Hailiya Group: Small Ropes "Reaching for the Sky and Ocean"
A New Star of Manufacturing Blooms in the Industrial Internet Capital
In China's rope and cable industry, Qingdao Hailiya Group is a veritable "hidden champion." Its ropes have accompanied major national projects "into the skies and depths," repeatedly achieving miracles. With a history of 103 years, this enterprise has successfully transformed from producing hair ties to specializing in technical ropes and cables, while deeply cultivating the safety and emergency industry, achieving new leapfrog development.
Recently, the "Tianwen-1" probe, executing China's first independent Mars exploration mission, surpassed 400 million kilometers in orbital flight and is expected to reach Mars this February. Behind this major national scientific project lies strong support from Qingdao – Qingdao Hailiya Group provided the parachute rope connection technology for "Tianwen-1." During the landing process, the Mars rover experiences the "seven minutes of terror." How to ensure the parachute ropes remain intact under ultra-high speeds and temperatures is a recognized technical challenge. After over ten thousand experiments, Hailiya's technical team invented a rope splicing technique that maximizes the strength of the parachute ropes.
Wang Wei, Staff of Qingdao Hailiya Group Co., Ltd.: This is the first rope used on Mars, meaning there were no precedents to follow. Besides withstanding nearly 10 tons of pulling force, this rope had to meet dozens of key indicators like elasticity. For us, this was a multiple, entirely new technological challenge.
Hailiya's technical team also specially developed a type of elastic rope for "Tianwen-1," replacing the original large metal springs and ensuring the successful ground simulation test for the lander's impact resistance.
Xu Lianlong, Deputy Director of the Technical Center, Qingdao Hailiya Group Co., Ltd.: We selected from over 300 raw materials and finally chose nylon. The braiding process's strand count was reduced from 32 to 3, then increased to 8. We also determined the optimal temperature, humidity, and salinity ratio for the finishing process, ultimately developing a rope that meets the requirements for Mars exploration.
In fact, as early as 2009, Hailiya's special ropes had already appeared in national high-precision projects. At that time, China's independently developed manned submersible "Jiaolong" was preparing for sea trials and needed a 9,000-meter-long rescue rope installed on its top. Upon receiving the task, Hailiya worked day and night to finally deliver a qualified rope. It weighed less than 0.5% of the "Jiaolong"'s weight, but its strength was five times that of a steel cable of the same diameter.
Huang Tao, Deputy Chief Engineer of Qingdao Hailiya Group Co., Ltd.: We applied a waterproof and anti-corrosion coating to resist seawater corrosion and abrasion, and even increase the breaking strength. We also apply other coatings on the rope surface to prevent biofouling, etc.
A small rope, reaching for the skies and oceans, demonstrates the technological responsibility of Qingdao enterprises in major national projects. Founded in 1922, Hailiya started by producing women's hair ties. Through multiple reforms and breakthroughs in "specialized, refined, unique, and new" technologies, it has magnificently transformed into a high-tech enterprise. Its product variety now exceeds 1,000 types, holding over 1,600 patents. Its special ropes and cables have achieved four "China Firsts" in terms of depth, precision, temperature resistance, and strength, widely used in major scientific projects like large spacecraft return capsules and 10,000-meter abyssal scientific research, replacing imported products. Building on this, Hailiya is extending its industrial chain into the emergency safety field, producing emergency self-rescue products and providing public emergency safety training. These two major industrial sectors support the company's accelerated development.
Zhang Xuming, Chairwoman of Qingdao Hailiya Group Co., Ltd.: Next, the group will establish an R&D base in Qingdao for ultra-fine ropes and cables and high-end equipment, advancing towards becoming a global hidden champion enterprise. In the emergency safety industry, we will focus on building a comprehensive urban emergency safety management service platform, creating our own "Qingdao Model" for emergency safety education.