At 2:10 on June 30, 2024, Shen Wenrong, chairman of the board of directors of Jiangsu Shagang Group, passed away at the age of 78.
The legend of a generation of Su businessmen has come to an end, and the stars have fallen, but there is only regret.
Looking back at Shen Lao's life path, he dedicated his life to the steel industry he loved, and led Shagang to become the first private enterprise in China to break into the world's top 500. In him, we deeply feel the entrepreneurial spirit of the older generation of entrepreneurs who work hard and work hard.
With this article alone, I will review the legendary life of this "steel pride".
Energetic youth
In 1946, Shen Wenrong was born in a peasant family in Shazhou County, Jiangsu. Like many rural families at the time, his parents supported their six siblings on only three acres of thin land.
Although he lived a hard life since he was a child, what is valuable is that he loves to learn, and in that era when there was no serious school, Shen Wenrong relied on self-study mathematics and became a rare intellectual at that time.
Shen Wenrong is young and promising, honest and responsible, and the villagers recommended him to be a scorekeeper, so he became a "person with real power" in the village. Later, the villagers recommended him to be the deputy leader of the production team, responsible for the entire production team.
In 1965, with the support of the village party secretary, Shen Wenrong studied diligently and was successfully admitted to a technical school and became a part-time student.
Three years later, 22-year-old Shen Wenrong graduated from technical school and entered Jinfeng ginning factory in Shazhou County, Suzhou, as a fitter.
In 1969, Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team of Jinfeng Commune, Shazhou County (third from right in the back row is Shen Wenrong)
Perhaps from the current point of view, factory workers are not a popular profession, but in that era, factory workers meant iron rice bowls, and the treatment and benefits were quite generous.
After working in the ginning factory for several years, Shen Wenrong was promoted to workshop director, although the promotion was gratifying, but Shen Wenrong was not satisfied with the current situation of the ginning factory.
The ginning factory is a seasonal processing plant, and during the peak season, the employees are busy; But in the off-season, employees get lazy. Even if people stay in the factory, most of the time, they get by.
At this time, the country had entered the mid-to-late 70s, and the working atmosphere of this state-owned factory was becoming more and more dull. It wasn't until the eve of reform and opening up that Shen Wenrong finally found an opportunity to show his strength.
The entrepreneurial period when he first showed his talents
In the seventies of the last century, a large number of workshop-type small steel mills emerged in southern Jiangsu. In 1975, Jinfeng ginning factory raised 450,000 yuan to build a small steel rolling workshop, and Shen Wenrong was one of the builders.
With the 200,000 yuan of funds given by the factory, Shen Wenrong began the real road of entrepreneurship.
At that time, the supply of national steel resources was insufficient, according to Shen Wenrong's recollection: "On the basis of no electricity and no technical talents, a small rolling workshop was built, and the 1,225 horsepower diesel engine at that time was used as the power to drag the rolling mill production, and the rolling mill was started by raising 450,000 yuan." Where do the raw materials come from? The scraps produced by the surrounding large steel mills are cut off from the head and tail, bought back and re-rolled. ”
"We have no equipment, no drawings, and no talent. Some equipment and spare parts are knocked out by themselves, and the materials are also simple because of the ugliness, and they can be used for whatever they get. ”
The shortage of equipment and funds is not the most fatal, Shen Wenrong is even more worried that the sales channel is too single, because the original intention of the establishment of this steel plant is to provide parts to the old owner ginning factory, and the products produced can basically only be sold to the ginning factory, and there is no room for development at all.
In the early 80s, he studied the relevant documents of the party with his colleagues (Shen Wenrong in the middle)
In 1983, the steel mill was separated from the cotton processing plant, and Shen Wenrong became the deputy director, and the following year he was rectified.
At that time, the annual output of shagang was less than 10,000 tons, but there were seven or eight kinds of products. In this county alone, there are more than 30 small workshops like Shagang. Fortunately, he finally broke the market deadlock and found the direction of specialization.
"If our enterprise is not big enough, then we must first do our best in a certain product, and strive to open the market in Jiangsu and even in the whole country." Shen Wenrong's thinking is very clear, since he can't take care of the overall situation and can't produce a variety of steel, he focuses on the small things, puts his five fingers together, clenches them into fists, and only attacks in one direction.
After carefully studying himself, his peers and the market, Shen Wenrong decided to seize the opportunity of real estate to start to rise, focusing on the window frame steel that large enterprises disdained to do at that time and small enterprises could not scale.
