On September 21, the front page of Economic Daily published an interview with Xiang Wenbo, President of Sany Heavy Industry, "Construction machinery companies need to seize new opportunities for change." Faced with the issues of how Chinese construction machinery companies implement the requirements of the "14th Five-Year Plan" with practical actions and how to undertake major missions in building a new development pattern, Xiang Wenbo pointed out: Sany will make every effort to promote and take the lead in realizing electrification and intelligence. , Three major digital transformations, leading the transformation and upgrading of China's construction machinery industry, China's manufacturing industry and even the world's manufacturing industry.

Reporter: The "14th Five-Year Plan" outline proposes to "consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy" and "in-depth implementation of the strategy of making a strong country." What does this mean for the construction machinery industry?

Xiang Wenbo: The plan puts forward this goal, which reflects the great importance my country attaches to the manufacturing industry. my country's construction machinery industry has a good development environment. Since last year, major strategic results have been achieved in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and major decisions such as the "six stability" and "six guarantees" have been actively promoted to ensure stable external conditions. There are more than 10 Chinese companies in the top 50 construction machinery companies in the world. This is because the Chinese market provides a good soil for development.

The demand for construction machinery in the Chinese market will continue to increase. Entering an aging society, the labor force, especially the labor force entering the urban traditional infrastructure industry, is decreasing, and the process of machine replacement in the industrial field is accelerating. These all provide a broader development space for the construction machinery industry.

Reporter: What is the future direction of innovation for construction machinery enterprises? How do construction machinery companies make efforts in digitalization?

Xiang Wenbo: The future trend of construction machinery is unmanned, electrified, and intelligent, which will promote tremendous changes in the industry. Sany Research Institute has established an electrification institute, an intelligent institute, and a simulation institute. The company has also established an electrification product division. This is actually a change in the organizational structure caused by the development of new technologies. Sany’s innovation focuses on electrification, digitalization and intelligence, and will continue to increase investment in these areas in the future.

Technologies such as electrification, digitization, and intelligence are restructuring the global economic system, lowering the barriers of traditional manufacturing. Compared with traditional construction machinery enterprises, they must complete digital transformation to develop. At present, Sany's new unmanned and intelligent products are already on the market, but they are just getting started. In the next step, Sany Heavy Industry will promote a comprehensive digital transformation and become a digital-driven company. According to the plan, in the next five years, Sany will reduce the number of blue-collar workers to 3,000 and increase the number of engineers to 30,000.

Reporter: Innovation is inseparable from talents. How should construction machinery companies attract and retain talents? How to promote innovation in the construction machinery industry?

Xiang Wenbo: There are two key factors for innovation, one is funding, and the other is talent. Especially now that we are entering the period of digital transformation, the biggest obstacle to innovation in construction machinery companies is talents, such as the lack of talents in digitalization, algorithms, and software. How to train talents according to the development needs of enterprises, including the new generation of industrial workers, is no small challenge. Sany now has its own academy. In the past, it focused on cultivating their skills, but now it will focus more on strengthening their knowledge structure.

In the long run, the innovation of construction machinery enterprises can only rely on independent research and development. Because new technologies in different industries and fields must be combined with construction machinery. Without a deep understanding of construction machinery and an effective combination of software and hardware, it is impossible to achieve innovation. Construction machinery companies must have the awareness of crossing the digital divide. Most people who understand construction machinery do not understand new technologies such as digitalization, and those who understand new technologies do not understand construction machinery. Only by filling the gap between the two fields can innovation be promoted. , So the research and development work still depends on the engineering machinery OEMs themselves.

Reporter: Under the new development pattern, do construction machinery companies still insist on taking the road of internationalization? How should construction machinery enterprises seize the international market?

Xiang Wenbo: Actually, the current economy has become globalized, and the general trend of internationalization will not change. The trend of anti-globalization is against the laws of economics. For example, almost all of the world's well-known excavator manufacturers have opened manufacturing plants in China, and the Chinese market is already part of the global market. Chinese construction machinery companies compete with these international brands at home and also compete with these companies when they enter the international market. Therefore, in the process of economic globalization, the essence has not changed. From the perspective of corporate development, internationalization helps companies improve their ability to resist risks. If a company's market is over-concentrated, its ability to withstand risks is insufficient, and it must take the road of internationalization and build a world brand.

There should be new changes in construction machinery enterprises' layout in the international market. Take Sany as an example. In the past, the focus was on developing countries, such as Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. In the next step, the focus will be on developed countries, including Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries and regions.

Sany has clarified its internationalization strategy and proposed a self-led internationalization route to ensure the implementation of the strategy. The concept of focusing on me is that the first person in charge is Chinese, which is more convenient for communication and strategic implementation; second, it is necessary to establish channels based on me. In the past, the channels of relying on agents were limited, and the lack of channels would cause problems. Lead to gaps in cognition. In addition, we emphasize that for international development, service must go first.

In this great new era, Sany will fully promote and take the lead in realizing the three major transformations of electrification, intelligence, and digitalization, leading the transformation and upgrading of China's construction machinery industry, China's manufacturing industry and even the world's manufacturing industry.Editor/Baohongying