How long will it take for one to realize his dream? For Liu Songtao, an alumnus of Tianjin University, the answer is five years.
In 2013 while Liu was pursuing his master's degree at TJU, he started building his own company: Chenxing (Tianjin) Automation Equipment Co., Ltd. Five years later, the company ranks second in the field of automated equipment in China, its products being even superior in accuracy to similar oversea products. The “ATOM high-speed transfer robot” as the company’s high-end parallel robot brand helped Liu’s team win the gold medal in the 4th China College Students’ “Internet Plus” Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition.
Liu Songtao was admitted to the School of Mechanical Engineering of Tianjin University in 2006 and graduated as a postgraduate in 2013. Recalling the seven years at TJU, he deemed it had laid the groundwork for his entrepreneurship. “Tianjin University is where my dream started,” Liu said.
Tianjin University, the cradle of the entrepreneur’s dream
Having a dream does not mean no confusion. Although Liu had decided to become a business man since he was a child, he had only vague ideas about how to realize that dream before he entered the university. As a college student, Liu took pains to excel in his academic studies, winning the national scholarship for three consecutive years. Meanwhile, he tried to make progress in realizing his entrepreneurial dream. Chances came when the school Liu studied at began to recruit students to participate in the first Formula Student China (FSC).
At that time, Tianjin University had no undergraduates majoring in vehicle engineering, students majoring in the relevant fields were in great need when Liu Songtao signed up and became the first captain of the Peiyang Engine Fleet team. The team members being gathered, the racing car still remained to be designed and built from scratch. Although he was the team leader, Liu was actually still a novice since he hadn’t attended any relevant courses and there was no data for him to refer to. He had to learn everything on his own, carrying out the frame design, power assembly, suspension, braking, steering, and electronic control system design. Together, Liu and his teammates completed all the designs needed for a racing car. He ran the Peiyang Engine Fleet in a business mode, with a complete financial budget system and a project management system. This experience experience gave Liu Songtao access to “starting an enterprise” in the university for the first time. Furthermore, the team’s first start-up fund was supported by the school and half of its daily expanses came from various types of “investments”. And the largest amount of funding, a total of 150000 yuan Liu applied for, was from the independent innovation foundation that was set at Tianjin University by Weichai Power Co., Ltd.
Tianjin University, the source of inspiration for the entrepreneur’s dream
“Songtao, are you interested in setting up a company and making the parallel robot known to the market?” Not long before his graduation as a postgraduate, his mentor’s half-joking words put Liu Songtao into deep thought. Since Liu entered the laboratory in advance in his senior year, he has learned about parallel robots. And as his undergraduate diploma project, Liu and his teammates completed the research and development of the prototype of a new four degrees of freedom parallel robot, since then he believed that the wide application of robots must be the direction of technological development.
“People will eventually become what they want to be,” the motto Liu always bears in mind prompted him to regard starting a business as the foremost choice after graduation. He once wavered from his decision, especially when he learnt most of his classmates gained stable jobs after graduation. Liu was burdened with stress. When he told friends his idea of starting an enterprise by himself, many told him to find a job and improve his family’s condition, which was not wealthy, as soon as possible. But Liu eventually held his ground.
As a postgraduate, Liu Songtao visited quite a lot of factories and saw their production lines. He found that there were still a large number of people working in the front line, especially in explosive factories. Liu decided to start a business that targeted changing and upgrading the traditional industry.
The Turning Point
Liu’s experience as the Peiyang Engine Fleet team leader helped him quickly recruit some employees, especially the research team. With his mentor’s help, Liu Songtao quickly completed the product design, improved the accuracy and stability of the robot and determined the testing standards of this type of parallel robot. However, the industrial robots used in China are mostly imported. How to make his own product recognized by the public became a major issue.
In the early two years of entrepreneurship, Liu Songtao's company was once in trouble due to the lack of management and operation skills as well as its fuzzy market positioning. When Yang Haoyong, another alumnus of Tianjin University, learnt about Liu Songtao’s robot after a business demonstration, he determined to invest in this program, marking the important turning point in Liu's entrepreneurial road. With financial support, Liu Songtao proceeded with marketing and production and developed Atom robot. Finally, Shijiazhuang Four Medicine Co., Ltd. became the first customer of Liu Songtao’s company, and Atom robots got the actual production data, which reflected that accuracy was improved by 20%, and it was better than similar foreign products, so that Liu Songtao's products finally opened up the market. Currently, Liu Songtao's Atom robots are being used in the by food, beverage, pharmaceutical, electronics and chemical industries daily.
Today, Liu Songtao is very confident in his entrepreneurship. He said that after the 19th National Congress, he has more confidence in the robot industry as people's longing for a better life will definitely bring about consumption upgrades as well as industrial upgrading. Industrial demand will be further stimulated, and intelligent robots will be used instead of simple workforce. The improvement in production efficiency and quality is an inevitable way of scientific and technological development. Now he has a clear ambition, that is, to develop a world-class industrial robot business. Some of Liu Songtao’s research results have been selected into the “Eleventh Five-Year” National Key Technology.
By Gu Junru & Rong Na
Editors: Eva Yin & Doris Harrington
