From December 1st, non-road mobile machinery such as excavators and loaders will switch from the "National III" emission standard to the "National IV" emission standard. Green development has become a must-answer question for the construction machinery industry.
Since 2022, enterprises in the construction machinery industry have taken precautions, seized the opportunity to switch emission standards, actively promoted transformation and upgrading, and achieved remarkable results in the development of high-end and major equipment, breakthroughs in electrification and intelligence, and the improvement of international competitiveness.
Promote technological innovation
On July 26, 2022, the XR1600E, the world's largest rotary drilling rig, was released at the new intelligent manufacturing base of XCMG Foundation Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd. This product successfully solves the construction problems of ultra-large-diameter and ultra-deep piles in the complex environment of extra-large bridge projects, and will promote the efficient construction of "super-projects".
The relevant person in charge of XCMG foundation said that after years of technology accumulation, the company has fully mastered the core technology in the field of foundation engineering construction equipment, and has the most complete super-large tonnage rotary drilling rig in the industry, and all of them have achieved mass sales and application.
Since the beginning of 2022, my country's construction machinery enterprises have implemented the innovation-driven development strategy as always, strengthened the close integration of production, education, research and application, a batch of internationally advanced and internationally leading engineering equipment has been put on the market, and a batch of scientific research achievements and major technical equipment have been promoted and applied. It better meets the needs of national economic construction and major projects.
"Continuing to promote innovation, my country's construction machinery has been blooming and bearing fruit in the past two years." Lu Ying, deputy secretary-general of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, told reporters that not only a batch of high-end construction machinery and major technical equipment have been developed and applied, there are many other equipment in the field. A major breakthrough has been achieved in the limit parameters.
Lu Ying said that, for example, the ultra-small shield machine with a diameter of less than 3 meters has been successfully developed. Such a small volume needs to install many functional parts, and many problems must be solved in terms of the integration of supporting parts and the lightweight of mechanism parts. For another example, the curb weight of truck cranes used to be about 60 tons, but now some have dropped to less than 50 tons, and can directly pass through some bridges and roads, which is expected to be applied in more scenarios.
Behind the improvement of the performance and parameters of the whole machine is the improvement of the level of the entire construction machinery industry chain. A group of large-scale backbone complete machine enterprises in China have continuously accelerated the localization process of parts and components, and actively carried out research and development, manufacturing and testing of high-end parts. The localization rate of high-end parts has continued to increase, and new progress has been made in the development and testing of some key parts. A number of core component manufacturers have accelerated their deep integration with the industry chain of complete machine companies. Some have moved from the production of substitute products to the main engine supporting market, and some have been shortlisted for the supporting supply system of high-end brand construction machinery manufacturers, realizing industrial upgrading.
Regarding the high-end exploration of the entire construction machinery industry, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Nanjing University said at the China (Xuzhou) International Summit Forum on Construction Machinery Industry Innovation and Frontier Technology that the biggest difficulty in high-end construction machinery and its key components is corresponding new materials. The upstream and downstream industrial chains of construction machinery should innovate collaboratively, accelerate the deep integration of "government, production, learning, research, finance, and use" in the new material industry, and realize independent control of key core technologies and high-end core components as soon as possible.
▌ Accelerate intelligent transformation
Recently, after a preliminary trial, Sany International officially delivered 15 "Electric Pioneer" pure electric wide-body dump trucks to Gansu Tailongsen Mining. At the performance briefing meeting held at the end of the first quarter of 2022, the relevant person in charge of Sany International once stated that in 2021, the sales ratio of the company's intelligent and electrified products in all products has increased to about 15%. In the future, under the premise that electric technology can fully meet different working conditions, the company will no longer develop fuel version products.
In the context of low-carbon development, the green development of the construction machinery industry has achieved outstanding results. Tianyancha data shows that in the past five years, the compound growth rate of patent applications related to electric construction machinery has reached 30%. At present, the penetration rate of domestic electric construction machinery is low. As the lithium battery industry chain continues to mature and the cost of batteries further decreases, the penetration rate of electric construction machinery will increase rapidly in the next three years.
Lu Ying analyzed that the price of new energy products for construction machinery is still relatively high. On the one hand, it is because the volume has not increased, and on the other hand, the industrial chain is not mature enough. Now the leading companies in the industry are all making new energy products, and the technical routes are similar. In the end, who can do it depends on the integration ability of the industrial chain. In the future, with the increase of application scenarios, there will be considerable room for the development of new energy products.
