A company's transformation journey and Bingcheng's innovative "breakthrough"

On a central screen inside a digital workshop in Daoli District of Harbin, two curves with strikingly different colors are quietly splitting apart: one represents the “engineering cables” that once supported the company for twenty years—its curve rises and then slowly slopes downward, like a pulse from the city’s infrastructure-boom era gradually calming; the other represents the “robot cables” of a new era—its curve starts from zero and surges sharply upward, and every pulse corresponds to a mining robot in the distance going deep underground, or to the startup of a new energy vehicle production line.

The intersection point of these two curves is labeled with the time in spring 2024—that was when Fan Xin, Chairman of Harbin JiaoLian Electric Power Cable Manufacturing Co., Ltd., decided on a “rebirth on-site.” It was also the seventy-two hours when the office lights of the Daoli District’s enterprise service team stayed on through the night, clearing the “governing vessel and conception vessel” for the company’s new production line.

From the “main artery” that drives the city to the “micro-nerves” that empower intelligent manufacturing, this cable’s transformation is not only a company’s last-ditch bid to survive, but also a vivid slice of how an old industrial city, amid the era’s upheaval and reformation, searches for new quality productive forces.

Harbin JiaoLian Electric Power Cable Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Daoli District Committee of Harbin)

From Infrastructure “Main Artery” to Industrial “Capillaries”

On March 17, two “time-space machines” in the Hajjolian workshop are running in parallel.

On one side, thick-as-a-bowl black engineering cable is rolling nonstop off the production line—this is power being delivered to the city’s “blood vessels” such as the Harbin Metro, the airport, and the grand theater, witnessing the city’s development over the past twenty years.

On the other side, workers wearing white gloves adjust silver cable as fine as hair under a microscope—this is the “industrial nerves” prepared for robots, new energy vehicles, and energy storage equipment, determining the future of Hajjolian.

“Engineering cables are the ‘big guys’—one spool can be dozens of tons. Dig a trench and ‘plug it in,’ and you bury it.” Fan Xin picks up a robot cable. “But look—if there’s a scratch on this, it won’t do. From ‘blood vessels’ to ‘nerves,’ it’s not just getting smaller; it’s the entire manufacturing logic that needs to be rebuilt.”

The idea to transform began in 2023. Real estate giants such as Evergrande and Country Garden’s融创等接连暴雷 (note: incorrect original; kept as-is in translation rules?)—engineering cable orders, which had once made up the bulk of the company’s business, then fell off a cliff.

“Every month we have to pay wages. I can’t tell the workers, ‘Go home—wait for the market to get better and then come back.’” Fan Xin’s voice sounds a bit choked up. “Some kids were 16 when they followed me—now they’re already dads. Besides making cables, what else can they do?”

Not transforming is just waiting to die. But transformation—how easy is that?

“Caregiver” and “Backbone”: Daoli District’s Seventy-Two Hours

In April 2024, when Fan Xin applied for an investment and establishment project for industrial power cables with the Daoli District Development and Reform Bureau, she was uneasy in her heart.

“Two new and two major projects—there are national subsidies, but the threshold is real, a 50-million-yuan investment.” She counted with her fingers. “With what little I have, if I put it in, it’s gone. If it fails, what then? The money for my son’s wedding is gone too.”

The turning point happened on an ordinary Wednesday afternoon.

“Ms. Fan, your matter—there’s been a special meeting at the district level.” When District Industry and Information Technology Bureau Director Zhou Hao called, Fan Xin was in the workshop studying mold parameter settings with technicians.

“What meeting? I don’t know anything about it.”

“The district Party secretary, Mr. Dong Jiw en, coordinated it personally. Because of your investment matter, they’ve already held meetings twice.”

What surprised Fan Xin even more was that a few days later, a person in charge from the fire department also called: “Ms. Fan, you still dare to invest at this time? You’ve got guts!”

It turned out that at a safety production meeting, Party Secretary Dong Jiw en specifically mentioned the transformation of Harbin JiaoLian: “For a company like this to dare to invest in transformation at a time like this, all our departments must fully support it and be a strong backbone for the business.”

The real test came one after another.

When the company was handling a key procedure, it got stuck because of issues with the nature of the land left from history. If they followed the standard process, it would take at least three months.

