Wanxiang, innovation decides the path

——Speech on the 57th anniversary of Wan Xiang's start-up

(July 8th 2026, Lu Weiding)

Colleagues, classmates:

 

On July 8, the Wanxian factory celebrates the headquarters banquet, sincerely communicate and celebrate the day that belongs to all Wanxiang people. 57 years is a long enough time to make a song from a popular classic and an enterprise grow from a seedling to a towering tree.

 

The chairman of the board of directors began to start a business in 1962. In 1966, he opened an ironware company in Jinyi Village. In 1969, he established the Ningwei Agricultural Machinery Repair Factory. In another three years, Wanxiang will usher in Yijiazi.

 

In the warm-up music of the banquet, Mr. Liming sang "Will You Come Tonight". I am familiar with this melody, which also pulls us back to the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s of the last century - the passionate years of opening up the frontier.

 

It is necessary to stand at this threshold and open a special dialogue.

 

"Will You Come Tonight", this song is about love, and the lyrics are very interesting. Today, we use this kind of language to ask Wan Xiang, and in essence, we ask ourselves: on the eve of this intelligent era when the wave of science and technology is surging and the great changes of the times, will you come to innovation? Will Wan Xiang innovate?

 

Chapter One

The factory celebration is also a revisit.

 

The 60-year history of development is a history of innovation. From repair shops to ironware companies, from agricultural machinery to giand joints, from machinery industry to energy industry, from dynamic intelligent control to innovative energy-gathering cities, every leap is an innovation. How, how, practice energy to computing power! No innovation, no direction.

 

In the early days of Wanxiang, my mother used the "electric welding cannon barrel" method to cut the thick barrel into the size that could process a plow knife. Cutting the cannon barrel is innovation! It's the first innovation in Wan Xiang! And in the early days, several of my seniors, Fu Laizhen, later started doing real estate from engineering management to 1992. Shen Agen, later set up a rubber parts factory. This is all innovation. Let's turn over this heavy history of innovation and revisit those people and things who rewrite their fate with innovation at critical moments.

 

01｜Product Innovation - Specializing in the Wanyuanjie

 

In 1976, reform was budding, and hundreds of industries were waiting to flourish. When most enterprises still "do whatever they arrange" and look for rice to put in the pot, the decision made by the chairman of the board of directors is to give up dozens of products such as plows, iron rakes, waxless cast steel, etc., and attack the automobile gam. At that time, the technicians didn't even have drawings. They relied on disassembly from the truck to survey, map, ponder and draw a part and an accessory. They learned while doing it, and studied while disassembling, so as to dry the universal joint to the best in the world. The universal joint is the root of the universal. This confirms that it is the starting point of all-way innovation.

 

Only products to the factory, production to operation, over the past 50 years, Wanxiang Qianchao has a lot of innovative contents summary.

 

02｜Quality Innovation - Formulate Standards

 

In 1980, Anhui users reported that the product had cracks. We recalled 30,000 sets of products across the country and sold them to the scrap station at 6 cents per catty, which awakened the quality awareness of the whole factory employees, thus starting a comprehensive quality rectification. From raw materials to finished products, the Taoist process is strictly controlled, and the products can be traced back. It has passed the acceptance with the highest score, becoming one of the only three designated factories in China. In that era, only by obtaining a fixed qualification can you enter the procurement system of the automobile factory. Our first product was exported to the U.S. service market in 1984.

 

In the 1990s, the ISO9000 "Quality Change Law" was implemented by the public, and the quality manual of more than 300 pages became the new standard. In 1994, we passed the ISO9000 certification, and in 1997, we became the first enterprise in China to pass the QS9000 certification. In 1998, we were the first to support the host of mainstream companies in the United States.

 

03｜Labor innovation - focus on the system and focus on talents

 

After the implementation of the contract responsibility system in 1983, we created the employment system of "step-by-step employment, dynamic management" and the "combined remuneration floating wage system". Good promotion, bad promotion, distribution according to efficiency, more work, more gain, no one can do it once and for all.

 

This mechanism allows the capable to go up and the mediocre to go down, let the practical get benefits, let the fighters have a head, activate human resources, and constantly give rise to the endogenous motivation to break through and seek new things.

 

We also have the innovation of "spending money on college students", paying 6,000 yuan for each person for the training fee to the country, and introducing college students every year. At that time, it was the most popular initiative to specially match college students with a bicycle and a TV.

