In the context of a downward trend, how can Hunan Engineering Machinery counter-cyclical?
2024-08-15
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【Industry Business Card】
The construction machinery industry is an advantageous industry with core competitiveness in Hunan. Since the industry scale ranked first in the country in 2010, it has ranked first in the country in major indicators such as total assets, operating income, and total profits for 14 consecutive years.
As the "capital of construction machinery", Changsha has cultivated five "top 50 global construction machinery" companies and is the largest construction machinery industry cluster in China and the third largest in the world. Changsha's construction machinery cluster has become the first national advanced manufacturing cluster selected and passed the acceptance. In 2023, the total scale of Hunan's construction machinery industry will be about 210 billion yuan, and the "Hunan Construction Machinery Army" will climb high and innovate, set benchmarks and lead the industry in terms of intelligence, greening, and globalization.
On May 14, 2023, at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, citizens visited the Zoomlion booth at the 3rd Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition. Photo by Hunan Daily Omnimedia reporter Gu Pengbo
Hunan's construction machinery industry is climbing high and setting new benchmarks
The sun is scorching during the mid-summer season. At 400 meters underground, the Xiaobaodang Coal Mine in Shaanxi is busy with coal mining operations. China Railway Construction Heavy Industry's large-section rapid anchoring and drilling intelligent equipment is running at full capacity, with the entire process of "exploration-digging-support-transportation" working in coordination.
The work efficiency has increased by 5 times, and the monthly footage has exceeded 1,750 meters! This new product has solved the global problem that the "digging" and "anchoring" of coal mining equipment cannot be synchronized.
From the world's tallest building to the world's first cross-sea bridge, from steel mill furnaces at 1000℃ to extremely cold areas at minus 60℃, the Sichuan-Tibet Railway on the plateau, and oil exploration under the deep sea...Hunan's engineering machinery industry chain leverages its advantages, unleashes its potential, forges super-strong equipment, and lays a solid foundation for Hunan to build an important national advanced manufacturing base.
From a single flower to multiple flowers
Advancing into emerging fields,
The industry builds a broader "moat”
Recently, the world's largest span double-deck suspension bridge, the Shiziyang Bridge, welcomed a new construction "super assistant". Zoomlion's R20000-720 completed the installation of the tower on the west cable tower of the bridge.
This is the world's largest tower crane: rated lifting moment 20,000 ton-meters, maximum lifting capacity 720 tons.
The "big guy" has great wisdom. The tower crane integrates 158 innovative scientific research results and 305 invention patents, including 12 world-first technologies.
In the large excavator assembly workshop of the earthmoving machinery park of Changsha Zhonglian Smart Industrial City, the robotic arm is in production. Photo by Fu Cong, an all-media reporter of Hunan Daily
Key core technologies are the only way for products to win in the market. All members of the "Hunan Engineering Machinery Army" have a "trump card" in hand.
As a well-known veteran, Zoomlion tower cranes are the most powerful among the competitors; Sany excavators have been ranked first in national sales for 13 consecutive years; and Sanhe Hydraulic static pile drivers and open-pit rock drilling equipment have reached the top.
Among the emerging enterprises, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry has created an "underground dragon", Xingbang Intelligent is unstoppable in its focus on high-end machinery, and Wuxin Tunnel Equipment has also carved out a niche in the field of tunnel construction.
Statistics show that Hunan's engineering machinery products cover 12 major categories, more than 100 subcategories, and nearly 500 models, accounting for about 70% of the country's engineering machinery products.
The "scenery" is even higher up. Hunan enterprises rank first in the country in production and sales of concrete machinery, construction hoisting machinery, excavators, pile-driving machinery, tunnel boring machines and other products, among which concrete machinery, excavators, construction cranes, full-section tunnel boring machines and other products rank first in the world in production and sales.
With the ever-changing market, how can Hunan Engineering Machinery remain so prosperous?
Yuan Zhen, Secretary-General of the Changsha Engineering Machinery Industry Association, said it all: the upgrading and replacement of "Xiang-brand" engineering machinery has never stopped.
