During the past couple of years, trade show visitors have seen a new name in mobile cranes: Puyuan. The company has been part of the large Chinese state-owned Changsha Zoomlion group, since 2003. Zoomlion is one of China’s leading producers of construction, road-making, and public works machinery, a significant maker of tower cranes and a leader in the concrete pump field.
Although XCMG currently dominates the domestic truck crane market with a share exceeding 50%, Puyuan’s latest five-year plan is to increase production and sales by no less than two and a half times to reach RMB5bn ($625m) and take over domestic market leadership by the end of 2009.
The company has risen to the top of the industry after waves of consolidation. “In the 1980s, there were 16 or 17 Chinese crane manufacturers,” says Cai-Nan Zhou, Puyuan deputy general manager and technical department manager, “Today there are about seven or eight significant ones, with XCMG and Puyuan collectively representing about 80% of domestic truck crane production. Last year this generated revenues of about RMB 7bn ($875m).”
Cai-Nan Zhou, deputy general manager and technical department manager, Puyuan
The company currently manufactures truck crane carriers of 8t to 130t capacity its Changsha, Hunan, factory. “We are developing a 160t (176 US ton) all terrain and plan to develop ATs of 200, 250, 300 and 350t capacity,” says export department manager Shirley Liu.
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Shirley Liu, export department manager, Puyuan
“The 160-tonner will be introduced at the end of this year and next year we will introduce the 200-tonner and 250-tonners. We already offer crawler cranes of 70t, 100t, 160t and 200t capacity and are developing crawler cranes of 260t, 300t, 400t, 500t and 600t capacity with the 400-tonners and 600-tonners planned for introduction by the end of 2006.”
The prototype of the six-axle all terrain carrier that will carry Puyuan’s new 160-tonne all terrain crane undergoing travel tests with a dummy upper.
The 50-tonne (55-ton) capacity QY 50H offers a 40.2m (132ft) five-section full power boom plus 15m (49ft) bi-fold swingaway.
A 25-tonne capacity Puyuan QY 25 hydraulic truck crane
Puyuan is planning to double its production capacity in 2007, says Liu. “Our plan is to consolidate our production of crawler cranes, hydraulic cranes and carriers under one roof. At present the Puyuan factory uses about 130,000 sq m under roof and we plan to expand this to 250,000 sq m,” Liu says.
At the company’s 337,000 sq m Changsha plant, 2,000 employees make cranes and truck-mounted concrete pumps, as well as trailer-mounted concrete pumps, graders and pavers.
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The headquarters of Zoomlion and the Engineering/Research Institute is located at the downtown Changsha plant.
We use engineering software developed in China and have a total of 117 engineers and 100 technicians working on hydraulic truck, all terrain and crawler crane development here in Changsha,” says Zhou. “Our engineering group is divided into superstructure, chassis, telescopic boom and crawler crane groups.”
12-tonne capacity Puyuan QY 12H hydraulic truck cranes with 21.7m (70ft) full power booms line up alongside an 8-tonne capacity QY 8 truck-mounted crane at Zoomlion’s Hi-Tech Park plant.
Customer sales and support extends throughout China. There are 16 exclusive Puyuan distributors and parent group Zoomlion has 300 service techs, mainly performing warranty work, based out of branch offices. “We promise a service visit within 24 hours of a call, anywhere in China,” says Liu. “Parts are available from our headquarters or from five domestic parts depots located in Beijing, Zhengzhou, Xian, Hangzhou and Shenyang. We do RMB 13m ($1.6m) in parts sales per year.”
Puyuan truck cranes await shipment at the Zoomlion Hi-Tech Park
Puyuan has found that the Chinese appetite for cranes does have its limits. “Today, Chinese production is exceeding domestic demand so the manufacturers must try to find some overseas markets,” says Zhou.
A Puyuan 70t capacity QUY 70 hydraulic lattice-boom crawlers on test prior to shipment to a Kuwaiti customer
The tilting cab and joystick controls of Puyuan’s new 200-tonne (220-ton) capacity QUY 200 fully-hydraulic lattice boom crawler crane.
Last year Puyuan exported about 150 new truck cranes,” Liu says. “Pakistan was our number one market, followed by Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. Regionally our most important markets were the Middle East and Asia, with South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand the most important. This year we expect to double our exports to about 300 units and we have added Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands and the UK to our list of new markets.” The company displayed its QY 70V truck crane at Intermat in April.
