"Benchmarking and cost reduction" and efficiency improvement are eternal topics, without an end point, only in progress, always on the road, and must be persistently pursued.

On the date, the work meeting of the leading group for the "Benchmarking and Potential Mining" activities in the steel industry was held. Tang Zujun, Standing Committee Member of the Party Committee and Vice President of the China Iron and Steel Association, said this in his concluding speech.

Tang Zujun, in his speech, affirmed the positive significance of the "benchmarking and potential tapping" work for the stable development of the industry, and put forward several opinions on this work.

We must consistently maintain our efforts. "The 'Benchmarking and Cost Reduction' initiative in the steel industry began in the 1990s and has become a unique management tool in the industry, also a key reason why China's steel industry has become internationally competitive," Tang Zujun said. This initiative not only reduces costs and enhances efficiency, boosting corporate competitiveness, but also drives the high-quality development of the entire industry. "This treasure cannot be lost; it must be further developed and promoted," Tang Zujun proposed. Steel enterprises should not only learn from advanced domestic peers and enterprises in other industries but also benchmark against and learn from foreign advanced enterprises.

Second, focus on key points. "Cost is the critical bottleneck for a company's profitability, a foundational task in benchmarking, and also a key task," said Tang Zujun. For enterprises, competitiveness mainly stems from two aspects: one is having unique skills, and the other is having cost advantages. He further explained that having unique skills is the source of sustained competitiveness and the foundation for a company's sustainable development. However, enterprises with unique skills are few; most are followers, only capable of producing large quantities of common steel products. "In market competition, for similar products, especially those with high market demand, having cost advantages means having competitive advantages. Cost is not a minor issue; it is not just a financial issue or an accounting issue, but also a matter related to core competitive capabilities, and even a matter of life and death for the enterprise. Cost is the top priority in 'benchmarking and potential mining,' and it must be firmly grasped as the 'bull's nose.'" Tang Zujun admitted that for steel enterprises to achieve innovative and green development, it is difficult to implement without cost advantages.

Three aspects must be comprehensive and systematic. Currently, the steel industry's "benchmarking and cost reduction" primarily focuses on the production system, with further deepening potential. Tang Zujun proposed that a comprehensive "benchmarking and cost reduction" system should be gradually established and improved, enhancing the "benchmarking and cost reduction" indicators. This should involve comprehensive benchmarking across the R&D system, procurement system, production system, sales system, governance system, and support system, ensuring full participation of all personnel, comprehensive cost control across all elements and processes, covering all aspects, regularly analyzing differences, and promptly implementing improvement measures to enhance overall factor labor productivity. Tang Zujun emphasized that comprehensive "benchmarking and cost reduction" should be treated as a "top priority" project, led personally by the main responsible leaders of the enterprise, proceeding from actual conditions, with overall planning, step-by-step implementation, gradual progress, meticulous calculation, careful cultivation, and continuous refinement.

Four must keep pace with the times. "The Chinese steel industry has entered a new stage of transformation and upgrading, with high-end, green, intelligent, and international development becoming the major trends. The work of 'benchmarking and potential mining' must also keep up with the times." Tang Zujun proposed that from the perspective of the association, it is necessary to timely and fully listen to the demands of member enterprises, pool collective wisdom, continuously update and improve the benchmarking system and indicators, build a communication and exchange platform, and provide good service for member enterprises, helping enterprises and the industry to transform and upgrade. From the perspective of enterprises, it is necessary to timely study and analyze new situations and problems, propose suggestions for improving benchmarking; summarize practices in high-end, green, intelligent, and international aspects, share respective experiences, learn from each other, draw on each other's strengths, and improve together.

Five key points for summarizing and enhancing. "The process of 'benchmarking and potential mining' is one of cognition, practice, re-cognition, and re-practice, cyclically repeated, showing a spiral upward trend. It is necessary to summarize and enhance from the perspectives of the industry and enterprises," Tang Zujun stated. For the industry, it is essential to summarize the general laws of 'benchmarking and potential mining', extract some replicable and popularizable typical experiences for enterprises to refer to; for enterprises, it is necessary to establish a 'regular diagnosis and benchmarking improvement' work mechanism, monitoring the level and improvement of full-process indicators monthly through the 'benchmarking diagnosis system'; diagnosing the full-process cost control situation quarterly; summarizing the annual benchmarking improvement situation at the end of the year, sharing experiences in a timely manner, and forming a synergistic effect. "Practical and effective practices must be adhered to without wavering, allowing these practices to become habits and systems; problems must be analyzed seriously to find solutions and measures, continuously enhancing competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities," Tang Zujun concluded.