For example, in terms of intelligent operations, Sany's first disaster relief robot has been delivered, which can complete tasks such as autonomous return to the starting point and autonomous evacuation from dangerous environments; the intelligent all-terrain crane has realized the development of core technologies such as one-button telescopic arm and one-button hanging and unloading of counterweights.
The products are invincible and the company is expanding horizontally. Yuan Zhen believes: "Hunan construction machinery is actively advancing into emerging fields, and the industry has built a wider 'moat'."
At present, Hunan has thousands of upstream and downstream engineering machinery enterprises, including 888 industrial enterprises above designated size, 14 national champion enterprises, and 40 national specialized and innovative "little giant" enterprises. The driving effect of industrial clusters is becoming more and more obvious, with integrated development among OEMs, upstream and downstream, related industries, and sub-sectors.
For example, Wuxin Tunnel Equipment, which was listed on the Beijing Stock Exchange in 2021, has made a name for itself in the field of tunnel equipment. It has magnified its advantages in underground excavation technology and experience, and has "tried its hand" in the mining field, with remarkable results. Yang Lixiang, general manager of the company's mining equipment division, boldly estimated that the WD561 intelligent excavation drill, a "weapon" for small-section excavation, will become the company's next "explosive product."
On July 23, when investigating the development of the construction machinery industry in Changsha, Provincial Party Secretary Shen Xiaoming emphasized the need to vigorously enhance the independent and local supporting capabilities of construction machinery equipment, increase the introduction of key component supporting enterprises, and strive to make up for the shortcomings in industrial development.
"At present, the local matching rate of engineering machinery in our province is about 50%, which is a good level in the industry." The relevant person in charge of the provincial engineering machinery industry working group introduced that, however, local matching is mainly low-end matching such as structural parts, and there are still major shortcomings in key large-tonnage engines, high-end hydraulic parts and other aspects.
Face the pain points and strengthen the supply chain. At present, in Changsha, Wanxin Precision's annual production of 500,000 reducers has started basic construction; in Yueyang, the annual production of 100,000 tons of engineering machinery precision forgings and mechanical parts processing project is in trial production; in Loudi, some equipment of the Sany Zhongxing 10 billion oil cylinder project has been put into commissioning... Hunan has upgraded and established the National Engineering Machinery Manufacturing Innovation Center, actively built an industry collaborative innovation network, and focused on key core technologies such as high-end hydraulic parts, transmission parts, main pumps, chassis, and common technologies in the industry such as electrification of engineering machinery, with the power of the cluster to jointly tackle key problems.
From digital workshop to smart construction site
"In the hardcore world of steel and machinery,
Industrial AI is already building the future"
A 48-ton excavator rolls off the production line at the intelligent assembly workshop of Zoomlion Smart Industrial City at a rate of up to one every six minutes.
On the 0.6 cubic meter valve block, there are more than 100 holes of different sizes, but all are smooth and round. On the machine tool in Sany Plant 18, the molding is done in one go, with a pass rate of nearly 100%.
The average production capacity increased by 70%, the manufacturing cycle was shortened by 55%, and the process design efficiency increased by more than 50%...
Walking into the leading manufacturing workshop of a Hunan-based engineering machinery company, the improvement in production quality and efficiency brought about by digitalization is direct and immediate.
"In the hardcore world of steel and machinery, industrial AI is already creating the future," said Shen Junwu, deputy director of the Process Informatization Headquarters of Sany Group. Initially, it was within the factory, where equipment, production lines, factories, and products broke the data silos. Today, the real-time status of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain is all in the data flow.
Robots are working in Factory No. 18 of Sany Heavy Industry in Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone. Photo by Tang Jun, a reporter of Hunan Daily
On August 8, the screen of the "Sany Group C-end Customer Equipment Big Data Management Platform" displayed the real-time operating status of approximately 229,400 online construction machinery equipment. The platform has accumulated data from nearly one million devices.
The reporter saw that at 12:27 that day, a yellow light came on in Songyuan, Jilin on the map. A local excavator customer sent in a maintenance request; at 12:28, a maintenance engineer accepted the order; at 13:10, the fault was eliminated and the customer's equipment resumed operation.
