Figure of Huishang | Ji Chengzhi: The "China Temperature" of a "Little Giant"

Figure of Huishang | Ji Chengzhi: The "China Temperature" of a "Little Giant"

If the technological breakthrough in the electric heat tracing industry is a relay race, then the baton passed to Ji Chengzhi, Chairman of Anhui Huanrui Electric Heating Equipment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huanrui Electric Heat"), represents a remarkable journey of achieving domestic substitution for electric heat tracing in the industrial sector.

This electric heat tracing system, which converts electrical energy into thermal energy, can provide continuous and uniform heat to pipelines in industries such as petroleum, chemicals, electric power, steel, and shipping. This ensures that equipment and pipelines reach preset temperatures, preventing issues like temperature loss, freezing, or clogging in low-temperature environments. It can maintain heat for extended periods to sustain required working temperatures, making it a truly "invisible" support pillar for the industry.

From struggling in the initial market to having its self-regulating heat tracing cables and services spread across over 50 countries and regions worldwide, Huanrui Electric Heat has achieved technological breakthroughs in self-developed functional materials, production process innovations, and certification capabilities. From applications in the intricate networks of chemical plants and the strategic arteries of the energy sector to the "steel dragons" of high-speed railways, this strip-shaped heat tracing cable, a mere 4 millimeters thick, acts like countless "temperature arteries," injecting an invisible yet indispensable warmth into the industrial sector. The company itself has transformed from looking up to global leaders, to keeping pace with them, and now surpassing them in certain areas.

The corporate growth story written by Ji Chengzhi and his team over nearly two decades, characterized by "dogged perseverance" and an "unyielding spirit," is a vivid microcosm of their journey to realize the dream of serving the country through industry. They have sailed the boat of progress, navigating winds and waves, with patriotism as their sail and independent innovation as their oar.

In the journey of Chinese industry evolving from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, more such "icebreakers" and "guardians" are needed.

Moment of Glory

In the depths of winter, a CR400BF-GS Fuxing high-tech enhanced bullet train manufactured by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. races across the snow-covered landscape of Northeast China at 350 kilometers per hour. Outside, the extreme cold of minus 30 degrees Celsius is enough to freeze everything; inside, components like the train's water supply pipes, underfloor drain pipes, water tanks, and drain valves operate smoothly and safely, thanks to the precise temperature protection provided by the electric heat tracing system.

Within this intelligent anti-freeze system, the "invisible lifelines" of the train, the core product—the self-regulating heat tracing cable—comes from Huanrui Electric Heat. Its energy-efficient heat tracing ensures the train's water system pipelines function normally and stably in the extreme cold, preventing failures such as pipe freezing and cracking.

For a long period before Huanrui Electric Heat won the bid for the CRRC "CR400BF-GS High-Cold Bullet Train and 350 km/h Fuxing Intelligent Configuration Bullet Train Project," the electric heat tracing market for high-speed trains was dominated by foreign enterprises.

In 2024, as the nation developed the new-generation Fuxing high-speed EMU, the CR450, with an operating speed of 400 km/h, CRRC proposed the need for a self-regulating heat tracing cable with a special voltage requirement that foreign suppliers could not provide. Huanrui Electric Heat actively participated in the CR450 National Innovation Project, accurately grasped customer needs, and developed a new model of self-regulating heat tracing cable within the shortest possible time, fully meeting customer requirements. The CR450 has completed its initial 300,000-kilometer operational assessment, functioning perfectly. As a national treasure project and future mainstream model for China's high-speed rail, the CR450 project will undoubtedly elevate China's high-speed rail to new heights. Concurrently, Huanrui participated in the research and development of self-regulating heat tracing cables for CRRC's Sichuan-Tibet project EMUs and hydrogen-powered EMUs, accumulating extensive experience in product applications on plateaus and new energy platforms. This marks the end of the era when high-speed rail heat tracing cable systems relied on imported brands, filling the gap in the domestic production of self-regulating heat tracing cables.

