A group of advantageous enterprises represented by Zoomlion and Sunward have emerged, with strong competitive advantages in 14 product categories such as concrete pump trucks, cranes, road rollers, and static pile drivers. At present, under the general trend of the global construction machinery industry center accelerating its shift to China, Changsha is making every effort to develop supporting industries for construction machinery, extend the product chain, consolidate the development foundation, accelerate the upgrading of the industrial structure, promote products to high-end, large-scale, and intelligent expansion, and strive to build a global capital of construction machinery.

“Major agricultural province” has always been the first impression of Hunan's economic development. Previously, Hunan's industrialization speed lagged far behind the developed provinces in the central and eastern regions, but after nearly a decade of rapid development, industry's contribution to economic growth has exceeded 50%. Among them, the construction machinery industry has become a major highlight of Hunan's economy.

At present, Hunan has become China's largest construction machinery manufacturing base, playing an important role in domestic and international markets, and has gradually formed the “Hunan Phenomenon” in China's construction machinery manufacturing industry. It is reported that Hunan's construction machinery industry completed main business revenue of 185.356 billion yuan in 2011, accounting for one-third of the national construction machinery industry, ranking first in the country in scale. Among them, the market share of pile driving machinery, construction hoisting machinery, sanitation machinery, road construction machinery, and excavation machinery all rank first in the country, and concrete machinery dominates the world. Changsha, Hunan, home to outstanding enterprises such as Zoomlion and Sunward, has gradually earned the reputation of “Capital of Construction Machinery” in recent years.

Taking Zoomlion, the leading enterprise of Hunan's construction machinery industry, as an example, currently, starting from Changsha, Zoomlion has created an “industrial corridor” in its industrial layout that is renowned at home and abroad.

This industrial layout map runs westward from Changsha, crossing 4 cities and 12 counties and districts, with a park every 35 kilometers along a 267-kilometer stretch. Among them, the parks in 10 counties and districts have become the main source of local finance, and 5 are the pillars of fiscal revenue. Last year, this industrial corridor created economic value for Zoomlion, accounting for about 90% of its total.

“Whether in terms of world ranking, comprehensive strength, or brand value, Zoomlion is the number one Hunan enterprise. It has become a well-deserved leader among Hunan enterprises and also a leading enterprise in construction machinery. It has set a benchmark for other enterprises in technological innovation, internationalization, and internal control, thereby promoting the rapid development of the industry and Hunan's economy,” summarized a construction machinery industry researcher.

It is reported that in terms of technological innovation, the company currently has nearly 7,000 R&D personnel, with R&D investment accounting for more than 5% of annual operating revenue, generating about 300 new technologies and new products annually, contributing more than 50% to the company's annual operating revenue. At the same time, Zoomlion's PCT applications ranked among the top five in China in 2011, and it was ranked eighth among China's most innovative enterprises and 86th among Forbes' most innovative companies in the world.

In terms of internationalization, Zoomlion took the lead in acquiring CIFA in 2008 and achieved perfect integration, triggering a wave of overseas acquisitions in construction machinery. At the same time, in 2012, it successfully opened markets in Iraq, Algeria, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and other countries, and set multiple records for overseas orders. While other enterprises are still at the stage of completing acquisitions, Zoomlion's internationalization has made substantial progress.

In terms of internal control, while pursuing growth, Zoomlion also attaches great importance to internal control and risk management, and has been recognized by domestic experts and scholars. In September 2012, Zoomlion was rated as one of the “Top 100 Chinese Listed Companies in Internal Control 2012.” Good internal control has further promoted Zoomlion's sustained and steady development.

“Zoomlion's success does not only come from technological innovation, internationalization, and internal control. Zoomlion pays attention to every detail in development, adheres to the corporate culture of ‘sincerity without end, broadness and profundity,’ pursues steady development, and has gradually formed Zoomlion's unique heritage,” said Zhan Chunxin, Chairman of Zoomlion, in an interview with reporters.

While developing its own scale, Zoomlion has also promoted the common prosperity of other market entities in the industry ecosystem. Around it, hundreds of dynamic small and medium-sized supporting enterprises have formed, with annual supporting amounts for Zoomlion in the hundreds of millions.

It is understood that going west from Changsha, Zoomlion's “industrial corridor” is taking shape. Along this corridor, there is a Zoomlion park every 50 kilometers, and each park drives the formation of a small cluster.