In Shen Junwu's view, "digitalization" mainly includes three core contents: intelligent manufacturing in the workshop, whether it can achieve digital order scheduling and flexible production; intelligent products, whether they can perceive and think; and the digital transformation of business management, whether it can achieve machine decision-making based on big data.
Walking out of the workshop and coming to the construction site, there are more and more unmanned equipment cluster operation scenes created by the Hunan engineering machinery industry chain.
In August 2023, at the construction site of the maintenance project of Section 2 of the Xuzhou Suining section of National Highway 104, a total of 6 equipment including unmanned pavers and unmanned rollers were operating in a cluster.
At present, in the first phase of Anhui Xuanjing Expressway project, the Sany drone fleet has completed the middle and surface layer construction of two sections of the project, with a cumulative construction mileage of 80 kilometers.
China Railway Construction Heavy Industry’s digital twin system can “replicate” the construction site.
In the final assembly plant of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry's Changsha Second Industrial Park, Wang Yongsheng, deputy director of the Digital Twin Research Institute, tapped the screen, and a digital construction site that "grows together" with the construction site was presented in real time. The operating data of the tunnel boring machine at the Shenzhen Metro construction site was displayed, and the colors of the picture were dark and light.
"This is a set of digital twin images of the front of the shield machine cutterhead. Different colors represent the force and wear of the blade." Wang Yongsheng said that in the past, when a shield machine had problems during construction, it was mainly judged manually, which may have led to misjudgment. The digital twin system can avoid human errors. By analyzing data in real time, engineers can also optimize the next generation of products in a targeted manner.
Yuan Zhen said that in terms of intelligence, Hunan engineering machinery brands are running on par with well-known foreign companies, but in the field of electrification, they are already leading. "We are leading in both products and technology."
In July last year, Zoomlion's battery swap station was put into operation; not long ago, Sany's four-axle pure electric concrete mixer truck "E-mixer" was exported to Singapore. Compared with traditional fuel mixer trucks, electric mixer trucks can reduce carbon emissions by 45%.
Electric heavy equipment has a difficult problem of endurance. Zoomlion has joined forces with Shaanxi Automobile, Ningbo Times and other strong companies to create full-scenario energy replenishment methods and customized solutions. The battery replacement process takes less than 5 minutes; Sany's "E-mixer" has a range of up to 150 kilometers and only takes 2 hours to fully charge.
From product export to industry export
“Globalization is both an urgent task and a long-term solution”
An increase of 24.6%! In the first half of this year, Hunan Province exported 16.62 billion yuan of construction machinery, which was another significant increase.
Since 2021, domestic downstream demand such as real estate and infrastructure has fluctuated, and the construction machinery industry has been dormant at the bottom.
Yuan Zhen, secretary-general of the Changsha Construction Machinery Industry Association, believes that this cycle of construction machinery is cold inside and hot outside.
How hot is the overseas market?
In the first five months, Sany Group's Factory No. 18 received 1,500 groups of foreign guests, a year-on-year increase of 40%.
This year, Hunan engineering machinery companies have been busy participating in exhibitions: in February, they appeared at the US Rental Show, in April, they appeared at the 2024 Paris International Engineering Machinery and Building Materials Machinery Expo, in May, they participated in the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo's "Enter Africa" (Kenya special) event, and in addition, there is the Brazil International Engineering Machinery Exhibition, the 2024 Vietnam Mining and Engineering Machinery Exhibition...
At the exhibition, Hunan engineering machinery brands such as "Zoomlion Aurora Green", "Sany Red" and "Xingbang Blue" attracted countless fans and won a large number of orders.
In the 1990s, the tower cranes produced by Jianglu Mechanical and Electrical were highly favored by overseas customers in Southeast Asia, Africa and other countries.
Around 2000, Changsha's "three pillars" of engineering machinery began to go overseas, and in the following 20 years, they achieved many classic international merger and acquisition cases, and the reputation of Hunan engineering machinery companies soared.
On January 8, 2024, the departure ceremony for Zoomlion's earthmoving machinery to be exported to Australia and Europe was held at the Earthmoving Machinery Park of Zoomlion Smart Industrial City. 200 units (sets) of products set off from Changsha to sail overseas. Photo by Chen Ran
Zhan Chunxin, Chairman of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., once said that an international enterprise must be good at "buying a position" and "finding a vacant position." "Buying a position" means acquiring a new position in the international market through mergers and acquisitions, integrating advantageous technologies, network channels and other resources; "finding a vacant position" means targeting some markets that are just starting out or have potential, entering first and quickly occupying a "place."
