On April 18, Beiliu City held a completion ceremony for Phase 1 and a commencement ceremony for Phase 2 of the Sanhuan Ceramics Town project. This project, covering 600 mu (approximately 40 hectares) with a total investment of about 2 billion yuan, will serve as a showcase of the significant progress made in the transformation and innovation of the ceramics industry. It is understood that in the construction of this project, Guangxi Sanhuan Enterprise Group Co., Ltd. has collaborated extensively with Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, and Guilin University of Technology, developing the ceramics town into a high-end ceramic production base for global top brands. Simultaneously, in collaboration with Tsinghua University, preparations are underway in technology, talent, and projects to enter the higher-end fields of functional ceramics and high-tech ceramics. This is a microcosm of Sanhuan Group's significant progress in industrial transformation and innovation.

Weaving a Tight Network for Intellectual Property Rights to Build a Competitive Advantage

In line with the group's technological strategy and development goals, Sanhuan Group established a leading group for intellectual property management headed by the president. Under this group is the Intellectual Property Management Office of the Technology Center, fully responsible for the company's daily intellectual property management. Part-time intellectual property managers are assigned to various technical departments, R&D units, and branches/subsidiaries, forming an intellectual property network with the Technology Center at its core and supported by various research units, branches/subsidiaries, and trading departments.

Sanhuan Group has promoted the development of ceramic products and technologies towards energy efficiency, technology, health, and environmental protection through in-depth research on the "five modernizations" of ceramic production: raw material standardization, fuel purification, auxiliary material specialization, modernized production processes, and high-end product development. This has resulted in a number of independent intellectual property rights and core technologies, facilitating the company's transformation from a traditional labor-intensive enterprise to a technology-intensive and patent-intensive one.

Over the years, Sanhuan Group has cumulatively applied for 273 patents and obtained 265 authorizations. These include 228 design patents, 3 invention patents, 3 utility model patents, and 31 EU patents. Currently, the company holds 24 valid patents, including 1 invention patent, 1 utility model patent, and 22 design patents (18 domestic and 4 foreign). A total of 43 trademarks have been applied for (including 8 foreign trademarks), with 36 trademarks registered, and 36 currently valid (including 8 foreign trademarks). These patents represent leading technologies or high-tech products in their respective fields, possessing market guidance and competitive targeting. They have effectively created a competitive advantage while expanding and occupying international markets.

Delivering a Combination Punch of "Technological Innovation" and "Talent Introduction"

Sanhuan Group uses projects as a link, employing various methods such as industry-academia-research cooperation, upstream and downstream enterprise cooperation, and cooperation with domestic peers. It leverages the talent advantages of external units, combined with the company's funding and resources, to accelerate project research and address key, common technological challenges hindering industry progress.

On the one hand, Sanhuan Group adopts a method of aligning R&D projects with talent cultivation and introduction, achieving flexible introduction of high-end talent through undertaking scientific research projects or research topics. From 2012 to 2016, 30 experts and professors from domestic universities were externally hired to participate in project research, and cooperation was established with 22 calligraphy and painting masters from across the country. A Jingdezhen Ceramic University adult education correspondence station was jointly established with Jingdezhen Ceramic University, cultivating 16 junior college-level talents in inorganic non-metallic materials. Referencing the management model of Changsong Company, operational methods for the technical system, promotion standards for technical personnel, reward and punishment assessment methods, and relevant technical management systems were formulated, laying the foundation for further enhancing the innovation enthusiasm of technical personnel.

On the other hand, Sanhuan Group plans and lays out its development according to the goals and requirements of advanced domestic industrial engineering institutes, improving innovation capabilities, product green design levels, and the cultivation of high-quality scientific research personnel. This aims to achieve technological industrialization and establish Sanhuan Group as a sustainable, innovative, and leading research and development base for daily-use ceramic engineering technology.

Technological Achievement Transformation: Leading the Way to New Development

From 2012 to 2016, Sanhuan Group achieved 15 technological achievements, including 1 new technology achievement, 2 new equipment achievements, 10 new product achievements, and 2 other technological achievements. Among these, 7 new product achievements were put into large-scale production, and 3 were put into small-batch production.

In recent years, Sanhuan Group has transformed 10 technological achievements, including 7 through technology transfer and 3 through technology services. The new bone china products put into production, with their thinness and high glaze quality, have become flagship products for expanding domestic and international markets. The introduction of 426 new product types and 20 new glaze colors has significantly enhanced the market competitiveness of the products. High-end art ceramic products, integrating appreciation, artistry, culture, collectability, investment value, and practicality, continue to be a key driver of the transformation and upgrading of Beiliu's daily-use ceramics.

Meanwhile, in the gas tunnel kiln technology and low-temperature rapid firing product development project, which has shown significant energy-saving and emission-reduction effects after renovation, gas tunnel kiln technology reduces energy consumption by 15%–20%, and low-temperature rapid firing can reduce energy consumption by more than 20%, demonstrating significant energy-saving effects. This has solved the environmental pollution problems that hindered the sustainable development of Beiliu's daily-use ceramics.