On the map of China's manufacturing industry, Linqing, a county-level city in Shandong Province, is writing a legend of an "invisible champion" with its bearing industry. An annual revenue of 50 billion yuan, a market share of one-tenth of the national total, and 200,000 employees—behind these figures is a vivid case of a traditional industry achieving a magnificent transformation through technological innovation, digital empowerment, and cluster development.

From cottage industry-style production to a national-level characteristic industrial cluster, Linqing has spent half a century polishing a "steel ball" into an industrial pearl shining globally. In 2024, 103 above-scale bearing enterprises in Linqing achieved an industrial gross output value of 5.663 billion yuan, an increase of 8.81% year-on-year, marking a distinct "Linqing coordinate" on the map of China's bearing industry.

In the industrial agglomeration area formed in the three southwestern towns of Yandian, Panzhuang, and Tangyuan, which is about 8 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, the bearing industry in Linqing has constructed a full-chain closed-loop ecosystem, ranging from upstream steel smelting, midstream heat treatment and precision machining, to downstream market trading and warehousing logistics. This "international supporting industrial chain" covers more than a dozen core processes, realizing the "zero inventory" management of raw materials for enterprises and significantly reducing logistics costs. It is praised by the industry as the most unique closed-loop system among the five major bearing industrial clusters in the country.

The industrial ecosystem here is no longer just a simple physical agglomeration but a chemical reaction formed through seamless process connections. In the transformation of Shandong Zhongli Auto Parts Co., Ltd., 200 mu of inefficient land was revitalized by transforming it into the production of RV axles. The sales revenue increased from 30 million yuan to 260 million yuan within three years, and it also drove a local supporting rate of 40%.

The daily trading volume of the Yandian Bearing Market is nearly 100 million yuan, exceeding 30 billion yuan throughout the year, accounting for one-tenth of the national bearing trading volume. The world's top eight bearing enterprises, as well as domestic leading enterprises such as Wafangdian Bearing and C&U Group, have all set up branches here, making it a "must-compete place" for global purchasers.

When data becomes the new "lubricant," Linqing's ambition has been aimed at a higher dimension.

Walking into the digital workshop of Bot Bearing, industrial robots complete 90% of the precision assembly, and the MES system adjusts production parameters in real time—such scenes have become the new normal in Linqing. A total of 400 enterprises in the city have completed the "cloud migration" transformation, 5,000 pieces of equipment have been connected to the industrial Internet platform, and the country's first secondary node for identification and resolution in the bearing industry has been established.

The urgency of digital transformation is vividly demonstrated in the demonstration park of Panzhuang Town. On the 240 mu of land revitalized by eliminating backward production capacity, 16 enterprises share a 5G intelligent workshop, and the annual income of the village collective increases by 700,000 yuan. The "Gongbei Yun" platform applied in the park monitors the operation data of 2,000 pieces of equipment in real time, shortening the fault response time by 80%. The number of workers on a traditional production line has been reduced from 20 to 6, interpreting the Linqing practice of "replacing old growth drivers with new ones."

Precision is Linqing's confidence to talk with global giants.

When most enterprises are still chasing the P6-level precision, Linqing's bearings have already achieved P4-level precision (second only to the aviation-level P2). The market share of small and medium-sized self-aligning roller bearings of Yujie Bearing ranks first in the country. The "high-speed and low-noise bearing" it developed has extended the service life of industrial robot joints to 20,000 hours and won the second prize of the China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Award. All its products have been rated as "excellent products" in the national industrial inspection.

Technological innovation has become the core competitiveness. Bearing enterprises in the city own more than 640 patents and have participated in formulating more than 30 national and industry standards. Seven national-level specialized, refined, unique, and innovative "little giant" enterprises, 77 high-tech enterprises, and 10 provincial-level manufacturing single champion enterprises have built a technological barrier for Linqing's bearing industry.

And what supports these hard-core achievements is a group of people with "bearing genes" deeply ingrained in their bones.

The 200,000 "bearing craftsmen" are Linqing's most precious wealth. Among them, there are experienced craftsmen like Li Qishuang, who has won the National May 1st Labor Medal, and there are also "second-generation bearing people" who return with AI algorithms. Linqing has established the only bearing manufacturing innovation center and innovation and entrepreneurship community in Shandong Province, and flexibly introduced 43 high-level talents from universities such as Peking University and Shandong University.

The Zhichuang Future Bearing Science and Technology Park has already housed 40 enterprises and teams, including Germany's LFD High Precision Bearing. The establishment of the workstation of Academician Hu Zhenghuan marks that Linqing's bearing industry is beginning to upgrade towards the "academician economy." Standing at a new starting point, Linqing's bearing industry is moving forward in a more precise, intelligent, and green direction. Relying on platforms such as the Shandong Bearing Manufacturing Innovation Center, it will break through key core technologies; realize personalized customization through the industrial Internet; and build more "zero-emission" demonstration factories—this transformation path is exactly a vivid epitome of the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry.

The breakthrough of Linqing's bearing industry proves that the upgrading of traditional industries is not about "starting from scratch" but about the ecological reconstruction of "new branches on old trees."

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