The great waves of the times are surging forward, showing the leader's ambition.
The decades-long journey of China's photovoltaic industry has given birth to many outstanding innovative pioneer enterprises, and these bright stars have led the global photovoltaic waves forward. They have not only opened up a new era of green power and clean energy, but also engraved the glorious mark of China's power on the global new energy map. From a local king to a global brand! The world journey of China's photovoltaic equipment pioneer enterprise
On this sunny road, the pioneers of innovation, excellent technology and good management of photovoltaic pioneers stand out, and they not only grow and expand in the Chinese market as pioneers, but also actively embrace global opportunities and start a magnificent world journey.
As a photovoltaic giant with nearly 15 years of rich international experience, Jiejia Weichuang has become a leader in this group.
21 years ago, Jiejia Weichuang was established in Shenzhen; Twenty-one years later, the company has grown to become the world's leading provider of turnkey solutions for the entire solar cell line, with one of the world's largest equipment market shares. According to Jiejia Weichuang's latest annual report, the company will achieve operating income of 8.73 billion yuan in 2023, of which the total overseas sales will reach 1.05 billion yuan, accounting for 12.05%.
As of the first quarter of 2024, Jiejia Weichuang solar cell production equipment has been exported to more than ten countries and regions such as United States, Turkey, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand and so on. With the development of the overseas local photovoltaic industry, the overseas layout of domestic cell companies and the acceleration of technology iteration, Jiejia Weichuang has also repeatedly reported good news in the international market, and orders continue to increase.
The development path of Jiejia Weichuang is a microcosm of the growth of China's photovoltaic enterprises, and behind the dazzling overseas report card, it carries the foresight, careful layout and unremitting efforts of Jiejia Weichuang for more than ten years.
The first order was won, and the international team took shape
The first overseas order of Jiejia Weichuang occurred in 2010 and came from India.
This year, with the support of multiple international and domestic policies, the global photovoltaic market ushered in an explosion. Stimulated by the subsidy reduction of the photovoltaic policy, European countries have rushed to complete photovoltaic investment projects before the subsidy reduction, and there has been a rush to install the boom, driving the recovery of the global photovoltaic market. In the same year, China's photovoltaic industry also ushered in the famous "Golden Sun Project", "Photovoltaic Building Application Demonstration" and other projects, which jointly stimulated the demand for photovoltaic applications in the Chinese market at that time.
According to the data of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, in 2010, the global new installed capacity of photovoltaic exceeded 16GW, doubling the new installed capacity in 2009, and photovoltaic power generation entered the first peak period of intensive installation.
At that time, Jiejia Weichuang also ushered in a new development highland of the company, and its fist products of texturing equipment, diffusion furnace and PEVCD recorded an annual sales performance of 2.3 billion, an increase of more than 10 times compared with 200 million in 2009, and the market share of the company's main equipment has exceeded 40%.
Excellent product strength and market awareness soon attracted the first overseas order for Jiejia Weichuang. One midsummer afternoon, Huang Beibing, then the overseas business manager of Jiejia Weichuang, received a special request for a visit to Premier Energies, a solar cell and module manufacturer from India.
At that time, Premier was planning to increase production capacity and efficiency, and came to China for a series of inspections. In a customer's on-site inspection, I learned that Jiejia Weichuang has certain advantages in technology, service and cost, so I found Jiejia Weichuang in Bao'an District, Shenzhen.
The visit of overseas customers made Mr. Jiang Liujian, the first chairman of Jiejia Weichuang, see the opportunity for the company to go international, and immediately made a decision to win this order. Premier offered to purchase a 4-tube PECVD plant, and after several rounds of negotiations, the two parties formally signed a contract for the sale of the equipment. Since then, Jiejia Weichuang has opened the door for enterprises to go to sea.
Almost at the same time, Silicon Plus from Japan also came to order degumming machine, plasma etching machine, rework wafer cleaning machine and other equipment from Jiejia Weichuang.
Although it has opened the door to a new market, for Jiejia Weichuang, overseas business needs more perfect services in the long run, and the production of equipment is only the first step in the execution of the contract, and the safe delivery of products to the overseas customer's factory site, the completion of the installation and commissioning of the equipment and the normal production of the customer and the normal production of the customer means the completion of the order.
Jie Jia Wei Chuang and the Premier engineering team discuss the coating effect, image source: Jie Jia Wei Chuang
In order to ensure the quality of product delivery, Jiejia Weichuang has carried out special training on the production process, as well as mechanical and electrical design optimization for overseas orders. After a series of links such as personnel screening, visa processing, and pre-job training, the overseas installation team consisting of 1 on-site leader, 3 installation engineers and 1 on-site interpreter embarked on a flight to India, officially starting the overseas installation process.
Premier was impressed by the professionalism shown by Jiejia Weichuang during the delivery and installation process, which led to the subsequent long-term cooperation between the two parties and laid a solid foundation for Jiejia Weichuang to explore the India market.
