Domestic ice and snow manufacturing breakthrough: from conquering technology to market recognition

The Beijing Winter Olympics are about to begin. Also participating in the competition were Chinese ice and snow manufacturers.

The SG400 snow compressor, manufactured by Hebei Hesteel Group Xuangong Company, has been tested in several snow fields in Chongli and will soon provide exclusive services for the Beijing Winter Olympics. This model is also the first type of high-end snow groomer in China. The first SG400 snow groomer was born in 2018, filling the gap in the field of domestic high-end snow groomers.

Previously, there were media reports that the companies that produce snow grooming cars in the world are mainly Kssbohr in Germany (k ssbohrer) and prinoth in Italy, which almost monopolize the global high-end snow grooming market. Kessbauer, which employs just over 700 people worldwide, has sold more than 20,000 snow grooming bikes worldwide since 1969. Although the development and manufacture of domestic snow grooming vehicles has been about 6 years, high-power high-end products are still blank.

Not only snow presses, but also domestic manufacturers have ushered in breakthroughs in other key areas. The Cabinn Snow Kirin M2 snow machine used at the Winter Olympics is completely developed and manufactured by China's independent intellectual property rights, and the core snowmaking indicators reach or exceed the level of similar foreign snowmakers.

In 2016, the State General Administration of Sport and other departments issued the "Ice and Snow Sports Development Plan (2016-2025)" predicted that in the next five years, the domestic brand share of snowmakers will account for more than 50%, the proportion of domestic shares of small snow groomers will be greater than that of imported brands, and China's ice and snow equipment will be further localized.

In fact, in the field of individual ice and snow equipment, domestic equipment has been able to occupy a higher market share, such as ropeway cable cars. However, some insiders also admit that the current technical level of domestic ropeway cable cars is low, and the gap between professionalism and safety and foreign brands is still large, and domestic equipment may take some time to open up recognition in the market.

Made in China on the road

In order to realize the "freedom" of ice and snow manufacturing, the three major areas of snow machines, snow rollers and ropeways cannot be bypassed. The catch-up of domestic ice and snow equipment is from the year of the winter Olympic bid, and it is really from planning to reality.

In 2015, Beijing won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. At that time, there was no snow groomer with independent property rights in China. Hebei Xuangong, which manufactures bulldozers, also had the idea of transformation from then on. Founded in 1950, Hebei Xuangong was already the only domestic high-drive bulldozer development and manufacturer, and a leading enterprise in the construction machinery industry in North China integrating production, supply, sales and service, which provided confidence for the transformation and manufacture of snow groomers. According to the "China Ski Industry Development Report (2019)", although the development and manufacture of domestic snow grooming vehicles has been about 6 years, high-power high-end products are still blank.

At the end of 2016, Hebei Xuangong set up a snow grooming vehicle development team. In view of the characteristics of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics with little snow and strong snow layer, the R&D team carried out 109 improvements and designs for 19 components. In 2018, the SG400 snow groomer manufactured by Hebei Xuangong rolled off the production line, breaking the monopoly of foreign technology and price in the field of snow groomers, enabling China to have independent intellectual property rights in key core technologies such as chassis suspension, electronic control system and hydraulic transmission, and filling the gap of high-end snow groomers in China.

In addition to serving the Winter Olympics, Hebei Xuangong has conducted sales docking with a number of domestic snow fields to discuss the next step of purchase and lease cooperation intentions. A number of international merchants have signed a letter of intent with Hebei Xuangong.

In 2017, a large state-owned enterprise, China Coal Group, a large state-owned enterprise, and the French MND Group jointly established Amity (Zhangjiakou) Mountain Development Co., Ltd. to assemble ropeways and snow machines. The company plans to produce 50 ropeways by 2022.

According to the 2019 annual report of the "White Paper on China's Ski Industry", 1149 new snow machines were added to China's ski resorts in 2019, including 682 imported brands and 467 domestic brands, and the market share of the two is constantly narrowing. In 2015, only 50 domestic snow machines were newly purchased.

While the market share is getting closer, domestic snow machines are also constantly upgrading. After six years, Cabin Ski Group independently developed a number of high-performance snow machines such as "Kirin-M2" and "Shirasawa SA6" to realize the localization of snow machines. At the Winter Olympics, the Cabin Snow Machine joined the Beidou satellite navigation system and 5G technology to achieve the ability of high-precision positioning, high-precision time and high-definition image of the snowmaking machine.

This ice and snow manufacturing relay race has been transmitted to colleges, universities, scientific research institutions, enterprises and other forces. Many domestic ice and snow equipment projects in key areas have been approved as key projects of the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics".

From self-made to recognized

Although it fills the gap, Hebei Xuangong is only the only company in China that can manufacture high-end high-horsepower snow compressors.

Most of the snow mills in the domestic market are supplied by Italian prinoth and German k ssbohrer. "The Yanqing competition project of the Winter Olympics was won by Italy's prinoth, and the Shougang Big Jumping Stadium and Genting Ski Park should also be imported, for Germany's k ssbohrer and Italy's prinoth." An industry insider said.

According to Beijing Daily, although the national key research and development plan "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" special "outdoor large and medium-sized snow car research and development and application demonstration" project was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it did not qualify for the Winter Olympics. The reason is that the equipment used to enter the venues of the Winter Olympic Games needs to be approved by the International Olympic Committee, and only two old snow grooms produced in Germany and Italy are currently eligible.

All snow machines for the Winter Olympics were provided by the Italian Sky Ice Group, while 80% of the ice repair machines were provided by Sky Ice, and the remaining 20% was won by zamboni in the United States.

But the machine is only the first step. Feynman, general manager of The China region of Italy's Tianbing Group, said that due to the complexity of the snow machine system used in the ski resort, a challenge is that running a large system composed of several pumping stations requires a high degree of coordination, and if it is operated by humans, the probability of error will increase. At present, some large domestic snowmaking systems, even if there is no automation software to run, can achieve a better snowmaking effect, but the automation system can save more water, electricity and other resources. Especially for a high-standard event like the Winter Olympics, it is obviously more reliable to have an automated system for snowmaking equipment.

Compared with equipment such as snow presses and snow rollers, the funicular cable car may be a longer catch-up road. For a ski resort, the investment in the funicular is as high as 50%-70%. At this year's Winter Olympics, the Austrian company Doppelmayer provided the technology and equipment for all nine ropeways for the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Center. According to Li Yanqiu, general manager of Doppelmayr China, at present, Doppelmayr Austria occupies 60% of the global market share, while in the Chinese market, although domestic equipment accounts for the majority in quantity, in terms of high-end equipment, Doppelmayr still occupies a high market share.

Economic Observer Network reporter Xie Chuchu

Editor/Fan Hongwei