"Through technological and management innovation, shagang has developed 9 series of 35 specifications of products, and has become the production base of window frame steel with the most complete varieties, the best quality and the highest output in China."
Shagang's reputation gradually started, occupying a certain position in the market, and many people praised: "Buy window frame steel to Shagang's reputation." ”
In 1998, Shagang window frame steel products reached 130,000 tons, accounting for 60% of the market, dividing half of the steel market.
The small window frame steel saved 100 million yuan of assets for shagang, opened the domestic market, and jumped into the forefront of the industry.
The whole factory relocation that shocked the world
A real entrepreneur is often a madman in the eyes of ordinary people.
In 1988, Shen Wenrong decided to take out all his family funds to buy a 75-ton ultra-high power electric furnace steelmaking, continuous casting, and continuous rolling short-process production line in the United Kingdom, and he wanted to keep up with the development trend of the times.
In 1988, the company signed a contract for the introduction of 75-ton electric furnace continuous casting and rolling production line from Bizton Steel Mill in the United Kingdom
This also made Shen Wenrong go through the most painful decision-making process in his life, at that time, even if all the funds of Shagang were smashed into it, there was still a 1/3 funding gap, and if it was not done well, it would destroy a good factory. And the leaders and authorities of the metallurgical industry have expressed doubts and advised them to think twice.
After more than half a month of restless sleep, he made a military order in public, "If the introduction of this project fails, it will be used as an exhibition hall, and I will sell tickets." ”
In 1991, this production line was successfully produced, which shortened Shagang and the international advanced level by 20 years. After Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992, China's economy set off a construction boom, and Shagang recovered 300 million yuan of investment in less than three years.
So much so that after the inspection of the leaders of the Ministry of Metallurgy, they evaluated it as a model of the third revolution in the history of metallurgy in the mainland, and repeatedly emphasized to other steel mills in China: "If you want to figure out what the third revolution is, you don't have to go abroad to run around, just go to see shagang!" ”
In 1996, shagang successively bought back advanced equipment from the United States, Germany, Switzerland and other countries, so that the steel output exceeded 1 million tons. In 2002, Shen Wenrong used this trick to the highest level-
It bought its subsidiary Horsch Steel Mill from ThyssenKrupp AG (also known as Phoenix), the largest steel company in Europe, for 1.6 billion yuan, and then dismantled, packaged, and transferred this world-old steel plant on the banks of the Rhine River, and moved it to Shagang headquarters to become a new steel factory.
In 2002, ThyssenKrupp Phoenix Steel Mill, known as the world's largest relocation project, was dismantled and started
The project is huge, and there are more than 1,000 labor visas to Germany alone to carry out demolition projects. It took him a year to bring 25 tons of equipment and 40 tons of detailed assembly documents back to China by sea. This operation, which shocked the entire industry, was called "the largest industrial relocation in post-war European history".
On the eve of the Chinese workers' departure from Germany, a diplomat from the Chinese embassy in Germany came to address the workers: "The Chinese are famous in Germany for washing dishes and opening restaurants, and when our companies want to do business here, sometimes just to meet each other, we have to keep our voices down." But through your own work, you have won glory for the Chinese! The 'Phoenix' flew away, and the Herder District became one of the first places in the world to experience the amazing power of China's rise. The company that caused the earthquake was called Shagang. ”
Shen Wenrong hired the world-famous engineering design and metallurgical company "voestalpine" to do the overall design, evaluation and transformation of the steel mill that moved back, and finally built an iron-making, steel-making, continuous casting and continuous rolling project with an annual output of 6.5 million tons in four years.
Shen Wenrong said, "If I build a factory with a capacity of 6.5 million tons by myself, it will cost 45 billion yuan or even 60 billion yuan, and it will only cost 15 billion yuan to buy and renovate." ”
This approach not only achieves a production capacity of 10 million tons, but also greatly improves the technical level by digesting the German production line, and ranks among the first-line steel mills in China.
An ever-expanding steel empire
The property rights of enterprises affect the institutional mechanism and development ability of enterprises.
Shen Wenrong knows that if an enterprise wants to achieve long-term development, it must adapt to the development of the times. Beginning in 1998, Shagang promoted the restructuring, and after the completion of the restructuring in 2001, the collective shareholding was 25%, the employee shareholding was 30%, and the leadership held 45%; Among them, Shen Wenrong personally holds 17% of the shares. In 2004, the management of Shagang repurchased the collective shareholding ratio, and Shen Wenrong's personal shares reached 29.98%, completely owning the control of Shagang.
