Chongsheng Oxygen Lance, a company specializing in metallurgical oxygen lances and nozzles in the Weifang Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, has won recognition from global steel manufacturers for its quality products.

"We received orders from more than 10 countries and regions including Australia, Brazil and Belgium in 2016," said Xu Zhengwu, deputy general manager of Chongsheng. "We expect our industrial output to stand between 80 million yuan ($11.64 million) and 100 million yuan in 2017."

Oxygen lances are used to heat and melt steel when oxygen is present in the production process. Their quality plays a crucial role in supporting steel output increases, quality enhancements and worker safety, according to Li Qia, deputy head of the research and development center.

Chongsheng's domestic market occupancy rate reached 70 percent by the end of 2016. It has established partnerships with more than 130 Chinese steel manufacturing businesses, including Baosteel Group in Shanghai and Shougang Group in Beijing, and it currently exports to countries such as Belgium, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey, Romania and Kazakhstan.

Since its establishment in 1988, Chongsheng has strongly supported domestic steelmakers' development with high quality but relatively inexpensive products.

Workers process the body of an oxygen lance at the Chongsheng Oxygen Lance factory.

A document provided by Chongsheng shows that a Baosteel plant replaced Japanese oxygen lances with the company's products in 1999.

"The imported product cost about 24,750 yuan each, while Chongsheng's product was only 8,000 yuan," according to the document.

Its strong R&D capacity, continuous product upgrades and excellent professionals are key elements supporting Chongsheng's development, according to the company.

It has established a development center and two test labs. The company claims to be the only oxygen lance producer in China that has such strong R&D capacity.

The company's R&D team successfully increased the lifecycle of a nozzle from 200 uses to more than 1,000. The service life of its nozzle reached 1,170 uses when used by Jinan Steel, a subsidiary of SD Group, which helped the steel producer save more than 20 million yuan, said Zhang Zhaoxin, head of Chongsheng's oxygen lance production plant.

Gu Chun, head of the casting plant, has worked for the company for more than 10 years. He can accurately judge the temperature of copper liquid with his bare eyes. He helped the company to solve quality concerns after its production plants were relocated in 2013.

Chongsheng considers its skilled teams to be valuable assets supporting its long-term business growth. The company's talent pool comprises both university graduates and professionals with decades of experience.

"Talent is the foundation supporting our development," said Fan Shengbin, deputy general manager and head of the production department at Chongsheng.