From a single product to dozens of products, from annual exports of just over $100,000 to over $40 million, from a small, dilapidated workshop to a market segment leader... In Jieshou City in northwest Anhui, Anhui Qiangwang Group has achieved a business miracle in just 10 years. Today, as the largest export enterprise in Jieshou City, Qiangwang Group has become the world's largest single enterprise specializing in functional compound seasonings.

       In the product display hall of Qiangwang Group, a dazzling array of beautifully packaged compound seasonings such as vegetable-flavored soup base, chicken essence cubes, solid tomato sauce, and curry powder seasoning packets are displayed, making it feel like entering a condiment supermarket.

"Every product here is the crystallization of our technological research and development. Only by possessing independent intellectual property rights can we seize the initiative in the market," said Zhang Qiang, chairman of Qiangwang Group. As an export-oriented enterprise integrating seasoning food processing, bioengineering, food technology research and development, and international trade, the company mainly focuses on independently researching and developing functional compound seasonings, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons. Its products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and other regions.

This "single-champion" in the condiment industry is only 12 years old. Back in 2006, Zhang Qiang, who had left a state-owned enterprise, embarked on his entrepreneurial journey with self-raised funds of 360,000 yuan. "Initially, it was just a small workshop-style factory, and even the production equipment we purchased was second-hand. It wasn't until we entered the industrial park in 2009 that we began to make progress. I never thought we could achieve what we have today." Reflecting on his entrepreneurial journey, Zhang Qiang recalls the hardships and sweetness of his past.

Biotechnology is a hot spot in future technological competition. By applying biotechnology to the production of seasonings, Qiangwang not only enhances the freshness of products but also imparts a certain health function to the seasonings. "The bio-peptide seasoning developed by our company can improve human body functions, resist aging, and especially have a preventive effect on the 'three highs' (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids), which is in line with modern people's consumption concepts. After the launch of this product, the annual sales volume increased by 30%," said Zhang Qiang. In recent years, like the bio-peptide seasoning product, Qiangwang Group has successively developed more than 40 products in three series, accumulatively obtaining 196 patents.

Mastering core technologies and industrializing high-tech products At the research center of Qiangwang Group, there are two peculiar-looking devices. One device is covered with small trays, while the other has long tubes trailing behind. "These are electronic tongues and noses introduced from abroad. They are much more precise than human taste buds," said Gu Lei, the head of the research center. In the past, product testing mainly relied on manual tasting, and the accuracy was difficult to quantify. Now, with this set of equipment, just put the material in, and the sour, sweet, bitter, salty, fresh, astringent flavors can be tested and precisely quantified.

"Our R&D investment accounts for 6.8% of our sales revenue," said Zhang Qiang. The company invests heavily in R&D, with each pilot test for a product costing hundreds of thousands of yuan. Sometimes, the development of a product often requires dozens of pilot tests. However, these investments are "worth it". "In the past, our products were often imitated, but now we don't have to worry about our products being copied, because through independent research and development, we have mastered core technologies that are difficult to imitate." "Laboratory samples are measured in grams, while pilot test products are measured in tons. The purpose of pilot testing is to scale up the laboratory samples and industrialize scientific and technological achievements." In Zhang Qiang's view, many scientific research institutions have R&D capabilities and do not lack scientific research achievements, but they lack pilot testing conditions. Many achievements can only remain at the laboratory stage, with a low conversion rate. Qiangwang, on the other hand, leverages its own industrial platform to strengthen cooperation with scientific research institutions in industry-university-research cooperation, firmly grasping the initiative in industrial R&D.

Based on the resources of industry-university-research cooperation in technology research and development, Qiangwang Group focuses on product research and development pilot testing, enhancing the company's technological innovation capabilities and the transformation of research achievements. It has established industry-university-research cooperation relationships with 9 universities and institutes, including Jiangnan University, Hefei University of Technology, the Institute of Agricultural Product Processing of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Beijing Institute of Nutritional Resources. It has established two postdoctoral workstations at the national and provincial levels, with 56 cooperative doctors inside and outside the workstations. Currently, the company holds 196 patents and has been approved as a national intellectual property demonstration enterprise. More than ten products have been recognized as provincial new products and high-tech products.

Leveraging the talent and technological advantages of universities, and combining them with the industrial strengths of Qiangwang Group, to explore various forms of technology transfer and achievement transformation, is an effective way to solve the "last mile" problem from laboratory technology to industrialization. The strategic cooperation between the two parties can effectively combine the research achievements of universities, the advantages of enterprises, and market potential, and truly transform them into productivity.

"In the past, one production line required 30 to 40 people, but now two lines only need one person. The entire automated production workshop can maintain operation with only five workers for management," said Wu Zhenshan, deputy general manager of Qiangwang Group. Machine substitution has significantly improved the production efficiency of the enterprise, achieving automation from material mixing to tablet pressing, and then to packaging and molding. It avoids direct contact between people and materials and eliminates pollution from the source. Not only has production efficiency been improved, but product quality and consistency have also been significantly enhanced.

Over the years, Qiangwang Group has adhered to the new industrialization path of "using informatization to drive industrialization and using industrialization to promote informatization", strengthening the construction of enterprise informatization. The company's factory network system is fully fiber-optic to the desktop, with more than 110 information points distributed throughout the company's various locations. It has a globally leading informatization command center, multi-functional conference rooms, corporate culture information center, and technology intelligence center, achieving intelligent management of production, networked office work for daily tasks, and diversified collection of research and development resources. At the same time, in order to strengthen technological support, the enterprise has also introduced advanced Internet of Things (IoT) technology, established an intelligent information center, and carried out informatization transformation of relevant production equipment, enabling every product produced to achieve quality traceability.