On January 4, 2022, Weichai Group held a ceremony in the production workshop of Weifang headquarters to celebrate the production and sales of 1.05 million engines last year. On the basis of production and sales exceeding one million units in 2020, it once again refreshed the new record of the global diesel engine industry and became the well-deserved "king of engines". Together with Sinotruk's 220,000 units, Shandong Heavy Industry Group's cumulative production and sales of engines last year reached 1.27 million units.
According to public information, Weichai was founded in the mid-1940s, after more than 70 years of development, has become a cross-field, cross-industry operation of international companies, business covering power systems (engines, transmissions, axles, hydraulics), automotive business, engineering machinery, intelligent logistics, agricultural equipment, marine transportation equipment, etc., the products are exported to more than 110 countries and regions around the world, under which it has 7 listed companies (Weichai Power, Weichai Heavy Machinery, Yaxing Bus, Shantui Shares, Zhongtong Bus, Sinotruk and KION Group of Germany).
Weichai's predecessor, Shandong Weifang Diesel Engine Factory, is one of the earliest batch of machinery enterprises in China, which has successfully produced 6108 high-speed diesel engines and 6160 medium-speed diesel engines, and developed 600 kg and 1200 kg diesel piling machines. Among them, the development and production of the 6160 medium-speed diesel engine has filled the gap of medium-speed diesel engines in China.
In the 1980s, Sinotruk introduced the Austrian Steyr heavy-duty vehicle project, squeezed Weichai, which developed and produced the last train of heavy-duty engines, and took the lead in passing the national project acceptance. This is a strategic product structure adjustment in the history of enterprise development, and it also marks the end of China's history of not being able to produce heavy-duty vehicle engines.
However, with the gradual opening of the market, in 1998, Weichai's operation fell into an unprecedented predicament, with debts of up to 300 million yuan, while all the funds on the book were only 80,000 yuan, once on the verge of bankruptcy. Workers have been owed 6 months of wages, people are scattered, basically in a state of suspension. At the critical juncture, Tan Xuguang, who was only 37 years old and was originally responsible for foreign trade business, became the director of the factory.
In the face of this hot potato, he made drastic adjustments, more than 3,000 posts were cancelled or merged, more than 700 managers were reduced to more than 200, and a modern enterprise system was established. The "second fire" burned to the quality of the product, imitating Shandong compatriot Zhang Ruimin smashing the Haier refrigerator and taking the lead in smashing 300 engine waste and defective blanks on the spot.
More critically, Tan Xuguang led the technicians out of the office, successfully applied the engine originally used by heavy trucks to the field of construction machinery, broke the monopoly of foreign brands on the technology of China's construction machinery market, and also allowed Weichai to quickly pay off all debts, and in 2004, the annual turnover exceeded 10 billion yuan.
But Tan Xuguang is not satisfied with this, he is soberly aware that he cannot rely on a single product, so he actively expands his business. The following year, it spent 1 billion yuan to win the Xiang Torch Automobile Group, and since then has the most complete heavy-duty truck industry chain in China (Weichai engine + Fast transmission + Hand axle + Shaanxi Automobile heavy truck). Since about thirteen years ago, Weichai has begun to expand overseas.
At the same time, the Group has not abandoned technology research and development. In the past three years, the cumulative investment has reached 10.3 billion yuan, and the core technologies such as engine thermal efficiency, fuel cells, commercial vehicle powertrain, CVT powertrain, and hydraulic powertrain have continuously broken through.
From January to October last year, Weichai Group achieved revenue of 267 billion yuan and total profit of 16.9 billion yuan, an increase of 4.7% and 14.3% respectively year-on-year. According to the plan, by 2025, the group should achieve revenue of 100 billion US dollars, and the traditional business should be stable at the world-class level; by 2030, the revenue should be 1 trillion yuan, and the new energy business should lead the development of the global industry. This goal is not ambitious, and it remains to be seen whether it can be achieved.