"Chinese Entrepreneur" interviewed Xiang Wenbo: If you don't create high-end products in the sea, you will have no foothold



As a business, we can't miss the opportunities given by the times.

Text: "Chinese Entrepreneur" reporter Wang Yijie

Edited by Ma Jiying

Image source: Respondents

"We're going to make a game-changer." Xiang Wenbo, the rotating chairman of Sany Group, said in an exclusive interview with the reporter of "Chinese Entrepreneur". In his view, we are currently facing two opportunities, one is to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the other is the super technology window period of the fourth industrial revolution and the third energy revolution.

Therefore, enterprises must have a strong sense of crisis, in order to seize the opportunity of the fourth industrial revolution,Promote digital and intelligent transformation in an all-round way.Xiang Wenbo said that there are difficulties, but what he sees more are opportunities.

meantimeIn order to seize the opportunity of the third energy revolution, Sany Group is also promoting the electrification of existing products and the in-depth layout of the new energy industry.This year's National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, Xiang Wenbo also put forward suggestions to accelerate the development of new energy commercial vehicles.

The development history of Sany Heavy Industry in the past 30 years is a typical process of the rise of China's manufacturing industry, and it is also a history of the growth of domestic private enterprises. At the critical stage of industry transformation and upgrading, Sany Heavy Industry has basically completed the intelligent manufacturing upgrade of all domestic manufacturing plants, and has also completed the construction of the first overseas intelligent factory. Xiang Wenbo hopes,"The future Sany is a platform-based enterprise and an ecological enterprise based on the deep integration of Internet, big data and artificial intelligence technology."

In his opinion, as an entrepreneur, you must see where the opportunities are in the future, and learn to take the initiative to embrace change.

The following is a summary of the interview content (with abridgement):

Talking about new quality productivity: bringing new opportunities to traditional industries

Xiang Wenbo: I think the concept of new quality productivity is very important, it is an important theoretical achievement of Chinese-style modernization, and it is also the main task of China's high-quality development, which points out the direction for the high-quality development of China's economy.

In the past, we often mentioned "high efficiency" and "high quality", which is actually the basic feature of new quality productivity.

Today's world is in a century of great changes, China's economy needs to transform and upgrade, to find new impetus, I believe that the proposal of new quality productivity in line with the current stage of China's economic development requirements, accurately grasp the new technological revolution brought about by the opportunities. The so-called development requirements of China's economy at the present stage are to change from the rough development of the past to the refined and high-quality development, and the construction of new quality productive forces will also create new impetus for China's economic growth.

On the other hand, it should be noted that the formation of new quality productivity does not deny traditional businesses, but brings new development opportunities to traditional industries. For us, the most important thing we cannot miss is the opportunity given by the times. For example, our production of excavators is a typical traditional business, what does it have to do with the development of new quality productivity? The excavator produced in the future is definitely not the excavator of now, it must be a green, energy-saving and intelligent excavator, otherwise it may have no vitality. From this point of view, there is still room for development in traditional businesses such as the production of excavators in the future.

At present, the launch of the legislative work of the private economy also fully reflects the great importance that the party and the state attach to private enterprises, provides a legal guarantee for the healthy development of the private economy, and is of great significance for boosting the confidence of private enterprises and promoting the high-quality development of private enterprises.

Talking about the high-quality development of enterprises: innovation is the primary factor

Xiang Wenbo: I think high-quality development is first and foremost innovation, which is also the top priority. Especially in the current era of technological revolution, in a sense, if you don't innovate, it means that you will soon be obsolete. Therefore, how to create their own unique competitive advantage through innovation is the first core element to be considered for the sustainable operation of enterprises.

How to improve the organizational efficiency within the enterprise is also crucial. In the past, both private enterprises and state-owned enterprises have relied on the rapid development of China's reform and opening up for more than 40 years and expanded their scale, but there is still a certain gap between them and world-class enterprises in terms of organizational operational efficiency and product competitiveness.

Therefore, in the current global competitive environment, how to improve organizational efficiency, how to reduce their own operating costs, how to make enterprises operate benignly, and assume more social responsibilities, these are what we must consider.

In addition, it is also very important to build excellent product competitiveness. Product competitiveness is the basis of business management, if an enterprise does not have excellent products, everything will be impossible to talk about.

Talking about artificial intelligence: we need to make disruptive changes

Xiang Wenbo: At present, we are facing two opportunities, one is to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the other is the super technology window period of the fourth industrial revolution and the third energy revolution. There are difficulties, but more often than not, there are opportunities. Therefore, enterprises must have a strong sense of crisis, seize the opportunity of artificial intelligence, and seize the new demand triggered by new technologies represented by electrification and informatization.

The knowledge of our original team is concentrated in the traditional machinery manufacturing industry, and the ability of digital intelligence is missing, so we organize all employees to learn digital intelligence related knowledge and promote digital intelligence transformation in an all-round way, including intelligent products, intelligent manufacturing, intelligent operation, and even in terms of organizational form and behavior decision-making, we must be fully involved in artificial intelligence to achieve unmanned and machine decision-making, which is the subversive change we want to make.

Within our Sany family, all business divisions have set up parallel electrification divisions, and new business entrants are only allowed to develop electrification products, hoping that the products we produce in the future will be a data intelligent terminal. We will also continue to invest, accelerate iterative upgrading, and further improve the level of intelligent manufacturing, hoping that the future Sany will be a platform-based enterprise and ecological enterprise based on the deep integration of Internet, big data and artificial intelligence technology.

In the future, Sany Heavy Industry will vigorously deploy new energy industries, including wind energy, hydrogen energy, photovoltaic energy, and energy storage industries, and vigorously promote the electrification of existing products, hoping to lead the electrification development of the industry, which is also our "third venture".

Talking about enterprises going overseas: without creating high-end products, there is no place to stand

Xiang Wenbo: Now China's economy is in a period of transformation and shifting, superimposed on the adjustment of the industry cycle. I think that by next year, the adjustment of the industry cycle may reach a stage, and the market may have some recovery. Among them, the international market contains greater opportunities, because the proportion of Chinese products in the world is not so large, and the ceiling is still very high.

With the overseas expansion of the target market more diversified, the internationalization strategy, model and positioning of China's construction machinery manufacturers should also be transformed as soon as possible to high-end. In fact, our external circulation market is mainly concentrated in developed regions in Europe and the United States, and if there are no high-end products to enter these global high-end markets, our local enterprises will have no foothold in the main battlefield of globalization.

40% of our total revenue last year came from overseas markets, so overseas markets are the main source of our profits. Based on this, we will actively strengthen our understanding of customer needs. For example, in the past, we designed and developed products in China, and in the future, we should redefine products according to the needs of customers in different countries and regions to meet the needs of international differences.

A series of issues have also arisen, including the need for our processes, systems, culture, etc. to adapt to the globalization strategy. For example, the interpretation of labor laws in each country is different, and we should adapt to the different cultures of different countries, so our corporate culture should also become more diverse. I think the future will be to allocate resources globally to support the diversification of business.