Text: Wei Xi
Foreword: According to Weichai Power, on March 21, the press conference of Ferretti Co., Ltd. of Italy to go public in Hong Kong was held in Beijing. It is reported that Ferretti Group is one of the oldest Italian luxury yacht manufacturers in the world and a recognized leader in the global luxury yacht industry.
In 2012, Weichai Group carried out a strategic restructuring of Ferretti Group, which promoted Ferretti into a new stage of healthy development. In order to speed up the process of capital securitization, Ferretti Co., Ltd. of Italy intends to be listed in Hong Kong on March 31.
In the past ten years, the mainland automobile industry has developed rapidly, and the reputation of domestic automobiles has become better and better. However, due to the late start, weak foundation and insufficient funds of the mainland automobile industry, Continental Automobile lags far behind Germany, Japan, the United States and other major automobile countries in the research and development of core engine components.
Although the mainland's automobile engine technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, there are still many people who respect European, American and Japanese car engines, especially German and Japanese car engines, which also makes the Japanese and German automobile brands occupy half of the country. However, if you look at it from the perspective of light trucks and heavy trucks, then the engine is a domestic world.
When it comes to the heavy industry in the mainland, it must be inseparable from sany heavy industry and zoomlion heavy industry. According to the 2021 Global 2000 list released by Forbes, Sany Heavy Industry ranked 468th, ranking among the top 500 global enterprises for the first time. In the 2021 "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises" list, Zoomlion ranked 319th with an operating income of 65.109 billion yuan, and was shortlisted for the 18th consecutive year.
The above achievements are enough to prove the strength of leading enterprises in the field of machinery and equipment manufacturing in the mainland. Of course, in addition to the leading enterprises in the construction machinery industry such as Sany Heavy Industry and Zoomlion Heavy Industry, there are also many strong machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises in China. Among them, the most impressive is Weichai Power, which can be described as the largest "dark horse" in the machinery and equipment industry.
It is worth noting that as early as 1953, Weichai Power's predecessor, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory, was established. At that time, the mainland's heavy-duty diesel engine technology was not very developed, and this diesel plant mainly produced medium-speed diesel engines, perhaps for technological breakthroughs. In 1984, the diesel plant introduced the latest technology.
However, under the impact of the market economy, there was a "crisis" in the diesel plant in 1998, when the overall debt had exceeded 300 million yuan, and the low operating conditions led to the "hair loss" of employee wages for half a year. I thought the plant would close, but the Weifang diesel plant survived.
As for why Weichai can turn around in the trough of adversity, it is mainly because of a legendary figure like Tan Xuguang. In 1977, Tan Xuguang, who was under the age of 17, entered Weichai from scratch. After 10 years of cultural reform, he completed the business management course of the Central Radio and Television University and obtained a university degree of his own.
In 1987, Tan Xuguang was transferred to the Foreign Trade Group as a salesman. Because of his outstanding business, in 1992, he became the general manager of the newly established Shandong Weichai Import and Export Company, during which time, Weichai's import and export business grew from 300,000 US dollars to 60 million US dollars, becoming a model for export earnings in the national machinery industry.
In 1998, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory, the parent company of Weichai Import and Export Corporation, defaulted on interest and taxes totaling 300 million yuan. Employees could not pay salaries for 6 months and were on the verge of bankruptcy. At this time, the 37-year-old Tan Xu was in danger and implemented a fixed post system internally. In the end, Weichai achieved a turnaround in its second year in office. By 2000, Weichai's 300 million yuan of debt had been cleared.
Since then, the situation of Weichai Power has gradually improved. Subsequently, Weichai Power, which has been listed in Hong Kong, has successively acquired Xiang torch for up to 1 billion yuan, opening up the entire industrial chain of commercial vehicles. And successfully completed the acquisition of Dematic, through learning related technologies, launched Weichai intelligent logistics system, its logistics operation efficiency increased by 30%, saving about 100 people labor costs.
In addition, Weichai has also acquired well-known enterprises such as Du Boan of France, Ferretti of Italy, and Kaiao of Germany. Later, Dematic and PSI were included in Weichai's territory, and since then, Weichai has become an international diversified enterprise group covering six major sectors: powertrain, automotive business, construction machinery, intelligent logistics, luxury yachts, and financial services. Through a series of acquisitions, Weichai's international competitiveness and comprehensive strength have been greatly enhanced.
On September 16, 2020, Weichai Power officially released the world's first commercial diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of more than 50%, with an engine thermal efficiency of 50.26%. In 2021, the research and development of high-efficiency diesel engines in mainland China has once again made a historic breakthrough. After 480 days, the thermal efficiency of Weichai's diesel engine body reached 51.09% for the first time in the world, once again setting a new global record.
It is precisely because it pays enough attention to technology and is willing to spend money that Shandong Weichai can create an advanced diesel engine that impresses foreign giants, which is the best embodiment of its own strength. Up to now, Shandong Weichai 50% thermal efficiency diesel engine has begun to sell to key customers. This can be seen in many areas, and the domestic import of heavy fuel engines from abroad has also been reduced.
Shandong Weichai's breakthrough in diesel engines has broken the Monopoly of the West, which is a good proof of the fact that as long as the mainland is willing to independently develop and invest human and financial resources, there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome. Heavy-duty fuel engines and diesel engines can be conquered by China, other core technologies are not a problem, I believe that there will be more good news from the mainland in the future.
Today, Weichai Power has been regarded as a "new business card" for China's manufacturing industry. Of course, Sany Heavy Industry and Zoomlion, whose revenue has been surpassed by Weichai Power, are also the leaders of China's manufacturing industry. In fact, their status is not in order, they are all shining in various fields of manufacturing. What do you think about that?