"It's trust, and even more, it's responsibility," this was the speech of Mr.Stephen Shen, the company's CEO, upon his election as the new president of the China Aerated Concrete Association on August 16th.

The China Aerated Concrete Association was established in Beijing in 1981. It is a nationwide social organization with legal person status, voluntarily composed of production, supporting materials, technical equipment, construction, distribution enterprises, and scientific research, design, educational institutions from the aerated concrete industry across the country. It is registered with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and is a non-regional, non-departmental, and non-ownership-restricted organization.     

Under the guidance and leadership of the Aerated Concrete Association, the number of enterprises in China's aerated industry has grown from 62 at the time of its establishment 40 years ago to over 2000. The production capacity has increased from 4.43 million cubic meters to over 300 million cubic meters. Aerated products have become a major building wall material in China, and the country has become the world's largest manufacturer of aerated products with the most advanced comprehensive technology and equipment. The aerated industry in China has made significant contributions to the reform of new wall materials, circular economy, building energy conservation, and carbon emission reduction in the country.

    Attentive individuals can discern Mr.Stephen Shen's "aerated concrete passion" from his resume. With a master's degree, he has been closely associated with building materials since his university days. Except for the 2 years he served as the vice president of a state-owned building materials company in Shanghai, he has spent most of his career in the aerated industry since 1999. He entered the industry as the general manager of Shanghai Ytong and, as the COO of Xella in China, he oversaw the construction and management of Shanghai Yitong, Changxing Yitong, and Tianjin Xella factories, working for Xella for 8 years. In 2009, he co-founded Wuhu Xin Mingfeng (Keda Xin Mingfeng), which has now become one of the leading enterprises in China's aerated technical equipment sector. In 2017, at the invitation of Mr. Zhao Yongxiang, the chairman of "Asiaac Building Materials," he ended his two-year residence abroad and joined UBlok Advanced Materials Co., Ltd. as a founding shareholder and president. After five years of entrepreneurial development, the company has established 10 production bases across the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and Chengdu-Chongqing economic circles, with 9 advanced ALC panel production lines and several AAC block and autoclaved fly ash brick production lines. The company's total production capacity has reached 6 million cubic meters, including 2 million cubic meters of aerated panels.

 As Mr.Stephen Shen said, trust is an affirmation of my past, and responsibility is an expectation for my future. The aerated industry is currently facing contradictions and problems such as rapid capacity growth and sharp demand decline, insufficient "dual carbon" emissions and industry technical preparation, and structural mismatch between the supply and demand sides. How will he serve as the president of the association and the CEO of the company? How will he lead the industry and enterprises to be more stable, farther, and more resolute? We will wait and see...

    Finally, the editor concludes this short article with a famous quote from Qu Yuan that Mr. Shen Xiaohe cited at the annual meeting:

    The road ahead is long and has no end; 

    I will search high and low with my will unbent.