Recently, hundreds of XCMG Truck_crane/ 'target='_blank' style='color:blue;'>Truck Cranes were gathered in Tianjin Wharf and ready for delivery, which witnessed the first launching-out abroad of home-made Truck_crane/ 'target='_blank' style='color:blue;'>Truck Cranes since the second half of 2009. It is reported that the exports of XCMG Truck Cranes rose by 186% in June over the same period of the previous year.
The growth of overseas market is only an episode since the genuine wonderful performance of XCMG’s crane trucks is in its native country. In the first half of 2010, the domestic market of Chinese cranes has demonstrated an amazing performance and XCMG, the No. 1 in the industry, has exceeded by 30% for single month average sales volume. The net increase of XCMG truck cranes in the first half of this year has been equivalent to its earning level all the year around in 2003. According to the latest release on the top 10 ranking for global mobile cranes, XCMG has been successfully upgraded from the fourth position to the top three. Among those, the single integrated economic indicator of truck cranes has taking the first place for three consecutive years. The technological innovation has taken on a new lease of life. In the first half of 2010 alone, XCMG has launched three series 18 kinds of new products and improved products. QAY500 all-terrain truck crane and DG68 aerial Platform Fire Truck have passed through the examination and verification of national research and innovation projects of major technical equipment.
Breaking through the enclosure of promotion and taking the road of “world class” firmly
XCMG, among the world top ten producers in engineering machinery, has been occupying the first place in Chinese engineering machinery industry for successive 21 years. After achieving 50 billion yuan in 2009, Wang Min, the board chairman of XCMG oriented 2010 as a new starting year of 100 billion yuan, directed its development strategy of the third ten years at “world class” and figured out new strategic route: “Carrying out differentiation strategy, taking the ‘three highs and one big’ product and technology development road staunchly, giving a full expression to the integrity of XCMG in R&D, manufacture, marketing, service and other aspects to achieve overall upgrading”.
As a subordinate enterprise of XCMG, Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. is exerting all the powers to march towards world class according to this conception.
“If we accept to reduce the level of risk control, the speed increase will be more, however, we prefer the better quality growth,” said Sun Jianzhong, vice president of XCMG and general manager of Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. “Compared with the development objective of world-class enterprises, we must change the state of extensive development, give priority to the quality growth of the industry, customers and enterprise truly and bring the integrity of XCMG into effect.”
In 2010, benefiting from the impetus to the domestic demand due to the nation in increasing its investment for infrastructure, the domestic truck crane industry grows rapidly. The slack credit policy has provided a strong support for the industry in financial leasing business and also triggered irrational low-end competition. After entering into the peak period of March and April, individual enterprises of the industry released financial leasing business and even launch immature products, made frequent use of extreme promotion approaches such as “zero down payment, extended repayment”, “presenting small for buying big one”, namely presenting a product worth 500,000 yuan as a “gift” and so on, which have resulted in batch-wise influx of numerous low quality products. Driven by such cut-throat competition, sudden fight occurs in the industry. A great number of factories have issued extreme promotion policies, which have lead to the unprecedented state such as drop of profit margin and frequent product faults with the downstream hoisting industry during peak period.
To ensure the sound development of the whole industrial environment, XCMG has been raising the risk control level in an all-around way, attaching importance to product quality to go all out to guide the market to recover the rationality: “An engineering machinery manufacturer should not rely on financial instruments blindly and the most crucial duties of manufacturer lie in strengthening the entity, improving technical level and international competitiveness of products and advancing the industrial progress.” In May 2010, a client in Cangzhou, Hebei bought second hand truck of XCMG in the price 14% higher than average market price of a second hand truck. The price is higher than that of second hand trucks imported from Japan. “It is not easy to get a second hand truck of XCMG, which is more expensive to buy but is cheaper to use” –the client has his own account in his mind.