 

04｜Market innovation - go out and occupy the high point

 

Township enterprises do not have "admission tickets". Before 1981, at the order meeting in Jiaonan, Shandong Province, Wanxiang could not enter the venue, so he set up stalls outside. With our flexible price strategy and excellent product quality, we attracted a large number of users to sign contracts on the spot. Ruan Shengli, who participated in the stall at that time, was later the vice president of sales of Wanxiang Qianchao. After retirement, he was rated as a lifelong employee.

 

In practice, we have explored the "three-turn" model, that is, "sales revolve around the market, production revolves around sales, and all employees revolve around marketing". In addition, it has formed a "three-three system" market system with supporting, maintenance and export accounting for one-third each. When the market changes, the weight will change first, becoming the ballast stone of Wanxiang in the market.

 

After 1994, we went to the United States to establish Wanxiang American Company as a representative of Ni Fan. With the idea of "equity for the market, equipment for the market, and profit for the market", we carried out transnational mergers and acquisitions according to the situation, and broke into a new way for Chinese manufacturing to participate in global competition.

 

05｜Ideol and political innovation - "two bags of investment"

 

In the late 1980s, Wan Xiang proposed "two bags of input". The central government decided to arrange national news and public opinion organizations to publicize Wan Xiang. At that time, I was most impressed. The focus was on "two bags of investment" and "two heads, one goal" - Lu Guanqiu and Zhu Bingshan were two people with one goal. Zhu Bingshan is our old secretary. "Two bags of input" should not only fill the "pockets" of employees, but also enrich the "heads" of employees.

 

Mr. Wang Jian, a lifelong employee, is now in his 90s and in good health. Now Mo Xiaoping, a consultant of the Lu Guanqiu Spirit Committee, is a group of party affairs and propaganda workers, transforming ideological and political advantages into enterprise development advantages. It has created a series of Party building carriers such as "Secretary's Party Class", "Party Members Do Practical Things", "Party Members' Ideological and Political Work Responsibility Zone" and "Youth Political Counselor". Material and spiritual are both grasped, and factory governance and education go hand in sync.

 

06｜Remake and Innovation - Large Group Strategy

 

In 1987, Wanxiang creatively explored "spending money regardless" and realized the separation of government and enterprises, which was the earliest joint-stock cooperative enterprise in China. In 1993, it became the first private enterprise A-share listed company, the first private enterprise to become the 120 pilot enterprise group of the State Council, the first private enterprise to own a listed company in the United States, and the first private enterprise finance company. Fu Zhifang, Shen Zhijun and other young people rushed to the front, and later they all grew into leaders in the industry. The listing materials compiled by Guan Dayuan have become a model. At the end of 1992, before the Company Law was promulgated, we began to form a group and implement the transformation of the company system. Wanxiang proposed, "If you don't change your thinking, you will change your mind. If you don't change your thinking, you will change your people." The first to establish a modern enterprise system in the country has gone through the necessary path of changing from a "guerrilla" to a "regular army".

 

07｜Industrial Innovation - Small Accounting System

 

When the single product of Wanxiangjie has become the first in the country and the first in the world, we do not lie on the credit book, but extend the product chain and expand the industrial map on this basis.

 

Pan Wenbiao, vice chairman of Wanxiang Qianchao, took the lead in founding Wanxiang Seiko and innovatively implementing the market development and service response system of "general manager, technology and market", which established his position in the hub bearing industry and won the second national manufacturing single championship for Wanxiang.

 

Shen Renquan, who has retired, recommended himself to successfully build a constant-speed drive shaft factory from scratch. Later, he planned to build a brake factory, and even dared to manage the photovoltaic wafer factory. He built a professional production factory three times, and grasped production and technology with strict iron fists.

 

Since 1999, the wave of global energy change has begun, just like the current AI technology. At a time when the industry is generally waiting and the future is still unclear, we have a group of technical workers with dreams to tackle the core technologies of batteries, motors, electronic control and electric vehicles. Chai Wei, who has withdrawn from direct management, has prepared to build several power plants. These innovations have achieved our industrial foundation in the field of new energy today.

 

08｜Scientific and technological innovation - the master's will

 

How can Wan Xiangjie innovate in the new era? The answer is: climb to the basic theory and core technology. Wanxiang Qianchao Niujie focuses on the basic theoretical research of Wanxiang joint. In terms of material formula, structural design, process optimization, life improvement, etc., he has realized a number of core technologies and solved many pain points and difficulties in the industry. In early 2023, he won the first Wanxiang Annual Science and Technology Award. It is based on these principles that we are making breakthrough contributions to products such as humanoid machines, automation and shaped robots. From supporting the world's leading automobile factory, to now, we have supported the world's No. 1 robot company.

 

In the field of battery cells, the competition has become completely heated. Su Wenjun of Wanxiang 123 Company innovates the product line model to connect with F1 and super high-end users, overcome the problem of heat diffusion, win the world's top users, and continue to expand the market share.

