtze River in Germany, Shagang has built a world-class 6.5 million tons of long-process wide and heavy plate project, achieved a production capacity of more than 10 million tons, and entered the "first phalanx" of the steel industry in one fell swoop.
In recent years, with the encouragement and support of the state for electric furnace steel, shagang has developed into the largest electric furnace steel production base in the country. Shagang started from a small rolling workshop, and Shen Wenrong knows that the development of the steel industry is inseparable from the innovation of steelmaking technology. Therefore, shagang has taken a step ahead and vigorously developed electric furnace steelmaking technology, making positive contributions to the country's iron and steel industry.
"The ultimate foothold of enterprise development is to see how much it contributes to the country." Shen Wenrong emphasized that the contribution to the country has always run through the belief in the development of shagang, and the interests of the enterprise are always consistent with the interests of the country. In the current period of transformation of the iron and steel industry, as the backbone of the industry, shagang will always maintain a high-spirited and promising attitude, bear in mind the "great man of the country", take the initiative to take the initiative, and make new and greater contributions to the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation in an all-round way with Chinese-style modernization.