Changsha’s engineering machinery industry cluster is becoming a beautiful business card for Hunan manufacturing to enter a broader market.
According to data from the press conference of the 3rd Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition on April 10, in 2022, the total output value of enterprises in Changsha’s construction machinery industry cluster was 199 billion yuan, with profits of approximately 9 billion yuan. Its total assets, operating income, and total profits ranked first among all provinces and cities in the country for 13 consecutive years.
Changsha’s engineering machinery industry cluster became Hunan’s first 100 billion industry cluster in 2010, and has been ranked first in the country for 13 consecutive years. In the field of engineering machinery, Changsha has now formed a full range of products and full-chain services, providing strong impetus for Hunan to build an important national advanced manufacturing base.
In the “Top 50 Global Construction Machinery Manufacturers in 2022” released by “China Construction Machinery” magazine and the organizing committee of the Global Top 50 Construction Machinery Summit, Xingbang Intelligent, located in Changsha, Hunan, is newly listed. This means that Xingbang Intelligent has become Changsha’s fifth global top 50 construction machinery manufacturer after Sany Heavy Industry , Zoomlion Heavy Industry , China Railway Construction Heavy Industry , and Shanhe Intelligent . Changsha has also become the second city in the world after Tokyo, Japan to have five “Global Top 50 Construction Machinery” companies.
The gathering of leading enterprises has played a vital role in the development of this industry. In 2022, the Changsha Engineering Machinery Industry Cluster Project successfully passed the acceptance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, marking that the Changsha Engineering Machinery Industry Cluster officially entered the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s world-class advanced manufacturing cluster cultivation pool.
In just two or three decades, Changsha’s engineering machinery industry has already stood on the world’s top stage.
“A good environment, a group of ‘hot-selling products’ that have established themselves in the market, a group of leaders with entrepreneurial spirit, and the government’s attention and support are all key factors,” said Yuan Zhen, executive secretary general of the Changsha Construction Machinery Industry Association.
The gathering of giants is a good thing, but often, competition between enterprises will bring greater “hidden worries” to the market. Giants can gather together, but they cannot compete without cooperation.
In December 2021, Hunan Guozhong Zhilian Engineering Machinery Research Institute was established with 14 engineering machinery main enterprises and supporting enterprises and institutions such as Zoomlion, Sany, Shanhe Intelligent, China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, and Xingbang Intelligent as shareholders. The giants of the engineering machinery industry have moved from fighting alone to collaborative innovation.
Innovation has always been implemented in Changsha’s engineering machinery industry.
In March this year, 216 second-hand construction machinery equipment were released from Changsha and exported to dozens of countries and regions. The export of second-hand construction machinery is becoming an important measure for Changsha’s construction machinery to open up a new situation.
In fact, it is not new in the industry that construction machinery enters the second-hand circulation link for various reasons. Data shows that the global second-hand construction machinery transaction scale has reached US$295.31 billion in 2019, and it is expected to exceed US$400 billion by 2025.
Market demand has attracted major global construction machinery companies. In recent years, companies such as Sany and Zoomlion have invested a lot of resources. However, the construction of some laws and regulations on the export of second-hand equipment, resource integration, and the promotion of industry standardization have become the key to the development of the second-hand construction machinery industry.
And Changsha has taken the lead in this step.
On August 3, 2022, the Hunan Engineering Machinery Second-hand Equipment Export Industry Alliance was established in Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone. The systematic construction of standards for the export of second-hand engineering machinery equipment will also start from here.
Encouraging the export of used construction machinery is one of the first reform pilot tasks in the Hunan Free Trade Pilot Zone in the country. Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone, as a pilot area, has undertaken this reform task.
In April 2021, the Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone organized a feasibility analysis of Hunan’s second-hand construction machinery export business, put forward paths and suggestions for Hunan Province to strengthen the export of second-hand construction machinery, conducted in-depth research on the entire industry chain, and gradually improved the second-hand transaction standards and rules.
In January 2022, the Management Committee of Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone, together with the Changsha Construction Machinery Industry Association and more than ten companies including Sany Group , Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co. , Ltd. , Shanhe Intelligent Equipment, and China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, initiated the establishment of the Hunan Construction Machinery Second-hand Equipment Export Industry Alliance. On April 22, the Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce approved it with the document “Letter on Agreeing to Support the Establishment of the Hunan Construction Machinery Second-hand Equipment Export Industry Alliance”.
In May this year, the new model for exporting used construction machinery equipment, which was first tried and explored by the Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone in the Changsha section of the Hunan Free Trade Pilot Zone, became one of the national first-of-its-kind cases in the “First Batch of Institutional Innovation Results of the China (Hunan) Free Trade Pilot Zone”.