“Quality as top priority” enhancing the stronger competitiveness of “Made in China”
Since the product development strategic thought of “three highs and one big” was put forward by Wang Min in 2004, the board chairman of XCMG, so far, Xuzhou Heavy Machinery has accumulated six years along this road. The products launched year by year are pushed forward in strict accordance with the thinking of development--“high reliability, high added value, high technology content and large scale”. In “large scale” aspect alone, the first home-made 200 ton, 240 ton, 300 ton and 500 ton all-terrain truck cranes and the aerial Platform Fire Truck of 53m and 68m high, the highest ones in Asia are all born in XCMG. In the second half of this year, XCMG will launch its heavy-weight super-tonnage cranes, 88m high aerial Platform Fire Truck and 90m aerial working platform.
With regard to “large scale”, the requirement from Wang Min to the subordinates is “it is not just to pursue the best of the world or the top in China in a simple sense but large scale based on the aforesaid “three highs” so that it can truly reflect the true meaning of industrial structure upgrading and highlight the essence of scientific and technological innovation.”
However, the market competition is tough and various interruptions shall be eliminated during the development process.
In recent years, due to the limit of design level and pressure form competition, some manufacturers have launched the “top” products either at the cost of safety or improving the local performance by increasing the dead weight of products (“selling more steel”) even without any process accumulation, which has lead to substantive increase of hidden danger, mechanical wear and oil consumption. When a client buys such a machine, he may feel well, but he may be unbearable for the pressure of higher maintenance cost after a few years. In the meantime, the low-end competition in the industry is tougher and the process of development towards high quality and high-end direction with industrial structure is held back. Therefore, efforts should be made to make “made in China” with stronger competition. By the end of 2009, after completing a new round of technological upgrading and overall tackling of key technologies including intelligent control, "boundary limit” project was fully initiated for cranes by XCMG. It is a systemic project with high difficulty, which is called as “gem of crown” for world crane technology. Just from the external appearance of cranes, the world top level is to keep 200 ton crane within the range of five axles while new generation all-terrain truck crane of 220 ton made by XCMG is the only model which can approach such ultimate capacity in China.
According to Shi Xianxin, vice general manager and professor senior engineer of Xuzhou Heavy Machinery, the most essential factor of “boundary limit” does not lie in external appearance and the prerequisite is in possession of a platform, namely creating a platform of high systematization, integration, integral design, manufacture, management and supply; besides, two foundations should be established, namely one hundred percent security and high quality reliability with products should be ensures; an orientation should be practiced, i.e. from standpoint of customers’ actual operation requirements, it is required to get rid of unnecessary waste and loss to fully meet the requirements of construction operation and working conditions. Pursuing extreme boundary: More compact size, minimum energy consumption and material consumption, top quality, perfect performance and optimal efficiency.” However, due to the limited design capacity, the actual level for products of 200 tons is six axles. Under the condition of specific hoisting performance, one axle is reduced may result in unreliability in security of products or fold increase of losses inside the machine. The purpose to initiate this project is to guide the industry to break away from the competition predicament of low quality, low price and low sale policy and chasing after the “top" in external appearance and develop towards the direction of “three highs and one big”.
The application of “boundary limit” has triggered the fifth technological revolution in the industry. Experts claim that four technological changes have been competed from the 1970s to 2004. The critical problem solved during the period of the four technological changes is core technologies and independent development. What the “boundary limit” project created by XCMG in 2010 is “the height of China on the high-end technology arena in the world”.
Three series new products launched in surprise to take up the dominant point of market
“Along with the speed-up in national efforts to invigorate the equipment manufacture, for an engineering machinery enterprise, the development pattern relying on scale and quantity will be increasingly inapplicable,” Wang Min, the board chairman of XCMG pointed out, “it is required to take up the dominant position of the industrial development in the future through scientific and technological innovation and management innovation, more importantly seeking for original innovation.”
In the beginning of 2010, 11 kinds of XCMG new generation K series crane trucks appeared on the market in groups; in May, 4 kinds of KT type cranes designed for oil field, desert, upland and other severe working conditions made their debut; June witnessed the emergence of 3 kinds of new generation all-terrain cranes… the new products of three series have shaken the market surprisingly.