“Twenty days—we only have twenty days to resume production, or the orders will be ruined.” Fan Xin was so anxious that her mouth foamed.

Daoli District launched the “Chief Service Provider” mechanism. A vice district head led the team, and a working team composed of departments including Development and Reform, Industry and Information Technology, and Natural Resources and Planning formed a joint special team. There was linkage between the city and district levels. During the most tense week, the lights in the special team’s office stayed on all night.

“During that period, the district mayor Yu Jun’s phone became our ‘hotline.’” Fan Xin recalled. “Once, it was already past 10 at night. I sent a message saying there was a bottleneck. He replied instantly: ‘Received. Coordinate first thing tomorrow morning.’”

What also moved Fan Xin was the support from the city. For the project at Harbin JiaoLian, two leaders from the Harbin Municipal Development and Reform Commission brought people to revise various materials submitted for reporting overnight, and personally traveled back and forth across departments to coordinate all the stamping and approval matters. “Later I wanted to thank them face-to-face. They said, ‘No need. If the enterprise has anything, just call anytime.’”

After seventy-two hours, all procedures were completed.

After twenty days, the new production line was successfully commissioned, and the first robot cable came off the line.

“Clumsy Methods” and “Smart Drive”: A New Battlefield for Veteran Workers

The hardest part of the transformation is not the equipment—it’s the people.

“Our old teachers can connect engineering cables even with their eyes closed. But with these fine tasks, your hand shakes.” After working in the cable workshop for twenty years, workshop director Lao Zhang felt for the first time that he was a “rookie.”

In June 2025, Harbin JiaoLian received its first robot cable order from Harbin BoShi—200,000 yuan, covering 12 varieties, with only a few dozen meters required for each variety.

“In the South, nobody takes orders this small. But we took it, because it’s a stepping-stone.” Fan Xin clearly understood that this was a battle fought to the last breath.

The first batch of samples had a scrap rate as high as 30%. The cost of a cable was over 1,000 yuan. Watching copper material turn into scrap made the veteran workers so heartbroken they just kept stamping their feet.

“During that time, nobody in the workshop left exactly on time.” Lao Zhang pointed at the plaque on the wall reading “National-Level Green Factory.” “We can’t ruin this brand.”

The most troublesome problems are often found in places nobody expects.

At one point, a batch of cables was found at a customer’s site to have tiny impurities in the insulation layer, which led to breakdown. The whole factory investigated for three days. In the end, they found the problem came from an inconspicuous “wood mallet”—wood shavings on the board during handling floated into the raw material.

“After that, there can’t even be a strand of hair in the workshop.” Fan Xin issued a strict order.

A bigger shift happened in the production method. Harbin JiaoLian introduced the MES system. Every device, every process, is digitized. On the central large screen in the workshop, each device’s output, energy consumption, and pass rate are displayed in real time.

When Party Secretary Dong Jiw en visited for research, he pointed at the large screen and asked, “Can we see all these data?”

“Not only can you see them, you can analyze them too.” Technician Xiao Liu pulled up a set of curves. “This machine’s recent rotational speed has been fluctuating. We think the bearing needs maintenance. In the past, you wouldn’t know until the equipment actually broke.”

When the “clumsy craft” of traditional manufacturing meets the “smart drive” of digitization, unexpected sparks fly.

Dancing in the “Chain”: From “Buying and Selling” to “Coexistence”

In winter 2025, it was -20°C in Harbin. A phone call from BoShi’s procurement manager went to Harbin JiaoLian: “The underground robot project urgently needs a batch of low-temperature-resistant cables—by tomorrow!”

In the past, moving goods from the South would take at least three days. But this time, after twenty minutes, a Harbin JiaoLian truck was already parked at BoShi’s gates.

This isn’t magic—it’s a deep reconfiguration of the industrial chain.

BoShi moved its raw materials warehouse closer to Harbin JiaoLian, and both sides shared inventory information. Harbin JiaoLian is no longer just a simple supplier; it has become an organic part of BoShi’s supply chain.

“Before, they placed orders, we produced—so it was a buying-and-selling relationship.” Fan Xin explained. “Now, they tell us what they need next week this week—so it’s a relationship of coexistence.”

