'Chain' in Shandong: From supplementing and strengthening chains to leading original content, 19 chains support 11 trillion yuan in revenue
In March 2025, an unmanned transport aircraft with the code name TP1000 took off from the sky in the Yellow Bohai New Area of Yantai.
This drone, capable of carrying 2000 pounds of cargo, is the first domestically produced drone with a payload capacity of over one ton, and also the largest independently developed aircraft in Shandong's history. Its birth was not accidental——
Large and medium-sized unmanned aerial vehicle products have high requirements for the manufacturing industry and the entire supply chain terminal. Within a 50 kilometer diameter area where TP1000 manufacturing enterprise Yitong is located, hundreds of drone components have completed the supply and matching of the industrial chain.
The takeoff of this drone marks Yantai's entry into the low altitude economy track as a dark horse, filling the gap in the aviation industry. From a larger temporal and spatial perspective, it is a microcosm of the quiet evolution of Shandong's industrial economy, with the "chain leader system" as the fulcrum, leveraging the transformation from government functions to industry ecosystems.
In the main battlefield of industrial economy, Shandong is taking "chain leader coordination, chain leader driving, and full chain collaboration" as the hub to promote the upgrading of traditional industries and the rise of emerging industries, and to reconstruct the industrial ecology and industrial map.
1. International industrial chain reconstruction: a war without gunpowder
How long can an industrial chain be?
Taking your mobile phone as an example: This is a super long industrial chain that can span across the globe and involve hundreds of links. The total transportation distance of all components is about 1/10 of the distance from Earth to the Moon.
What is the span of an industrial chain?
The car you are driving is a "steel creature" that "plays" cross-border. The robotic arm for casting bones comes from high-end equipment, the chip implanted with silicon-based brain comes from semiconductor materials, and the laser radar on the optical chain gives it vision... The chain spans more than ten industries.
The long industrial chain is due to a high degree of division of labor. But the long industrial chain also makes it 'fragile'. If one link coughs, the entire chain may have a fever.
Nowadays, the global industrial chain is undergoing a profound restructuring that has never been seen before.
Geopolitical conflicts have spurred a wave of risk reduction, shifting supply chains from efficiency first to resilience first. Cutting edge fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing have become the focus of great power games, leading to intensified technological blockades and accelerated supply chain structural adjustments.
In the complex situation, many industries and enterprises in Shandong are at the forefront. In November 2022, GoerTek issued a risk warning announcement and received a notice from a major overseas client to suspend the production of one of its intelligent acoustic whole machine products. As a result, the company's annual operating revenue was reduced by no more than 3.3 billion yuan. IT industry, CPU、 The import of various materials such as memory and hard drives is occasionally hindered; The pharmaceutical industry and the upgrading of database control have brought challenges to the research and development of innovative drugs... The lost orders due to the US decoupling and blockchain policies, the compressed profit margins under Trump's tariffs, and fluctuating stock prices have put pressure on these companies, just like the Chinese economy, to seek progress and resilience.
Currently, the industrial chain has broken through the traditional economic category. It is not only the driving force for efficient resource restructuring and the key engine for reshaping regional competitiveness, but also the cornerstone of national strategic security and the core battlefield of global industrial competition.
From the United States proposing the "return of manufacturing industry" to the European Union investing 43 billion euros to build a domestic semiconductor industry chain, countries have engaged in a smokeless "industrial war" to compete for dominance in the global industry chain.
2. Institutional Breakthrough: Refactoring the Bottom Logic of Industrial Governance
The "chain length system" is an institutional innovation in China's response to the complex international environment, enhancing the autonomy, controllability, innovation, and risk resistance of the industrial chain.
In the 1980s, the buttons in Qiaotou Town, Wenzhou rose to prominence through a grassroots model of "front store, back factory". The market mechanism spontaneously adjusted, and the government played the role of a "night watchman", achieving a scale miracle of "70% global button production". However, it also fell into the dilemma of low-end lock-in and homogeneous competition.
