XCMG eyes becoming competitive world-class multinational

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group has set its goal to become one of the top two construction machinery manufacturers in the world by 2025, for which XCMG Excavator Machinery, a core pillar of XCMG, has been advancing efforts.

On Sept 16, XCMG Excavator Machinery delivered its 200,000th excavator, an XE380DK hydraulic excavator, in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, which means that XCMG has manufactured and sold 200,000 excavators within 13 years－a global sales record.

At the same time, XCMG is rewriting the competitive landscape of the world's excavator industry.

From the C series, the D series and DK series to the current MAX series excavators, XCMG Excavator's complete product series and model spectrum coverage lead the global industry.

The excavator manufacturer has also built the largest hydraulic excavator in China at 700 metric tons. This has made China the fourth country in the world capable of manufacturing super tonnage hydraulic excavators following Germany, Japan and the United States.

Internationalization

XCMG Chairman Wang Min said, "Internationalization is XCMG's main strategy and all the other strategies involving technology, talents, innovation, market and management should serve the main strategy." The excavator manufacturer has constructed a global market expansion model featuring exports, overseas plants, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and global research and development.

A global collaborative research and development system has been established and four overseas manufacturing bases have been built in the United States, Brazil, India and Uzbekistan, enhancing XCMG's international market influence.

In April this year, more than 200 excavators manufactured by XCMG were exported to Europe, the US and Australia, opening a new chapter for XCMG Excavator Machinery's global expansion.

The high-end market is synonymous with the most advanced performance, technologies and stringent regulations.

As the touchstone of the construction machinery industry, European, American and Australian markets attract the best brands and feature fierce market competition.

In 2012, XCMG established its Europe Research Center to study CE certification and focus on the R&D technology of excavator products to support the development of the excavator industry in Europe.

After a period of using XCMG excavators, Italian client Samuel said, "These excavators are exactly what we want and all of them prove to have excellent performance, be reliable and comfortable to operate."

To date, more than 30 types of E/U series products ranging from small-sized to large-sized hydraulic excavators have been exported to Europe, the US and Australia.

"Do in Rome as Rome does" has always been the principle of XCMG Excavator Machinery in global expansion.

From R&D, manufacturing, supply, marketing and service, XCMG Excavator Machinery localizes each of its products according to international standards while providing jobs and improving the wellbeing of local residents.

In 2014, XCMG Excavator Machinery's joint venture in Uzbekistan, UZXCMG, started operating with its products selling to the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, and since then the excavator maker has been expanding its presence in the global market.

Over the following years, XCMG Excavator Machinery's manufacturing base in Brazil and India were established and in 2021, XCMG Excavator Machinery established another manufacturing base in the US.

The channel system is fundamental, and the marketing of excavator products must focus on channels and systems.

Currently, XCMG Excavator Machinery operates more than 20 overseas subsidiaries, more than 20 global service and spare parts centers, and has built four overseas manufacturing bases around the world.

Its businesses operate in more than 160 countries and regions.

In order to satisfy the demand of clients, XCMG has created its own service principle: standard, professional and intelligent, and established a digital service system involving repair, purchase and mine management, where clients, service engineers, agents, and plants can share information with each other.

Moreover, XCMG Excavator Machinery started a campaign called "A Journey of Serving the World" to collect opinions from users, check equipment and train operators.

XCMG's service engineers have inspected more than 250,000 excavators in 661 cities with an entire journey of over 16 million kilometers to date.

In July this year, the exports of XCMG's excavators soared 152 percent year-on-year, ranking first in China. "The global market potential is so great that XCMG should not miss it," Wang said. He added that less than 30 percent of XCMG's revenue is currently generated from overseas, and the group is looking to raise its overseas revenue to 50 percent in the coming five years.

Represented by XCMG Excavator Machinery, Chinese excavator manufacturers have overcome difficulties, including conforming to European standards, strict transportation regulations and multifunctional products in exports by exploring technological innovation and engineering applications, showcasing the strength and speed of Chinese manufacturing to the world.

Intelligent industrial era

Keeping pace with the ongoing fourth industrial revolution, XCMG Excavator Machinery has been focusing on intelligent manufacturing and upgrading manufacturing bases.

As a result, its production capacity has doubled, product quality has been improved and its flexible intelligent manufacturing capacity as well as management level are among the world's best.

XCMG Excavator Machinery leads counterparts in flexible welding production lines where more than 10 welding robots finish all the procedures including loading, unloading materials and welding, and only one operator monitors the production.

In addition to automated production, core components, such as thrust wheels, can also be manufactured autonomously.

At XCMG, digital design and simulation technology have not only been used for product development, but play an important role in manufacturing.

XCMG Excavator Machinery has developed a digital process design and management platform and three-dimensional digital models for its plants to simulate the entire manufacturing process.

The simulation technology can help discover potential problems in design and production before products are put into production, monitor the production process and diagnose faults. Intelligent cockpit and industrial big data analysis platforms are the results of XCMG's integration of data and digital technology.

The intelligent cockpit, which collects information about equipment's operation, working schedule and efficiency, allows XCMG's employees to manage and control the equipment, product quality and energy consumption.

The latter guarantees XCMG's products come with leading technology and durable quality. The platform is able to identify quality defects by collecting data about key processes, monitoring production in real time and detecting faults. All quality control employees need to do is to check the labeled process which causes the defect.

"XCMG will continue focusing on intelligent manufacturing in a bid to produce high-end construction machinery products catering to users around the world," said Wang.

This year marks the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and XCMG has set its new strategic positioning over the following five years, that is, digital, international and world-class.

XCMG has also specified its strategic targets. By 2025, the group is expected to rank first among Chinese construction machinery manufacturers and its main indicators, including economies of scale, technology quality and international competitiveness, will rank in the top two worldwide.

By 2035, XCMG's main indicators will secure first place in the world.

The group has held the top position among China's construction machinery manufacturers for 32 consecutive years, according to a ranking released by KHL Group on the world's top 50 construction machinery manufacturers in May 2021, and its global ranking climbed one spot to third from a year ago, only behind Caterpillar and Komatsu.

Headquartered in Xuzhou, XCMG is a leading domestic machinery manufacturer, having the largest market share in cranes, road machinery, piling machinery and other equipment.