This shift in model came from an “almost theatrical” introduction.

At an entrepreneurs’ matchmaking event held in the city, Fan Xin happened to sit next to Mr. Deng from BoShi. “What do you do?” “Cables.” “Can you make robot cables?” “We can’t do it now, but you can give it a try.”

That “give it a try” started a good story for Northeast China manufacturing.

Harbin JiaoLian’s technicians “moved into” BoShi’s laboratory—staying there for three months straight. From low-temperature tests at -60°C to bending-life testing performed thousands of times per minute, the two teams worked together to tackle the problem.

“The hardest is drag-chain cable—the kind with repeated bending inside a robot mechanical arm.” Chief Engineer Li said. “The industry standard is 5 million cycles. We need to reach 8 million cycles.”

At the 3 millionth cycle of testing, tiny cracks appeared on the cable jacket. Again, there were three sleepless nights. They adjusted more than a dozen material formulations, and finally made a breakthrough with a specific special elastomer material.

At the end of 2025, Harbin JiaoLian’s robot cables passed Japanese JIS certification, which is one of Asia’s strictest industrial standards. When the certification officer left the factory, he said three words: “Incredible.”

Harbin JiaoLian cable production workshop (Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Daoli District Committee of Harbin)

A Song of Ice and Fire: A “Second Entrepreneurship” for an Old Industrial Base

“Some people say Northeast China is ‘snowy and icy,’ but in our hearts there’s a burning flame.”

In Harbin JiaoLian’s staff canteen, Fan Xin and the workers make dumplings together. At the company’s 2026 annual meeting, they didn’t go to a big hotel; instead, they set up tables in the canteen and held the first “Harbin JiaoLian Guan Dan” competition.

“The first prize is a double-door fridge; second prize is a washing machine; third prize is a rice cooker.” Fan Xin said with a smile. “Everyone does it themselves—it’s happier than any year.”

This happiness was hard-won.

In 2025, Harbin JiaoLian’s sales of industrial cables exceeded 50 million yuan, accounting for one-third of the company’s total output value. Its products entered the markets of Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines. Automobile wiring harnesses got into FAW’s supplier chain, and the company’s energy storage cables support Yuanyou batteries (Guangyu? / 光宇电池—kept as original meaning).

But challenges still remain severe.

“The South is ‘neighbors are the supply chain.’ We are ‘shipping raw materials from far away.’” Fan Xin did the math: for the same product, Harbin JiaoLian’s logistics cost is 8% higher than that of companies in the South, and the cost of capital occupation is 5% higher too.

Daoli District saw this problem. At a recent government-enterprise matchmaking meeting, Dong Jiw en proposed: “Can we also bring in Harbin JiaoLian’s raw-material suppliers? Form a cable industrial cluster in Daoli District?”

That is precisely Fan Xin’s next dream.

“I’m already over 50 years old. Many people ask me why I still have to work so hard.” Standing in front of the newly completed R&D center, Fan Xin looked toward the busy workers in the workshop. “Look at Lao Zhang—he’s followed me for 23 years. He dated, got married, and had children here. And Xiao Wang—he married after I introduced him to someone; their kid is already in elementary school. They call me ‘Sister Fan.’ If they call me that, I have to live up to it. This is not just sentimentality; it’s my duty.”

Harbin JiaoLian robot cables (Photo provided by the Publicity Department of the CPC Daoli District Committee of Harbin)

In the workshop, the newly produced robot cables are being bundled for shipment to Changchun. On the packaging boxes, a line of text is printed: “Made in Harbin—normal operation at -60°C.”

Outside the window, spring is bright with warmth turning to chill again; ice floes crashing create a rumbling sound.

Inside the workshop, machines roar—one by one, these “industrial nerves” are being born.

This cable is very thin; the thinnest diameter is only 0.5 millimeters.

This cable is also very tough; it can withstand extreme cold at -60°C and bending more than hundreds of times per minute.

It sets out from an old industrial base, connects robots, new energy vehicles, and energy storage power stations—connecting past and future, and connecting “snowy and icy land” with “mountains of gold and silver.” (Source: Publicity Department of the CPC Daoli District Committee of Harbin)