We do not ask you to take a promise on your drawings. We built our process chain so there is no one to leak them to.
Every process — machining, grinding, EDM, heat treatment, special processes — happens in-house, within our own group. No subcontractor ever sees your files. That is not a policy. It is the way this company is built.
An IP policy is a promise about behavior. Our answer starts with a fact about buildings.
If any process leaves the building, the drawing leaves with the part — heat treatment, plating, coating, grinding, every subcontracted hand-off is an exposure the drawing’s owner never hears about. So we built the full chain in-house:
| Process | Where it happens |
|---|---|
| CNC machining (3/4/5-axis, mill-turn) | In-house, within the group |
| Deep-hole drilling (BTA: 12 m machine travel, 10 m effective depth; gun drilling on machines we built) | In-house, within the group |
| Grinding & honing | In-house, within the group |
| EDM | In-house, within the group |
| Heat treatment | In-house, within the group |
| Special processes — shot peening, plating, coating, QPQ salt-bath oxynitrocarburizing, plasma nitriding, PTFE coating, anodizing, HVOF & laser-clad tungsten-carbide hardfacing | In-house, within the group |
| Inspection & metrology (CMM and full measurement suite) | In-house, within the group |
From raw material to finished surface, every process stays in-house — so your drawing never leaves our facilities either.
A publicly listed company needed a complete production line built for a proprietary product. Their first concern was not price or lead time — it was drawings. A production line normally means a machine builder, integrators, fixture makers and process subcontractors, each walking away with a piece of the design. They chose Zhongnan as a single turnkey source instead — the whole chain inside one group, so the entire drawing package never left one wall.
The same discipline covers the work we will never describe on this website — including more than a decade of confidential downhole-tool component production. Confidentiality is not a section of this page; it is the reason some of our strongest references must stay unnamed.
That is what “IP protection” means when it is built into the buildings instead of written into a brochure.
Structure first, paperwork second — but the paperwork matters too:
We sign your NDA template or provide ours. No drawings required for a first conversation — tell us the problem, we will tell you honestly if we can solve it.
Production runs on an encrypted digital drawing system with traceable watermarks; every workpiece carries a unique ID linking each operation, machine, operator and inspection record — every copy is traceable.
Your part number, your geometry, your program — used exclusively for your orders.
The paperwork sits on top of a physical system on the shop floor:
Printing, issue and return of confidential materials are handled and logged by designated personnel.
Shop-floor terminals show each workstation only its own operation’s drawing; no one on the floor ever sees the complete part.
Every terminal carries a traceable watermark, with screenshots and screen photography blocked.
Drawings and programs travel encrypted and cannot be opened on any computer outside our system.
Process planning and operation breakdown are completed in a dedicated room; drawings never reach the floor on paper.
Phones and electronic recording devices are checked into lockers at the entrance.
USB/CF ports on computers, touch panels and machine controls are sealed; a central control room monitors IP-protection status and machine operation daily.
Civil programs only.
Zhongnan serves commercial industries — marine, oil & gas, civil aviation, and robotics. We do not handle defense-related or ITAR-controlled work.
For your procurement and legal teams, this means no export-control entanglement: no ITAR exposure on your side, no compliance flags when your supply chain is audited. Your program stays in the commercial lane, start to finish.
Send us your NDA — yours or ours — and then your drawing. Within 24 hours, an engineer responds with manufacturability feedback. A quotation follows your drawings, materials, and quantities, confirmed with you step by step. Your IP is protected before the first cut.