In 2019, Zhejiang Province promoted the "chain length system" for the first time throughout the province. From the spontaneous order in a corner to the systematic design throughout the province, the hand of the government has emerged. Identifying the 'golden junction' between government and market is the key to innovation in the 'chain length system'.
By 2025, more than 20 provinces across the country will promote the "chain leader system".
As far as Shandong is concerned, shouldering the great responsibility of building the northern economic growth and constructing a strong and resilient industrial chain is a must answer question.
Although Shandong has all 41 major industrial categories, its industries were once large in scale but weak in competitiveness, with many enterprises but lacking leadership, and a complete chain but poor collaboration.
Taking the chemical industry as an example. Shandong's refining capacity once reached 210 million tons, accounting for 28% of the country's total, making it the world's third-largest concentration area for the refining industry.
But on the other hand, there is overcapacity in upstream refining and chemical production, high-end material technology in the midstream is constrained, and the competitiveness of downstream terminal brands is weak.
In 2021, not only to cope with the impact of the epidemic, but also to solve the low-end dilemma of the value chain, respond to the "dual carbon" challenge, break through factor barriers, and achieve high-quality development, Shandong has comprehensively implemented the "chain length system", led by leaders at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, focusing on 43 industrial chains in 9 major industrial fields, keeping a close eye on the forefront and planning along the chain, leading the way, cultivating and strengthening, and creating ecological and cluster development.
The "chain leader system" in Shandong is an advanced version 2.0, which appears to be led by leaders and promoted by specialized teams, but in essence, it is a reconstruction of the logic of industrial governance.
——Pattern reconstruction. Breaking down departmental barriers, provincial leaders will serve as chain leaders for provincial-level industrial chains, establishing cross departmental collaboration mechanisms, supporting mechanisms such as "chain owners" leading enterprises, industry chain alliance cooperation, industry university research collaboration, and element guarantee services. Zhang Qing, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, emphasized the essence of achieving "policy aggregation on the chain, project promotion on the chain, and service display on the chain".
——Element recombination. By allocating resources around the industrial chain and coordinating with the "chain leader", the government can quickly allocate factors such as land, funds, and talents to improve the efficiency of the service chain.
——Conceptual reshaping. Draw an "industry map+N lists", and each responsible department will operate according to the map, providing list based services. The government's hand will shift from "sprinkling pepper" to "surgical" precise adjustments.
The effectiveness of the chain length system is intuitive and tangible.
The Shandong chemical industry, which once fought independently and had meager profits, has formed a "carrier battle group". Last year, the industry's revenue exceeded 2.86 trillion yuan, with high-end chemical products accounting for more than half; The number of chemical industrial parks has been reduced from 199 to 84, making it one of the top 100 comprehensive competitive chemical industrial parks in China in 2024. Seventeen residential areas in Shandong Province have been listed, ranking first in the country in terms of quantity.
A traditional refining province is moving towards becoming an important global high-end chemical base.
3. Chain Master Navigation: From Single Point Breakthrough to Ecological Co cultivation
On December 19, 2023, Jinan, Shandong Province held a special meeting on the "Chain Leader" of the high-end equipment industry chain.
The person in charge of Shandong Heavy Industry was the first to speak out among six companies. Provincial leaders, relevant department heads, and association leaders sat around the table.
Fully listening to the opinions of enterprises is precisely the emphasis and expectation placed on chain owners.
Shandong Heavy Industry is the chain leader of the four major industrial chains in our province, including automobiles, engineering machinery, agricultural machinery and equipment, and hydrogen fuel cells, driving the joint development of more than 2500 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain.
Weichai is a typical "leader" of Shandong heavy industry ". The way it takes its brothers to charge is to evolve from the cold weapons era to the systematic combat of modern warfare.
Technology helps "fly". Weichai shares major R & D centers with small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain, and at the same time forces suppliers to upgrade their technology with higher standards than the industry. Today, more than 10 industry "invisible champions" have been "grown" in this chain ".
benefit distribution "binding". In Weichai's industrial chain, 70% of the core suppliers have cooperated for more than 10 years, and some even "three generations follow Weichai". In recent years, the revenue of 30 supporting enterprises in Weichai has doubled, and many have landed in the capital market.
