Looking After Sales

Globalisation or, at least, internationalisation is a key Zoomlion strategy. The idea is applied to, among other areas, sales, people, operations and standards.

Engineering machinery has very high requirements on after-sales services and an international after sales service system is a basic requirement for a global market. The training process for Zoomlion agents is being designed. “Good quality, good design and good technical support” are the focus.

Zoomlion will establish two levels of after-sales service system. The first level will require that agents have their own after-sales service team passing Zoomlion training certification and, at the same time, have a spare parts inventory of 50% of the total spare parts.

At the second level Zoomlion will build an overseas team to offer after sales service and technical support to its agents. Spare part centres will be set up in major markets to offer customers and agents more efficient and faster spare parts supply.

Construction of the first overseas Zoomlion spare parts centre has started in Dubai and is expected to open in the first half of 2008. By 2010 it is planned to have one spare parts centre in Europe and North America, each on the same scale.

“It is estimated that by the first half of the next year [2008] we will have established subsidiaries in the USA, India, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Algeria, Hong Kong and Ukraine besides our existing Gulf and British subsidiary. Also, we are planning to set up over 15 subsidiaries by 2010 and form a perfect global marketing network with our agents,” says Chen Peiliang at Zoomlion.

Suppliers for electronic and other components are beginning to be sought for local markets around the world and the plan is to manufacture in local markets in future but a company spokesman acknowledged that this is still some way off: “We still have a long way to go.”