Chinese Major OEMs on bauma Platform for Global Promotion and Expansion

China's Ministry of Commerce appointed bauma 2019 as the platform to promote Chinese construction machinery globally. The press conference, organized by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic products (CCCME) and China Construction and Machinery Association (CCMA), was supported by the Chinese Embassy in Germany and by many international professional associations.

Senior representatives from top Chinese organizations in the construction and machinery industries, namely, Zoomlion, Sany, CRCHI, Sunward, CREG, Shantui, Liugong and Sinomach, gave a presentation on their company's core competencies, latest innovations, business targets, plans and strategies to expand their business network within Europe and in other parts of the world.

Following 40 years of development under its Reform and Open policy, China has become one of the biggest equipment manufacturing countries in the world. Both global manufacturers and local companies have been instrumental in developing the Chinese market for construction equipment, which is known for its high production power, high quality, and record performance.

The Chinese construction machinery industry has developed very fast; the sales revenue of 2018 was estimated to reach 600 billion RMB, and by November 2018, the export volume reached 21.5 billion USD. Production volume of excavators, wheel loaders, rollers, tower cranes, and TBMs in China holds first place, globally.

Ten years ago, excavators of foreign make held 95% share of the Chinese market. Today, Made in China excavators hold more than 50% market share and are also being exported. This is because of their highly improved quality for efficient performance.

In 2018, the sales volume of wheel loaders in China reached 118,811 units - an increase of 21.7%, with exports of 23,260 units – an increase of 18.9%. Sales of rollers in 2018 reached 18,376 units - an increase of 5.48%, while export was of 3,202 units – an increase of 40.6%.

In the Chinese construction machinery industry, the tower crane industry is the first sub-sector to realize a surplus of exports over imports. The TBM industry is the fastest developing and the most profitable sub-sector with sales of 450 units in 2018.

China is the most globalized country in international construction machinery, with many international manufacturers and suppliers having set up their production bases in China through mergers, joint ventures, or as sole proprietorship. These companies are namely Caterpillar, Cummins, Dana, Terex, Manitowoc, Komatsu, Hitachi, Volvo, Liebherr, Wirtgen, Fayat and Doosan.

Some of these bases are also production centers for global markets, such as the Manitowoc tower crane factory in Zhang Jia gang. At the same time, top Chinese manufacturers like XCMG, Zoomlion, Sany, Liugong and SHIG have set up production bases in countries like Germany, America, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Belarus and India.

Wang Min, Chairman and Party Secretary of XCMG shared information on the contribution by Chinese construction machinery for building a better world. Companies like XCMG provide reliable, trustworthy and high-quality machines to global clients, based on its golden standard of "Leading Technology, Everlasting Products and Becoming Crafts", he said.

Liu Jiansen of XCMG said that since the past two decades, XCMG has grown, developed, and marched on at an increasingly assertive pace. On the strength of their bold explorations and unremitting practices, XCMG has succeeded in drawing out an internationalized road and has formed a four-pronged development model featuring export, overseas green-field investment, transnational M&A, and global R&D.

He said that the company's development plans were a response to the China's President Xi Jinping call for building a global community for a shared future. XCMG has actively cooperated with its international partners, aggressively improved its global layout, and steadily sharpened its competitiveness in overseas markets. With its efforts over the years, XCMG has made a huge progress in the following four major fields:

Brand awareness and reputation in overseas markets: XCMG's exports to 183 countries and regions around the world, have generated an annual export volume of more than USD 1.6 billion and raised its share of overseas revenues to over 30%, leading the industry exporters for 29 consecutive years. XCMG provides a complete portfolio of construction machinery products and a wide range of integrated equipment solutions to its customers. The company has won global recognition and trust from its users for its cutting-edge technologies and superior quality products.

XCMG has steadily enhanced its business presence in the BRI countries and regions and has ramped up its sales revenues in its total export volume to more than 70%.

In its active campaign of going global, XCMG has formed a unique 4-pronged development mode integrating transnational M&As, joint ventures, marketing services and overseas R&D efforts, and has explored a distinctive internationalized road with its own characteristics.

