"In China, we have created many miracles, many firsts." When receiving a survey from the Shanghai Securities Journal's Science and Technology Innovation China column, "miracles" and "firsts" were frequently used by Liu Jun, chairman of UFJ Technology.
On the way from a "big industrial country" to a "strong industrial country", China has made a breakthrough in a number of high-level industrial equipment, and the "flower of science and technology" continues to bear "industrial fruits". What makes it interesting is that along their upstream and downstream subdivisions, a number of "specialized, special and new" supporting enterprises thrive. UFJ Technology from Wuxi, Jiangsu is undoubtedly a typical representative.
UFJ Technology Lab After its establishment in 2009, UFJ Technology, with X-ray detection technology as its core, has continuously enriched its technical connotation, integrated with strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuits, new energy batteries, aerospace, etc., and promoted each other, creating a cross field and cross industry innovative development path.
Looking back over the past 14 years, UFJ Science and Technology has not only a clear mind of "not afraid of floating clouds", but also a strategic determination of "still calm when flying in chaos", and a persistent enterprising spirit of "still firm when making thousands of strokes". "We want to be the world's most professional 'industrial doctor' to realize the dream of becoming a powerful country through science and technology and serving the country through industry," Liu Jun concluded.
Be a sci-tech innovation enterprise with expertise
"On the busiest day in the past six months, we should receive 10 or 20 research groups to come to the company for research." Talking about the changes after listing, Liu Jun said frankly, "I didn't expect that we would be so busy after listing." On March 31 this year, UFJ Technology landed on the science and technology innovation board, becoming "the first stock of China's industrial X-ray".
The listing of UFJ Technology recorded a new record: it was the first time in the history of Wuxi's listing that the listing committee passed the meeting unconditionally without hearing (defense) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Kechuang board.
For quite a long time before listing, both Liu Jun himself and the company team were full of longing for listing. "However, when we really waited until the moment of listing, we realized that listing is not a moment of success, but a starting point for an enterprise to truly become bigger to become better, and from doing better to 'being special'." Liu Jun sighed with emotion.
What is "special"? "Enterprises should have their own characteristics and expertise." In Liu Jun's view, the "specialty" of UFJ Technology lies in leading the breakthrough development of domestic X-ray testing technology, and sprinting to the goal of 100% localization rate of related equipment parts.
In the vacuum physics laboratory of UFJ Technology, there are more than a dozen vacuum exhaust equipment in the left and right columns, which are mainly used to test and verify the vacuum exhaust process of X-ray sources. The birth of this laboratory means that China's engineering technology of high-precision X-ray sources has entered the forefront of the world.
"These equipment in the laboratory are all independently developed by us. At present, the product design, key materials, technology, process, production equipment and other aspects of the X-ray source have been independently controlled, and a stable technical team has been cultivated." Liu Jun's words are filled with pride.
In order to make "Made in China" stand on the world stage, "Off stage" is a decade of hard work in research and development. For many years, the R&D investment of UFJ Technology has been kept at about 10% of the sales revenue. "Ten years ago, we used our own funds to invest in basic research, but the money was worth it!" Liu Jun said.
The recognition of UFJ Science and Technology on the importance of basic research is behind the "heavy money" to pay for innovation. Liu Jun believes that basic research is the source of innovation and the cornerstone of enterprise core competitiveness.
With unremitting efforts, UFJ Technology has finally developed China's first micron hot cathode micro focus X-ray source and realized industrialization, filling the domestic gap.
The "report card" delivered by UFJ Technology is also eye-catching. In 2023, both the single quarter performance of the third quarter and the performance data of the first three quarters of UFJ Technology have achieved a double increase in revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company. Among them, the operating revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company in the third quarter increased by 31.33% and 128.53% year on year respectively; The revenue and net profit attributable to the parent company in the first three quarters increased by 33.06% and 148.41% respectively year on year.
High precision industrial inspection
In the exhibition hall on the first floor of UFJ Technology, reporters from Shanghai Securities News saw more than a dozen square "big guys", all dressed in white "coats", and some had an electronic display screen connected by a rotating arm on the right.
