(Interview with "Excellent Engineer" Series) Heavy equipment craftsman Shan Zenghai: "lifting" for the nation and "lifting" for the great power
Chinanews.com, Nanjing, December 23, title: Heavy equipment craftsman Shan Zenghai: "lifting" for the nation and "lifting power" for the great power
China News Service reporter Zhu Xiaoying Zhu Zhigeng
The "post-70s" he has studied cranes for 27 years, and the series of cranes he led the research and development have repeatedly won the "No. 1 in China" crane industry and broke the world record.
He is Shan Zenghai, deputy general manager of Xuzhou Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xugong Heavy").
Shan Zenghai and front-line workers conducted a matching test on the performance parameters of the crane's hydraulic components (balance valve).
Photo by Zhu Zhigeng
A few days ago, a reporter from China News Service visited the intelligent workshop of XCMG Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "XCMG").
Next to the huge machine, Shan Zenghai is discussing crane parameter matching tests with frontline workers.
"The little details behind each heavy device are not vague." He exhorted.
Shan Zenghai, 49, joined XCMG in 1994. He has been working for 27 years and has experienced the ups and downs of the development of China's construction crane industry.
Shan Zenghai was immersed in the archives to search for the original production materials.
Photo by Zhu Zhigeng
He clearly remembered that from 1994 to 1999, affected by macro policies, the overall Chinese crane market was in a downturn.
Since 2000, the development of China's construction cranes has ushered in a ten-year golden period.
Taking this momentum, XCMG is determined to build an all-terrain crane that combines the advantages of truck cranes and rough terrain cranes.
"The QAY25 all-terrain crane is the first crane product I have led research and development after I came to XCMG. It was launched in 2002 and became China's first all-terrain crane with independent intellectual property rights." Shan Zenghai recalled.
At the new product launch conference, XCMG's heavy-duty crane "five-unit crane".
Photo courtesy of Xugong Group
Looking back, the research and development of such cutting-edge products at that time was subject to controversy and pressure both at home and abroad.
On the one hand, the domestic industry believes that all-terrain cranes are too high-end and niche to be absorbed by the market.
On the other hand, all-terrain crane technology is held in the hands of Germany and the United States, and the domestic infrastructure is not complete. Until 2002, the Chinese crane market was still dominated by small and medium tonnage. The purchase price and construction progress depend on the faces of others. The construction process of China's major projects has been severely constrained.
XCMG's new heavy-duty crane.
Photo courtesy of Xugong Group
In order to break through this "dead road", Shan Zenghai, who was just 30 years old, and his team opened up a "battlefield" of technological breakthroughs next to equipment such as cutting, bending, splicing, welding, and machining. , The process has been twists and turns.
Shan Zenghai recalled that the most critical technical problem-the hydro-pneumatic suspension device (to reduce the vibration of the car body) was formed. Everyone was very happy, but they made a "big red face" during the test run: the engineers were on the seats of the moving crane. The turbulence does not stop, and the damping effect in actual operation is extremely critical.
XCMG's 2000-ton crawler telescopic boom crane was hoisted for the first time in Tianjin.
Photo courtesy of Xugong Group
It also took more than a year of theory, experiment, and application research. After three rounds of improvement tests, QAY25 came out, which opened the prelude to China's independent research and development of all-terrain cranes.
The road to the market has not been smooth sailing.
After the golden period, during the five years from 2012 to 2016, China's construction machinery market was cold, industry competition intensified, and operating rates were seriously insufficient.
The final assembly and commissioning site of XCMG's full range of heavy-duty cranes.
Photo courtesy of Xugong Group
In the face of challenges, XCMG launched the "Global Catch-up Plan" to promote the connotative development of China's crane equipment and the strategic layout of "going out".
Shan Zenghai remembers that in 2013, they put forward the idea of creating original technology and building a product technology platform.
By studying the key technologies and parts of cranes, they released the G-generation crane to the world in 2016.