Go deep into the international blue ocean, and work with agents to break the situation and open up market awareness
In 2012, China's photovoltaic industry ushered in the darkest moment.
On the one hand, Europe and the United States have opened "double anti-dumping" investigations, international trade frictions have intensified, and Chinese photovoltaic products have been subject to high tariffs; On the other hand, Germany, Italy and other major photovoltaic installed countries generally subsidize the decline, resulting in a serious oversupply in the market, the price of photovoltaic products plummeted, and the growth of the world photovoltaic industry lacked momentum. In this context, not only a large number of domestic small and medium-sized enterprises have collapsed, but also domestic photovoltaic giants have declared bankruptcy, and China's photovoltaic industry has encountered serious difficulties.
In this round of low tide, Jiejia Weichuang is also facing operational difficulties. On the one hand, the inevitable huge impact under the downturn of domestic photovoltaic manufacturing, and on the other hand, the successful delivery of the Premier project, Jiejia Weichuang began to re-examine the possibility of going to overseas markets, and actively took action to expand overseas business territory.
In order to open up the brand recognition of overseas markets, Jiejia Weichuang has sailed overseas since the end of 2012, and has successively appeared in Renewable Energy India Expo, Thailand New Energy Exhibition, Solar Asia (Malaysia), Taipei International Solar Photovoltaic Exhibition, Munich Exhibition in Germany, Brazil Photovoltaic Exhibition and other international exhibitions, conveying brand image, accumulating customer resources, and in-depth understanding of first-hand information in the markets of various countries, providing a detailed reference basis for the company's business decisions.
On November 7, 2012, Jiejia Weichuang participated in the exhibition for the first time in India, photo source: Jiejia Weichuang
While increasing overseas exhibitions, Jiejia Weichuang is also looking for the most powerful local agents. In the view of the company's management, it is an indispensable measure to open up overseas markets and cultivate overseas agents. Only if it is local enough can it be integrated into the local market.
"Excellent agents are not only well versed in the changes in the local market, have a huge sales network and rich customer resources, can quickly pave the way for the company to enter new markets, but also provide pre-sales consultation and after-sales service that meet local needs, to ensure that products can win the trust and praise of customers in foreign countries." The person in charge of Jie Jia Wei Chuang overseas recalled.
After many understandings and explorations, Jiejia Weichuang gradually found a cooperation model suitable for its own overseas development and agent services, and finally formulated a preliminary cooperation mode and agency model with India Bergen, Taiwan Fanxuan and other companies.
The subsequent cooperation also proved that these excellent agents played an indispensable role in the development and maintenance of the company's overseas customers. Especially in terms of developing local customers, they can help us connect directly with end customers and understand the production situation and business needs in detail. The person in charge said.
For example, he said that Fanxuan had organized the company's senior management and marketing team to visit local customers in Taiwan many times from 2011 to 2014, and had face-to-face in-depth exchanges with them, helping us to more comprehensively grasp the development of the overall photovoltaic market in Taiwan. The cultivation of agents has also driven the brand promotion and marketing of Jiejia Weichuang in the local area, established the brand image more quickly, and enhanced the market competitiveness.
It is understood that in addition to the right to sell agents, Jiejia Weichuang provides technical training for agents, gives full play to the respective advantages of both parties, and achieves a long-term win-win situation with cooperation and mutual trust. More importantly, this cooperation model realizes the effective integration of resources and the reasonable sharing of risks, which lays a solid foundation for the steady development of Jiejia Weichuang in overseas markets and helps overseas business achieve a milestone leap.
Landing the first key project of maritime diplomacy and pressing the "acceleration button" for going to sea
In 2014, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the "100GW PV Plan", which aims to achieve a total PV capacity of 100GW by 2022. According to public data such as the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System Project (IEA PVPS), in 2015~2017, India's new photovoltaic installed capacity reached 2GW, 4.5GW and 9.6GW respectively, with an average annual growth rate of more than 100%.
India's local photovoltaic manufacturing enterprises have also begun to enter a period of rapid development, including Jupiter, TATA, Adani, Websol and other companies, have begun to expand production and line expansion plans.
In the second half of 2015, Adani launched a tender for 1.2GW of cell production lines, of which 800MW will be turnkey. However, Adani has high requirements for production capacity and cell efficiency after the production line is put into operation, and there is no team in India that can commit to improving the production line specifications to the company's requirements.
At that time, Jiejia Weichuang already had a professional and technical process team, which could fully undertake the whole process from equipment manufacturing to installation and commissioning to full production to process optimization. Opportunities are always reserved for those who are prepared, and with the advantages of technology and service, in March 2016, Jiejia Weichuang successfully won the order of 800MW project from Adani.
It is understood that the turnkey model of equipment in the photovoltaic industry requires photovoltaic equipment suppliers to have a full range of comprehensive strength, including deep accumulation and professional ability in all aspects from the initial design and planning of the project to the equipment production, installation and commissioning in the mid-term, and then to the service guarantee in the later stage. Enterprises not only need to have strong technical research and development capabilities to provide advanced and reliable whole line solutions; In addition, an efficient project management team and rich international project experience are required to quickly respond to customer needs and provide customized services on a global scale.
