0417-3297722
Wu Feng
Toplocal Materials Technology (Yingkou) Co., Ltd.
Fluid lubrication technology, continuously building a green future together
Set industry benchmarks, tell China's stories well, convey China's voice, and fully demonstrate the soaring Chinese economy, the rising national brands and the upward entrepreneurial spirit. Recently, the special series program "Rising National Brands" had a conversation with Mr. Wu Feng, the chairman of Toplank Materials Technology (Yingkou) Co., LTD. (referred to as: Toplank), to discuss the innovative development path in the field of special lubrication technology.
Amid the roar of mechanical equipment, lubricating oil, like the flowing "industrial blood", silently supports the precise operation of modern manufacturing. During the critical period when the global industry is moving towards high-end and green transformation, China's special lubrication sector has long been confronted with a "bottleneck" predicament - the high-end market is monopolized by international giants, core technologies rely on imports, and domestic brands are repeatedly restricted in providing lubrication solutions under extreme working conditions. Wu Feng, the chairman of Toplank Materials Technology (Yingkou) Co., LTD., with over four decades of industry experience and the innocent heart of an entrepreneur, has blazed a trail for Chinese national enterprises to break through in this technological wilderness.
At the program site, Mr. Wu Feng shared with everyone his entrepreneurial original intention and the current development status of his enterprise. When China's industry was still in a stage of extensive development, Wu Feng had already keenly realized the strategic significance of special lubrication technology to the equipment manufacturing industry. From a technical backbone of a state-owned enterprise to a senior executive of a multinational company, he has witnessed the arduous journey of China's lubrication industry from imitation to catching up, and has also seen the reality that the high-end market is monopolized by international brands. "Why can't Chinese people have their own special lubrication brands?" " This question turned into the spark of entrepreneurship in 2009 - Wu Feng resolutely resigned from his position as a senior executive of a foreign-funded enterprise and founded Topronk, embarking on a long-distance entrepreneurial journey with the mission of breaking through through technology.
In the early stage of his entrepreneurship, in the face of the all-round advantages of international giants in technical standards, customer certification and channel networks, Wu Feng chose a differentiated path of "deeply exploring niche markets". He led his team to focus on high-threshold fields such as metal processing, mining machinery, and new energy equipment, taking "customized R&D" as the core competitiveness. This strategic choice stems from a profound insight into the pain points of the industry: the process parameters, material properties, and working conditions of different mechanical equipment have completely different requirements for lubrication performance, and traditional standardized products are difficult to meet them.
Toprank's technological breakthrough began with the re-deconstruction of the lubrication mechanism. Wu Feng's team discovered that traditional lubrication theories mostly focus on a single lubrication stage, while high-end equipment often needs to simultaneously deal with the dynamic balance of three stages: dynamic lubrication, extreme pressure lubrication, and boundary lubrication. For this reason, the enterprise has established a three-in-one R&D system of "process - material - lubrication" : it has delved into the customer's production line to collect over 200 process parameters such as rolling speed, temperature gradient, and deformation. Analyze the influence of metal lattice structure and surface roughness on the adsorption capacity of lubricants; Complex working conditions such as extrusion, impact and reciprocating motion are reproduced through bench tests. This R&D model of "moving the laboratory to the production line" has enabled Toplank Materials to successfully develop a series of innovative products such as special oil for aluminum rolling, lubricating grease for mining machinery, and coolant for new energy.
In the field of special lubrication, international certification is the "pass" to open up the high-end market. Toprangk has successively passed the ISO9001 quality management system, ISO14001 environmental management system, IATF16949 automotive industry quality standard, as well as the Flender wind turbine gearbox certification, Cincinnati machine tool lubrication certification and other global authoritative institutions' recognition. These certifications not only endorse the performance of the products, but also force enterprises to establish a full-process quality control system covering research and development, production and service.
In Wu Feng's plan, the role of Tpolank goes far beyond that of a lubricant supplier, but rather to become a "technical partner" for customers to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The intelligent lubrication service system established by the company collects data such as vibration, temperature and oil status through online monitoring equipment, comprehensively predicts equipment failures, and transforms passive maintenance into active prevention. This ecological transformation of "products + services + data" is reconfiguring the value chain of special lubricants.
Looking back from the time point of 2025, the sixteen-year development journey of Tpolank is precisely a microcosm of China's manufacturing industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "quality leap". The value of lubricating oil does not lie in itself, but in enabling equipment to run one more minute, roll one more meter of aluminum plate, produce one more ton of steel and generate one more kilowatt-hour of electricity. This customer value-oriented original intention has supported Toplank to maintain a compound annual growth rate of 20% even with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons.
Facing the new energy opportunities brought by the "dual carbon" goals, Wu Feng has already laid out in cutting-edge fields such as battery foil rolling, carbon coating slurry, and power battery coolant. In his view, every breakthrough in special lubrication technology represents an expansion of the boundaries of industrial civilization.
Looking to the future, Toprank has a clear vision and plan. In the face of the current situation of overcapacity in the industry, it is expected that enterprises within the industry can actively carry out structural adjustment, gradually phase out backward production capacity, and transform towards high-end and specialized directions. Call for the establishment and improvement of standards and norms in the special industrial lubricating oil industry to ensure product quality and safety, eliminate counterfeit and shoddy products and vicious competition, enhance the overall image of the industry, and provide more reliable choices for industry customers.
Globalization is an unstoppable trend. Topronk will always adhere to the concept of "Fluid Technology, Continuously Building Excellence together", keep pace with The Times, continuously improve, actively carry out in-depth cooperation with many domestic and foreign customers, share resources and technologies, and jointly address the challenges of the global market. Through cooperation and win-win results, we will drive the entire industry to a higher level.