In 2025, during the first domestic tender for the "Self-Regulating Heat Tracing Cable Framework" project at Wanhua Chemical, Huanrui Electric Heat emerged as the sole winning bidder, thanks to the superior performance of its self-regulating heat tracing cables after rigorous selection.

This electric heat tracing system maintains a constant process temperature during the storage and transfer of chemical materials, preventing media from solidifying or altering properties. It acts not only as a "guardian" ensuring smooth process flow, precisely guaranteeing efficient continuous operation, but its exceptional stability and safety have also earned strict technical certification in the chemical sector, making it a classic example of Huanrui Electric Heat's foray into the fine chemical industry.

Huanrui Electric Heat's self-regulating heat tracing cables are widely used in numerous projects of China National Offshore Oil Corporation. On turbulent offshore oil drilling platforms and within thousands of kilometers of national energy long-distance transmission pipelines, they are applied for anti-solidification and thermal insulation of petroleum pipelines, actively serving in freeze protection and temperature maintenance scenarios across the entire chain of oil and gas extraction, transportation, and processing. The same "temperature guardianship" unfolds here. Whether coping with extreme cold or ensuring the smooth flow of high-viscosity fluids, Huanrui Electric Heat's products demonstrate strong adaptability and stability, contributing to the construction of China's energy industry.

From petrochemicals to rail transit, countless self-regulating heat tracing cables continuously provide warmth and assurance for the smooth operation of Chinese industry. A series of landmark orders became the "highlight moments" for Huanrui Electric Heat in 2025.

That year, more accolades surrounded Huanrui Electric Heat:

The company stood out from over 3,800 candidate enterprises to be selected for the "2024 Yangtze River Delta Commercial Innovation Samples," becoming a representative enterprise in Anhui Province achieving breakthroughs within the Yangtze River Delta innovation landscape.
It was selected for the second batch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 2025 new round of support for high-quality development of specialized, refined, differential, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (key "Little Giant" enterprises).
It secured numerous qualifications and honors, including National High-Tech Enterprise, Anhui Province Manufacturing Champion Cultivation Enterprise, Anhui Province Innovative Enterprise, Anhui Province Industrial Design Center Enterprise, Anhui Province "Digital Workshop" Enterprise, Anhui Province "115" Industrial Innovation Team, Anhui Province Industrial Fine Product, and Anhui Province Energy-Saving Product Recommendation Catalog.
Products were exported to over 50 countries and regions worldwide, with overseas revenue share increasing by nearly 30 percent year-on-year. It was awarded the "Anhui Export Brand," significantly enhancing its brand's international influence.
It became a key contributing unit to national and industry standards such as GB/T19835 Self-regulating heating cables and GB/T20841-2025 Heating cables for heating and anti-icing of domestic facilities with rated voltage up to 300/500V, participating in setting industry technical specifications.

From Striving to Catch Up to Localized Overtaking

Huanrui Electric Heat's success in forging a new path is no accident. This competitiveness stems from Ji Chengzhi's team's persistent pursuit of core technology, precise grasp of the industrial chain, deep understanding of customer value, and firm execution of domestic substitution.

In 2023, Huanrui Electric Heat successfully mass-produced its independently developed self-regulating cables with a temperature resistance rating of 200 degrees Celsius. In early 2025, the company overcame multiple technical challenges, achieving a breakthrough in high-performance self-regulating heat tracing cables resistant to 260 degrees Celsius and a deep upgrade of its intelligent thermal control system. This marked Huanrui Electric Heat's progression from striving to catch up, to parallel development, and then to localized overtaking in certain areas. It also transformed from a mere product supplier into an EPC full-process solution service provider, integrating core material research and development, product design and manufacturing, engineering installation, and intelligent operation and maintenance.

The growth and technological breakthroughs of Huanrui Electric Heat also reflect, to some extent, that "only by mastering core technology can we achieve the upgrade from 'Made in China' to 'Intelligently Made in China'." Huanrui Electric Heat has achieved complete self-control across the entire chain, from core functional materials and insulating materials to production processes, testing, and certification, through the full autonomization of key technologies.