 

Industry-based, science and technology first. From the "squat" of basic research to the "jump" of high-end applications, more and more are emerging.

 

09｜Craft Innovation - Ownership

 

Innovation is not only in the laboratory, but also in every machine tool. Among the lifelong employees of Wan Xiang, several of them are on the front line and have many excellent innovations. Everyone should summarize, refine and establish well.

 

Based on the position of equipment maintenance and transformation, Ho Chi Minh of Universal Joint Factory repeatedly pondered and tested, and invented the "cold-extruded shaft sleeve automated production operation method", which improved production efficiency by 30%. There is also a first-line Liu Zhixiong, who originally created the "hub unit double groove processing method", which improved the product qualification rate, doubled the life of the tool, and obtained the national invention patent.

 

These "soil methods" and "golden ids" grown from the workshop soil save costs and create tens of millions of benefits every year. These are all real grassroots heroes.

 

10｜Digital and intelligent innovation - intelligent creation and energy gathering

 

At present, artificial intelligence is reshaping the manufacturing industry. From production mode to management mode, from product form to competition pattern, everything is being redefined.

 

Wanxiang Qianchao Wei Fangfang, through AI for comprehensive production and operation, from intelligent production scheduling to equipment predictive maintenance, from quality management to supply chain coordination, from energy consumption optimization to intelligent warehousing and logistics.

 

Digital technology is the latest chapter, and we grasp the future tightly.

 

Classmates! From products to quality, from employment to market, from ideological and political to restructuring, from industry to science and technology, from technology to digital intelligence - these ten innovations have led Wanxiang's 60 years of innovation. I hope that our companies will organize learning. It is very necessary for each company and everyone to summarize and summarize themselves, which 20, thirty, fifty and sixty innovative practices.

 

Every innovation is a life-and-death breakthrough; every breakthrough is a self-revolution. Some people are the protagonists of one of the stories. Zhijun, Wen Biao and others are all sitting here, and Niu Jie and others are also there. Speaking of several lifelong employees, some did not come, and some did. We pay tribute to them, to ourselves, and to our retired colleagues! We express our respect and gratitude with applause!

 

It is Wan Xiangren, represented by these colleagues and classmates, who innovated Wan Xiang's history by creating entrepreneurship.

 

History is the past, and the future is unknown. Revisiting the past is not self-indulging, but asking a question: Now, innovation is still a trend of all directions?

 

"Our present is the future of the past, and our present is not the past of the future."

 

In the square of the group headquarters, there is a cow sculpture with three words engraved on the pedestal - essence, energy and spirit.

 

 

Chapter Two

Revisiting is reflecting.

 

AI subverts everything at a speed we can't imagine. Three years ago, who would have thought that the big language model would make knowledge workers collectively anxious? Who would have thought that autonomous driving would restructure the traditional automobile industry chain? Who would have thought that intelligent manufacturing would completely change the operation logic of the factory? If last year, we didn't use AI and didn't pay attention to it, it would be very normal and understandable; but in just a year, if today, we didn't use it and didn't use it, it would be unimaginable. Last year, I was still studying how to have the ability to ask questions, but now it is self-deducing. Already a 1-person company/1-person team. It is already an intelligent body, and it is already the AGI era.

 

Hangzhou's "six little dragons" is said to be "the emergence of different armies". I don't know whether it is a "different army". I don't know whether it can "protrude". It is a "six small dragons phenomenon". Some people say that Tsinghua University's funds, in addition to state investment, can soon catch up with Harvard, Yale and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Zhipu Company has refreshed the imagination of trillions of market value, and Tsinghua University's school fund investment at that time has become tens of billions. Then go to Bubble Mart to open the blind box and kill the "new gameplay". They are not a simple extension of the old world, but the creators of new rules. The reason why "Ranquan" can "death the old master" is that it does not play cards according to the routine you are familiar with at all; it also has scientific rules.

 

Today, all leading enterprises are working on one thing: innovation ability. Looking around, no head enterprise in the world can leave "innovation".

 

Where is Wan Xiang?

 

Is Wanxiang's innovative gene still alive?

 

Is the fire of innovation in Wan Xiang still vigorous?

 

I must tell you frankly: we are good at foundation, we are strong and solid, and we can't push innovation.

 

This is not alarmist, modest, self-deprecating or self-deprecating.

 

Look around us: when the heads of enterprises at all levels meet, what is the first question? It's performance, KPI, and revenue profit. Has anyone asked, "Hey, how's the innovation project you've been doing recently? To what extent? Hey, have you done anything new recently?"

