Recently, a machine standing as tall as a five‑story building has passed performance tests in the workshop of an aerospace enterprise. It is the world’s first and largest 10,000‑ton servo direct‑drive CNC electric screw press, with a maximum blow force of 20,000 tons. It also has a well‑known nickname — the "10,000‑Ton Giant Hammer".
“Imagine more than 200 heavy trucks crashing simultaneously from a height of 10 meters onto an area of one square meter”. Feng Yi, General Manager of Wuhan Newwish Technologies Co.,Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Newwish), the company that developed the “10,000-ton giant hammer Giant Hammer,” introduced that this equipment is designed to manufacture the most complex structural parts wi100%
th the highest performance requirements for aircraft and aero-engines, “allowing no room for error.”
Feng Yi revealed that Newwish’s new factory is about to be put into use in the Optics Valley Intelligent Manufacturing Park.
The founder of this enterprise is named Huang Shuhuai.
Near the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a row of two-story small buildings is shaded by towering trees. With dappled tree shadows at the entrance, a blue and white door plate reading "Rapid Manufacturing Center" is embedded in the old gray wall.
Thirty-three years ago, Huang Shuhuai, having stepped down as president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (formerly Huazhong University of Science and Technology), did not stop his pursuit of progress and set his sights on the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements. It was in a few offices on the first floor of this small building that he planted the first "seed"—Newwish. On August 25, a reporter from Changjiang Daily walked into this place. The former site of the enterprise in the glass partition has long become a laboratory for students, filled with various 3D printing equipment.
The eight-character philosophy of "career, innovation, hard work, and harmony" proposed by Huang Shuhuai decades ago still hangs at the entrance of the laboratory, with another eight characters—"persistence, cooperation, participation, and achievement"—added by later generations.
Huang Shuhuai was born in 1930 in Ningyuan, Hunan Province. He graduated from Wuhan University in 1952 and became the president of Huazhong Institute of Technology (renamed Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1988) in 1984.
Academician Yang Shuzi, Huang Shuhuai's successor, once used five instances of "solid and steady" to evaluate the former president: solid and steady development in school construction, solid and steady strengthening of the teaching staff, solid and steady improvement in educational standards, solid and steady rise in the school's status, and a solid and steady step up to a new level for the university.
Huang Shuhuai merely said, "Comrade Zhu Jiusi laid the framework for the school's construction and development... We didn't do anything new, just adding bricks and tiles, adjusting and consolidating, and enriching and improving." The bricks and tiles he added were by no means light. Teaching and research space, especially faculty housing, went from being extremely tight to basically meeting demand.
In 1993, Huang Shuhuai stepped down as university president. This great "tree" chose to keep sowing seeds, carrying out research layout in three technical routes: material forming, material removal and additive manufacturing. In the same year, Huang Shuhuai founded Newwish. He also led the R&D of the Huazhong-I CNC system, laying the foundation for the establishment of Huazhong CNC. He was one of China’s earliest scientists engaged in the independent research and development of 3D printing technology, and founded Binhu Machinery & Electronics in 1996. According to incomplete statistics, the output value of scientific research achievements presided over by Huang Shuhuai exceeded 600 million yuan.
"President Huang was my teacher. What I admire most about him is his courage to innovate and emphasis on practice," recalled Xia Juchen, 85, chief consultant of Newwish, speaking warmly of Huang Shuhuai. "Starting from 1974, he took charge of research on new forging equipment projects. He was responsible for equipment, while I handled processes and molds. That made our team perfect. President Huang named the company Newwish, meaning 'great promise'."
Xia Juchen was a witness to Huang Shuhuai's joining the Party and once spoke bluntly to his face, saying he "sometimes had too simple a working method" and that "whether dealing with young teachers or students, you can't always scold them like children." Huang Shuhuai replied, "I just treat them as my own children..."
The founding team of Newwish was incubated and spun off from the Forging Teaching and Research Office of the School of Materials Science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. In 2000, the enterprise was restructured from a university-run state-owned enterprise into a limited liability company and was officially named Wuhan Newwish Technology Co., Ltd.
Zhang Huicen, head of the marketing department at Newwish, introduced that in 2003, Newwish successfully developed China's first CNC electric screw press, filling a domestic gap. Subsequently, the company fully entered the industrialization stage. In 2005, Newwish completed the industrial and commercial change registration for equity transfer. After that, the company moved off the Huazhong University of Science and Technology campus and began mass production in Gedian, Ezhou.
Taking Root
"Punting, blacksmithing, and selling tofu," Newwish is deeply engaged in precisely the "blacksmithing" trade that has been passed down for thousands of years. "Our equipment can not only 'with great force comes great miracles,' but also control energy just right, making the heavy seem light." Feng Yi said.
On August 13, the reporter came to Newwish's production park in Gedian. The combined "N" and "W" trademark hung to celebrate the company's 30th anniversary was particularly eye-catching, and the red Chinese characters of the old factory sign supported by an iron frame beside it still stood proudly.
Walking into the final assembly workshop, the mixed smell of cutting fluid, anti-rust oil, and polished metal rushed toward the face. Overhead cranes shuttled back and forth, and welding sparks flickered before the eyes. More than 20 pieces of equipment of various sizes were undergoing final assembly. Workshop director Liu Jiang was debugging a 4,000-ton servo direct-drive electric screw press, about to be shipped to Jiangsu.
Newwish's journey to today has not been smooth sailing.
