On July 12th, as the 50,000th truck-mounted crane rolled off the assembly line, XCMG had made a robust step towards being a world-class manufacturer. In the field of cranes, XCMG has occupied the top rank in China for 13 consecutive years and has exported products to more than 40 countries and regions in the world. The bridge detecting machine and insulation bucket arm car and other special vehicles were the first models to be launched in the market.

The 50,000th truck-mounted crane of XCMG rolls off the assembly line

XCMG scales the peak with accelerated speed

Upon entering the XCMG chassis factory’s intelligent workshop, we could see that the 160-meter soft chassis production line uses only 25 minutes to assemble parts and components to construct a small or medium-sized product within 50 tons. This production line has an annual capacity of over 40 units. Factory manager Gan Xinting explains that all the parts and components undergo online testing. The factory can produce over a dozen products in a year, with a range of three to four types, thus helping productivity to improve by 80% and one-time qualification rate to reach 99.6%.

Intelligent workshop in XCMG Chassis Factory.
(photographed by Le Tao, JSCHINA)

 “This production line, which looks mediocre, has created many records in the world, including the world’s largest production, world’s largest export volume and world’s largest chassis for the 1,600-tonne truck-mounted crane,” said Shan Zenghai, Deputy General Manager of XCMG Crane Department.

When international trade experienced a setback this year, this workshop had exported 260 cranes at one time, setting a world record.

Intelligent workshop in XCMG Chassis Factory
(Photographed by Le Tao, JSCHINA)

This is just one part along the entire production line. Through its consistent adherence to its golden principle of “advanced technology and durable quality”, XCMG has managed to implement its product strategy focusing on high-end, high-added value, high-reliability and large-tonnage. The larger a product, the higher its quality. Known as the " manufacture of the largest excavator in China," a 700-ton mining excavator had rolled off XCMG’s assembly line in April, helping China become the fourth country with the capacity of developing and manufacturing hydraulic excavators weighing over 700 tons. XCMG is working on an increasing number of similar “heavy machines.”

A 700-ton mining excavator, the largest of its kind in China, rolls off XCMG’s assembly line.

Dedicated to its main business, XCMG is innovating to drive high-quality development.

During the first half of the year, XCMG has achieved fruitful results – revenue from its main business had reached 40 billion yuan, increasing by 60% and creating a new record high. Economic benefits had increased by 60%, significantly higher than the growth across the industry, helping XCMG to rank first in the industry for 29 consecutive years.

Wang Min, President and Party Secretary of XCMG
(Photographed by Le Tao, JSCHINA)

Wang Min, President of XCMG, attributes the results to XCMG’s perseverance in manufacturing. "Unlike a fast-food restaurant, manufacturing is an industry that requires a long time to develop.” Manufacturing construction machinery is a lifelong career for XCMG.”

This is Wang Min’s commitment. Despite the allure from the real estate and capital markets in the past few years, XCMG has always remain focused on the upgrading of manufacturing.

Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, leading a team of 5 to inspect XCMG’s R&D center in Europe on April 6th, 2017.

However, XCMG is not merely soldiering on with its eyes closed. In order to master the core product technology, XCMG has insisted on allocating 4%-5% of the revenue from its main business for R&D every year. It has established four R&D centers in Xuzhou, Germany, Brazil and the US respectively as well as national key laboratories. It has developed internationally advanced core technologies, such as a 4,000-ton crawler crane, a 700-ton excavator and a high-end hydraulic valve.

Various types of truck cranes arrayed on the premises of XCMG Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd., Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province (Photographed by Le Tao, JSCHINA)

Currently, XCMG has embarked on a “new track” and will continue to “speed up” towards its goal of high-quality. “High-quality development requires high-quality products and services. We strive to become an intelligent enterprise within 3 years and drive high-quality development with technological innovation", said Wang Min confidently.

Looking forward, XCMG will be focusing on the Industrial Internet

A huge world map scattered with numerous glittering points is displayed on the ultra-large screen of the XCMG’s Global Platform of the Internet of Things. Fu Simin, Vice Minister of XCMG’s Information Management, said that each glittering point represents a piece of construction machinery sold by XCMG.

Diagram of Xrea, XCMG’s Global Platform of the Internet of Things

Developed by XCMG, Xrea is the first national industrial Internet platform in China, which connects equipment through the Internet of Things. It collects key data such as operating state, efficiency, energy consumption, fault information and lifespans of components, and applies the collected big data in the management of the development, manufacturing, marketing and after-sale services of products. "At present, there are 460,000 pieces of equipment connected to the network. The amount of data grows by 1.1PB every year and the reliability rate of the data is as high as 99.99%.” Fu takes pride in the fact that the platform has received compliments from General Secretary Xi Jinping last December.

General Secretary Xi inspects Xrea

 “A network” weaves the future of XCMG. A more ambitious goal of “scaling the top of Mount Everest” has been proposed — “XCMG will strive to be listed among the top 5 in the world by 2020 and top 3 by 2025. The company will spread its business all over the world, capture the mid- to high-end market and move closer to the top of the world."

An employee works on the assembly line of XCMG Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd., Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province (Photographed by Le Tao of JSCHINA)

Comments: Never stop your ascent towards the “top of Mount Everest”

The transformation and growth of XCMG epitomizes the rise of Jiangsu Province’s traditional manufacturing industry. As an equipment manufacturer established soon after the economic reform, XCMG has started a new era for China’s equipment manufacturing industry to compete with the rest of the world in terms of the past 20 years of innovation-driven development.

Publication of Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Advanced Manufacturing Industry Clusters in the province brings about greater opportunities to leading enterprises like XCMG. Only by aiming for the high end of the value chain, pursuing world leading technologies, constantly upgrading "intelligent manufacturing”, formulating higher standards, playing the leading role and forming clusters, can more enterprises be motivated to compete with international players in domestic and foreign markets and scale the “Mount Everest” of the industry.