Just now, the 'Steel Titan' and 'China's Carnegie' has passed away!

‘Within every piece of steel lies a nation’s secret to rise or decline.’ Yesterday (June 30, 2024), at 2:10 a.m., Mr. Shen Wenrong—the founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jiangsu Shagang Group—passed away after unsuccessful medical treatment, at the age of 78. Known as ‘China’s Carnegie’ and the ‘Steel Emperor,’ Shen Wenrong was China’s most resolute, hands-on reformer in the steel industry. For four decades, he devoted himself entirely to steelmaking, setting numerous records for both China and the global steel industry—and became the first Chinese private entrepreneur to enter the Fortune Global 500. 【The ‘Steel Emperor’】 ‘Investments don’t cross the Shanhai Pass.’ Some refused to believe this adage. On September 12, 2017, Northeast Special Steel Group—a company that had defaulted repeatedly on debt since early 2016 and entered bankruptcy restructuring—found its savior: Shen Wenrong, boss of Jiangsu Shagang Group. Northeast Special Steel is China’s leading R&D and production base for specialty steels used in national defense, aerospace, and other high-tech fields. Yet poor management had plunged it into crisis. To become such a company’s savior demanded extraordinary strength. In the 2009 Fortune Global 500 ranking, only one Chinese private enterprise made the list: Shagang Group, headquartered in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province. Thereafter, China’s steel industry faced overcapacity, cutthroat competition, and economic cycles—but Shagang remained firmly on the Fortune Global 500 list, climbing steadily: by 2017, its rank had risen from No. 444 to No. 365. Meanwhile, according to the World Steel Association’s 2017 statistics, Shagang ranked sixth globally in crude steel output (33 million tons)—the only Chinese private enterprise among the world’s top ten steelmakers. That was Shen Wenrong’s strength—but not his full measure. What truly earned peers’ admiration, respect, and awe was his ability to remain profitable—even highly profitable—during industry-wide downturns and collective losses. In 2015, the loss rate among members of the China Iron and Steel Association reached 50.5%, with total losses exceeding RMB 64.5 billion. Yet Shen Wenrong’s Shagang still posted a net profit of RMB 1.89 billion. In 2016, Shagang’s target profit was RMB 4 billion—but it achieved RMB 5.051 billion. A starker contrast lies in how many once-prominent private steel magnates faded into obscurity during Shen Wenrong’s ascent. HaiXin Steel—once the cradle of Shanxi’s richest man—nearly collapsed; Tieben Steel, also based in Jiangsu and boasting ambitions to ‘surpass Baosteel in three years and catch up with Posco in five,’ vanished entirely… Yet Shen Wenrong and Shagang stood unshaken through this turbulent era—like steel itself—earning titles like ‘Steel Emperor’ and ‘China’s Carnegie.’ Reality proved Shen Wenrong’s rescue decisive: under Shagang’s leadership, Northeast Special Steel turned profitable again within just over a year. 【Without toughness, you cannot lead an enterprise.】 At age 22, Shen Wenrong—fresh out of vocational school—joined Suzhou’s Shazhou County Jinfeng Cotton Gin Factory as a fitter. That factory was the origin of Shagang Group. In the 1970s, countless workshop-style small steel mills sprang up across southern Jiangsu.

From a single resin to a commercial empire: stories behind Purolite, Ecolab, and Nalco.

1. Completing the most critical technological puzzle piece. Ecolab’s traditional strength lay in ‘peripheral water system management’—e.g., preventing scale formation in cooling water, inhibiting boiler corrosion, and controlling bacterial growth in pipelines. It leveraged chemicals combined with intelligent monitoring (notably its renowned 3D TRASAR™ technology) to help customers optimize these systems. Yet one key link always remained outside its reach: core separation and purification. Purolite’s chromatographic resins and adsorption resins precisely address this bottleneck—critical in high-end manufacturing sectors like biopharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Acquiring Purolite enabled Ecolab to step directly into the heart of these high-value-add production processes—evolving from a ‘back-office service provider’ into a ‘core process partner.’ 2. Building a complete ‘water + process’ closed loop. Imagine this: Ecolab treats your incoming water (Nalco’s domain); then Purolite’s resins actively participate in purifying drugs or separating target compounds during your production process; finally, wastewater returns to Ecolab for reuse or compliant discharge. Once this closed loop is operational, customers become deeply embedded in the ecosystem—with exceptionally high stickiness. 3. Optimizing business structure and profitability. Ecolab’s traditional service model includes service contracts and chemical consumption. By contrast, Purolite’s high-end resins are high-margin, repeat-purchase consumables. Once integrated into a customer’s production process, they generate steady, predictable cash flow—an extremely attractive asset for any publicly listed company. Thus, the logic behind this acquisition is crystal clear: Ecolab needed Purolite’s technological depth and entry into premium markets; Purolite needed Ecolab’s global network, customer base, and platform capabilities. A classic win-win. IV. Ecolab’s Water Treatment Core: Nalco Water At this point, we must highlight Nalco Water—the subsidiary under Ecolab that actually handles water treatment operations. Many confuse the relationships among Ecolab, Nalco, and Purolite. Here’s a simple clarification: ・Ecolab is the parent company—the overarching group. ・Nalco is Ecolab’s dedicated water treatment brand, serving industrial and municipal sectors. Its core competencies lie in chemicals, intelligent monitoring, and services. ・Purolite, post-acquisition, operates as an independent business unit, focusing on resin materials and separation/purification technologies. Nalco’s flagship technology is the aforementioned 3D TRASAR™. What is it? Essentially, sensors are installed on your cooling water systems, boilers, and reverse osmosis membranes to monitor parameters—including scaling, corrosion, microbial growth, and chemical concentration—24/7. Algorithms then automatically adjust chemical dosing for precise control. Put simply, it’s like installing an autonomous driving system for your water infrastructure. Nalco’s product portfolio is comprehensive: from PermaCare® series corrosion and scale inhibitors, to softeners and filters (e.g., UltraTreat™, UltraSand™), to customized solutions for data center liquid cooling and semiconductor facility utilities—it covers virtually every facet of industrial water treatment. V. Their Relationship So, to summarize the relationship among these three entities: ・Purolite provides the foundational ‘materials layer,’ solving the question of ‘what to use for separation.’ Its technological barriers in high-end separation and purification are exceptionally high. ・Nalco provides the ‘system control layer,’ solving the question of ‘how to keep water systems stable and efficient.’ Its intelligent monitoring and chemical solutions enjoy strong industry reputation. ・Ecolab, as the parent group, integrates these two capabilities—and layers on its expertise in cleaning & disinfection, food safety, and infection prevention—to form a comprehensive, multi-industry solution platform.

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