China Sankei News: Sany Heavy Industry: Innovation is a powerful tool to deal with the economic downturn

Source: China Sankei News Author: Xin Jin

The general environment is testing the ability of enterprises to "resist the cold", and it is also testing the confidence of the public. At the beginning of July, the media reported that Sany Heavy Industry "laid off", which made the market nervous suddenly. The "layoffs"* were finally confirmed as false rumors, but the outside world has not stopped questioning the development potential of Sany Heavy Industry.

Industry insiders said that with the adjustment of the general environment comes the industry reshuffle period, but leading enterprises can take advantage of this to further distance themselves from competitors. Sany insiders believe that what supports the company to become bigger and stronger is actually persistent innovation.

At the National Science and Technology Innovation Conference on July 6, representatives of 9 units delivered speeches on innovation, most of them are national administrative units and scientific research institutes. As a representative of the first private enterprise, Yi Xiaogang, executive president of Sany Heavy Industry and a user, made a typical speech on "Independent Innovation to Promote the Revitalization of National Construction Machinery", which is believed to be another recognition of the leading position of Sany Heavy Industry Industry.

Yi Xiaogang said that Sany Heavy Industry "is the blood of innovation" in its body, and it is by relying on independent innovation that the company has outperformed the industry when the country's economic growth slows down.

　　  Innovation from multiple dimensions

The construction machinery industry, which is still in the golden period of development, has been collectively watched by the outside world. Public opinion believes that the development of the construction machinery industry, collectively benefit from the country's 4 trillion pull, and with the weakening of this benefit, the industry will no longer be vigorous, especially in recent years in the industry high-profile growth of Sany, is questioned will suffer a heavy blow.

However, in the competition of shrinking market, Sany Heavy Industry still maintained positive growth. In the first quarter, the operating income was 14.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.9%. In the case of the industry's gross profit margin declining for three consecutive years, it maintained a level of 30%. CICC recently released the construction machinery investment strategy report in the second half of 2012 forecast also shows that in the first half of the year, Liugong and Sunward Intelligent performance fell sharply, and the annual performance may be lowered, but leading companies like Sany Heavy Industry are expected to achieve 10%-15% growth, and steadily complete the annual expectations.

Xiang Wenbo, President of Sany Heavy Industry, said that the key is that we have achieved endogenous growth through continuous innovation, weakened our dependence on external economic conditions, and can cope calmly even in the face of economic cycles. In his view, Sany Heavy Industry relies on innovation to seize market opportunities. On the contrary, if only behind the international construction machinery giants, even if the country comes up with "four trillion", this policy dividend can only be taken away by multinational giants.

In the current relatively sluggish economic environment, Sany is also working hard to enhance the competitiveness of the enterprise. According to reports, 2012 is regarded as the year of management efficiency by Sany, which focuses on the innovation of management mode, from the control of costs and expenses, to the optimization of the process system, and the light business system, which is expected to save 600 million yuan this year.

At the same time, Sany is also continuing to promote the innovation of the marketing model of "direct sales to agents", and has established more than 170 agents to establish superior sales channels for the company; The innovation of refined production and manufacturing methods further improves product quality; Refreshing service initiatives, such as Sany Heavy Machinery's "Service Journey", Pumping Division's "Lifetime Worry-free", and Crane "Rescue Service", have once again guided the development of the industry.

The driving force of technological innovation

For a long time, Sany's praised innovation is more about R&D innovation. Yi Xiaogang said: "Without the bold innovation that broke the fear, there would be no Sany today." ”

In order to meet the growing market demand, Sany invests 5%-7% of sales revenue in R&D every year. Different from the conventional model of traditional manufacturing industry that relies on "low-cost advantage" and "technology introduction" for innovation, Sany adheres to the principle of "independent research and development of core technologies and core components".

In 1994, when Sany entered the construction machinery industry, foreign brands almost monopolized the Chinese market. From the birth of 5,656 boom pump trucks to the world's longest 86-meter boom pump truck, Sany has spent more than 20 years guiding the proportion of foreign brands and domestic brands in the Chinese market to achieve a reversal. Sany has also made breakthroughs in the fields of excavation machinery, lifting machinery, and piling machinery.

In addition to product innovation, Sany also continues to extend in basic technology and industrial chain innovation. Taking excavators as an example, Sany is the first company in China's excavator industry to independently develop the four-wheeled area, which has broken the monopoly of Japanese manufacturers, and now the self-production rate has reached 50%. In addition, Sany concrete mixer truck,Truck cranesThe chassis has been independently produced, and the hydraulic cylinder has been fully guaranteed; Hydraulic valves and other hydraulic components were successfully developed and mass production began; Independently developed a full range of cranes, excavator cabs, and achieved 100% guaranteed supply; Sany's intelligent controllers and displays have been fully guaranteed.

The outside world believes that Sany's innovation lies in daring to "challenge authority". Yi Xiaogang said that in Sany, "I didn't do it abroad, so I didn't do it" and "I designed it this way, so I designed it this way" are forbidden.

Yi Xiaogang said that Sany's continuous innovation lies in the system to build a platform for construction machinery technology innovation.

The Sany innovation platform system includes three hardware platforms: "Innovation Base", "Innovation Agency" and "Innovation Alliance", and two software platforms of "Management System" and "Innovation Culture". The software platform and the hardware platform support each other. The construction of the platform lasted 13 years, with a cumulative investment of more than 5 billion yuan and more than 30,000 participants. Last year, the construction of this innovation platform won the "National Science and Technology Progress Award".

　　The economic cycle is not the only one

In 2012, the European debt crisis continued to spread, the outlook for the world economy remained uncertain, and the fast-growing Chinese economy also entered a period of adjustment, with the year-on-year growth rate of domestic GDP falling to 7.6% in the second quarter, reaching the lowest level since the beginning of 2009.

The cycle of the economic winter is not *5656 times. Prior to this, in 2004 and 2008, China also encountered the economic cycle of macroeconomic control, and since the 80s of the last century, Sany Heavy Industry has coped with the economic "winter" battle more than 10 times.

According to public information, in the past five years, Sany's sales have maintained a growth of more than 50%. In 2007, Sany Group achieved sales of 13.5 billion yuan, becoming the first private enterprise in Hunan Province with sales of more than 10 billion yuan since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In 2008 and 2009, despite the impact of the financial crisis, Sany continued its previous growth. In 2010, Sany Group's sales exceeded 50 billion yuan. In 2011, Sany Group achieved sales of 80.2 billion yuan.

An industry user commented that if Sany had not focused on its own industry for a long time and was obsessed with independent innovation, it might not have achieved such achievements as it is today.

At present, Sany has developed into the sixth in the world in construction machinery and one of the top 500 enterprises in the world in terms of market capitalization, and its products are widely used in key projects such as Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Three Gorges Dam and Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway. In the rescue of the nuclear power accident in Japan and the mining disaster in Chile, Sany's 62-meter pump truck and crawler crane also played a major role. (Xinjin)