According to the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, at present, the proportion of electric drive products in forklifts has increased from 27.7% to 60%; the electric rate of lifting work platforms has exceeded 90%; electric or hybrid cranes and bulldozers have achieved small batch production; others There have also been new breakthroughs in the electrification of construction machinery.
At the same time, the construction machinery industry is going all out in terms of intelligence. On October 31, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the 2022 pilot demonstration list for the integrated development of new generation information technology and manufacturing. With its innovative practice and leading strength in digital and intelligent transformation, Sany Group was successfully selected as the first batch of "digital pilot" enterprises. Also in October, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released a new list of 11 lighthouse factories in the global manufacturing sector, and Sany Changsha No. 18 factory was on the list. Factory No. 18 is the second certified lighthouse factory in the global heavy industry industry after Sany Heavy Industry Beijing Pile Driver Factory.
Yi Xiaogang, director, executive president and chief engineer of Sany Group, revealed that before and after the intelligent manufacturing transformation of the light tower factory, the number of production line workers in Changsha No. 18 factory has been reduced by nearly two thirds, but the production capacity has doubled. The production of more than 400 sets of equipment has been increased to a production capacity of more than 900 sets, and the benefit improvement brought by intelligent manufacturing is very obvious. At present, Sany Group is accelerating the transformation of digital intelligence. The company has proposed a "three three" strategy, hoping to use 3,000 workers and 30,000 engineers to achieve sales of 300 billion yuan in the future.
▌ Deeply cultivate the international market
With the continuous improvement of product competitiveness, more and more construction machinery products have gone abroad and become best-selling models in the international market.
According to data from the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, from January to October 2022, a total of 220,797 excavators were sold, a year-on-year decrease of 26%; of which 131,340 were domestic, a year-on-year decrease of 46.4%; exports were 89,457 units, a year-on-year increase of 67.3%. Since April 2021, domestic excavator sales have seen consecutive monthly sales declines year-on-year while exports have maintained a trend of rapid growth.
"The rapid growth of exports reflects the gradual increase in the overseas competitiveness of my country's excavators." The relevant person in charge of Sany Heavy Industry said.
Enterprises in my country's construction machinery industry actively implement the international development strategy, and the technical level of products and reputation in the international market have been significantly improved. Up to now, the overseas business of industry enterprises has covered more than 170 countries and regions, and overseas research and development, manufacturing, marketing, service, human resources, etc. have been further improved and improved, which has become a strong support for expanding the international market and establishing an international brand.
Lu Ying said that the rapid growth of exports is the result of the combined effects of various factors such as the improvement of the competitiveness and service capabilities of construction machinery companies, the expansion of business coverage, and the deepening of user penetration. At present, there is still a lot of space to be explored in the international market, including the replacement of existing market stocks, as well as new application areas brought about by product upgrades and technological innovations.
Many companies have already done a good job in their international layout, and each has its own advantages and characteristics in marketing services. "Lv Ying suggested that in the future, more efforts should be made to reflect the synergy of the industry. Enterprises should cooperate with each other, support each other overseas, smooth all links in the industrial chain, and jointly maintain a good competitive environment. Fundamentally speaking, it is still necessary to continue to deepen the supply-side structure. Reform and improve more details. In the future, with the improvement of R&D, manufacturing and industrial chain coordination, Chinese enterprises have the ability to do better in the international market.
Looking forward to 2023, what is the prospect of the construction machinery industry? Su Zimeng, president of the China Construction Machinery Industry Association, said that the three departments recently jointly issued the "Notice on Consolidating the Recovery and Boosting the Industrial Economy", which provides new policy guarantees for consolidating the recovery of the construction machinery industry. In 2022, under the influence of overcoming multiple unfavorable factors, my country's economy is expected to achieve steady growth, which will have a positive impact on economic development next year. Under the guidance of policy orientations such as stabilizing expectations and stabilizing employment, my country's infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment will grow steadily, coupled with the continuous implementation of steady growth measures in various regions and fields and the continued strong resilience of my country's construction machinery exports, it is expected that in 2023 The industry will continue to show a stable operation trend.
