Rui'an is making bold strides in its transformation from a traditional manufacturing town to a smart industrial powerhouse. The city's automotive parts sector, long its economic backbone, is now leading a wave of innovation that spans entire production chains, from individual components to fully assembled vehicles.
In August, Zhejiang Chengli Automobile Manufacturing Co., Ltd. finally secured its long-awaited specialized vehicle production qualification. Located in Dongshan Street, the company achieved this milestone in under two years from its establishment in Rui'an, filling a critical gap in the city's local complete vehicle manufacturing landscape. The certification, announced in the MIIT's Public Announcement (Batch 409), marks what the company describes as not just a license, but "the starting gun for a sprint toward a vast market."
That same month, Qiaoluming Technology Co., Ltd., a Rui'an enterprise that recently listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, released its first semi-annual report. The company posted revenues of 1.416 billion yuan and net profits attributable to shareholders of 216 million yuan, ranking 9th among all BSE-listed companies. Notably, this automotive interior and exterior parts manufacturer saw gross margins improve across all its major product segments.
Where the momentum begins
The city's innovation drive is anchored in a robust ecosystem. At the start of this year, provincial authorities evaluated 88 industrial clusters across Zhejiang, and Rui'an's new energy vehicle and parts cluster ranked first among all collaborative zones with a high-quality development index of 88.67. The "high-quality enterprise" and "cluster ecology and governance" indicators both ranked first province-wide.
Inside the production facility of Zhejiang GOLD Intelligent Suspension Co., Ltd., a high-tech inspection line equipped with industrial cameras and deep AI algorithms examines shock absorber components in real time. Defective parts are automatically diverted right, while qualified ones flow left. This system has driven the product defect rate below 0.1 percent, one example of how "AI translators" are converting seasoned workers' tacit knowledge into quantifiable technical metrics across Rui'an's workshops.
Supporting these efforts is the Collaborative Innovation Center for Intelligent Vehicle Key Parts Engineers, jointly built with the China Society of Automotive Engineers. Dubbed the "industry matchmaker" by local entrepreneurs, it connects over 2,800 senior engineers with companies that publish technical challenges for expert teams to tackle. The Dongxin Science and Technology Park, a 388-acre, multi-billion-yuan project, serves as the city's innovation apex, housing R&D incubation bases and demonstration zones for industrial upgrading. By the end of last year, the platform had attracted 78 industrial projects, including 18 provincial major projects, and fostered 2 national manufacturing single-item champions and 17 national-level "little giant" specialized enterprises.
Chain-wide breakthroughs and traditional industry upgrades
The innovation wave extends beyond auto parts. In May, Huafon Group inaugurated its Materials Research Institute in Rui'an, the first non-regional private research institute established under the new Company Law. This move pioneers a self-funded, profit-and-loss-bearing approach to corporate R&D in the city. The group has overcome over 20 "bottleneck" technologies previously monopolized by foreign firms, including adiponitrile and bio-based PTMEG. Its latest breakthrough, a bio-based green material derived from corncobs, was showcased in the world's first sport insole featuring the material at a Portland footwear materials exhibition, created with global brand INSITE. This chain-leading innovation is revitalizing Rui'an's safety footwear industry, which has evolved from basic labor protection shoes to high-end, fully functional categories covering anti-static, anti-impact, anti-puncture, and anti-slip properties, now exported worldwide.
Rui'an's traditional machinery and electronics sector is also leaping toward intelligent equipment manufacturing. Zhejiang Huayue Packaging Machinery Co., Ltd. has developed an intelligent plate-making ultra-thick paper cutter capable of trimming 500 business cards in a single stroke, establishing itself as a global leader. Zhejiang Mingrui Intelligent Equipment Technology Co., Ltd. has integrated robotics and AI vision into its new bagging packaging machine, widely regarded as a significant industry innovation. "We've seized the technology track and are committed to deep cultivation," said a company representative, adding that substantial annual R&D investment and continuous breakthroughs remain core to building competitive edges in niche segments.
Full-cycle services that help enterprises soar
While innovation capacity rises, Rui'an's business environment has improved in tandem. Huang Shengquan, who relocated his auto parts company back to Rui'an in 2018, initially faced a challenge: an unbuilt road at the factory's entrance hampered personnel and equipment access. Local authorities quickly installed a temporary entrance, advancing the production launch by four to five months. When expansion needs emerged in 2024, the Economic and Information Bureau proactively guided the company through provincial project selection, securing 112 mu of land incentive quotas. As the company pursued its IPO, Rui'an assigned municipal leaders to oversee the process and facilitated compliance certifications, while the city's Industrial Development Co. made a strategic investment of 92.1 million yuan in a private placement. On July 22, Qiaoluming Technology Co., Ltd. was officially listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, marking Rui'an's first company to achieve this milestone. Huang expressed deep appreciation for the city's "full-cycle care."
Jin Daoyi, deputy general manager of Zhejiang GOLD Intelligent Suspension Co., Ltd., shares a similar story. His company's 160,000-square-meter facility in Tangxia Town runs at full capacity, producing suspension systems for automakers like SAIC, Chery, Geely, and Leapmotor, powering over 50 production models. The plant might have been split by a planned municipal road that originally cut through the site's center. Concerned that the road would disrupt production flow and logistics, the company voiced its worries. The Tangxia enterprise service team immediately coordinated with urban planning and construction authorities, eventually rerouting the road line. Given the project's proximity to rail transit, local departments also worked with the rail operator to design a tailored construction safety plan with continuous monitoring. "From investment attraction and approval to construction supervision and completion inspection, every step has dedicated support," Jin said, praising the government for consistently considering the company's perspective.
A century-old legacy of industrial excellence
The city's commitment to manufacturing excellence reached new heights in May, when Rui'an received the "Zhejiang Manufacturing Tianding Award," the province's top honor for manufacturing, at a provincial conference on deep integration of technological and industrial innovation. Later that year, Zhejiang Shenghuabo Electric Appliance Co., Ltd. was named to the ninth national batch of manufacturing single-item champions. Rui'an now accounts for 7 of Wenzhou's 14 national single-item champions, claiming half of the region's honors.
At the 2026 Rui'an Merchants Conference held on April 3, the city presented the "Yumeng Tripod" to leaders of 10 local manufacturing enterprises, including Huafon, Ruili, and Qiaoluming. Named after Li Yumeng, a pioneering figure in southern Zhejiang's machinery industry, the award symbolizes the entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and industrial patriotism. Zhang Xiaoping of Ruili Group remarked, "This original aspiration is the spiritual foundation of all Rui'an industrialists. Every step of the city's decades of development has been driven by it." This inheritance is now powering Rui'an's journey from a commercial and trade hub to a smart manufacturing commercial port.