 

Leaders and subordinates communicate about work. What are they talking about? Have you done this well? Is there any mistake? The main thing is that there is no mistake and no cross-border, which is the safety insurance. Will you have the courage to say, "This idea is crazy, but we support you to try it! If we fail, we will do it again!"

 

What do you pay attention to in the coordination between companies? It's progress, delivery and cost control. At the same time, does anyone pay attention to it: "Can our two companies collide with new sparks in technology?"

 

Behind the inability to push innovation is a strong organizational inertia.

 

The tide of the times rushes forward, and if you don't advance, you will retreat. Why do we choose to put forward the purpose of innovation in the factory celebration? It is to remind each of us - the chairmen of the board of directors are creating an era of entrepreneurship, and we are creating an era of innovation at the right time - in the face of the huge waves of the scientific and technological revolution, there is no future without innovation. Is it to stick to the old land and wait to be subverted? Or embrace change and take the initiative to create the future? There is only one answer: time moves forward, and we go up! Only through innovation can we climb the peak. Only by re-innovating can we lead the future.

 

A week ago, we emphasized the need to create real value at the "Wan Xiang Enterprise July 1 Party Course". "Seventh Day" is about the source of value, and today we are talking about the soul of value - innovation itself is the greatest real value. A person who does not innovate has no value to the enterprise; an enterprise that does not innovate has no value to the times.

 

It can be reiterated that "if you don't change your thinking, you will change your mind. If you don't change your thinking, you will change your people." This is Wan Xiang's 57-year experience, and it is also the attitude of facing the changing situation today.

 

Classmates! Each of us should reflect on four things when we go back: First, what have I innovated in this position? Second, in the face of today's situation, what kind of innovation is needed now? Third, am I dressed in innovative armor and ready to charge at any time? Fourth, am I willing to devote the most precious time in the future to innovation?

 

Don't be in a hurry to answer these four questions, but please, me and him, ask your heart.

 

Chapter Three

Reflection, and even more mobilization

 

The goal that the chairman of the board of directors has been pursuing - "from limited to infinite, from tangible to intangible, from throwing things to casting people." We want to ask a question, investment or investment?

 

Wan Xiang "struggling for ten years to add a zero", what does the "zero" rely on? Do you rely on repetitive labor or innovation? Is it driven by the accumulation of capital or knowledge?

 

"Investment" means investing in capital, investing in projects, investing in equipment and investing in factories. These are "hard assets", which can be seen and touched, and the statement is clear. In the past 57 years, we have done a good job in this regard and accumulated a good family background.

 

"Invest in knowledge" is to invest in knowledge, wisdom, smart mind, and innovative thinking. These are "soft power", which can't be seen or touched, but their value is immeasurable. In the AI era, the speed of knowledge fermentation is far faster than the speed of capital appreciation. A genius's idea may subvert an industry. A cross-border brain may open up a blue sea.

 

Without a brain of knowledge, no matter how much capital you have, you can't create the future. "Creating miracles" is also the accumulation of knowledge. Wan Xiang has reached a new watershed. We need to know, and we must know.

 

What do you vote for? Let's talk about four directions--

 

A wimsical person. Set up an innovative commando team to find those who "do not follow common sense", "think in the sky" and "dare to challenge authority". Give them space, resources, and even the right to fail.

 

Throw grass-roots innovation soil. We have many workers and inventors who can set up the "Grassroots Innovation Award" to quickly realize the "golden ides" of front-line employees. What's more, it is necessary to break down departmental barriers and establish a cross-field "innovation collision meeting", so that people from different majors and backgrounds can spark sparks.

 

Investment is a decisive factor. If you want to be promoted, you must answer three questions: What innovation has been promoted during the term of office? How many innovative talents have been cultivated? How many innovative proposals have been adopted in the team? People who don't innovate can't be leaders; a team without innovative achievements is not a good team.

 

Invest the real value. How to measure the value of an innovative idea? How to evaluate the role of an innovative talent? How to calculate the significance of an innovation failure? All of these require the establishment of a new assessment system. Investment has ROI, ROE and other investment returns, and investment knowledge also has a rate of return and yield. What should this be called OI and OE? I hope it can be defined by Wan Xiang's colleagues and classmates.

 

From "investment" to "investment", it is not easy to turn. It means that we need to change the stereotype of thinking formed in 57 years, challenge the pattern of vested interests, and endure short-term uncertainty and even labor pain. But what really determines the future of an enterprise is never how high the factory is and how new the equipment is, but how new the brain is and how deep the knowledge is. Knowledge is becoming the most scarce resource of this era; wisdom is becoming the most powerful capital of this era. If we are still stuck in the comfort zone of "investment", then in three or five years, when those enterprises "invest in knowledge" subvert the industry in a way that we can't understand, we don't even have a chance to learn.

