R&D investment and services upgrades in 2022

In 2022 our company, a steel grinding balls manufacturer, has made significant investments in research and development (R&D) and technology upgrades. We invested a total of RMB 9.4 million (worth around $ 1.2 million) in R&D this year, which is a significant increase from the previous year, with 40% increase. The investments were focused on developing new products lines and upgrading our services, as well as improving our existing processes and technology. In particular, we have invested in the areas of automation and robotics, as well as computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). We have also purchased new production lines to manufacture different sizes of grinding balls, which will enable us to produce faster and save more energy. Moreover, we continuously develop our talent plan to attract more high-quality graduates to work for local companies by providing their free accommodations and settlement allowance. These investments and upgrades have enabled us to increase our efficiency, reduce costs, expand our talent pool, and improve product quality. We have also seen a significant increase in our production capacity, nearly doubled, with production time being squeezed and higher-quality products being delivered to our customers. We believe that these investments and upgrades will help us to maintain our competitive advantage and to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving steel grinding balls industry.