China's manufacturing "dark horse": from debt of 300 million to the world's first, pressure On Sany and Zoomlion

Text: Ten Summers

China has long been known as the "factory of the world" because of its strong manufacturing base. As the world's largest manufacturing country, China's manufacturing added value has ranked first in the world for 12 consecutive years, and the output of more than 220 kinds of industrial products ranks first in the world.

After decades of development, China's manufacturing industry has been reborn, no longer low-end manufacturing, but constantly marching towards high-end manufacturing. Moreover, more and more Chinese manufacturing is recognized by the world, and Chinese manufacturing has become a business card worthy of national pride and pride.

With the comprehensive development of the mainland manufacturing industry, the manufacturing industry has also been constantly creating new surprises. According to a data released by Germany, by the end of 2020, China has won the throne of global exports of machinery and equipment, and this throne has been occupied by Germany.

When it comes to China's machinery and equipment manufacturing industry, we have to think of two "giants": Sany Heavy Industry and Zoomlion. In the 2021 Global 2000 list released by Forbes, Sany Heavy Industry ranked 468th, ranking among the top 500 global enterprises for the first time. It is the first construction machinery enterprise in China and the second in the world, and the first enterprise in China's construction machinery industry to enter the Forbes Global 500.

According to the 2021 annual report disclosed by Sany Heavy Industry, during the reporting period, the company achieved operating income of 106.113 billion yuan, an increase of 6.82% year-on-year. With an operating income of 65.109 billion yuan, Zoomlion ranked 319th in the list of "Top 500 Chinese Enterprises" in 2021, and has been shortlisted for the list for 18 consecutive years.

Of course, in addition to Sany Heavy Industry, Zoomlion and other machinery industry leaders, there are many strong machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises in China. Among them, the most impressive to the world is Weichai Power, which can be described as the largest "dark horse" in the machinery and equipment industry.

The history of Weichai in Shandong Province is an industry miracle, and this company once had 300 million yuan in debt and was on the verge of bankruptcy. At present, Weichai products have entered more than 110 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and other countries, with an annual operating income of nearly 200 billion yuan and an overseas market income of nearly 70 billion yuan.

Weichai Power's rapid development is because it has seized the major opportunity for the rapid development of China's automobile industry. With the continuous improvement of the overall quality of domestic cars, the sales of domestic cars have also increased significantly. But car engines are still our weaknesses, but we have an absolute say in heavy trucks and light trucks.

Even some European and American commercial vehicles also have to purchase engines made in China, of which Weichai engine has the highest market share and the highest popularity. According to statistics, in the multi-cylinder diesel engine market, the market share of Weichai engine is as high as 17%. At present, Weichai Power's heavy-duty truck sales have exceeded 500,000 vehicles, ranking first in the world in this field. At the same time, Shandong Weichai has also reached the world's advanced level in heavy-duty truck engines.

Although brilliant achievements have been made now, the history of Weichai Power has once been described as bleak or even depressed. In the 1990s, due to problems in the company's internal management, Weichai Power not only had a low production level, but also had uneven product quality. Around 1998, Weichai Engine had no market, more than 300 million in debt, employees owed wages for more than half a year, and the company was basically in a state of shutdown.

Fortunately, the newly appointed young leaders rose to the occasion and underwent top-down reforms, openly smashing more than 300 defective engines and merging to eliminate more than 3,000 jobs. Under a series of reforms, the situation of Weichai Power began to gradually improve.

In 2005, Weichai Power was listed in Hong Kong, and achieved management improvement and technology improvement through the acquisition of dematic, Du Bo'an, Ferretti, KION and other international advanced enterprises. On the basis of the previously introduced Steyr technology, independent innovation has been realized, forming Weichai's own competitiveness and advantages.

Weichai Power's acquisition of German forklift giant KION has given Weichai access to advanced hydraulic technology, which has become the key to Weichai's fame in the truck market. The acquisition of automated logistics company Dematic has also made Weichai Power's intelligent logistics revenue exceed 67 billion yuan, becoming a supporting core business.

In addition, in terms of light truck engines, Weichai introduced the D and R series engines of the Italian VM company and reached a technology transfer agreement. After obtaining the license, Shangchai and Weichai have successively developed different series of VM engines on the platform. With the new China 6 emission standard proposed by the state, Weichai has carried out active research and development.

Today, Weichai's WP4.6N engine has obtained the "China VI" certification, which also means that in another field, China has successfully broken the monopoly of foreign companies. In addition, Weichai has also begun to increase the field of new energy, including pure electric, hybrid and fuel cells. And in the research and development of new energy engines, it once again leads the world and achieves a breakthrough in hydrogen fuel cells.

Behind this dazzling achievement, Weichai's research and development investment is not low. From 2016 to 2021, Weichai Power invested more than 30 billion yuan in research and development. In the first half of last year alone, Weichai Power invested 3.56 billion yuan in technology research and development, accounting for two-thirds of the company's half-year profit.

Today's Weichai Power has grown into an industry giant, the market competitiveness has been significantly improved, and with an operating income of 304.9 billion yuan, it ranks first in the top 100 of China's machinery industry in 2021, surpassing Sany Heavy Industry and Zoomlion in one fell swoop.

Now Weichai Power is involved in construction machinery, power system, agriculture and marine equipment, automotive and other fields, and its products are sold to more than 110 countries and regions around the world. According to the company's development goals, Weichai Power aims to achieve revenue of 1 trillion yuan by 2030, enter the top three in the world in its core areas, and build a world-class intelligent industrial equipment manufacturing group.