Three paths to thinking about construction machinery from big to strong
Time : 2025-11-25
When entering the construction site, the first thing that attracts attention is various construction machinery. Today, domestic construction machinery on construction sites is becoming more and more common, and it is a world away from the situation where foreign brands once dominated the world. 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 major country in construction machinery, but we also need to clearly recognize that in some key core components, domestic brands are still some way from complete autonomy, and inevitably some places are subject to human influence. Therefore, whether China has become a construction machinery powerhouse cannot be judged simply by "yes" or "no," and more needs deep analysis and discussion.
China has become a world power in construction machinery
Since China's construction machinery industry officially began, after decades of development, the overall strength of the industry has reached the global leading level. To date, both in terms of the output and sales of construction machinery and in terms of number of global construction machinery top 50 companies, the overall strength of China's construction machinery industry cannot be underestimated.
In 2022, the market share of China's construction machinery industry surpassed that of the United States, accounting for 24.2%, and led the global construction machinery sector. The United States accounted for 22.9%, ranking second in the world; Japan accounted for 21.2% of the market.
In the global market, Chinese brands are also becoming more competitive. In 2022, China's construction machinery exports reached a record high, with the export value reaching 44.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 30.20% year-on-year. In the first half of 2023, China's construction machinery exports continued to maintain rapid growth, the export amount reached 24.992 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 25.8%.
In the past, Chinese construction machinery has continued to drive "ride" out to sea through overseas contracting projects and "one belt, one road" infrastructure cooperation. Nowadays, it has formed a "four-dimensional" international development model of overseas construction bases, local high-quality services, multinational mergers and acquisitions and global product research and development, and Chinese construction machinery enterprises have turned to "independent" seagoing, and global competitiveness continues to increase.
Today, China's construction machinery industry has a number of companies with great influence in the global market, including 10 of the top 50 global construction machinery companies in China, which occupies an important position in the global construction mechanical industry pattern.
China's construction machinery industry has grown from small to large, changed from weak to strong, and achieved leapfrog development. Not only sales revenue ranked first in the world, technology research and development and engineering capacity is to reach the world's advanced and even international leading, for the country's economic development to provide equipment support, highlighting China's construction machinery manufacturing level and innovation.
How to go from big to strong
China's construction machinery industry has undergone imitation, assimilation, and independent innovation, and has developed to the present day, not only becoming the world's largest construction machinery market, but also moving toward a construction machinery powerhouse. However, due to the late start and weak industrial base, China still has a notable gap with the major construction machinery countries in terms of technology accumulation and overseas high-end markets and high-end products.
Faced with this current situation, we should strive to catch up at the level of independent innovation and technology research and development, and use intelligent and digital technologies as key tools to help realize China's dream of building a great country.
1. Continue to increase research and development efforts
“2017年，习近平总书记视察徐工时乘坐过的全地面起重机，如今通过技术升级，各项关键指标已达全球领先，整机国产化率也由原来的71%提升至100%，所有关键零部件均实现中国制造。”在今年3月的全国两会上，全国人大代表，徐工机械总工程师、副总裁单增海带来好消息。
In 2022, XCMG's research and development input reached 5.75 billion yuan, accounting for 6.13% of its operating income. High investment has brought a rich return on technological results. By the end of 2022, Xugong machinery had a cumulative total of 9,742 effectively authorized patents, and the domestic manufacturing rate of parts has increased from 62% to 91%! At the same time, the R & D investment of the other two construction machinery enterprises was also calculated in terms of RMB 6.923 billion in 2022, accounting for 9.78% of the total revenue; Zoomlion invested 3.444 billion yuan in R & D, accounting for 8.27% of operating income.
Faced with technical bottlenecks, China's construction machinery companies are most importantly to strengthen their independent research and development, and strive to crack the key technologies that are stuck. The construction machinery industry has realized that the bottom line of corporate competition is scientific and technological innovation, and increasing R & D and innovation is the driving force for enterprises to achieve higher speed and higher quality development in the future.
2, the development of new energy resources, intelligent and other new circuits
Today, developing green power technology and accelerating the application of intelligent technology are opportunities and challenges facing the world's construction machinery industry. New energy resources and electrification is a great opportunity for the development of construction machinery industry, which is not only in line with the global trend, but also conducive to our construction machinery products to obtain greater competitive advantage in the international market.
"In terms of electricization, China's construction machinery has far ahead of countries such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea." Zeng Guangan, chairman of Liugong, said that Chinese companies are continuously changing the pattern of world construction machinery through continuous technological innovation.
Secondly, in terms of automation and intelligent technology, it is not impossible for Chinese construction machinery enterprises to surpass established enterprises with first-mover advantages such as Caterpillar and Komatsu by relying on the powerful combination under China's special system. Under the driving force of the developed Internet, Chinese construction machinery enterprises can quickly achieve the same effect through combination with some technology companies, technology sharing and complementarity, and Chinese enterprises have a more "rear-end advantage" in this regard.
For example, "unmanned mine" technology, Caterpillar relied on its own R & D for 10 years in the early years, but the underlying development logic 10 years ago is different from today. At that time, it was still using labels, electromagnetic paste and other ways to plan the path. But now, XCMG and Huawei and other enterprises to do a set of programs, in the unmanned mine, When a port or other limited section of a road is unmanned, a neural network is used directly, allowing the device to repeatedly "learn autonomously" through navigation and radar, and when the "learning progress" is close to 100%, it can be put into use, which is done in only half a year.
3. Overseas mergers and acquisitions are important ways
On the road to 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 best international enterprises, and are also a strategic move to raise the height of Chinese construction machinery and enhance international competitiveness.
In 2008, CIFA acquired the world famous brand of earth mixing machinery, After two years of technology fusion, the CIFA composite technology was launched in February 2011, and a number of major key technologies such as carbon fiber armrest technology, active vibration reduction technology, intelligent control technology, structural fatigue research, lightweight research and application, and wear resistance technology have made historic breakthroughs. In 2011, Zoomlion launched the world's longest carbon fiber arm lift pump 80 meters. In just one year, the length of the arm frame was increased to 101 meters, breaking the 100-meter mark, creating another miracle in the history of pump design.
In addition to the acquisition of cifa, sany acquired putzmeister, Xugong's acquisition of German Schweying and Liugong's purchase of Polish company HSW, as well as other classic mergers and acquisitions, have not only accelerated the pace of Chinese enterprises opening up the international market, but also taken a major step in the technological development of Chinese construction machinery. In a sense, acquiring these brands and technologies is more conducive to the sustainable development of enterprises than investing equivalent capacity, and international mergers and acquisitions remain a very important channel for the globalization of Chinese construction machinery.
At present, China's construction machinery industry is already the world leader in scale, but on the other hand, we cannot ignore the technological gaps and challenges that exist. Facing such a situation, China's construction machinery should consolidate industry resources. To form an industrial ecosystem with complementary capabilities, shared interests and shared risks, vigorously advance the research and development of key core technologies, and quickly close the shortcomings of key equipment and basic parts and components, and work together to realize China's dream of building a great country.
EN
ONLINE