Solving the pain points of the plastic runway industry through multidisciplinary and cross-field integration

I. Project Market Demand and Industry Pain Points to Address

With the rapid advancement of the national fitness initiative in China and the growing demand for upgrading campus sports facilities, plastic tracks serve as the core infrastructure for sports venues. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics and venue statistics from the General Administration of Sport of China, the 2023 market size of plastic tracks including engineering construction reached approximately 50.75 billion yuan, rising to 56.55 billion yuan in 2024 with an annual growth rate of 10.7%. By the end of 2024, there were 4.8417 million sports venues nationwide, covering a total area of 4.23 billion square meters, with a per capita sports venue area of 3.0 square meters. There are 211,100 athletics tracks across the country, of which standard 400-meter tracks account for only 16.45%, and over 120,000 sports fields in primary and secondary schools are awaiting renovation. As a practitioner with over 20 years of experience in the plastic track industry, I have observed prominent issues such as single-source raw materials for plastic track products, lack of industry standards for production processes, no standardized guidelines for venue construction and foundation construction, foaming between the track surface and the base layer after construction, delamination between layers, and easy material aging. Although the national mandatory standard GB36256-2018 has been issued, its restrictive effect on the industry is very limited, and it only addresses symptoms rather than root causes. Against this backdrop, the industry urgently needs systematic transformation and upgrading. Relying on the integration of interdisciplinary and cross-field material technologies and an intelligent construction management system, this project launches standardized transformation and upgrading services for the existing plastic track market. The services meet the national mandatory standards for the physical and chemical properties of products, solve the aforementioned industry pain points that have not been addressed by existing national standards, satisfy the needs for new venue construction, and promote the upgrading of the plastic track industry towards environmental friendliness, bionics, intelligence, and long service life.

II. Solution

• Technical Advantages: Independently developed cross-field polyurethane materials, which integrate the application characteristics and practical problems of materials from multiple fields. Through molecular structure modification, the curing mode of existing materials is altered, addressing prominent issues such as single-source raw materials, foaming between the track surface and the base layer after construction, delamination between layers, and easy material aging. By changing the curing mode of existing materials, the standardization of production processes and the standardization and intelligence of venue construction become feasible.

• Model Innovation: Adopting an integrated operation model of "material production + engineering transformation + intelligent operation and maintenance", the quality is controlled from the source to reduce intermediate costs. At the same time, an embedded sensor network is used to realize full-lifecycle performance monitoring and provide preventive maintenance services. • Market Gap Filling: For expanded market scenarios such as sports parks, urban greenways, and old community renovations that differ from athletics track applications, differentiated and applicable products and construction processes are provided to meet the needs of social development. • Compliance Advantages: All products fully comply with the latest national standard Synthetic Material Surface Sports Venues for Primary and Secondary Schools (GB36246-2018). A large number of performance indicators solve current industry pain points and exceed the requirements of the latest mandatory national standard, meeting the national requirements for national standards in the construction industry.

III. Operation Model and Target Users

This project adopts an integrated operation model of "centralized raw material procurement - automated production - standardized construction - intelligent operation and maintenance", integrating all links of the industrial chain to ensure product quality and reduce operating costs:

Raw Material Procurement: Chemical raw material suppliers with high-quality supply capacity and good reputation are selected through public bidding to establish long-term cooperative relationships. Bulk procurement is used to gain price advantages, while a strict incoming material testing mechanism is implemented to ensure that raw material quality meets standards.

Production and Manufacturing: An automated production line is built, with internationally advanced automated mixing, packaging, and testing equipment selected. This realizes the standardization of production processes and automated quality control, reduces labor costs, ensures consistent product quality, and enables an annual production capacity that can meet the supply of materials for 1 million square meters of tracks and related products.

Engineering Construction: AI intelligent construction is adopted. By inputting venue data and material data, mechanical intelligent construction can be carried out, eliminating the current fully manual operations that are subject to human subjective factors.

After-sales Service and Operation & Maintenance: A 7×24-hour customer service center is established. For renovation projects, 2-year free warranty is provided, and for new construction projects, 5-year free warranty is offered, with lifetime maintenance at cost price. For intelligently monitored venues, annual performance test reports are provided, and maintenance suggestions are given based on the data to achieve full-lifecycle services.

Sports engineering contractors are one of the target customer groups. They master the technical specifications for sports venue construction, can undertake full-process projects from material selection to construction and maintenance, and mostly purchase raw materials in batches.

Institutions within the education system represent a rigid demand group, covering various schools such as primary and secondary schools and universities.

Municipal public management departments are in charge of areas such as urban greening and community renovation, and are the backbone of the current incremental market.

Professional sports venue operators, such as operators of Olympic Sports Centers and professional event venues, have extremely high requirements for the sports performance and wear resistance of tracks, which need to meet the relevant event standards of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

There is an existing market under the 14th Five-Year Plan and an incremental market under the 15th Five-Year Plan. According to the latest industry survey of the Dongguan plastic track track in Q3 2026, the overall market size of plastic tracks in the single city of Dongguan has exceeded 2.83 billion yuan, and the overall national market capacity continues to expand. Campus upgrading and old venue renovation are the core growth drivers.

IV. Team Background and Current Progress

The core project team has rich industry experience and professional capabilities, with complementary structures:

Project Manager: Yang Guangzhao, Master of Applied Chemistry, with 16 years of experience in managing large-scale sports facility projects. He has led the construction of over 100 plastic track projects with a total area of over 1 million square meters, is familiar with the entire process of engineering management, and has strong capabilities in project promotion and quality control.

Deputy Project Manager: Zhu Baofu, Associate Professor, Doctoral Candidate, long-term engaged in applied chemistry research.

Technical Director: Shen Dongsheng, Professor, retired from the position of Dean of the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. He is an expert in multiple chemical industry fields and an application-oriented R&D expert.

Marketing Director: Yang Guangzhao, familiar with the market dynamics of sports facilities, has extensive customer resources in schools and sports systems. He has successfully planned and executed multiple regional market expansion projects, with rich experience in brand promotion and customer relationship management.

The project has hired Professor Li Bing, an expert in sports venue facilities and athletics tracks, and Professor Liu Fengshou, an expert in polymer material chemistry, as technical consultants. They provide professional guidance for product R&D and technology upgrading, ensuring the technical leadership of the project. Currently, the project is in the laboratory bench-scale test stage. The optimal synthetic process route has been basically determined, the adaptability of industrial-grade raw materials has been verified, reaction parameters have been optimized, and the three-waste treatment plan has been implemented simultaneously.