XCMG eyes even greater global role

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group is aiming to raise its global ranking in the construction machinery manufacturing sector from the current sixth to fifth in 2020, and become one of top three by 2025, said its chairman.

Consistent reform and innovation have made XCMG grow from a company with an annual revenue of around 300 million yuan ($43.2 million) into the nation's leading machinery giant earning 100 billion yuan a year, said Wang Min, chairman of the group.

During the four-day Bauma China International Trade Fair, which is being held in Shanghai until Friday, XCMG is presenting 79 new machines and 41 sets of core parts and components.

Among them, the 700-metric-ton hydraulic excavator marks a breakthrough for Chinese companies in developing a hydraulic excavator at the 700-ton level, making China the fourth nation to master such technology after Germany, Japan and the United States.

All the machines on display, including the world's biggest rotary drilling rig and the world's largest all-terrain crane, have obtained independent intellectual property rights which are vested with XCMG.

"We stick to reform and innovation, and even during hard times, our investment in research and development is consistent," said Wang.

He said the group has been allocating about 5 percent of its sales revenue to R&D for many years, and it has more than 6,000 research and development staff.

China's machinery manufacturing sector saw an encouraging recovery in 2017 with the nation's 25 major machinery manufacturers reporting sales of 140,303 excavators in total, soaring 99.5 percent.

From January to October, XCMG posted 91.9 billion yuan in sales revenue, and its profit surged 76.2 percent year-on-year.

As the Chinese construction machinery bellwether, XCMG has maintained its top position for 29 years, and has become the world's sixth-largest construction machinery manufacturer to date. But Wang has bigger ambitions. Wang said he is optimistic about getting the group into the world's top three by 2025.

Bauma China this year has attracted more than 3,340 enterprises from 38 nations and regions. Over the years, Chinese firms' growing dominance of the construction machinery industry is evident. Sixteen years ago, only 20 percent of exhibitors were from China, and the percentage was close to 70 percent during the last session of the exhibition two years ago, according to Stefan Rummel, managing director of fair organizer Messe Munchen.