In 2024, the metal products industry talent clustering project declared by Yangdong District was successfully selected into the provincial **Sailing Plan (2024–2026)** and secured special financial support from municipal and provincial authorities. Taking the implementation of the Sailing Plan as an opportunity, the innovation ecosystem of Yangdong’s metal industry has become more vibrant, and the industrial talent chain is poised for further upgrading.

Yangjiang Guanghai Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guhai Machinery") is located in the Yangdong Industrial Park of Yangjiang City. As a national high-tech enterprise with over 20 years of dedication to machinery and equipment manufacturing, it occupies a plant area of more than 5,000 square meters in Beiguan Town. During a recent visit, reporters saw the finished product workshop fully stocked with CNC equipment ready for export to Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, Italy and other regions. The company sells hundreds of machines every year, including double-sided grinders, single-sided grinders, three-dimensional grinders, thread tapping machines, belt sanders and other models.

"This is our independently developed second-generation CNC double-sided knife grinder. Compared with the first generation, it is newly equipped with waterproof function and upgraded to cloud-based remote control. Since its launch in early last year, it has generated over 4 million yuan in sales revenue," said Huang Dahai, General Manager of Guanghai Machinery. Standing beside a newly upgraded grinder undergoing final commissioning for delivery to a client in Jiangsu, he noted that traditional hydraulic double-sided grinders can no longer meet industrial production demands, making intelligent CNC grinding equipment the mainstream of the market. Keeping pace with industrial upgrading trends, the company is transforming and upgrading toward high-end product lines and will phase out hydraulic grinding equipment after completing its last hydraulic machine export to India.

Last December, Guanghai Machinery won the Excellence Award at the First Yangjiang Metal Products Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, hosted by the Organization Department of Yangdong District Party Committee and Yangdong District Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, with its project entitled *Industrialization of New Intelligent Double-sided Grinding Equipment for the Belt and Road Initiative*. According to Huang Dahai, the new double-sided grinder supports batch double-sided grinding of cutlery, delivering uniform edge lines, consistent width and unified blade thickness. It effectively addresses the bottlenecks of low processing efficiency and unstable precision inherent in conventional equipment. After more than three years of research and development, this innovative grinder has gained wide recognition both at home and abroad, and is widely adopted by local Yangjiang knife and scissors manufacturers including Anjiale, Xingyue and Xingdao.

"Driven by product innovation and the growing export share in Belt and Road partner countries, our output value rose by more than 30% year-on-year last year, and we have a full order book for the first quarter of this year," said Huang Dahai.

Through industry-university-research cooperation with Guangdong Ocean University, Guangdong Polytechnic of Mechatronics and Yangjiang Polytechnic, the company has made up for its shortage of technical talents in software development and successfully overcome the core technical difficulties of the second-generation double-sided grinder. Meanwhile, by participating in the innovation and entrepreneurship competition for the metal products industry and competing with outstanding peers, the professional capabilities of its team have been greatly improved.

Relevant officials from the Yangdong District Bureau of Industry and Information Technology stated that the 2024 Yangjiang Metal Products Industry Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition presented a total of 14 awards, with combined innovation and entrepreneurship subsidies reaching 190,000 yuan. Among these, six projects from six local enterprises in Yangdong District won honors, securing a total subsidy of 65,000 yuan. It is learned that the second edition of the competition is scheduled to be held in June this year, serving as a professional platform for metal manufacturers to showcase their latest innovation and entrepreneurship achievements.

The dividends brought by innovation are far more than just opportunities for participants to stand out. More importantly, such events help enterprises explore pathways toward high-quality development.

Guangdong Jinhui Knife & Scissors Co., Ltd. has joined hands with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Anhui University of Technology to develop an advanced production process for martensitic stainless steel cutlery with superior performance. Featuring outstanding antibacterial properties as well as the high strength and high hardness of martensitic stainless steel, the new material fully meets the requirements for sharpness and lasting cutting performance of knives and scissors. The project was awarded the Second Prize in the competition.

"This research achievement helps strengthen China’s international competitiveness in the high-end cutlery manufacturing sector, optimize the product structure of the knife and scissors industry, and improve corporate profitability," said a relevant person in charge of Jinhui Knife & Scissors. The company posted an operating income of 410 million yuan last year, representing a year-on-year increase of 46%.

Guangdong Star Moment Technology Co., Ltd. has developed a high-pressure resistant focusing diving flashlight by optimizing the design of metal sealing structures. It boasts a pressure resistance depth of 150 meters underwater, far exceeding the general industry standard of about 50 meters for ordinary diving flashlights, and is applicable to in-depth marine operations, professional rescue and other scenarios. Adopting modular focusing technology, this new product supports one-click switching between spotlight and floodlight modes with its lighting coverage increased by 30%, fully meeting diverse demands such as underwater exploration and photography. According to the company’s person in charge, the enterprise has established cooperation with multiple diving clubs and completed numerous field tests. The product has won wide recognition for its stable performance in strong current environments. It has secured 10 tentative orders this year, with an estimated annual sales revenue of 3 million yuan.