"What is displayed in this area are all new equipment launched in 2023. It is the most advanced and popular model of the same type of equipment in China. We have spent a lot of effort to develop it, representing the highest level of technology in China at present." Liu Jun pointed to the big machine in front of him and said, "Like this planar CT equipment, it has created many firsts in China."
These seemingly cold instruments and equipment have a unified "scientific name" - industrial X-ray testing equipment, known as "industrial doctors". If industrial products are compared to "people", industrial X-ray testing equipment is "physical examination doctor".
"Whether it is metal, plastic, ceramics and other materials, there may be internal defects, such as cracks, bubbles, etc. Through industrial X-ray testing equipment, you can intuitively find out the type, quantity, shape, location, size, distribution and change of defects, and formulate countermeasures according to the test results." Liu Jun, a technical background, is full of interest when referring to this high-tech.
In order to make the reporter more intuitively understand this "hard core" technology, he continued to explain that through the plane scanning method, this CT detection device can penetrate the detected object from different angles, reconstruct the structure to be detected inside the object, finally generate the three-dimensional model and internal structure image of the object, and then automatically perform slice analysis to capture these defects The degree of variation of impurities and structures.
"This is the same principle as when we go to the hospital to take CT pictures." Liu Jun told reporters that the material composition of industrial products is very different from human tissues, and the related instruments, equipment, detection processes and requirements are also naturally different. Most industrial detection requires higher precision than medical detection, because industrial products have millimeter or even micron level defects, which may lead to safety accidents, so the requirements for detection precision are very high.
"Take our micro focus ray detection technology as an example, it can focus the electron beam to a very small area, thus producing high-resolution and high brightness X-ray beams." Liu Jun explained that this is very important for applications that require high-precision detection, such as micro and even nano defect detection in semiconductor detection.
Improve the industrial chain in an all-round way
For technology entrepreneurs, only by taking the lead to achieve technology iteration and reconstruction can they break the boundaries and achieve evolution. The success of UFJ Technology lies not only in its bold investment in research and development, but also in its forward-looking research and development.
When the reporter walked into the exhibition hall of the core components of UFJ Technology, a dozen large and small radiation sources were displayed in order and circled according to the model size, which is where UFJ Technology can achieve the goal of "becoming the most professional X-ray enterprise". "These ray sources are the core of UFJ technology, which we have spent ten years, invested hundreds of millions of yuan, and developed in a confidential state," Liu Jun said.
"Behind the design and development of the ray source, it is actually a very complex parameter system, which needs to consider different factors such as physical index parameters, anti radiation parameters, and electromagnetic interference to the outside world. The performance of ray sources with different models and parameters is also different." According to Liu Jun, by adjusting and setting parameter indicators, These ray sources can be applied to different subdivision fields and scenes.
The forward-looking layout of UFJ Technology in technology research and development has gradually been reflected in the needs of the current industry. Today, "Nippon" industrial X-ray testing equipment is mainly used in integrated circuit chips, high-end electronic manufacturing, lithium battery new energy, aerospace components and other high-end fields.
In addition to the upgrading of "points", UFJ Technology is also focusing on strengthening the expansion of "lines" and the layout of "areas". "We should make efforts in both directions, constantly enrich the product series from stability, applicability and other aspects, and develop new application scenarios," Liu Jun said.
On the one hand, continue to plough along the subdivided track vertically, and constantly carry out technology iteration and update to move towards the global market; On the other hand, the system of detection technology will be further strengthened horizontally. On the basis of radiographic detection, more detection technology layouts such as acoustic detection, electromagnetic detection, mechanical detection and magnetic particle detection may be added in the future.
"Sunshine, decency, learning and gratitude", four simple words, form the corporate culture of UFJ Technology, and demonstrate the concept and belief of this private science and technology innovation enterprise.
Liu Jun focused on explaining the meaning of "decency" and "gratitude": the company's operation and management should be standardized, and people should be upright and honest, and should not do anything against corporate social responsibility. At the same time, we should also be grateful and repay the people, partners and local governments who have helped us.
"It seems to be the most unusual, easy but hard." On one wall leading to the core R&D area of the company, the slogan "Break the 'choke' technology and accelerate the pace of industrialization" is clearly written. This slogan not only summarizes the past years of UFJ technology, but also places its future expectations on China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry.
Source: Shanghai Securities News
Reporter: Liu Liwen
