Li Fang, President of Corning Greater China
"Ciie is a very good platform for us to showcase all the products in Corning's five major business markets. This is also the first time corning has put together all the products currently promoted in China. On November 6, Li Fang, president of Corning Greater China, was interviewed by the surging news reporter during the second China International Import Expo (www.thepaper.cn)
In an interview, he said that under the sharing economy, technology has no boundaries, and the Expo reflects this open concept.
From November 5th to 10th, the second China International Import Expo was held in Shanghai. Corning participated in the Expo for the first time, displaying a series of latest innovations and cutting-edge technologies in the Science and Technology Life Hall of the National Convention and Exhibition Center, two of the most advanced technologies and solutions - Corning Air Purification System and Corning Nebulas Teaching Platform will be the world premiere at the Expo.
Talking about the two days of exhibition experience, Li Fang said that there are many customers visiting Corning's booth, and there will be many purchase orders before and after the meeting.
Founded in 1851 and headquartered in Corning, New York, Corning is a leading innovator in materials science worldwide. In 2018, Corning's core sales reached $11.4 billion, ranking 279th on the 2019 Fortune 500. Corning has been involved in the Chinese market for more than 35 years and operates its business in China through its subsidiary Corning (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd. To date, Corning has invested more than $7 billion in China and employs more than 5,000 people.
It will increase investment in China
Li Fang said, "For Corning, in addition to North America, China is one of the most important markets. In the past four decades, we have continuously brought Corning's technology, products, and financing to China, and thanks to the development of China's economy, we have achieved double-digit growth every year in the past. As we slowly play out the role of our new investments now, we can expect growth to get better and better in the coming years, so we are still very confident in the development of our entire business in China. ”
Corning's Expo booth
Regarding Corning's development strategy in China, Li Fang said that Corning has established offices, factories and research and development centers in 17 cities in China. China is also the only country outside of North America where Corning has all of its operations. Corning will also increase investment in China, "next year should be able to hear the news of our completion of projects in Guangzhou and Wuhan, other cities will also announce new investments." ”
According to him, Corning's core technologies include glass, ceramics, and optical physics. Based on three core technologies, Corning has five major market platforms, one is optical communications, Corning is the world's first optical fiber production enterprise, and now provides optical fiber, optical cable, including data center solutions. The second is display technology, that is, the production and manufacture of all LCD TVs, mobile phones, tablet computers and other glass substrates used in them. The third is automotive applications, involving automobile exhaust emissions and automotive glass. The fourth is the life sciences, which provide different products for cell culture and gene testing. Fifth, mobile consumer electronics, including the cover glass before and after the mobile phone.
"Now an Apple phone will use 6 pieces of Corning glass, two pieces of display glass, the glass used in the face recognition 3D sensor, and the glass in the phone camera are all made by Corning." Li Fang said that at this time, he showed the pet photo printed on his mobile phone case, "My mobile phone used 8 pieces of Corning glass, and I printed the dog's photo on the glass protective case, plus the protective film of the front screen." ”
On the same day, it coincided with Samsung's release of the world's first folding screen mobile phone at the Expo. When asked if Corning is also developing related products, Li Fang responded, "We are currently making an ultra-thin bendable glass in the laboratory, which can be as thin as 35 microns from 125 microns and can be bent more than 100,000 times without breaking." We also work closely with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to do folding mobile phone companies, work together to develop this product, and if the mobile phone manufacturers are really mature and developed, everyone will naturally see our products. ”
"The freshest air in the Expo 36㎡"
Talking about Corning's highlight products at this expo, Li Fang smiled and pointed to the large screen on the side of the conference room, "This is Corning's atmospheric purification system, and the conference room we are in now should be the freshest 36 square meters of air in the Expo." ”
Corning booth meeting room
"The pm2.5 here is 1 microgram per cubic meter. The World Health Organization requires 10 micrograms per cubic meter. Wang Liming, R&D director of Corning China R&D Center and head of Corning's China team for the Air Purification System Project, added.
According to reports, Corning's atmospheric purification system consists of a device that captures suspended particulate matter to purify the air, using a fan to introduce polluted air into the intake tract through a porous honeycomb-like ceramic filter, which adsorbs pm on the porous wall and releases clean air into the environment through the open outlet channel.
Wang Liming told the surging news reporter that the technology used by Corning is a ceramic honeycomb. One of the advantages of this technology is environmental protection, because the material uses ceramics, so there will be no organic volatiles; the second is easy to clean, after cleaning with water, it can be used repeatedly, basically no maintenance, and can be cleaned according to the local air quality, such as Shanghai is about once every two years; the third is a long service life, which can be reused for 20 years.
"This is a truly sustainable air purification technology that can be used in large indoor spaces or outdoors, such as cities with severe smog," he said. ”
For future applications in the Chinese market, Wang Liming said, "This device is currently being promoted nationwide. Combined with the current domestic air quality, we believe that the market outlook is very good. ”
It is worth mentioning that on October 30, 2018, Corning won the "Horizon 2020" Clean Air Material Award issued by the European Union for its air purification system, and received a prize of 3 million euros.
Corning Nebulas Teaching Platform will be launched worldwide during the Expo
Li Fang mentioned that in addition to Corning's atmospheric purification system, Corning Nebulas Teaching Platform will also be the world's premiere during this expo.
According to reports, the teaching platform is a new teaching platform launched by Corning Microchannel Reactor (AFR), which helps students in chemistry, chemical engineering and related majors in colleges and universities to provide inherently safer equipment, allowing users to master flow chemistry and flow reactor operations.
Jiang Yi, president and general manager of Corning Reactor Technology Co., Ltd., told the surging news reporter, "We want to use the east wind of the Expo to make the world premiere of this product." At present, a number of universities have the intention of ordering these teaching equipment. We hope to leverage our experience in international cooperation to serve universities in terms of courseware, software, experiments, internships and further study opportunities abroad. ”
Corning microchannel reactor
So what's so special about Corning's microreaction technology? Jiang Yi introduced that most of the traditional chemical reactions are intermittent kettle reactions. Like the large-size reactors commonly found in high-capacity chemical plants, traditional chemicals are a volume-driven capacity structure. To achieve high production capacity, a larger volume is required, and the safety risk also becomes larger, which is the traditional production method.
"The continuous-flow reactor we are now introducing has essentially changed the structure of the industry, changing the volume drive to a speed drive. Speed drive allows the reactor to have a smaller footprint and increase the speed of the reaction. The original 5,000 tons of production capacity process, it takes 10 hours to complete, in the case of continuous flow, speed acceleration, the reaction may be completed in 10 seconds, which will be a revolutionary change. He said.
It is worth mentioning that on September 26, Corning announced that its Changzhou manufacturing center was officially put into operation, and will produce continuous-flow reactors for Corning Reactor Technologies Co., Ltd., which will be put into production in January 2020 and begin delivery in the first quarter of the same year.
In this regard, Li Fang said that the production base of Corning reactors is in Europe, but the company also sees that China attaches great importance to the development of the chemical industry and the pharmaceutical industry, so this year it built a new Corning reactor assembly plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Jiang Yi added, "We have established the global headquarters of Corning Reactor Technology Co., Ltd. in Changzhou, and the Changzhou government has given us great support. In fact, Corning's microchannel reactor technology has been in the Chinese market since 2011 and is constantly exploring the potential of this market. We have done a lot of accumulation over the years, and we are constantly promoting the development of this business. ”