Analyzing Huanrui Electric Heat's development logic demonstrates that research and development investment, capacity expansion, and profit acquisition are not contradictory. Instead, through a model of "strategic priority sequencing plus lean management plus innovation achievement transformation," they achieve short-term synergy and long-term positive cycles: research and development investment provides high value-added product support for capacity expansion; capacity expansion provides economies of scale for profit growth; and profits, in turn, provide financial support for research and development investment.

The primary task is to clarify strategic priorities, always placing research and development investment first to ensure core technology maintains a leading edge. This is the foundation for capturing high-end markets and ensuring long-term profitability. New product research and development investment is not blind expansion but is guided by market demand to anchor innovation directions. Market demand is the compass for innovation, determining its direction and value; technological innovation is the engine that meets and leads market demand, allowing us to solve existing customer pain points while creating new market opportunities. Both are indispensable.

Each year, Huanrui Electric Heat organizes teams to participate in global industry exhibitions and conduct market research in traditional heating regions like Europe and North America. This serves a dual purpose: understanding customer pain points across different industries and scenarios, and tracking global technology trends, ensuring innovation always has a clear target orientation.

For Huanrui Electric Heat, applied innovation and forward-looking innovation run on parallel tracks, balancing current needs with future layout. Applied innovation directly serves mainstream market demands, quickly translating into profits. Forward-looking innovation positions the company for technology trends three to five years ahead, maintaining its leading edge in the industry.

Currently, the company is advancing the integrated research and development of "new materials plus intelligent control systems," aiming to upgrade electric heat tracing systems from "mere heat tracing" to "precise sensing, intelligent decision-making, and remote operation and maintenance," seizing the future market for intelligent thermal control.

Furthermore, to avoid overcapacity, the company enhances capacity efficiency through lean management: optimizing production processes through digital management, improving equipment utilization, and allowing capacity expansion to simultaneously drive down costs.

Breaking Through the Blockade

From breaking foreign technological monopolies to becoming a national-level specialized, refined, differential, and innovative "Little Giant" enterprise, this represents a leap from zero to one for Huanrui Electric Heat.

In 2003, while working in marketing for an enterprise, the 27-year-old Ji Chengzhi encountered a product called "self-regulating heat tracing cable."

At that time, the core technology and market for electric heat tracing were controlled and monopolized by the United States.

To break the passive situation of long-term domestic reliance on imports, in the 1980s, responding to national needs, university research and development teams, represented by the University of Science and Technology of China, embarked on the path of exploring and developing electric heat tracing technology. Starting late and with relatively backward technology and equipment, products could only hover in the low-end market, mostly used for heat tracing and insulation of winter water supply pipelines and gas pipe networks. Applications in high-end fields like offshore oil platforms and large chemical plants were difficult to penetrate.

A sense of patriotism and self-reliance arose within Ji Chengzhi. He aspired to make the independent research and development of self-regulating heat tracing cables his lifelong career pursuit, eager to achieve technical parameters and performance indicators comparable to internationally renowned brands.

In 2007, driven by passion, Ji Chengzhi led a team of eight or nine employees, rented a simple factory building in Feidong Economic Development Zone, Hefei, and founded Anhui Huanrui Electric Heating Equipment Co., Ltd.

In the early spring of that entrepreneurial year, the cold wind along the Bohai Bay coast was still biting. Sand and gravel, whipped up by the wind, slammed against the thick iron gate of an oilfield facility, also stinging Ji Chengzhi's thin clothing. At that moment, he clutched the manual for Huanrui's electric heat tracing products tightly against his chest, his fingertips turning slightly white from the force. It was the only bargaining chip for this new domestic brand in the electric heat tracing field to knock on the door of this energy hub. Yet, at the first hurdle, he was stopped by a security guard's words: "Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering."

He knew well that the iron gate before him was not the only obstacle. Harder to overcome was the industry's skepticism toward "domestic electric heat tracing." This failed visit, like a seed battered by wind and rain yet never withering, buried itself deep in his heart, taking root and growing into a fervent and steadfast belief: "Someday, China's large energy enterprises will all use electric heat tracing products developed by us."