In doing so, the "leader" has his own considerations.
The brothers in the chain are in the local area, with convenient logistics and communication, saving freight, saving time and lower cost. We are engaged in core research and development ourselves. Brothers focus on subdivision of fields, division of labor and cooperation, and the technical level is improved faster. When the industry is booming, we all earn together; in the downturn, we can share the risk, more resilient and more controllable.
Why are the brothers on the chain willing to follow?
Chain master orders are stable and more reliable than looking for business on your own. Chain owners provide technical guidance and even borrow money to upgrade equipment. Backed by a big tree to enjoy the cool, follow the chain owner, not easy to be eliminated by the market.
At the end of the day, small and medium-sized enterprises follow the chain owners and can share the market and win-win benefits.
In Shandong, there are more than 180 such chain owners, covering 19 landmark industrial chains and 67 subdivision industrial chains in Shandong.
"From this point of view, the chain main enterprise is the ecological organizer." Shandong Province Industrial Economic Federation Deng Qiang observation profound.
In order to co-cultivate the industrial ecology, Shandong took the lead in the country to innovate and implement the "blind date meeting" of the solid chain ".
Before the blind date meeting, the government communicated with the main chain enterprises, tapped the needs of supporting facilities, project construction, research and development, etc., and solicited pre-selection lists from inside and outside the province.
The list is selected by the chain owner to determine the participants. On the spot, participants communicate directly, thus improving the matching success rate.
The government is the driving force, the chain owner to lead, specializing in the new small and medium-sized enterprises card into the chain. In 2024, Shandong will hold 31 provincial-level special docking events, driving cities to organize more than 1050 docking events.
There are more than 18000 specialized and special new small and medium-sized enterprises in Shandong Province, which hold up the key links in the 67 subdivision industrial chain of the whole province, and strengthen the industrial chain together with the chain owners.
4. The chain is in my hand: it is not only industrial geography that has changed.
Under the "chain length system", the industrial chain is quietly changing.
In the past, functional composite enterprises fought their own battles, piling up to make fishing rods and shuttlecocks, picking up mostly low-end orders. Under the "chain length system", the chain owner Weihai Guangwei has combined more than 60 regulated enterprises in the chain to form an industrial network, making the products indispensable high-end goods for the domestic large aircraft C919 and rockets, realizing the reverse attack from "low-end internal rolling" to "heaven and earth.
It is not only the composite industry chain that has changed.
Under the "chain length system", the industry will have unexpected results if the chain is strengthened.
Paper industry a cross-border, has become a biological medicine, food and other fields of "master". Such as the chain owner Sun Paper.
Paper derivatives-microcrystalline cellulose, can help tablets shape, but also as a slow-release carrier, in the field of medicine to show their skills.
The first technology to extract xylose from wood in the country, and the "wood residue" left over from papermaking becomes "chewing gum", which is very popular in the food field.
Rooting down (integrating raw material end), horizontal fission (technology cross-border), flowering up (enabling application end)-Sun Paper makes a tree turn into a paper-based new material ecosystem.
This cross-border not only enhances the resilience of the original industrial chain, but also allows traditional industries to grow new branches.
In 2024, the "chain length system" will be upgraded and optimized. Shandong's 19 provincial-level landmark industrial chains will gather more than 36000 enterprises and achieve revenue of nearly 11 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 90% of the province.
In the first half of this year, driven by 19 provincial-level landmark industrial chains, the "hundreds of billions" of enterprises and projects with extended chain layout added a total of 257.6 billion billion yuan in output value.
It is not only the industrial chain that has changed.
Counties are often seen as economic weaknesses. However, when the industry is restructured across regions, the county economy has the possibility of breaking through, and it can achieve "counterattack control" in the global industrial chain ".
Ningjin fitness equipment industry once "scattered, small, weak", like a group of small fishing boats into the sea.