The company has large manufacturing bases in Brazil, Germany, U.S.A, India and Austria; and 14 other production facilities and KD plants around the world, and commands a strong overseas workforce of over 3,500 employees. Notably, XCMG operates a JV firm XCMG-Schwing Corporation with its partner Schwing - a time-honored German brand dating back to 1934 and a leader in the global concrete machinery sector. This alliance between giants has proved to be a mutually-beneficial cooperation, not only contributing to operation efficiency at Schwing, but also widening its edge in global traditional markets.

Fourthly, XCMG is actively fulfilling its social responsibilities as a global corporate entity by actively participating in various public welfare programs and putting into practice its aspirations of contributing to a better world.

Liu Feixiang, Chairman of Board and Chief Scientist of CRCHI informed the audience that ten years ago, China relied on imported underground engineering equipment, but today, Chinese brands are accounting for 90% of the domestic market and two-third share of the global market. CRCHI has always laid stress on innovation and today all its products have independent intellectual property rights. In 2017, CRCHI ranked amongst the Global Top 50 Construction Machinery Manufacturers and China's Top 5 Construction Machinery Manufacturers.

Liu said, "As an 'innovative' and 'service-oriented' enterprise, CRCHI is committed to be the world's leading enterprise of customized underground engineering equipment and rail transit equipment. At present, it is the only large-scale customized enterprise in the world that is capable of developing and producing underground engineering equipment in both shield tunneling methodology and in drilling and blasting methodology. CRCHI is also known for providing complete project solutions to its customers."

As China's "Belt and Road" Initiative continues, CRCHI is eying global markets and speeding up its outreach by participating in global competitions in all respects. "It is our mission and responsibility to let Made in China receive worldwide reputation," said Liu.

He Qinghua, President of Sunward Intelligent Equipment Group informed that the company entered the European market in 2006 and is now selling a large volume of excavators of high quality to almost all the European countries including the Canary Islands. "After 15 years of unremitting efforts, Sunward has become a well-known brand in the high-end market of Europe and ranks amongst the top companies by market share in some countries," he said.

Sunward's achievements are due to its implementation of the "pioneering innovation" concept in R&D, manufacturing as well as marketing. The characteristics of Sunward independent innovations can be well highlighted from appearance modeling to mechanism device and hydra-electric system, from safety and reliability to high efficiency energy saving features of its products. The company has established a sound after-sales service system in Europe. In addition to machine finishing, spare parts warehouse, and maintenance, its Belgium base has set up an R&D center.

Xiong Yanming, Vice President of Zoomlion gave a talk on the internationalization of Zoomlion's "going global and becoming local". The concept has gone through three steps and achieved good results.

The first step was to improve the global trade network and manufacturing network layout. The second step was to achieve localized operations and manufacturing. And the third was to enrich the existing network platform, and develop a single platform into a comprehensive global platform.

Zoomlion's focus on the "Belt and Road" regions in Southeast Asia and in the Middle East has established more than 20 trading platforms overseas with more than 120 dealer sales and service outlets covering key global markets. Through investment, mergers and acquisitions, and self-built factory, Zoomlion now has nine production bases overseas, covering both developing and developed countries. Xiong Yanming also revealed plans to open new factories in India.

Zoomlion's overseas companies have deepened their localization; among the 6 categories of 43 products exhibited at Bauma, more than 70% were manufactured by European local companies. Products included mobile cranes, hoisting machines, concrete machinery and other equipment.

Zoomlion has established its overseas spare parts centers, training centers, maintenance centers, etc., and will continue to expand its rental, leasing and financing services overseas. The company will also continue to fully integrate into the local market and local society, while playing a greater role in global markets.

Tan Shunhui, Chairman of China Railway Engineering Equipment Group (CREG), highlighted the organization's focus on innovation and its expertise in creating unusual shapes of TBMs like the rectangular TBM and other innovations, designed to suit every project's unique needs.

Giving an overview of the company he said that CREG is a large enterprise specializing in R&D and manufacturing of tunneling and underground development equipment. CREG has 18 production bases in China, 5 manufacturing service bases and marketing networks in other countries. The annual production capacity of its TBM is close to 280 units. It has exported nearly 50 units of TBMs to international markets. CREG products have successfully worked in 18 countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, Lebanon, UAE, Italy, Denmark and France.

