Small forklifts climb to new heights

Source: People's Daily - People's Daily

In Hangzhou's Lin'an District, Qingshan Lake Science and Technology City Hangcha Group, workers are assembling forklift trucks on the new energy forklift production line. People's Vision

From January to August this year, the industry sold 755,700 forklifts, an increase of 58.4% year-on-year. Among them, the domestic market sales of 557,200 units, an increase of nearly 51% year-on-year, exports of 198,500 units, an increase of 84%.

As the world's first forklift production and sales power, why can China's forklift industry "climb the peak on the plateau"? The reporter conducted in-depth interviews with industry companies to explore the growth code of the forklift industry.

New demand leads to new growth

Intelligent manufacturing and intelligent logistics have broadened the application scenarios of forklift trucks, bringing huge market demand

On July 30, outside the factory building of Liugong forklift trucks in Linyi City, Shandong Province, large trucks of 13 meters long lined up in long trains, waiting for new forklifts to roll off the production line. As soon as 35 Liugong C series forklifts came off the line, they were sent to Linglong Tire Company. "From January to August this year, Linglong Tire alone purchased nearly 100 electric forklifts from us." Xiao Yuanxiang, manager of Liugong Forklift Company, said happily.

Carefully observe the sales of key enterprises in the forklift industry such as Nori Shares, Anhui Heli, Hangcha Group, etc., manufacturing enterprises, warehousing and logistics enterprises are becoming the main customers of forklift products.

"The accelerated development of intelligent manufacturing has accelerated the construction of smart factories and the rapid growth of the smart logistics industry, bringing new growth space to the forklift industry." Liu Yunhua, executive deputy general manager of Nori Co., Ltd., said that in the era of intelligent manufacturing, the scene of mutual coordination and overall scheduling of multiple machines in the factory workshop and storage warehouse will be more common, among which the forklift truck responsible for material handling is indispensable.

In Jiangsu Chaoyue Agricultural Development Co., Ltd., the largest area in the workshop is a 20-meter-high cold chain intelligent logistics warehouse. All kinds of sauce and meat products raw materials in and out of the minus 20 degrees Celsius crisper warehouse, relying on a variety of forklifts.

The electric forklift is responsible for moving the raw materials from the truck to the inlet, the stacker takes the raw material forks into the warehouse, and the shuttle truck sends the raw materials to their respective cargo positions. In the whole operation process, forklifts such as electric forklifts and stackers work together to reduce the use of personnel as much as possible. Liu Yunhua analyzed that in the logistics industry, affected by factors such as rising labor costs, mechanization and automation of logistics operations are becoming an important means for enterprises to reduce costs and improve efficiency. "With the rapid growth of the global automated logistics warehousing industry, the market will maintain a strong demand for forklift trucks with diverse functions."

The opportunity is at hand, but if you want to seize the new market, forklift companies also need to install a "brain" for traditional forklifts and develop intelligent forklifts.

Traditional forklifts rely on manual operation, but in smart logistics, autonomous driving has become the standard. In recent years, forklift manufacturers have shown their talents. In the navigation mode, some companies choose magnetic rail technology, some choose laser technology, and some use camera mode. In addition, intelligent forklifts can also act as the "eyes" of the warehouse, undertaking the task of collecting statistical data and providing system analysis to improve efficiency. XCMG Forklift trucks will all the new forklifts it produces on the Internet, and provide remote maintenance, repair, system upgrading and other services with the help of XCMG Industrial Internet Platform. Through the acquisition of related enterprises, Nori co., Ltd. has transformed from a traditional equipment manufacturer into an intelligent warehousing and logistics solution provider, and has made forklift products more and more "smart" by enhancing soft power.

Industrial linkage spawns new products

The development of the domestic lithium battery industry has helped industry companies to take the lead in launching lithium battery forklifts in the world

From the engineering construction site to the workshop and warehouse, the use environment has changed from outdoor to indoor, and the requirements for forklift pollution and noise control are more stringent, and the traditional internal combustion forklift is difficult to meet the requirements. What to do? "Oil to electricity", the implementation of electrification.

For many years, the global forklift industry has been developing electric forklifts with lower emissions and quiet operation. At first, electric forklifts were generally equipped with lead-acid batteries, which took 10 hours to charge. Two years ago, lithium battery forklift trucks that only took 2 to 4 hours on a single charge were the first to be listed in China, opening up a battery revolution for the global forklift industry.

Why is China the global leader in forklift trucking? In the interview, the answer became clearer: China has a strong and complete industrial system.