After the implementation of the "chain length system", Ningjin drew a "nautical chart" of the fitness equipment industry, and selected Shandong Maibaohe and other enterprises as the chain owner. Research and development, with Hebei University of Technology to build a river high-end equipment manufacturing industry technology research institute. Ningjin has changed from "OEM" to a national production base, with a market share of 70% in China and 30% in the world.
"Chain Long Chain Master Brother", in Ningjin, a fitness equipment can complete the whole process of production without leaving the county seat, growing a "hardware content service" 10 billion ecological circle, and reshaping the county industrial competitiveness formula.
It is not only the county economy that has changed.
The business environment is not only the current competitiveness, but also the future competitiveness. A competitive industrial chain is the "magnet" of the business environment ".
Anhui Wuhu Shipyard chose to "enter the sea from the river" in Weihai, Shandong Province. What it valued was the matching merchants when going out, and what it looked at was Weihai's marine equipment industry chain.
Yantai Penglai Port, a collection of Shanghai Electric as the representative of the main engine and other offshore wind power four core components. Enterprises choose to land, but also to see here chemical and offshore "double industrial chain" vision.
The "chain length system" not only realizes industrial fusion upgrading through industrial chain mapping and targeted investment promotion, but also solves the pain points of enterprise blocking with chain service, and realizes the two-way enhancement of "industrial strong chain" and "environmental gravity.
5. Research Inspiration
In this interview and survey, entrepreneurs, experts and scholars, heads of departments and bureaus, etc., put forward suggestions on the optimization of the chain length system and the development of the industrial chain, giving people enlightenment.
The integration of different chains across borders is improving, and "cross-chain" cooperation will gradually melt the industrial boundaries, which is both an opportunity and a challenge. "Some enterprises themselves are the chain owners of several chains." Zhou Peng, deputy director of the Research Office of Shandong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, introduced. New energy for the automotive industry chain to install a green "motor", new materials to enable high-end equipment to achieve "walnut carving" level of precision jump. Borderless "cross-chain coupling" will bring "N N" type of surprise and subversion.
Chain length is made into a dynamically adjusted system that needs to iterate on service mechanisms, policy tools, and organizational forms. Accelerating the evolution of the industrial chain, the need to accelerate the optimization of the chain length system. This is like a relay race without an end: the industrial chain is an accelerating runner, eager to be more advanced, more stable, more independent and more flexible... The evolution speed of the chain length system should outperform the evolution speed of the industry, and finally realize the symbiotic dance of "the chain moves with the production, and the system is excellent because of the chain.
From "holding two hands" to "multi-coordination" deepening. It is necessary to find out the win-win point under the new situation in the new period, stimulate the ecological leading enthusiasm of "chain main enterprises", build the benefit sharing ecology of the industrial chain, make the hand of the government and the hand of the market more coordinated, and make the combination of effective market and promising government more ingenious. In particular, it is necessary to build an industrial chain cloud brain, integrate industrial data, policy resources, and enterprise demands to achieve a more intelligent match between supply and demand and a more accurate push of policies.
From "complement chain strong chain" to "original lead" leap. In particular, focus on hard science and technology, set up an "innovation consortium", co-ordinate the layout of major scientific and technological infrastructure, so that enterprises, universities, and scientific research institutes can work more closely together to break through the "stuck neck" technology.
From "single chain strong" to "multi chain common" conversion. New industries such as artificial intelligence can go beyond the underlying logic of optimizing the allocation of factors and business models in the pure industry category. It is necessary to accelerate the cultivation of such a batch of new chains, promote "cross-chain coupling" on this basis, realize multi-chain data exchange and resource sharing, and promote cross-innovation of various industrial chains.
The chain length system is pushing the industry from "single point breakthrough" to "chain jump". This is not only a systematic reshaping of industrial advantages, but also a strategic fulcrum to seize the future industrial highland. This is a key leap for Shandong's industry to "go from big to strong", a choice to consolidate the dominant position of the national industrial map, and a starting point for Shandong to participate in global industrial competition.
In the sea of stars in the industrial chain, the journey of "Shandong on the chain" has just begun.
Information source: Dazhong Daily