At present, Zoomlion has a purpose in choosing international exhibitions. Wu Weiheng, deputy general manager of Zoomlion's overseas companies, said that the company's regional strategy for overseas development is to fully consolidate traditional advantageous markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East, focus on developing fast-growing markets such as Africa and Latin America, and strive to break through high-end developed markets such as Europe and North America. Participating in international exhibitions and showcasing its flagship products is highly consistent with this.
This is also the "main battlefield" of the global construction machinery industry in the future.
There are many engineering machinery giants in Western Europe, North America and other regions. How can they compete for customers and markets with century-old companies like Caterpillar?
"Globalization is both an urgent task and a long-term plan." Xiang Wenbo, chairman of Sany Group, said that in the past "internationalization" was simply selling products overseas, but now "globalization" is to turn product exports into industrial exports, and through global resource allocation, further promote localization to better meet the needs of global customers.
For example, when conquering Europe, Sany first set up an office, then founded a branch, and finally upgraded and built the Sany Europe Bedburg Industrial Park; the products were also gradually adjusted from concrete machinery to mobile port machinery, excavators, crawler cranes and pile drivers, and the production equipment was developed and produced according to local conditions.
From simple trade to overseas investment, and then to building factories and industrial parks; from hiring local employees to improving the local marketing service network, deepening the international market, and constantly adjusting the strategic layout, the "Hunan Engineering Machinery Army" has become famous on the world stage.
Focusing on the overseas expansion of the industrial chain and taking advantage of the export trend of remanufacturing of engineering machinery, Hunan companies are competing to make arrangements.
In the joint construction of the Hunan-Hainan advanced manufacturing industry park, Zoomlion is building the "Zoomlion Hainan International High-end Equipment Industrial Park". In the future, second-hand equipment will be sent to the project base for maintenance, transformation, and light assembly, and sold overseas with the advantages of the Oriental Deepwater Port. Sany has built a construction machinery maintenance center and a construction machinery remanufacturing center to further enhance its potential for going overseas.
In the first four months of this year, Sany's sales in Europe and North America increased by 120% year-on-year. By the end of 2023, Zoomlion will have built nearly 400 direct-sale outlets overseas and have more than 5,000 overseas employees worldwide.
On March 13, the steel structure joint plant of the Sany Xiangqiong (Hainan) Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park project was successfully capped at the Xiangqiong Advanced Manufacturing Co-construction Industrial Park in Dongfang City, Hainan Province. Photo by Luo Xinguo, an all-media reporter of Hunan Daily
【Chain leader enterprise talks】
Sany Group: Striving for New Quality and Climbing Higher
The construction machinery industry is a barometer of infrastructure investment, and is also one of the industries with the fastest development speed, strong technical strength and large market share in my country's manufacturing field. Xiang Wenbo, chairman of Sany Group, believes that the introduction of new quality productivity has brought new development opportunities to traditional industries. For the construction machinery industry, the most important thing is the opportunity given by the times.
It is understood that Sany Group is currently unswervingly promoting the "three transformations" strategy of "globalization", "digitalization" and "low carbonization" to build new quality productivity for the company and achieve higher quality development.
In Xiang Wenbo's view, overseas markets have greater potential for Chinese construction machinery manufacturers, but the globalization of Chinese construction machinery still faces many challenges, such as high tariffs on products. Industry companies must solve these problems through global manufacturing, global R&D, and global products and services.
Xiang Wenbo is full of confidence in the development of the industry. He said that the construction machinery industry is in a rare technological window period, and what enterprises need to do is to create and activate demand through technological innovation; there is still a lot of room for human demand for construction machinery, especially the aging of the population will bring greater demand for labor replacement, and construction machinery is far from reaching its peak.
Source: Hunan Daily·New Hunan Client (Reporter: Huang Lifei Correspondent: Fu Siyu)
Editor: Liu Ying