By 2024, Shen Wenrong's direct and indirect shareholding in Shagang Group has reached 54.14%. Shen Wenrong said, "Reform and opening up allows the implementation of the shareholding system and allows financiers to hold shares. Joint-stock system reform, we in Zhangjiagang, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province changed relatively early, from township enterprises to joint-stock enterprises, let financiers hold shares, we are also in this wave of joint-stock reform. ”
As a typical economy of scale, the steel industry determines that it can only become stronger and stronger if it continues to expand.
In 2004, there was the famous "Tieben Incident" in China. In 2005, the National Development and Reform Commission promulgated the "Iron and Steel Industry Development Policy" to encourage the merger and reorganization of existing enterprises.
Shen Wenrong judged the situation, set his sights on mergers and acquisitions, and embarked on a thrilling road of acquisition, merger and reorganization.
- In 2006, Shen Wenrong acquired 80% of the shares of Jiangsu Huaigang, the largest iron and steel company in northern Jiangsu, for 2 billion yuan;
- In 2007, Henan Anyang Yongxing Iron and Steel, the largest private iron and steel enterprise in Henan, was merged into the province, completing the first case of cross-regional reorganization of private steel enterprises;
- In January 2008, Shagang acquired 51% of the shares of Changzhou Xinrui Special Steel;
- In January 2010, Shagang held a controlling stake in Wuxi Xixing Iron and Steel. So far, the overall production capacity of shagang has reached 35 million tons, the product line has been further improved, the industrial chain has been effectively expanded, and the dominant position of the industry has been further consolidated;
- On April 8, 2011, the original small and medium-sized board was suspended from listing *ST Zhang Tong (002075), after shagang restructuring and injection of 63.79% of the equity of huaigang special steel, re-listed and renamed "shagang shares", shagang has become a public company with modern governance;
- In 2016, Northeast Special Steel went bankrupt and reorganized. In 2017, Cui Fenglin, then vice governor of Liaoning, flew to Zhangjiagang to meet Shen Wenrong. Shagang became the owner of Fushun Special Steel in 2018 and turned losses into profits in 2019.
- In 2024, Shagang announced that it would spend 354 million yuan to acquire a 67% stake in Shandong Yinglun Machinery Co., Ltd. held by Dongte Shares.
In terms of the pursuit of speed, Shen Wenrong has created a miracle of visiting three countries and inspecting two factories in more than 40 hours. He also created the miracle of building a steel mill at a cost of only $300 per ton of steel (the lowest cost per ton of steel on record in the world was $500 in Japan).
In July 2009, Shagang was interviewed by media at all levels when it was shortlisted for the first time in the world's top 500
It is also this speed that has promoted Shagang to become the largest private steel enterprise in China, and the first to land on the Fortune Global 500.
In addition to speed, Shen Wenrong also created a world record in the steel industry - he is the only person in the history of human steel who started with 450,000 yuan in more than 20 years and built a 10-million-ton steel mill by relying only on self-reliance, rather than relying on state investment or listing financing.
For Shen Wenrong's success, everyone wants to explore the secret. And he said lightly: "People have their own hobbies in their lives, and my hobby is steel." Doing what you like and want to do is not tiring or bitter, you will feel that this work is enjoyment. ”
In 2010, a reporter asked Shen Wenrong when he would retire. He said that he would probably have five years to work, and said that after retirement, what he wanted to do most was steel, and if he did not produce and develop steel, he would study steel.
But until he handed over most of the power to his son, Shen Bin, the current chairman of Shagang, who was born in 1979, Shen Wenrong did not retire, and still went to work and worked overtime every day as long as he was in Zhangjiagang, full of heart for his beloved steel career.
A sentence of "hobby" has drawn a successful end to the career pursued for a lifetime.
Now, the Si people have gone, but we believe that Shen Lao's entrepreneurial spirit will live forever in the hearts of every Su businessman.
Resources:
Huashang Taolu: "Just now, the steel giant, "China Carnegie", is gone! 》
Liu Shengjun's overall view: "Salute to Iron Man Shen Wenrong: The century-old history of humiliation of the Chinese nation is destined to be a generation that must desperately seize time to create a great cause!" 》