In the depths of winter at the Jingning Industrial Park, the workshop of Jingning Times Technology Co., Ltd. is filled with the constant hum of machinery. Automated cutting machines precisely slice leather, while intelligent sewing machines operate at high speed, as over 120 workers rush to complete car seat covers for urgent delivery to Geely Auto's main factory. This enterprise, with a total investment of 220 million yuan, achieved full production capacity immediately upon commencing operations. Behind this success lies Jingning's industrial transformation strategy of "Apple as the foundation, Automotive as the wing" – leveraging decades of agricultural development as fertile ground and taking flight with the auto parts industry. The "new" code hidden within this manufacturing boom is rewriting the development trajectory of this traditional agricultural county.
The agricultural foundation has solidly built the "base for industrial transformation." "The rapid rise of Jingning's auto parts industry is inseparable from the demographic, brand, and governance foundations laid by the apple industry," a key official from the Jingning Industrial Park revealed. As a prime apple-growing region in China, Jingning's apple cultivation spans 1 million mu, with a brand value reaching 18.1 billion yuan and an output value projected to hit 7.8 billion yuan by 2025. Through decades of industrial cultivation, the locality has not only accumulated experience in meticulous management but also honed a mature capacity for labor organization. From the "grid-based" services for orchard maintenance to the "flexible scheduling" in apple processing enterprises, this service model has been seamlessly transplanted into the industrial sector.
The experience of Lei Xuan, an employee at Jingning Times, is quite representative. This former migrant worker, who once labored in other provinces, now earns over 4,000 yuan per month close to home: "I used to always work away from home. Now, having such a manufacturing enterprise right here to work at feels really good."
Data shows that over 80% of the employees in Jingning's auto parts enterprises are local laborers, many of whom are fruit farmers who enter the workshops during the agricultural off-season to supplement their income.
Precision investment attraction has created the "engine for cluster development." "We chose Jingning because we valued the industrial support and 'nanny-style' service here," stated Tang Yanwei, General Manager of Jingning Times, articulating the core reason for the company's establishment. In recent years, leveraging its ecological reputation as the "Land of Apples," Jingning has drawn up an "investment attraction map" for the auto parts industry, establishing a system of "one map, three databases" – a target enterprise database, an opportunity list database, and a project database – to precisely承接 (undertake) industrial transfer from the eastern regions.
From the establishment of Huyou Zhengtong in 2022, to the commencement of operations by Haosite, a national-level "Little Giant" specialized and sophisticated enterprise, in 2024, and the groundbreaking of Jingning Times by the end of 2025, Jingning has formed a cluster for automotive seat components—covering wiring harnesses, headrests, and seat covers—in just three years, supplying products directly to automakers like Geely Auto and Byd Company Limited. More crucially, the local government achieved a speed of "only three months from signing to production" – the efficient progression of the Haosite project from landing to mass production validates the investment advantage of "dedicated team follow-up and full-process service." Currently, the annual output value of auto parts enterprises in the park has exceeded 120 million yuan, advancing towards the goal of becoming the "Southeast Gansu Automotive Parts Centralized Procurement Center."
A people's livelihood orientation is solving the "challenge of retaining workers." The core of revitalizing the county through industry is to benefit the populace. Addressing the labor needs of auto parts enterprises, the Jingning County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau organized four batches totaling 61 new employees for paid training in Baoji *before* Jingning Times began production, enabling workers to quickly master equipment operation skills.
To retain the labor force, Jingning has implemented a "combined approach to living guarantees." Jingning Times built 8,600 square meters of accompanying employee apartments, while enterprises like Haosite and Huyou Zhengtong implemented "flexible attendance systems," making it easier for employees to balance family and work. Data indicates that Jingning's auto parts industry has already provided over 1,200 jobs, and with the second phase of Jingning Times coming online, an additional 500-700 positions will be created in the future.
Dual-drive activation energizes "county-level development momentum." At the Jingning Apple Science and Innovation Park, the apple intelligent sorting line and the auto parts intelligent production line echo each other; the former uses 128 detection points to grade apples, while the latter ensures part precision with automated equipment. This resonance between "agricultural digitization" and "industrial intelligence" is precisely Jingning's "new engine" for development.
The digital accumulation from the apple industry empowers industry; the big data management experience from smart orchards is applied to order tracking and quality control in the auto parts sector; the nationwide logistics network built for apple e-commerce reduces transportation costs for auto parts products. In 2025, the value-added of Jingning's industries above a designated size grew by 15.3%, and the output value of the apple industry surpassed 7.8 billion yuan. Driven by this dual-engine approach, the county's economy is undergoing a qualitative transformation "from singular agriculture to diversified industries."
Standing outside the production workshop of Jingning Times, trucks transporting apples and vehicles dispatching components to automakers converge within the park. From "a single apple" to "a set of seats," from "relying on weather for harvests" to "intelligent manufacturing," Jingning is using the code of "agriculture as the foundation, industry for take-off" to write its answer sheet for the transformation of a traditional agricultural county.