In 2015, the enterprise fell to rock bottom. On average, it could not receive even one order a month, and annual output value was less than 30 million yuan. Feng Yi was appointed in a crisis and took full charge of the enterprise's work. He was Huang Shuhuai's "last disciple" and also the person Huang Shuhuai described as "often sent to put out fires." "At school, I was often sent to take over projects that were difficult to advance and on the verge of stalling." At that time, Feng Yi debugged equipment on site every day, "with hands and face all black."
Feng Yi studied automation as an undergraduate and liked playing football in his daily life, through which he became acquainted with teachers and students of the School of Materials. Huang Shuhuai valued interdisciplinary integration and encouraged students to become compound talents. Feng Yi was greatly encouraged and chose the School of Materials when pursuing his graduate studies. "Teacher Huang was from Hunan, very imposing, with white hair and full of vigor. He spoke frankly. Even if we were students, it was no problem to argue with him. He never held grudges and dealt with matters as they were. Everyone was very earnest, and the goal was to do things well."
Such "arguments" are still common at Newwish today. Zhang Huicen, who joined Newwish five years ago, told reporters that during meetings, the core team often argued until red in the face over technical details. "The first time I saw it, I was stunned. Who knew that after the meeting they would laugh and eat together again."
In 2007, Huang Shuhuai became seriously ill. Lying in the hospital bed, he still worried about the transformation of scientific research achievements and also about Feng Yi's graduation thesis.
Earlier, Feng Yi, who had just started a family, wanted to buy a house in Wuhan and borrowed 50,000 yuan from his teacher. Huang Shuhuai agreed readily: "No problem, but you have to sign a 5-year contract with Newwish."
Now, the 5-year agreement has long passed, and many more years have gone by, and Feng Yi has remained at Newwish. "We Hunan people have a kind of 'ba de man' spirit. Once we fix on a goal, we fight to the end!" Feng Yi said.
In 2016, he once "went into seclusion" for more than half a year to think about the enterprise's development direction and strategy. "At that time, facing several whiteboards, I kept asking myself: What exactly do we want to do? What kind of products should we make? In which direction should the company develop?" That year, the enterprise's development thinking was comprehensively restructured.
"Decisive battle in September! We presented the prototype at that year's international metal forming exhibition." Recalling 10 years ago, Feng Yi was still full of excitement. They abandoned old products and devoted themselves to developing zero-transmission, noise-free, maintenance-free servo direct-drive technology, which saves at least 10% more energy than gear transmission.
From then on, Newwish climbed one step higher every year and even pushed the industry to transform.
160 tons, 1,000 tons, 4,000 tons, 6,300 tons... 10,000 tons. "When I left campus, the enterprise's revenue was only a few million yuan. In 2013 it reached 80 million yuan, in 2015 it fell back to 30 million yuan, and last year it achieved 200 million yuan in revenue." In the view of 57-year-old Luo Zhongdong, what has remained unchanged for more than 30 years is the "original intention of practical work." She is Newwish's "Employee No. 001." After graduating from the School of Materials at age 21, she began working with Huang Shuhuai's research group. "Each member of the group had different divisions of labor. At that time, I started from zero and learned while working with teachers from the school's finance office."
Today, Newwish still focuses on the die forging field, but it has long developed from single equipment to overall solutions, with more than 200 automated forging production lines across the country. Since 2016, Newwish has comprehensively promoted servoization, fully shifting from gear transmission to servo direct drive, leading the industry's transformation.
In July, Newwish's headquarters and 10,000-ton factory project was signed and settled in the Optics Valley Smart Manufacturing Park.
Zhang Huicen stood at the entrance of the current factory in Gedian and pointed to the railway bridge in front of the gate: "Along the direction the train is heading is where our new factory building is located. The current factory area has been used for more than 20 years and can no longer be expanded. We must expand production capacity."
The new project will build a 10,000-ton-class forging equipment manufacturing factory 100 meters long, 57 meters wide, and 23 meters high, with a single-piece lifting capacity of 300 tons. The seed planted by Huang Shuhuai back then has moved forward all the way and taken root in a more open place.
Today, Newwish has also entered places such as Europe and Japan that once monopolized this industry. "When Japanese enterprises introduce foreign equipment, the decision-making cycle is often very long." Zhang Huicen told a detail: the cooperation between Japan's Matsui Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Newwish began at its Suzhou factory. Only after Newwish's equipment ran without failure for six consecutive years did Matsui decide to purchase it for Japan itself. To adapt to the Japanese market, Newwish changed the electrical configuration and CNC system and added a Japanese interactive interface. In 2025, Newwish's J58ZK series full range of products passed Japan's SII energy-saving certification and entered Japan's energy-saving subsidy catalog.
in July, Liu Mengyang, who had just graduated from the Materials Forming and Control Engineering major at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, joined Newwish. In the digital intelligence department where he works, the company's more than 30 years of accumulated forging experience is being entered into a database, and through AI large models, the experience is being transformed into intelligent decision-making capability, continuing the unfinished cause of the older generation line by line. At the end of August, when the reporter called Liu Mengyang, he was at the Guizhou project site, using machine vision technology to install smart "eyes" on the equipment.
"I heard the story of old President Huang while at school." Liu Mengyang said that during his studies, he had observed the equipment led by Huang Shuhuai in the laboratory of the School of Materials, "like a medal."
Among the older faculty and staff of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, a saying still circulates: "Zhu Jiusi left a patch of trees, Huang Shuhuai left a patch of buildings."
In fact, Huang Shuhuai was also a tree. The seeds he sowed have now grown into a forest.
