As Chinese steel giant HeSteel increases production at the Smederevo Steel Mill in Serbia, its 5,000 workers are feeling more confident of the future and believe their families will improve their living standards once the factory starts working at full capacity.

As blast furnaces melt ore into liquid iron, these are cast at the steel shop into blocks and later hot and cold rolled to get the final product. New Chinese managers witness how hard-working employees complete their tasks with diligence and precision, respecting strict procedures and orders of their superiors.

For most of these 5,000 people coming from the city of Smederevo or nearby towns, production of steel has become a family tradition, while working at the factory is the only way of living they can imagine. Here, some 60 km south-east of the capital Belgrade where HeSteel bought the factory, men and steel became one over the course of history.

There is even one popular joke in the city that if a group of people stay together, even if only two of them work in the steel mill, topics will only be the mill. And the same goes for local families.

For them, it''s not just personal feelings they attach to the factory, it is a common sense of belonging and hope the factory bears for the city of Smederevo and even Serbia.

One month after HeSteel took over the factory by paying the amount of 46 million euros (51.39 million U.S. dollars) to the Serbian government on July 2, sales of the factory''s products -- cold and hot rolled steel -- increased monthly from 81,000 tons of steel in June 2016 to 102,000 in July this year.

Both managers and workers rejoice that the expected sales in August are estimated at 126,000 tons. Workers will finally feel "safe" and relieved as long as production continues to increase.

MAXIMUM CAPACITY PRODUCTION

The goal of HeSteel is to reach annual output of 1.8 million tons in 2017 and 2 million tons in 2018, and workers hope that this might mean a chance to earn more money and contribute to their home budget.

Wang Lianxi, general director of Legal, HR and general affairs committee at HeSteel Serbia Iron & Steel, told Xinhua that the Belt and Road initiative provided HeSteel with a precious opportunity.

"In response to the Initiative, HeSteel came to Serbia to acquire Smederevo Steel Mill, using its experience and techniques accumulated over years in China and trying to build a base of manufacturing industry in Europe," he said.

Quoting the president of Chinese HeSteel Group Yu Yong, he said the aim will be to help the factory to regain its vitality and turn Smederevo into one of the most competitive steel mills in Europe.

He said that the obligation to keep the factory''s 5,000 employees will not pose a problem to HeSteel because all of them are needed to run the steel mill at full capacity.

Moreover, these workers have received a rise in their salary, according to Wang, "in order to increase workers'' income and improve their living standards."

He added that the factory will maybe employ more workers because "this is an old factory and every year around 100 workers retire."

By talking to workers, Xinhua learned that many of them are second or even third generation workers in this steel mill which was first opened in 1913. Most of these were married men whose wives are often unemployed and their income is the only support for them and their children.

However, their fathers, mothers and other relatives spent their whole lives working for the factory, and they are determined to continue this tradition.

For example, Ivan Milosavljevic, 29-year-old operator, who applies finishing touches to the white sheet metal, has a father that has been working at the factory for 37 years and still hasn''t retired. He can count some 10 of his extended family members who are working for the factory. 热处理展-工业炉展-2017第十八届广州国际热处理、工业炉展览会-中国效果最好的热处理工业炉展--巨浪展览—The 18th China(Guangzhou)Int’l Heat Treatment, Industrial Furnace Exhibition