From the perspective of technical path, lithium battery forklift charging time is short, running time is long, but in the past by safety and price factors, has not been promoted: first, as a material handling tool, lithium battery forklift once the explosion, will directly endanger the safety of warehousing items, the consequences are more serious than passenger cars, the loss caused is often larger; second, lithium battery prices for a long time to maintain 2 times the lead-acid battery, the high cost makes forklift manufacturers prohibitive.

The turning point has come quietly. In recent years, with the rapid development of China's new energy vehicle market, the lithium battery industry has grown rapidly. "There is no doubt that China's lithium battery industry has ranked at the forefront of the world. Strong supporting capacity and stable production capacity provide opportunities for the advent of domestic lithium battery forklifts. The person in charge of XCMG forklift, Hussler, said.

Domestic lithium batteries have good quality, high stability and suitable prices, so that lithium battery forklifts will be recognized by customers as soon as they are listed. The successful linkage between the two industries of lithium batteries and forklift trucks quickly affected the same industry around the world. Subsequently, Toyota and other international forklift leading enterprises have launched lithium battery forklift products. Liu Yunhua introduced that at present, many imported brands put into the domestic market of lithium battery forklifts, the procurement is mostly domestic lithium battery cells, battery assembly is also completed in China.

Not only that, achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals has further expanded the market space for lithium battery forklifts. Lu Ying, deputy secretary-general of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, analyzed that in the context of achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the emissions of internal combustion forklifts have increased to the National IV standard, and the production cost has increased significantly, while the lithium battery forklift, although the one-time purchase cost is high, the follow-up maintenance and use costs are low, which is more and more popular with the market, and the application scenarios are gradually expanded from indoor to outdoor.

According to statistics, in the first half of this year, domestic electric forklift sales reached 211,000 units, an increase of 100.57% year-on-year; China's electric forklift market accounted for 32.51% of the world's electric forklift market, an increase of 9.34 percentage points over 2020, ranking first in the world. "Although from the stock point of view, internal combustion forklifts still account for the mainstream, but from the incremental point of view, electric forklifts have occupied about 50%." Lu Ying said.

Lithium battery forklifts are gaining momentum, and many industry companies are turning their attention to next-generation technology.

"Whether it is a lead-acid battery or a lithium battery, it needs to be recharged, which affects the efficiency of the forklift to a certain extent." The hydrogen fuel cell has a fast hydrogenation speed, which can make the forklift work continuously for a long time, and the performance is completely comparable to that of the internal combustion forklift. Hussler introduced that XCMG is fully developing hydrogen fuel cell forklifts, and the sample vehicles have been off the production line. According to reports, forklifts have less technical requirements for hydrogen fuel cells, manufacturing costs can be better controlled, and forklifts are generally operated in a small range, without investment in the construction of hydrogen refueling stations, so forklifts and hydrogen fuel cells are an ideal combination.

The "cake" is expected to continue to grow

The international market is increasingly becoming the new "blue ocean" of China's construction machinery

On September 1, the second warehouse center of Nori Co., Ltd. in North America was officially opened. This storage space of more than 1,000 square meters will be used to meet the growing demand for products from local agents and customers. In recent years, Noli co., Ltd., which has long focused on exploring the international market, has also established production bases in Vietnam and Malaysia.

XCMG forklift trucks are also firm implementers of internationalization. "Relying on XCMG's huge and efficient network of 187 countries and regions around the world, XCMG forklift products have been exported to 20 countries and regions such as Brazil, Thailand and Malaysia." Khussler said.

Going abroad and going to the international market has always been the goal of many forklift truck companies in China. Long-term persistence has created a "bumper harvest" in the past two years: in 2020, the industry exported 182,000 forklifts, an increase of 18.87% year-on-year; in the first half of this year, the entire industry exported 139,000 forklifts, an increase of 83.06% year-on-year.

The forklift industry can achieve a "bumper harvest" with multiple factors. Lv Ying analyzed that on the one hand, the global construction machinery industry chain is long, the new crown pneumonia epidemic spreads globally, breaking the normal supply chain, and China's overall epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, the industrial system is complete, the industrial chain is complete, effectively making up for the international production capacity gap, and then expanding the market; on the other hand, after years of development, the overseas marketing and service system of Chinese enterprises is becoming more and more perfect, and the strength is increasingly recognized by the international market. "The international market is increasingly becoming the new 'blue ocean' of China's construction machinery, and we are fully capable of maintaining our advantages and stabilizing the market."

Looking to the future, the forklift industry is full of confidence. "At present, the company grasps both domestic and international markets at the same time, the international market accounts for 60%, the domestic market accounts for 40%, and in the future, the pattern of 'two wings flying together' will continue." Liu Yunhua said. Hussler said that by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", XCMG forklift trucks will strive to achieve the goal of product sales in more than 50 countries and regions and overseas sales accounting for more than 50%.

People's Daily (2021-09-22 18th edition)