In 2024, the Northern Heavy Industries (NHI) Endeavour TBM (Tunnel Bone Mine) set a world record for single-machine tunneling of 26.521 kilometers. This achievement was driven by breakthroughs in multiple core technologies. Previously, TBM main bearings had long relied on imports. NHI, in collaboration with research institutions, conducted hundreds of tests and developed high-strength, wear-resistant main bearings. These bearings offer a 20% longer service life and a 35% lower cost than imported products, effectively breaking the monopoly of foreign technology. The Endeavour TBM’s intelligent geological detection system plays a crucial role in complex geological construction. It analyzes rock hardness, water content, and other data in real time, automatically adjusting the cutterhead speed and thrust. For example, in a mountain tunnel project, when encountering crushed rock, the system quickly switched to “staged cutting” mode, achieving a stable daily tunneling efficiency of over 12 meters, a 40% increase over traditional equipment. Furthermore, the equipment’s modular design reduces cutterhead replacement time from three days to eight hours, significantly reducing project downtime. This provides an efficient solution for long-distance tunnel construction in China and further consolidates my country’s technological leadership in the global shield machine industry.

A XCMG XGC88000 (4,000-ton class) crawler crane demonstrated impressive performance at a large petrochemical project in southern China, precisely lifting a 2,000-ton quenching water tower to a 38-meter-high installation base in just three hours, completing a highly challenging aerial operation. The crane’s core advantage lies in its “super-lift counterweight + variable-luffing boom” design. The super-lift counterweight system features a foldable structure that can be disassembled and loaded onto a truck for transportation, reducing on-site assembly time by 50% compared to similar equipment, completing the project in just two days. The variable-luffing boom automatically adjusts its angle and length based on the load and height. During this lift, the boom was adjusted from 60 to 82 meters. Twelve sets of intelligent sensors monitored the load in real time, ensuring that equipment sway was controlled within 5 centimeters during the lift, maximizing lifting safety and accuracy. Furthermore, its equipped “hoisting path planning system” simulates the entire process in advance, avoiding on-site obstacles and minimizing collision risks. This successful hoisting operation not only ensures the petrochemical project’s on-schedule commissioning, but also demonstrates that my country’s ultra-large tonnage hoisting equipment has reached internationally leading levels, breaking the long-standing monopoly of foreign brands in this field.

Northern Heavy Industries’ Φ5200×24500mm cylindrical mixer, a material-leveling expert in the sintering process of steel mills, will effectively address many of the pain points of traditional mixers after winning the bid and commissioning in 2023. In steel production, the uniformity of material mixing during the sintering process directly impacts sinter quality. This mixer significantly improves production efficiency and quality through three core design optimizations. First, a multi-stage water spray pipe and pre-filtration system are used, with eight sets of independently adjustable water nozzles positioned along the length of the cylinder. These nozzles, combined with the filtration system, remove impurities from the water and prevent nozzle clogging, improving material moisture uniformity from 60% to 95%, reducing sinter composition fluctuations. Second, the roller assembly has been upgraded to self-aligning roller bearings. Special grease is used within the bearings to automatically compensate for cylinder misalignment, reducing wear by 50% and extending service life from 1.5 years to over three years. Third, an intelligent lubrication system uses sensors to monitor bearing temperature and grease levels in real time, automatically replenishing grease when the grease level is low. This extends the equipment maintenance cycle from 5,000 hours to 10,000 hours, reducing maintenance downtime by four times annually. In use at a large steel plant, this mixer has increased sinter production by 25% and reduced energy consumption by 8 kilograms of standard coal per ton of sinter, resulting in annual cost savings exceeding 10 million yuan. It has become a key piece of equipment for cost reduction and efficiency improvement at the steel plant.

Northern Heavy Industries’ 5.5-meter cropping shear and cut-to-length shear are the “precision benchmark” in the steel rolling process. Leveraging a “rolling-cut design + intelligent control,” they significantly improve steel yields. During the steel rolling process, these shears must precisely cut steel billets to the specified length. Traditional flat-blade shears are prone to burrs and bends. This equipment, however, utilizes the cutting-edge rolling shearing principle. The upper and lower blades rotate and roll to shear the billets, achieving a shearing accuracy of 0.1 mm. It can shear large billets up to 80 mm thick and 5.5 meters wide. To enhance equipment stability, the hydraulic system utilizes an electro-hydraulic proportional valve + closed-loop control to adjust the shearing force in real time. It automatically adjusts pressure when billet hardness fluctuates to prevent blade breakage. The modular design divides the equipment into modules: the shearing unit, transmission unit, and control system. Failure of any module can be individually disassembled and replaced, reducing maintenance time from 72 hours to 12 hours and increasing equipment utilization by over 30%. Furthermore, the energy management system improves the equipment’s overall energy efficiency by 15% by optimizing operating parameters. In use at a large steel company, this equipment has increased the steel shearing qualification rate from 95% to 99.8%, reducing steel waste by over 1,000 tons annually. This provides strong support for cost reduction and efficiency improvement for the steel company and fills a gap in the domestic production of high-end shearing equipment in my country’s steel and metallurgical industry.