He informed that CREG adopts the rolling development strategy for the international market. The company actively carries out TBM and design innovations, uses cutting-edge technology based on intensive R&D, advanced manufacturing processes, and reliable components. It has a rich construction experience and develops humanized TBM products in accordance with the stringent international standards. It continuously upgrades its manufacturing processes and leads new construction methods with new equipment.

CREG adheres to "Comprehensive Performance and Service Marketing" to ensure on-time delivery and good performance for each international project. It also adheres to the "standardization" and "borderless" lifecycle service concept, providing customers with 24-hour high-quality standardized technical services.

The company has always adhered to the concept of win-win and multi-win development. It actively promotes localized business strategies aboard, employs local employees, develops innovative technologies and improves the lives of the local people by continuously providing re-employment skills through technology and service training.

Tan Shunhui said that CREG will continue to carry out in-depth international business operations, actively participate in the investment and construction of infrastructure projects in European countries so as to contribute to the economic development of countries in the region.

Zhang Min, President of Shantui Construction Machinery, shared his views on strategic planning and overseas market exploration under Shantui's globalization initiatives. The company was promoting its core competitiveness and making a strategic transformation from marketing-driven development to product-driven development.

According to him, Shantui is focused on meeting each customer's individual demand for products and provides timely customer service via online and offline service outlets around the world. As a leading member of the construction machinery segment of Shandong Heavy Industry Group, Shantui is striving to promote the advantages of the group as a driving force behind the core competitiveness of its products and thereby boost its journey of global exploration.

Dawei He, General Manager at Liugong informed that the company celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2018 and presented Liugong's ambitious vision for 2025 based on three concepts: Total Globalization; Total Solutions, and Total Intelligence.

He said that Liugong has come a long way in the last 60 years, and while a lot has changed, the company's passion for its customers has remained constant, which involves listening to them, understanding them, and delivering for them; and thereby helping them build a better world. Liugong's total solutions strategy is being a customer-oriented organization; providing customers not only with "machine lifecycle" solutions, but also with "construction application" solutions.

"Going beyond equipment is also an important part of what we do. Our services include financial programs, operation and maintenance training, outsourcing services, re-manufacturing and equipment leasing. Liugong third focus is on total intelligence. We are continuing to make progress in this area and one of our key highlights is the development of intelligent loading and shoveling systems options for our wheel loaders," said Dawei He.

ZOU Xuesong, Executive VP of SINOMACH Heavy Industry introducing the company and its core business said that after years of growth, SINOMACH has established 6 Pillar sections, which include construction equipment, engineering trade, environmental protection, mining equipment, international equipment and customer service. In the 48 countries along the Belt & Road, SINOMACH has completed or is working in 773 projects, with the total contractual amount reaching 73.6 billion USD.

He informed that the link between the Belt & Road Initiative and EU's Connecting Europe and Asia Strategy provides an opportunity for China's manufacturing industry to go international. "In the future, we will deepen the supply-chain structural reform, grasp the opportunity brought by the Belt & Road Initiative, speed up innovation-driven development, and focus on products and core enterprises to achieve high-quality development," said ZOU Xuesong.

Yu Hongfu, Chairman of Sany Heavy Machinery said that globalization was one of the most important strategies of the Sany Group. With its quality products, Sany was trying to change the world's perception of Chinese manufacturing and exploring internationalization.

He added that to be a part of globalization, they need to strengthen brand building and pursue sustainable development. They also need to strengthen industry cooperation and communication so as to step into the international market jointly. Sany will take advantages of the current trends, keep up with national strategies, and serve the countries along the "Belt and Road" for their economic development.

Yu Hongfu also briefed the audience on Sany's methods to explore the Global Market, that is, with reasonable price, by bringing more value to customers, developing new models suited to local markets, localized R&D and manufacturing to meet customers' 'specific needs; and providing high-quality services to customers because "if there is no service or spare parts availability, we would rather not sell products to them," he said.