Into the construction site, the first thing that attracts attention is all kinds of construction machinery, now, the domestic construction machinery on the site is more and more common, and once the situation of foreign brands dominating the world has a world of difference. In the international market, the market share and influence of Chinese brands are also increasing, becoming an important part of the global construction machinery field.

There is no doubt that China is already a big country of construction machinery, but we must also clearly realize that in some key core components, domestic brands are still a certain gap from being completely independent, and it is inevitable that some places are subject to others. Therefore, for whether China has become a construction machinery power, can not simply "yes" or "no" to judge, but also need in-depth analysis and discussion.

China has become the world's largest construction machinery country

Since the official start of China's construction machinery industry, after decades of development, the overall strength of the industry has reached the world's leading level. Today, whether from the production and sales of construction machinery, or from the number of global construction machinery top 50 enterprises, the overall strength of China's construction machinery industry can not be underestimated.

In 2022, China's construction machinery industry market sales revenue accounted for more than the United States, accounting for 24.2%, leading the global construction machinery industry; The United States accounted for 22.9%, ranking second in the world; Japan accounted for 21.2% of the market.

Chinese brands are also becoming more competitive in the global market. In 2022, China's construction machinery exports hit a record high, with the export value reaching 44.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 30.20%. In the first half of 2023, China's construction machinery exports continued to maintain rapid growth, and the export amount reached 24.992 billion US dollars, an increase of 25.8%.

In the past, Chinese construction machinery continued to pull "hitchhiking" to the sea through foreign contracting projects and "Belt and Road" infrastructure cooperation. Now has formed overseas construction base, local quality services, transnational mergers and acquisitions and global product research and development of the "four-in-one" international development model, China's construction machinery enterprises turned to "independent" sea, global competitiveness continues to increase.

Today, China's construction machinery industry has a number of enterprises with great influence in the global market, of which China has 10 of the world's top 50 construction machinery enterprises, occupying an important position in the global construction machinery industry pattern.

China's construction machinery industry from small to large, from weak to strong, has undergone earth-shaking changes, to achieve leapfrog development. Not only the sales revenue jumped to the first place in the world, technology research and development and engineering capabilities are advanced in the world and even international leaders, providing equipment support for national economic construction, highlighting China's construction machinery manufacturing level and innovation ability.

How to go from big to strong

China's construction machinery industry after imitation production, digestion and absorption, independent innovation, development so far, not only has become the world's largest construction machinery market, but also in the construction machinery power forward. However, due to the late start and weak industrial base, China's technology accumulation and overseas high-end markets and high-end products, there is still a big gap with the construction machinery power.

In the face of this situation, we should catch up at the level of independent innovation and technology research and development, and use intelligence and digitalization as a tool to help realize the dream of China's construction machinery power.

Continue to increase research and development efforts

 At the National Two Sessions in March this year, Deputy to the National People's Congress, chief engineer and Vice president of Xugong Machinery Shan Zenghai brought good news.

In 2022, Xugong's R&D investment reached 5.75 billion yuan, accounting for 6.13% of its operating income. High investment has brought rich returns on technical achievements, as of the end of 2022, Xugong Machinery has a total of 9,742 effective authorized patents, parts localization rate has increased from 62% to 91%! At the same time, the research and development investment of the other two leading construction machinery enterprises is also in the billions: in 2022, Sany Heavy Industry invested 6.923 billion yuan in research and development, accounting for 9.78% of operating income; Zoomlion invested 3.444 billion yuan in research and development, accounting for 8.27% of its operating income.

Faced with technical bottlenecks, the most important thing for China's construction machinery enterprises is to strengthen independent research and development, and strive to overcome the key technologies that are stuck. The construction machinery industry has realized that the ultimate competition of enterprises is scientific and technological innovation, and increasing research and development innovation is the driving force for enterprises to achieve higher speed and higher quality development in the future.

Develop new energy, intelligent and other new racetracks

Today, developing green power technology and accelerating the application of intelligent technology are opportunities and challenges faced by the world construction machinery industry. New energy, electrification is a major opportunity for the development of construction machinery industry, not only in line with the global trend, but also conducive to our construction machinery products in the international market to gain a greater competitive advantage.

"In terms of electrification, Chinese construction machinery is far ahead of countries such as Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea." Zeng Guangan, chairman of Liugong, said that Chinese enterprises are constantly changing the pattern of construction machinery in the world through continuous technological innovation.

Secondly, in terms of automation, intelligence and other technologies, it is not impossible for Chinese construction machinery enterprises to rely on the combination of strong and powerful under China's special system to surpass Caterpillar, Komatsu and other established enterprises with first-mover advantages. Driven by the developed Internet, China's construction machinery enterprises can achieve the same effect soon after technology sharing and complementing with some technology companies, and Chinese enterprises have more "late-comer advantages" in this regard.

For example, "unmanned mine" technology, Caterpillar relied on its own research and development in the early years, which took 10 years, but the underlying development logic 10 years ago is not the same as today, at that time, it was still using labels, electromagnetic stickers and other ways to plan the path a little. But now, Xugong and Huawei and other enterprises together to do a set of schemes, in the unmanned mines, ports or other limited road unmanned operation directly use neural networks, so that the equipment through navigation and radar to repeatedly operate "autonomous learning", when the "learning progress" is close to 100%, it can be put into use, only in half a year.

Overseas merger and acquisition is an important way

On the road of the global rise of China's construction machinery, overseas mergers and acquisitions are an important step. For Chinese enterprises, mergers and acquisitions are the best choice to narrow the gap with the international first-class enterprises, and it is also a strategic measure for China's construction machinery to enhance its height and enhance its international competitiveness.

In 2008, Zoomlion acquired CIFA, a world-renowned brand of concrete machinery in Italy. After two years of technology integration, Zoomlion launched CIFA composite technology, carbon fiber boom technology, active vibration reduction technology, intelligent control technology, structural fatigue research, lightweight research and application, wear resistance technology and a number of key technologies in February 2011. A historic breakthrough has been made. In 2011, Zoomlion launched the world's longest carbon fiber boom pump truck at 80 meters. In just one year's time, the length of the boom was increased to 101 meters, breaking the 100-meter mark, creating another miracle in the history of pump truck design.

In addition to Zoomlion's acquisition of Italy's CIFA, Sany's acquisition of Putzmeester, Xugong's acquisition of Germany's Schwieng, Liugong's acquisition of Poland's HSW, and other classic merger and acquisition cases, not only accelerated the pace of Chinese enterprises to open the international market, but also made a big step forward in the technological development of China's construction machinery. In a sense, acquiring these brands and technologies is more conducive to the sustainable development of enterprises than investing equivalent production capacity, and international mergers and acquisitions are still a very important channel for the globalization of China's construction machinery.

At present, China's construction machinery industry has taken a leading position in the world in terms of scale, but on the other hand, we can not ignore the technical gaps and challenges that exist in reality. In the face of such a current situation, China's construction machinery should integrate industry resources, form an industrial ecosystem with complementary capabilities, shared interests and shared risks, vigorously promote key core technology research, supplement key equipment, basic parts and other shortcomings as soon as possible, and work together to realize the dream of China's construction machinery power. Editor/Xu Shengpeng