At the Eastern Industrial Park of the Sanjiang New Area in Yibin, Sichuan, robotic arms move swiftly on the intelligent production line of Sichuan Times, a subsidiary of CATL. Power battery cells flow, are packaged, and come off the automated assembly line. Since CATL established its presence in Yibin in 2019, the city has, within just a few years, built the world's largest single-site power battery production base, with the industry's output value surpassing the hundred-billion-yuan threshold. What force has catalyzed such an industrial marvel? The answer lies in Yibin's adherence to the principle of "where the industrial chain extends, the Party organization is established, and its role is exerted." The city has concentrated efforts on implementing three major actions: "Organization Linking the Chain," "Vanguard Strengthening the Chain," and "Service Warming the Chain." This transforms the Party's political and organizational advantages into competitive and developmental edges for extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain, propelling the high-quality development of the power battery industry.
Establishing a "Red Fortress" for Industrial Development Through Organizational Linkage
"As the industry regulatory department, our past interactions with enterprises were often limited to addressing specific, isolated business challenges. While pragmatic, this confined the scope and depth of our work to technical and transactional matters, lacking a higher-level recognition and promotion of interaction with enterprises from the perspective of Party building," said Cheng Xingyou, Party Branch Secretary of the Sanjiang New Area Power Battery Bureau, pinpointing the crux of past service shortcomings. To break through this bottleneck, driven by the Party Committee of the Power Battery Innovation Consortium, the Industrial Bureau's Party Branch signed joint-construction agreements with Party branches of key chain enterprises like Changying Precision, Zhongcai Lithium Membrane, and Yibin Lithium Treasure. They jointly conduct business training, policy interpretation, and other activities, promoting collaboration and resource sharing among enterprises on the chain.
This shift stems from Yibin's ongoing exploration of using Party building to drive high-quality development of the industrial chain. In recent years, Yibin has comprehensively streamlined the organizational system, fully leveraging the guiding role of industry regulatory departments and the driving force of anchor "chain leader" enterprises. It established a power battery industry Party building joint conference system, incorporating the regular guidance of Party organizations from 7 functional departments and 2 industrial parks, linking 25 key enterprise Party organizations for joint construction, and connecting 26 upstream and downstream power battery enterprises. The city has comprehensively advanced standardized construction by establishing a mechanism for assigning Party building instructors and implementing a "Red Subsidy" system, deploying 50 Party building instructors to enterprises to promote standardized Party organization development within them. It has also comprehensively optimized collaboration platforms, exploring and implementing a "Five-Link Mechanism" among chain enterprises for organizational joint construction, resource sharing, joint Party member training, talent co-cultivation, and activity co-hosting. The "rotation hosting" system for Party organization activities is implemented, with over 100 collaborative events like enterprise exchanges and talent seminars held. This has facilitated the smooth implementation of cooperative projects like the Solid-State Battery Innovation Center and the CATL Yibin Research Institute. The city has also established 2 provincial-level model units for Party building in "new economic and social organizations" and 1 provincial-level advanced grassroots Party organization.
Igniting the "Red Engine" for Innovation and Breakthroughs Through Vanguard Strengthening
High-rate NCA material, a key material directly impacting power battery energy density and fast-charging performance, long faced technical bottlenecks that were difficult to overcome. After the establishment of the Innovation Consortium, the industry Party Committee coordinated joint research efforts between university professors, research institute experts, and Lithium Treasure Company. This material was ultimately successfully applied in Sichuan Times's power battery products.
This breakthrough is a direct result of Yibin's "Vanguard Strengthening the Chain" action. This initiative uses Party building to empower industrial development, with Party organizations taking the lead in delineating 13 Party member responsibility zones and establishing 47 model posts. It guides Party members to act as pioneers and exemplars in power battery project investment attraction and construction. To date, the city has successfully attracted and nurtured over 130 power battery and upstream/downstream supporting projects. The constructed power battery production capacity has reached 240 GWh, with output value exceeding one hundred billion yuan, establishing it as the world's largest single-site power battery production base. To empower technological innovation, 17 key faculty members from universities were selected to serve as industrial science and technology commissioners, undertaking 9 collaborative research projects and conducting over 40 technical training sessions. The city has built 3 national-level and 64 provincial-level innovation platforms, cultivated 5 "zero-carbon factories," and successfully established the Sichuan Province Power Battery Innovation Consortium, the first of its kind in the province and the only one in southern Sichuan. To empower grassroots governance, the city deepened the construction of regionalized Party building platforms, established a special fund of 1 million yuan, promoted joint construction between enterprise and community Party organizations, supported enterprises in leading 31 "micro-projects," and carried out over 100 care activities for the elderly and children. Relying on initiatives like "Two New Link Hundred Villages" and "Purchase for Sales," it helped achieve agricultural product sales of 3 million yuan.
Providing "Red Safeguards" for Problem-Solving Through Service Warming
Entering the Sanjiang New Area Enterprise and Talent Service Center, service counters for policy consultation, talent services, and more are lined up, with a steady stream of enterprise personnel conducting business. Last year, Yibin Chuangneng Testing Analysis Technology Service Co., Ltd. urgently needed a policy fund for operational liquidity. Through the "one-stop service" for policy application provided by the Enterprise and Talent Service Center, the funds were disbursed in less than two months.
The tangible sense of gain for enterprises reflects Yibin's continuously optimized business service environment. In recent years, guided by Party building, Yibin has implemented a comprehensive set of measures to serve enterprises: consolidating financial support by integrating Party member backbones to form a special fund task force, introducing 4 financial service institutions like Sanjiang Micro-loan and Sanjiang Factoring, helping enterprises complete financing of 30.3 billion yuan, and disbursing 11.75 million yuan in 2025 for technological innovation and transformation of scientific achievements. It has strengthened service hubs by integrating over 45 million yuan in grassroots Party building funds to build 2 high-quality park Party-mass service centers and 25 enterprise Party-mass service stations, setting up functional zones like the "Sanjiang Lecture Hall" and "Party Member Business Incubation Station." These provide regular specialized services such as government affairs, skills training, and legal aid, effectively enhancing the sense of belonging and satisfaction among enterprise Party members and employees. Adhering to the principle of sending forces to the grassroots, the city implemented an action where Party members and cadres from government organs are "assigned" to serve enterprises, supporting and guaranteeing talent attraction and cultivation for power battery industry enterprises. Over the past three years, it has facilitated the recognition of over 4,500 industrial talents in the power battery field, resolved over 600 issues like employee shortages, scarce raw materials, and tight order books, and helped Sichuan Times, Times Geely, and Times Changan rank among the top 100 private enterprises in the province in 2025.
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