Meanwhile, although Huanrui Electric Heat had successfully secured a large full-container export order to Russia, quality issues led to a complete sales stagnation, with the products sitting quietly in the warehouse.

The breakthrough began with a key strategic choice: taking the path of deep integration of industry, academia, and research for independent innovation, abandoning the path of low-end homogeneous competition. They established Anhui Province's "115" Industrial Innovation Team, partnered with universities including the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei University of Technology, Anhui University, and Hefei University to create an industry-academia-research cooperation mechanism, and built a postdoctoral research workstation and a testing center. This testing center also passed accreditation by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment, significantly enhancing its credibility in the international market and promoting standardized laboratory processes and refined management, providing more efficient quality assurance for Huanrui Electric Heat's research and development and production.

The research and development of each new product, from raw material formulation to equipment, production processes, and quality control, presented new challenges and breakthroughs at every stage.

After years of dedicated research and development, Huanrui Electric Heat finally succeeded in developing self-regulating heat tracing cable series with temperature ratings of 90, 125, 160, 200, and 260 degrees Celsius. Simultaneously, they successfully developed highly adaptable and stable insulating materials and accessories for heat tracing products, completing one technological leap after another.

Since then, Huanrui Electric Heat and the aforementioned Russian customer have cooperated for over a decade, with Huanrui delivering products without any further quality issues. This customer not only became Huanrui's most stable overseas partner but also witnessed firsthand Huanrui's entire journey from a startup to an industry benchmark.

Huanrui Electric Heat's products have successively entered major oilfields such as Changqing, Shengli, Qinghai, and Jilin, and have gone global, being applied in projects like the methanol project at the Nakhodka Mineral Fertilizer Plant in Russia and the liquefied gas separation unit in Kazakhstan, delivering "China Temperature" on the international stage.

The Confidence to Say No

In Ji Chengzhi's view, there are no shortcuts in innovation; it is entirely achieved through "dogged perseverance."

Take the development of self-regulating heat tracing cables resistant to 200 degrees Celsius as an example. Huanrui adopted stricter testing standards than leading international brands. "We had to prove that the product remained safe and stable under even harsher conditions before daring to bring it to market." To this end, the team meticulously addressed every detail in material formulations and process equipment, spending five years conducting a vast number of experiments, finally achieving mass production in 2023.

The emergence of this high-end domestic product was timely. As the international situation changed, large domestic state-owned enterprises urgently needed to promote domestic substitution in key areas. Huanrui Electric Heat, with its excellent products, successfully won the bid for the electric heat tracing material framework project of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, accelerating the domestic substitution process for electric heat tracing systems in marine engineering. From 2023 to 2025, Huanrui provided comprehensive electric heat tracing system solutions for 42 newly built and expanded offshore oil drilling platforms and 38 modification projects of in-service platforms under CNOOC. Its technology and services covered numerous core production facilities, with a total installation of over 1.6 million meters of self-regulating heat tracing cable series products, effectively ensuring the safe operation of nearly 500,000 meters of process pipelines and over a thousand skid-mounted equipment units. Huanrui's self-regulating heat tracing systems are widely used in critical processes such as crude oil transmission, chemical injection, fire sprinkling, oil and gas processing, and utilities, providing reliable anti-solidification, thermal insulation, and process temperature maintenance for pipelines, significantly enhancing production continuity and safety in harsh marine environments, fundamentally avoiding operational risks caused by pipeline freezing or media wax precipitation.

Now, Ji Chengzhi proudly states, "Our supply chain is absolutely safe, with core technologies completely self-controlled, unaffected by international changes. Later, CNOOC highly praised Huanrui, expressing that Huanrui gave Chinese people the confidence to say 'no' in this field."

Simultaneously, Huanrui proactively aligned with global product standards, obtaining international certifications such as UL, CSA, BV, CE, and EAC, allowing its innovations to circulate smoothly in markets across over 50 countries and regions. This not only meets the heat tracing needs of domestic high-end industries but also enables exports through international certification, maximizing the value of innovation.

Huanrui Electric Heat has forged ahead through nearly 20 years of arduous struggle, reaping abundant fruits and promoting the company's development towards being specialized, refined, differential, and innovative.