“Zoomlion's rapid growth has driven industrial agglomeration in the construction machinery field and also driven the large-scale development of related supporting industries. This has brought local improvements and progress in tax revenue, employment, and technological innovation, promoting the rapid development of Changsha and Hunan's economy,” analyzed an industry insider who has long observed Hunan's industrialization process. “With the promotion of urbanization during the 12th Five-Year Plan, Zoomlion, Changsha, and Hunan have ushered in new development opportunities, and the market has high expectations for their future development.”

Regarding how Hunan's construction machinery industry and enterprises can achieve such outstanding accomplishments, Liang Zhifeng, Director of the Hunan Economic Research and Information Center, believes that Changsha's geographical advantages and strong scientific research strength are decisive factors.

“Compared with other domestic construction machinery industry centers, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan area has the strongest scientific research strength. Numerous specialized construction machinery research institutions and institutes provide strong impetus for the development of our province's construction machinery industry. Zoomlion originated from the Changsha Construction Machinery Research Institute, one of the birthplaces of China's construction machinery technology; Sunward was founded by Professor He Qinghua, a leader in China's electromechanical discipline. In addition, Hunan also has the National University of Defense Technology, Central South University, the former Eighth Design Institute of the Ministry of Machinery, and other research institutes with strong scientific research strength. It can be said that the fundamental reason why Hunan's construction machinery industry was able to rise abruptly in the 1990s lies in the strong creativity provided by Hunan's powerful knowledge capital,” introduced Liang Zhifeng.

“Strengthening the diffusion of supporting industries and improving the level of industrial agglomeration” is one of the important measures for Hunan's mechanical equipment industry to sprint toward the trillion-yuan output value target during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period. At present, Changsha's industrial supporting foundation is relatively weak, and the industrial atmosphere and supporting environment still lag behind developed coastal areas. Most materials and supporting parts need to be purchased from other provinces, including some key components such as power systems, transmission systems, and hydraulic parts. To some extent, this has seriously affected the further development and expansion of local construction machinery mainframe enterprises.

Zoomlion is currently one of the enterprises with the most product categories in the global construction machinery industry, involving nearly 600 varieties of concrete machinery, hoisting machinery, sanitation machinery, earthmoving machinery, and road machinery. As a leading enterprise in the construction machinery industry, while developing rapidly itself, Zoomlion also attaches importance to driving the common prosperity of the industrial chain and pays close attention to the symbiotic, win-win, and coordinated development of the entire industrial chain. On the one hand, Zoomlion will further optimize its outsourcing and collaboration models, strengthen strategic cooperation with upstream supporting and logistics partners in technological breakthroughs and overseas expansion, and accelerate the pace of internationalization of supporting manufacturers and the company; on the other hand, Zoomlion is also carrying out strategic cooperation with supporting enterprises in quality management output, guidance on advanced production models, and other aspects to improve the endogenous growth capacity of supporting enterprises and form a group of competitive strategic partners.

At present, hundreds of dynamic small and medium-sized supporting enterprises have formed around Zoomlion, and the number of enterprises supporting Zoomlion has reached 1,000, with amounts in the tens of billions. Zoomlion's rapid growth has fully driven industrial agglomeration in Hunan's construction machinery field and also driven the large-scale development of related supporting industries. This has brought local improvements and progress in tax revenue, employment, and technological innovation, promoted the rapid development of Changsha and Hunan's economy, and fully played the leading and demonstrative role of a large-scale leading enterprise. Further improving the degree of industrial aggregation, using technological innovation to improve the level of supporting industries, extending the industrial chain, and driving the development of small and medium-sized supporting enterprises are important goals of Zoomlion.

At present, Hunan Province has introduced numerous relevant policies and supportive measures to develop the construction machinery supporting industry and further improve the degree of industrial aggregation; relevant supporting enterprises in the province are also trying every means to improve their supporting levels. Changsha's construction machinery industry supporting chain has begun to take shape, with optimistic development prospects.

Driven by outstanding enterprises such as Zoomlion, Hunan's construction machinery industry has experienced rapid development. Hunan has become the largest production base for construction machinery, with scale and market share ranking first in the country. With the enhancement of technology, scale, and heritage, leading enterprises such as Zoomlion are no longer limited to the domestic market and have begun to focus on the global market, accelerating the pace of internationalization.

Since the beginning of this year, as urbanization becomes the theme of the next decade, construction machinery will usher in another golden decade of development, which is also a golden period for Zoomlion to seize opportunities and become a giant multinational enterprise. After 21 years of ups and downs, Zoomlion, which emerged from an underdeveloped central province, with its solid leadership position and good international influence, has provided Changsha with sufficiently strong confidence. Building Changsha into the world's capital of construction machinery is no longer just a dream.