After participating in Bauma 2019, the largest construction machinery trade fair in the world held every three years in Munich, Germany, Case Corp., a major U.S. manufacturer of construction and agricultural equipment, wasted no time and headed straight to China for another major exhibition.

It was the first time Case had participated in the Chinese exhibition and also the first time Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, had hosted such a big event. The Changsha International Construction Equipment Exhibition, held on May 15-18, brought together the giants in the industry, with 1,150 companies, including 24 world leaders, displaying their latest products.

After more than a year of preparation, the exhibition has nudged Changsha, a major base of construction equipment manufacturing in China, into the spotlight, an honor long overdue.

Heavy industry

The development of Changsha's construction equipment industry goes back to 1978, when the first research and development base for construction equipment was set up in the city. In 1991, Liang Wengen, founder of Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., China's leading heavy equipment manufacturer, moved his factory to Changsha, with many other companies soon following suit.

Since 2010, Changsha's construction equipment industry scale has ranked first in China. In 2018, its industrial output value reached 166 billion yuan ($24 billion), accounting for 26 percent of the total value of the Chinese construction equipment industry and 10 percent of the global value.

Matteo Calo, product manager with Case, told Beijing Review that China's construction equipment industry has developed very fast with a large export volume. "The quality of China's products is getting better," Calo said. "We are here to learn and seek partners."

Andreas Braun, Business Development Manager, Greater China Area from Wacker Neuson, made the trip to Changsha from the company headquarters in Munich for the major exhibition.

With a history of 170 years, Wacker Neuson specializes in the production of small excavators and small equipment for road construction. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of light and compact equipment. In 1997, it set up a wholly owned subsidiary company in Hong Kong to start business in the Chinese market.

Braun said Wacker Neuson attaches great importance to the exhibition and hopes to explore China's market. "Changsha has a preferable environment for the construction industry," Braun said. "Major companies including Sany and Zoomlion are based in Changsha. It is a city of great opportunities."

An aerial view of the Changsha International Construction Equipment Exhibition on May 15 (XINHUA)

Stepping out

In 2008, when the domestic market was at its peak, Changsha Exploration Machinery Factory decided to explore overseas markets. Cui Yunpeng, who had just started working at the company and had very little experience, began to search for foreign clients on the Internet.

His efforts proved effective when, after a long wait, the company received an order from Libya, marking its first order from abroad. The buyers were a father and his two sons who bought a drilling rig for their fledging business to drill wells for local households.

"They were a business startup," Cui said. "And we were new in the overseas market."

Gradually more orders came in from Africa, including Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the company's products have been used in infrastructure projects in more countries in Africa and in Southeast Asia.

The Sunward Equipment Group, also based in Changsha, had its eye on a different market—Europe. It set the bar high since Europe, with very advanced technologies and products, has very stringent requirements for competitors. Six years after the founding of the company, it sold its first excavator to Sweden.

"To compete in the international market, we must work hard to get rid of the low-price competition mode and win with high quality and outstanding technologies," said He Qinghua, President of Sunward.

In 2014, the company set up a subsidiary in Belgium which helped to radiate business throughout Europe.

Following the Belt and Road Initiative, Sunward set up subsidiary companies in Indonesia, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. "Sunward's products have been used in many projects in Belt and Road participating countries," said Peng Hui, a manager of the company.

Smart manufacturing

In Changsha, vigorously developing the smart manufacturing has become the consensus of the local government and enterprises.

In 2015, the city took the lead by launching a three-year action plan (2015-18) for smart manufacturing focusing on the transformation of leading enterprises to enhance its industrial competitiveness.

The municipal government proposed building the city into a "national intelligent manufacturing center" and creating a "Changsha model" for promoting intelligent manufacturing.

Sany is among the country's first group of pilot enterprises for intelligent manufacturing. Its No. 18 Factory in Changsha Industrial Park is known as the smartest factory and one of the largest intelligent manufacturing workshops in Asia.

Under the traditional production mode, one production line can produce only one specific item. In this factory, however, there are eight flexible assembly lines that can produce 69 kinds of products, which meet the diversification of market demand in an intelligent way.

ZValley Science & Technology Co. Ltd., affiliated to Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., China's leading construction machinery manufacturer, integrates the industrial Internet of Things, cloud computing and big data technology and can provide customers in-depth data analysis of their whole production process.

Xu Dazhe, Governor of Hunan, said the province will strive to build a world-class industrial cluster, improve the level of intelligent manufacturing and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.

"We invite leading enterprises in construction equipment and key components to invest and develop in Hunan so that we can jointly overcome core technological difficulties and explore the international market," Xu said.

Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo

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