Zhao Guangyan, founder of Yangjiang Jianheng Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., stated that the intelligent unmanned laser welding workstation independently developed by his company won the Excellence Award in the competition last year. The equipment adopts laser scanning technology to collect 3D data of randomly placed workpieces, identifies their positions and angles through algorithms, and guides robotic arms to realize automatic grabbing and path planning. Combined with laser scanning, image recognition and AI algorithms, it enables rapid detection of welding defects and automatic program adjustment, breaking through technical bottlenecks in multi-system collaboration and data communication. Widely suitable for hardware knives and scissors, household appliances, new energy and other industries, the equipment is expected to generate an annual sales revenue of over 10 million yuan.

"Through selecting district-level top talents, hosting innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, vocational skill contests and other activities, we have identified and fostered a number of leading innovative enterprises in the metal products industry across the district. This reflects Yangdong’s commitment to motivating innovative professionals, prioritizing the optimization of the talent development environment, and building a welcoming talent ecosystem that attracts and retains talents," said Xie Youdi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Yangdong District Party Committee, Director of the District Party Committee Office and Director of the Organization Department.

With industrial upgrading and shifting market demands, local hardware enterprises in Yangdong are facing an increasingly urgent need for high-level professionals and skilled technical personnel. However, discussions and field surveys covering hardware enterprises of different scales, product lines and market positioning have revealed that the metal products industry in Yangdong is confronted with multiple challenges, including an irrational talent structure, insufficient talent supply, an imperfect evaluation system and difficulties in talent retention.

Rendering of China Knife & Scissors Industry Museum

The hardware sector acts as the pacesetter of the metal products industry in Yangdong District and even the whole of Yangjiang City. It is reported that Yangdong is home to more than 700 manufacturers of daily-use hardware, knives and scissors, among which 89 are industrial enterprises above designated size with an annual output value exceeding 20 million yuan, accounting for 49.72% of the district’s total large-scale enterprises. The industry gathers renowned brands such as Shibazi, Zhang Xiaoquan and Wang Mazi. Fifteen of the country’s top 30 knife and scissors enterprises have settled in Yangdong. A complete industrial chain has taken shape, covering knife and scissors machinery manufacturing, mold production, parts casting and processing, heat treatment, wood products, packaging, technological research and development, product testing, standard formulation, e-commerce and logistics distribution, endowing the region with strong competitive edges.

Xie Youdi pointed out that research shows Yangdong has not yet established a sound talent evaluation indicator system for the hardware industry. The lack of unified quantitative assessment standards for professional qualifications and skill levels makes it difficult to accurately evaluate talents’ professional competencies and practical contributions. This not only hinders rational talent allocation and incentive mechanisms, but also restricts industrial innovation and high-quality development.

Compared with the Pearl River Delta region, many local enterprises report great difficulties in recruiting suitable talents from outside the region, and thus mostly rely on retaining local talent or referrals from employees and industry peers. A person in charge of Jinhui Knife & Scissors shared that the company once recruited a cross-border e-commerce director with a high salary from Shenzhen. However, due to the severe shortage of relevant professionals in Yangjiang, they failed to build a complete team within half a year. After relocating the department to Shenzhen, a full cross-border e-commerce team was established in just half a month.

To remove major obstacles in talent attraction, cultivation, retention and utilization, Yangdong District has focused on the “1+3+3+N” modern industrial system since last year, fully implemented the Provincial Sailing Plan, and launched a three-year action plan for talent gathering in the metal products industry. The district strives to introduce a group of entrepreneurs and management talents, cultivate outstanding skilled workers, and build a number of master studios, so as to consolidate talent support for the industrial upgrading of Yangjiang’s hardware, knife and scissors and metal products sectors.

In addition, Yangdong District has collaborated with the team from the School of Human Resource Management, Guangdong University of Finance and Economics, to carry out research on the industrial talent evaluation system. It aims to develop a targeted evaluation mechanism for the hardware industry and introduce diversified assessment standards to meet enterprises’ demands for vocational qualification recognition as well as R&D and engineering evaluation. This will improve the fairness and accuracy of talent assessment and provide institutional guarantees for corporate technological innovation.

It is learned that the long-awaited **Pilot Plan for the Research on the Hardware Industry Talent Evaluation System of Yangdong District, Yangjiang City** has been officially released. At present, the Organization Department of Yangdong District Party Committee is conducting practical assessments in cooperation with local enterprises including Shibazi, Xingdao Industry and Trade, and Ruiyi International Trade, to further optimize and adjust relevant evaluation indicators.

Notably, the Organization Department launched a school-enterprise joint talent training program for the metal products industry in cooperation with Yangdong No.1 Vocational School last year. Industry-specific courses such as product design and industrial design were offered, with over 400 students participating in professional training. According to Xie Youdi, Yangdong will fully leverage paired assistance resources from Zhongshan Polytechnic, Yangjiang Polytechnic and other colleges this year. Based on local industrial demands, the district will jointly build a localized vocational skill training system with Yangjiang No.1 Vocational School and Yangdong No.1 Vocational School, cultivating skilled talents for the traditional hardware, knife and scissors industry as well as technical professionals for emerging industries including marine ranch construction.