"This generation of products has stood at the forefront of the global industry in terms of technology, such as intelligence, energy saving, light weight, and humanization. It has formed the world's first product technology platform and developed a series of products from 8 tons to 1,200 tons that lead the Chinese crane industry. "Shan Zenghai said, "We have overcome technical problems such as intelligent operation, independent suspension, and heavy-duty transitions one by one, and have achieved the world's leading position."
XCMG Heavy Industry launched the C series all-terrain cranes, the first to achieve 100% localization rate of parts and components.
Photo courtesy of Xugong Group
Once XCMG's G-generation cranes went on the market, they achieved a sales blowout: the market share of products represented by mobile cranes has steadily ranked first in the world, and it has entered the high-end markets in Europe and the United States.
By the second half of 2016, China's wind power construction started on a large scale, the construction machinery market had recovered, and demand in overseas markets had increased significantly.
The two-way benefit of the domestic and foreign markets has once again ushered in a bright moment for the construction machinery industry.
The R&D team led by Shan Zenghai took advantage of the momentum and launched 1600 tons and other ultra-large tonnage crane products based on technologies such as intelligence and new energy, continuously breaking global records.
For example, the world's largest tonnage XCA1600 all-terrain crane developed by them has completed the world's highest 140-meter onshore wind power installation, and its lifting capacity is nearly 1.6 times that of international products, setting a new record for global wheeled crane wind power lifting.
Crane chassis assembly line.
Photo by Zhu Zhigeng
"The XCA1600 all-terrain crane was developed at the end of 2013 and early 2014." Shan Zenghai told reporters that at that time, foreign Liebherr 1,200-ton cranes were very popular all over the world, and Chinese companies could hardly expect it.
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If you want to win the "cake" of the wind power market, you must overcome the difficulty of transition mobility: within the range of the jib rotation, the crane has to lift the maximum height, lift the maximum weight, and climb over the hurdles.
"For this reason, we developed a new boom technology. The research and development lasted for 5 years. We have made a lot of effort in the breakthrough of the underlying technology. The investment is huge. The destructive test of the boom alone cost more than 9 million yuan (RMB, the same below) Shan Zenghai said, “Today we have launched 1800-ton all-terrain cranes and 2000-ton telescopic crawler cranes that are more mature and more suitable for the Chinese market. They are operating in wind farms everywhere.”
Relying on years of technological breakthroughs, XCMG, a 78-year-old manufacturing company with a history of 78 years, has a long-lasting performance: it has been the "first place" in China's construction machinery industry for 32 consecutive years, and its revenue has exceeded 100 billion for four consecutive years since 2018. Yuan, ranked first in the global crane sector.
More importantly, through the breakthrough and accumulation of "stuck neck" technology, Chinese companies represented by XCMG have already possessed the strength to "bright sword" in the international standard field monopolized by Europe and the United States for a long time.
Shan Zenghai told reporters that as the project leader, he initiated the formulation of the international standard "Safe Use of Cranes Part 2: Mobile Cranes".
This standard is the first international standard for product technology in the field of mobile cranes led by China, breaking the long-term monopoly of Europe and the United States in safety mobile crane standards, and strengthening the voice of the Chinese crane industry in the field of international standards.
Although the situation of overseas new crown pneumonia epidemic is still severe, the export sales of XCMG cranes have reached a record high.
In the first seven months of this year, the export value of XCMG wheeled cranes increased by 45.5% year-on-year, and the export value in the high-end markets of Europe, America and Australia increased by 152% year-on-year. The export share ranked first among Chinese brands in the industry.
"In the field of cranes, foreign established industrial countries and international giants have first-mover advantages. We have been catching up for nearly 20 years before we have achieved the partial lead from following and running to the present." Shan Zenghai said frankly, "Our products The performance, quality, humanization, and intelligence are not bad, but the industry chain is not as mature as others."
In his view, energy-saving and smart technologies are in the ascendant, and seizing this round of opportunities has seized the lifeblood of industry development.
At a new starting point, Chinese crane companies need to "lift" for the nation, "lift power" for the big country, seize the commanding heights of development, seize the right to speak in technology, and win greater room for development.
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