In 2001, 93% of excavators on various construction sites in China were foreign brands, and less than 7% were domestically produced, which was even lower than 20 years ago.
That is to say, after 20 years of opening up, China's machinery manufacturing has learned from Europe and the United States for 20 years, not only has it not progressed, but the original domestic brand has been wiped out.
What's with?
Foreign products are so good, they can be sold when they are assembled together, so why bother to do it yourself, this sweet "take-it-or-leave-it" has swallowed up the power of independent innovation.
But fortunately, there are always some people who are sober, they are self-reliant, and now they are supporting the backbone of China's machinery manufacturing.
According to data from the Puhua Industry Research Institute, in 2023, led by Sany, XCMG, Liugong, etc., the share of domestic excavators in the Chinese market has reached 86.8%.
From 7% to 86.8%, this is not the power of excavator companies, but the overall contribution of China's machinery manufacturing industry, among them, as the "heart of the excavator" hydraulic system is indispensable.
In 1994, China's construction machinery ushered in a wave of foreign investment introduction and cooperation, Japan Kobelco, Korea Daewoo, United States Caterpillar, Japan Hitachi, Japan Komatsu and other international giants have landed in China, some with Chinese enterprises to set up joint ventures, some directly set up wholly-owned companies.
But foreign capital is not to help the poor, but to devour the market, it is this wave of foreign-funded enterprises that attack, so that many domestic excavator enterprises regress.
The once well-known Fushun excavator, Shanghai Construction Machinery Factory, Beijing Construction Machinery Factory, Hefei Mining Machinery Factory, Hangzhou Heavy Machinery Factory, Huanggong, etc., have all disappeared in the long river of history.
In Wuxi, Jiangsu, a pneumatic company called Hengli Hydraulics was quietly established, and Wang Liping, who graduated from junior high school, invested in one of the core components of the hydraulic system of the excavator, the hydraulic cylinder.
The core technology is in the hands of European and American giants, and China has opened the door to introduce technology and cooperation, just to steal teachers, a junior high school student, where does he have the courage to challenge the blockade of European and American giants alone.
When Wang Liping made this decision, his family couldn't understand it, and neither could the employees, but as time passed, all the lockdowns and doubts were slowly unraveled.
Now 30 years later, the world has fallen in love with Hengli Hydraulics' made in China, and even Caterpillar, the "mechanical brother" of United States, has listed Hengli Hydraulics as the largest supplier.
In 1966, Wang Liping was born in rural Wuxi, Jiangsu, there are not many children in the family, Wang Liping is the eldest, and there is only one younger brother below.
However, because his family was too poor to support his two children, Wang Liping had to terminate his studies after graduating from junior high school and entered a local pneumatic factory as an apprentice in advance to earn money to supplement his family.
The apprentice is not a regular worker, and the money is small, but Wang Liping is still very hard and serious, not only learning what the master taught, but also taking the course of the mechanical major in the university by himself.
Within a few years, Wang Liping not only obtained a college degree by self-study, but also became the core technical backbone of the factory, and the design of many pneumatic equipment in the factory was made by him.
In 1990, an association of great significance in the history of Chinese machinery was established, which was initiated and supervised by the State Council.
Hydraulics is not only the heart of the excavator, but also the source of power for most construction machinery, the purpose of the hydraulic association is obvious, is to promote the development of China's hydraulic technology, so as to promote the overall development of the machinery industry.
This signal was received by the young and vigorous Wang Liping, an excavator, hydraulic energy accounted for 1/4 of the cost, breaking through this blockade, it is equivalent to blowing up a gap in the fence of European and American machinery.
After a year of preparation, in 1991, Wang Liping resigned and went to sea.
Wang Liping's initial business was not actually hydraulic, but the pneumatic products of the previous factory.
In other words, borrowing the technology, resources and customers of the original factory, borrowing the model of chicken laying eggs was not only the mainstream in that era, but also an important way to stand on its own even now.
Wang Liping brought his father and younger brother in, plus a few workers brought out of the pneumatic factory, a small factory with less than 10 people, and began to embark on the road of hydraulics.
In the past three years, he has not only accumulated a certain amount of capital, but also figured out the context of hydraulics, and Wang Liping has positioned the direction of hydraulic products on the hydraulic cylinder, the core component of hydraulics.
In 1994, Wuxi Hengli Hydraulic Co., Ltd. was established, due to lack of funds, but also introduced partners, the other party cash 500,000 yuan, Wang Liping and his father, younger brother with the original factory in kind to 500,000 yuan of capital contribution.
However, the partner failed to survive the early pains, and ran away two years later, and Hengli Hydraulics became Wang Liping's 100% family business, and Wang Liping could only go on the road alone.
Wang Liping continued to rely on pneumatic products to support his family, while taking out money to study hydraulic cylinders, and after 3 years of hard work, the self-developed hydraulic cylinder products finally passed small-scale mass production.
However, breaking the technological monopoly does not mean that you can seize the market, and Wang Liping's spring has not yet arrived.
Although Wang Liping's hydraulic cylinder is much cheaper than imported products in the same period, excavator manufacturers who are accustomed to imported accessories are not willing to take risks.
It was not until after China's accession to the WTO, with the stimulation of excavators in the Tenth Five-Year Plan, that Wang Liping slowly got the opportunity to verify the product.
The strategy adopted by Wang Liping is to use it first, then give the money, and if there is a problem, it will be refunded and compensated.
With Wang Liping's guarantee, there are also domestic enterprises that dare to eat crabs, and as a result, after eating, they feel good, and Hengli Hydraulics began to have a small number of orders.
In fact, while Wang Liping is concentrating on overcoming hydraulic cylinders, there are also many robots like Wang Liping, who are staging a drama to break through the blockade of Europe and the United States in other subdivisions.
With the joint efforts of everyone, the self-research system of China's machinery manufacturing industry is becoming more and more perfect, and the scale of domestic excavators has a soil for rapid growth.
In 2005, the share of domestic excavators has risen to 22%, and Hengli Hydraulics has become the preferred brand of hydraulic cylinders for domestic excavators.
Of course, the real spring has to wait until 2008, in order to cope with the international financial crisis, the mainland launched a 4 trillion stimulus plan, most of the funds flowed to infrastructure, huge demand for machinery, greatly promoted the development of China's construction machinery.
As an upstream enterprise of excavators, Hengli Hydraulics has naturally enjoyed this wave of dividends.
While enjoying, do not forget to continue to enrich the product line, in addition to the hydraulic cylinder, Hengli Hydraulics has conquered hydraulic pumps, hydraulic valves, as well as supporting castings and accessories, Hengli Hydraulics has everything.
However, in Wang Liping's view, these are still just the beginning, China's hydraulics are big but not strong, and the struggle with Europe and the United States is still more intense.