It is worth mentioning that in order to enhance the competitiveness of the park’s engineering machinery enterprises’ equipment overseas and streamline the channels for enterprises’ equipment to go overseas, the Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone Free Trade Zone also explored and achieved the first “financial leasing + engineering machinery equipment export” pilot business in the Hunan Free Trade Pilot Zone, reducing the cost of capital recovery for enterprises’ equipment; improving the overseas customers’ purchasing experience, and exploring new paths for subsequent parks to encourage the expansion of engineering machinery imports and exports through financial leasing.
“Turning the market for second-hand construction machinery into an orderly platform and a standardized system capable of long-term development is particularly important for companies and industry development in our industry. Building a good platform, improving the system, and unblocking policies will enable our equipment to better enter major markets in neighboring countries.” Guo Xuehong, the first chairman of the Hunan Construction Machinery Second-hand Equipment Export Industry Alliance and vice president of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd., told 36Kr.
On April 10, at a press conference held by the Information Office of the Hunan Provincial Government, Kang Zhenlin, Deputy Mayor of Changsha Municipal People’s Government and Chairman of the Changsha Federation of Industry and Commerce, stated that the 2023CI CEE will further focus on releasing industry development trends such as digitalization, new energy, electrification, and unmanned operations, and comprehensively showcase new products, new technologies, and new concepts in the field of construction machinery.
Engineering machinery has shifted from “manufacturing” to “intelligent manufacturing”, and Changsha companies are aiming at the world stage. Among them, Zoomlion Smart Industrial City has become a typical representative of intelligent manufacturing.
In January 2019, Zoomlion officially started building the Zoomlion Smart Industrial City, positioning it as the world’s largest and most comprehensive comprehensive industrial base for construction machinery, and the most innovative and dynamic intelligent manufacturing center for high-end equipment.
This smart industrial city, with a total investment of about 100 billion yuan and covering an area of more than 10,000 acres, will have an annual output value of about 100 billion yuan after completion. It is an important national advanced manufacturing base created by Zoomlion with the goal of “facing the future and leading the world for 30 years” and implementing the “three highs and four new” spirit.
The elements of “intelligence” and “wisdom” are the biggest highlights of the Zhonglian Smart Industrial City. It is understood that after the completion of the project, more than 150 industry-leading technologies will be innovated, more than 8 world-leading lighthouse factories will be built, more than 300 intelligent production lines will be built, 5G will be fully covered, and 20 “dark production lines” will be created for the first time in the industry. At the same time, the digital operation of the entire value chain, intelligent scheduling, industrial AI, digital twins, full-process intelligent logistics, industrial Internet big data platform and other multi-dimensional integration will be combined to achieve a deep integration of digitalization and manufacturing.
“Take the construction crane intelligent manufacturing park as an example. The park adopts intelligent three-dimensional warehouse storage and aerial material transportation to achieve 100% real-time data collection of intelligent equipment and interconnection between production lines and IT. Through automated production lines and digital manufacturing platforms, efficient production can be achieved, and intelligent prediction and decision-making can be achieved. After completion and production, order delivery time will be shortened by 32%, and one crane can be produced every 18 minutes, making it a ‘domestic leading and world-class’ construction crane ‘smart factory’.” said Zhu Yanhui, deputy general manager of the Changsha base of Zoomlion Earthmoving Machinery Co., Ltd.
In fact, it is not just Zoomlion, but also Sany’s Factory No. 18, which has formed a unique “Changsha Model” in intelligent manufacturing.
As for the construction machinery industry, Changsha’s goal is obviously not low.
In November 2021, Changsha City issued the “Changsha City’s 14th Five-Year Plan for Advanced Manufacturing Development (2021-2025)”. The “Development Plan” proposes that by 2025, Changsha will be built into a source of scientific and technological innovation, a gathering place for high-end manufacturing, and a destination for cooperation and exchanges in the field of global engineering machinery, and will promote engineering machinery to advance into a world-class advanced manufacturing cluster, with an industrial output value of 500 billion yuan.
In order to achieve this goal, it is particularly important to strengthen global cooperation in the construction machinery industry and enable in-depth exchanges and cooperation between various enterprises in the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industrial chain and between the government, industry, academia, research and application fields. The Changsha International Construction Machinery Exhibition will have 1,500 companies from around the world participating, exhibiting more than 20,000 products of various types, and will also provide a good communication platform for various companies.
216 second-hand construction machinery set sail, Changsha area strives to build a 100 billion yuan export industry for second-hand construction machinery equipment
China’s first export standard for used construction machinery is released
Changsha Linsheng Trading Co., Ltd