Currently, China's electric heat tracing industry is at a critical stage of rapid scale growth, accelerated technological breakthroughs, and continuous structural optimization. The overall level has achieved a leap from following to running alongside, and even leading in some areas.

On one hand, European and American brands, with decades of technological accumulation and brand trust, still dominate high-end applications, enjoying high recognition in aerospace, high-end petrochemicals, nuclear power, and other fields.

On the other hand, issues such as insufficient research and development investment by domestic enterprises and serious technological homogeneity cannot be ignored. Simultaneously, there remains a gap compared to internationally renowned companies in areas like international certification layout and product development for extreme environments, and their capability to "go global" needs improvement.

Facing changing times and corporate development, Ji Chengzhi maintains a clear and objective understanding. "Enterprises must seize upon the disadvantages of foreign brands, such as high costs, insufficient local service, long supply cycles, inflexible responses to emerging domestic needs, and weak product customization capabilities, to build their own core competitiveness. For example, to meet the urgent needs of new energy enterprises, we can achieve 24-hour solution design and 72-hour product delivery." For Huanrui Electric Heat, competition is not viewed as a zero-sum game. Instead, they respond with the approach of "filling shortcomings and strengthening advantages" – learning from the technological accumulation of foreign brands while continuously increasing investment in high-end technology research and development, and leveraging the advantages of local enterprises' flexible response, deepening the "technology plus service" model to consolidate advantages.

Let the "China Solution" Serve the World

Currently, facing the advancement of the "dual carbon" goals and the comprehensive implementation of new infrastructure, the electric heat tracing industry is encountering new development opportunities along the main lines of greening and high-end development. These include freeze protection and thermal insulation for new energy sources (wind power, photovoltaics, energy storage), energy-saving renovations in industrial fields, clean residential heating, and the intelligent and digital upgrading of electric heat tracing systems.

The upgrade of clean energy substitution and energy conservation, as well as the expansion of high-end application scenarios, are urgent. Ji Chengzhi believes that Huanrui Electric Heat's future path of technological autonomy, industrial synergy, and global empowerment is clearly visible.

In research and development, they will continue to advance towards "extreme environments" and "intelligent IoT," deeply integrating AI algorithms to create an intelligent thermal control platform integrating "sensing, decision-making, and operation and maintenance."

In market expansion, they will continue to deepen their presence in new energy and high-end industrial fields, while vigorously expanding international markets. By obtaining top global certifications such as UL, CSA, and ATEX, they aim to let "Made in China" serve the world.

In terms of ecosystem, they will deepen the "technology plus service" model, expand operation and maintenance trusteeship services, and provide full lifecycle operation and maintenance services including long-term remote monitoring, regular inspections, fault early warning, and repair for large industrial customers and new energy projects, upgrading from project deliverers to long-term partners.

In terms of business model, they will engage in cross-border cooperation with industrial chain partners, focusing on promoting collaboration with IoT enterprises, energy storage system integrators, and industrial automation companies. They will establish joint laboratories with new energy enterprises and research institutions, leveraging their technological and service advantages through resource integration.

Huanrui Electric Heat's mission is to take technological innovation as its core, industrial synergy as its support, and a global vision as its scope, focusing on high-end fields such as extreme environment electric heat tracing and intelligent thermal control, striving to make domestically produced electric heat tracing technology a significant innovative force in the global industry. Simultaneously, it aims to assist the country in achieving self-control in key areas, promoting Chinese-created green, efficient, and intelligent thermal control solutions to the world, and contributing Chinese wisdom to global industrial upgrading.

"In my mind, 'Intelligently Made in China' possesses the innovative power of core technology, the guiding power of standard systems, and the influence of ecological synergy within the global industrial chain," Ji Chengzhi said with firm conviction. "This requires us technological entrepreneurs and manufacturing enterprises to no longer be limited by bottleneck technologies in key areas, to transform independent research and development achievements into internationally recognized industry standards, and to form industry clusters centered around leading enterprises that combine innovation vitality with quality assurance."

Source: Huishang Magazine