On this basis, the turnkey project of Jiejia Weichuang locks in two core goals: one is "delivery", that is, Jiejia Weichuang delivers the key core equipment to the customer; The other is the "church", during this period, the customer will also arrange relevant technical personnel to learn in the "benchmark line", and after being familiar with the equipment and mastering the process, it will be copied to other production lines, so as to achieve the purpose of quickly achieving various production indicators.
Focusing on these two goals, Jiejia Weichuang has set up an engineering center to ensure that the company's internal resources are collected to respond to on-site needs in a timely and efficient manner, and the engineering center has led the compilation of nearly 300 pages of professional materials such as "Crystalline Silicon Cell Turnkey Project Training Manual" and "One Pass" to assist the smooth progress of the turnkey project.
At the project site, Jiejia Weichuang dispatched a large-scale overseas installation team, with a maximum of nearly 70 employees at the same time at Adani's site, including dry equipment team, wet equipment team, automation equipment team, process team and 5 on-site translators. After more than 200 days and nights of unremitting efforts, Jiejia Weichuang finally successfully completed the installation and commissioning, and helped Adani achieve the expected efficiency yield and production capacity indicators, and completed the expected results of "turnkey".
Group photo of the turnkey team of the Adani project, image source: Jiejia Weichuang
At this point, the "turnkey" project of Jiejia Weichuang has officially taken shape, which is not only a milestone achievement of the company's own overseas expansion, but also a bright business card of "solar cell turnkey solution provider" to the vast India market.
With the delivery of more and more projects in overseas markets, the company's overseas market territory has also expanded, including Sunpower in the Philippines, REC in Singapore, Hyundai in Korea, Hanwha, LG, Smart in Turkey, etc. Many internationally renowned solar cell manufacturers have become customers of Jie Jia Weichuang.
A large number of overseas orders and customer needs have also driven Jiejia Weichuang to improve quality and efficiency, focusing on R&D and innovation, quality control, manufacturing and operating costs and other all-round optimization and upgrading, gradually enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise products, and further consolidating the moat of overseas development.
Through the new cycle, ready for the future
In 2024, the photovoltaic industry will once again enter a new round of adjustment cycle, however, the photovoltaic industry has gone through several ups and downs, and the photovoltaic production capacity and market demand are not the same as in 2010.
The green energy transition has become a consensus of all countries, and the global photovoltaic market demand will continue to maintain considerable and stable growth. However, under the new cycle, the competition between enterprises is becoming more and more fierce, testing the strength of each company's products, technology, costs, channels, funds, and market expansion.
In the 2024 New Year's message, Mr. Zuo Guojun, chairman of Jiejia Weichuang, proposed that in response to the cold winter, the company must manage operations more efficiently, invest in R&D more accurately, and more accurately locate the pain points of the industry and customers. The same is true for overseas markets, and it is necessary to further enhance the company's international competitiveness and deepen its overseas layout.
Based on a deep insight into the complex and changeable environment of overseas markets, this year, Jiejia Weichuang issued the "Overseas Project Management Rules", aiming to efficiently coordinate turnkey projects and ensure the quality and quantity of overseas projects; In addition, the detailed rules also mention systematically ensuring the logistics support of overseas teams, and mobilizing the enthusiasm of the management team through a scientific and reasonable project incentive mechanism.
As a pioneer who has accumulated nearly 15 years of experience in the field of photovoltaic going overseas, Jiejia Weichuang believes that in the new round of going overseas, the improvement of the company's internationalization level will focus on three aspects: market, standards and talents. At the right time in the future, it is not excluded to establish production bases overseas and upgrade from "Made in China" to "Made in Global".
In the vast wave of global energy transition, the history of Jiejia Weichuang's photovoltaic going overseas is not only a brilliant record of the company's internationalization journey, but also a vivid epitome of China's photovoltaic industry from following to leading, from domestic deep cultivation to international layout. This journey is not only a leap forward in technology and market expansion, but also a profound interpretation of the unremitting pursuit of green dreams.
Looking back at the future, since 2011, Jiejia Weichuang has experienced many rounds of industry cycle tests since the layout of the overseas strategy, and has always looked for certainty in uncertainty. On the one hand, we will continue to "cultivate internal strength", adhere to the layout of the whole technical route and the supporting equipment of the whole line, and continuously improve product differentiation, service-oriented and enterprise competitiveness. On the other hand, we will continue to "forge external forces", enhance the company's international customer expansion and development capabilities, and do a good job in every order and every market in a down-to-earth manner. Every successful landing in overseas markets is a strong proof of the strength of the enterprise.
Now, standing at a new historical starting point, Jiejia Weichuang's photovoltaic road to the sea is showing a broader vision and far-reaching intentions, and I believe that through the multi-faceted internationalization of the market, standards and talents, this company will walk out of a better future.