At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to solve the problems of iron and steel smelting, the Institute of Process Engineering (formerly known as the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy) proposed to strengthen the metallurgical process with chemical principles and technologies.

Researchers created a “three-high theory”, that is, high gas pressure at blast furnace top, high blown gas temperature and high gas humidity for enhancing iron-making in the furnace, and proposed a top-blown oxygen converter for steelmaking.

In 1964, the Institute set up a China's first 30-ton industrialized top-blown oxygen converter steelmaking workshop in collaboration with Shijingshan Iron and Steel Works (now Shougang Group), relying entirely on independent basic research and industrial development.

Oxygen top-blowing converter steelmaking technology completely replaced the previous flat furnace steelmaking, and improved China’s steelmaking efficiency by more than twenty times.

The workshop was put into production in the same year.

The top-blown oxygen converter steelmaking technology completely replaced previous open-hearth steelmaking process, and improved the steelmaking efficiency by more than twenty times in China. This technology has made a pioneering contribution to the development of China’s steelmaking industry.