 

"The world will change dramatically. We are at the beginning of a great change, and mankind has a rare opportunity to create a future.

 

Classmates! Innovation should start from everyone.

 

There are many fishing boats in Dayang Shijia Joint Stock Company, which belongs to Wanyang Sannong Group.

 

Standing in the trend of the times, each of us can be an innovative angler. In this innovative sea area, there are all kinds of fish:

 

If you catch a whale, it is a contribution to the times - subversive innovation can open up a new sea area and change the waterway of the whole industry, which is a strategic creation.

 

If you catch a shark, it is a contribution to the industry - innovation at the offensive level can open a mouth and let us take the initiative in the competition, which is a hard breakthrough in the core technology.

 

If you catch catfish, it is a contribution to ecology - mechanical innovation can activate a pool of still water and make the whole organization move and live, which is the source of management change.

 

You catch carp, which is a contribution to the leap - breakthrough innovation can jump over the dragon gate and let us stand on a new level, which is a great leap in product upgrading and market expansion.

 

When you catch carp, it is a contribution to daily life - slight innovation, which seems ordinary, can make efficiency a little higher, a little lower cost and a little better quality, which is the great value of grassroots wisdom.

 

Economics has "big water and big fish". The big fish has the weight of the big fish, and the small fish has the taste of the small fish. A sea area for us to sprinkle. Be bold to fish, be bold to break through! As long as you innovate, every fish has its price. As long as you throw out the fishing rod, as long as you are fishing seriously, no matter what fish you catch, it has its value.

 

Heads of enterprises and departments: From now on, whether innovation can become the daily consciousness of everyone in Wanyang, the test is not only the individual, but also the collective, and the advantages of Wan Xiang's culture and system. This proves that innovation is not limited to the affairs of the scientific research department, but is related to each position. Everyone strives to be an innovator and competes for innovation. In another three years, when Wan Xiang is a Jiazi, we can say that this wind will grow and become a momentum.

 

Classmates! Innovation should fall into the reality of every day.

 

The goal of Wan Xiang's position is to "do one practical thing a day, a new thing in a month, a big thing in a year, and a meaningful thing in a lifetime".

 

We should give it a new connotation of the times: every day's practical things should have an increase of innovation; every month's new things should have an innovative weight; every year's big events should have innovative breakthroughs; the meaningful things of this life should leave the value of innovation. Wan Xiang never talks about "key work". Wan Xiang talks about "key innovation work".

 

We will interview one by one, look at the innovation plan, and review the innovation results. By the end of this year, those who come up with complete innovative plans and create real value will be rewarded; those who are indifferent and deal with things are not polite.

 

Ten years ago today, the chairman of the board of directors pointed out in an important speech: "The opportunity of the times is waiting for us to seize." He emphasized: "Success is not to defeat others, but to defeat oneself." After reading this sentence ten years later, I feel that it is more time-lasting and new.

 

Classmates! I'd rather die gloriously in innovation than sink humiliatingly in the old.

 

I like Nezha. What I like is his personality charm. Wan Xiang has come to this day, relying on changing his fate against the sky. Without this momentum, where did 57 years come from?

 

We are against the sky and change our fate. What we are against is the downturn of the market cycle, the barriers of technological blockade and the "impossibility" in the eyes of ordinary people. We change our fate against the sky. What we have changed is the laziness of sticking to the rules, the arrogance of empiricism and the dullness of being satisfied with the status quo.

 

The chairman said that he had two sons, one Lu Weiding and the other Wan Xiang. Now, I have two sons. I have two lovers. One is my wife, and the other is called "Innovation".

 

There is no direction, no innovation. There must be energy plus power.

 

For more than 60 years, calling for people who dare to innovate - have the original intention to start from scratch, the determination to open the knife to the inertia, and the perseverance to change the fate against the sky!

 

In 60 years, we should have the change of innovation, the beauty of innovation, and the wideness of innovation!

 

Six hundred thousand directions will always be the "three-three system", sprint for three years, attack for three years, and shone the sword for three years. Innovation energy is the first Azi in Wan Xiang, and energy innovation opens the next Azi!

 

In August 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong commented on Xinhua News Agency entitled "Let go of illusions and prepare for struggle".

 

Eight years ago, I quoted a sentence, "The world is so new that everything has not been named yet." Today, I would like to say a word from the bottom of my heart - Wan Xiang, innovative orientation!

 

Thank you all for listening.