It is seldom to find such a spectacle with group emergence of new products in engineering machinery sector. The main reason is lack of thorough grasp for systematic technology. Usually, a new product requires more improvement and one more technical route, which will increase the difficulty in integration of design and manufacture technologies. As early as 2004, XCMG initiated its integral technology platform by starting from technology configuration of products, attaching importance to tackling and fundamental research and setting up seven systematic design platforms step by step. Shang Zenghai, director of Technology Center of Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. said, “It is neither simple 3D animation simulation design nor simple structural infinite element analysis nor mere introduction of advanced equipment. We have realized the upgrading of single structure and individual system research to the integral advancement of an entire technology generality system including the third party research, main design of products, manufacture process management, technology application and information network etc.”
Just the breaking through the bottleneck of fundamental research and systematic platform, new products of XCMG cranes can be launched in series. 11 kinds of new generation K series products have deeply reflected the thought of “boundary limit” and demonstrated the extreme advantages incisively and vividly. The oil field special Vehicle series products designed for oil field, upland, desert and other severe working conditions have broken the phenomenon of “single-plank bridge” that all the manufacturers in the industry compete in length of boom so as to explore new road for general type equipment segment market and open a new development space for changing the deteriorated homogeneous competition of downstream crane industry.
In engineering machinery industry, the most complicated technology and the most difficult product should be all-terrain crane. Each leap to a higher step will result in multiple design difficulty. After XCMG launched its product of 200 tons, for its stride forward towards 300 tons and 400 tons, it has solved a hundred of difficult problems such as multi-section boom, multi-axle steering, machine matching, stress for structural components by tackling the problems of 240 tons. 500 tons model is a brand new technological breakthrough. It has intensively applied whole machine self-disassembly, super-lifting, tower-type jib and other technologies, which have paved the way for stride towards more tonnage.
On the basis of such strength, XCMG new generation 180 ton, 220 ton and 260 ton all-terrain cranes have reached a new height. The tackling of internationally advanced key technologies such as multi-axial multi-mode electro-hydraulic steering, disc braking and high-end intelligent control etc. has filled in gap of 38 national technologies and resulted in security increase by 30%, maintenance cost reduction by 20% and comprehensive leading performance---a new era of Chinese crane industry quality upgrading has been opened herefrom.
What stage has engineering crane industry developed? What a road should be taken in the future? These are questions from users, the industry and the society. XCMG has given its firm answer with its performance and actions: Breaking through the enclosure of promotion, achieving its growth by 30% for 4 continuous months in monthly sales, eliminating low-end interference, triggering the fifth technological revolution through “boundary limit” project, mounting the technology peak, shaking the market surprisingly by launching its new products of three series…
Related link: A way to technology revolution for Chinese engineering crane industry
The year of 1963 witnessed the launching of the first generation crane truck in China. Since then, XCMG has been leading the technological revolution of the industry for five consecutive times;
In the 1970s, XCMG took the lead in entering all-hydraulic crane truck field and initiated the first technological revolution of Chinese crane industry;
In 2000, the K series crane trucks launched by XCMG inaugurated a new era;
In 2002, the first all-terrain crane in China was born in XCMG, which indicated China’s entry into high-end crane field;
“U shape” and “single-cylinder latch automatic telescoping” boom technology has been a symbol of overseas high-end products. In 2004, Xuzhou Heavy Machinery broke through blockades, blaze new trails, changed the previous embarrassed situation of capable of design but incapable of manufacture, triggered a revolution in truck crane industry and add a splendid touch for Chinese equipment manufacture industry.
The foresight and vision of a pacesetter is usually hard to be accepted by the industry, as a result, only fives years later after XCMG’s boom technology has been transformed from “polygon” to “ellipse” and put into batch production of 40,000 pieces later, fives years later after XCMG has applied 60 high-end technologies including single-cylinder automatic telescoping latch in large quantity, fives years later after XCMG's all-terrain crane trucks have been put into mass sale and even exported to other countries does the second producer starts to follow.
XCMG –the footsteps of the pacesetter has been taken to a new height…
In the first half of 2010, XCMG has fully initiated its “boundary limit” protect to launch three series new products successively, which has triggered the fifth technological revolution of the industry.
