Shanghai showcase: Murray Pollok reports from the bauma China exhibition
14 March 2011
Every Chinese exhibition seems to bring more access equipment, and more local manufacturers. At an extremely busy bauma China show in late November last year there were more than 21 Chinese manufacturers of booms, scissors, truck mounted platforms, mast climbing work platforms and hoists (see box story), in addition to western players like JLG, Terex, Haulotte, Skyjack, Snorkel and Manitou.
And while the established manufacturers have been busy establishing manufacturing plants in China (Snorkel, Terex, JLG, Haulotte, Aichi), the Chinese suppliers have been hard at work targeting export markets. For many at bauma China - including Dingli, Sinoboom, JingCheng and GJJ - it was Brazil, India and the Middle East that were engaging their attentions.
Star of the show had to be Dingli, which made an enormous impact with 44 (yes, 44) machines on its stand. It already has subsidiaries in Australia and Singapore and said it will this year sell over 2000 machines to export markets including Brazil, Russia, Australia and Turkey.
Mr Xu Shugen, Dingli's chief executive officer, told Access International that Dingli was now looking at opening offices in developing areas including India, Pakistan and Brazil. Earlier this year it established Dingli Australia and has now sold around 400 scissors and small platforms to Australia.
He said Dingli aimed to double its sales to 6000 units in 2011, with export accounting for as much as 70% of sales. The company is best known for its small platforms - and for previously supplying platforms for Snorkel - but in the last year it has expanded its range to include telescopic booms up to 42 m and rough terrain scissors up to 18 m working height. It says all its machines are CE marked for Europe.
Mr Xu says his OEM manufacturing days are over; "Now we want to promote the Dingli brand."
Sinoboom, one of several Chinese access manufacturers based in Changsha, said it will open subsidiaries in Australia and Brazil in the first half of 2011. It already has a Singapore office.
Susan Xu, Sinoboom's general manager, said the company had supplied around 20 machines to Brazil; "It is a small start, but in the future the quantity will be higher. The market there is very good." Around 35-40% of sales were exported this year but the company thinks that will increase to 50% in 2011.
Sinoboom also plans to sell to Europe and North America. It will aim to establish either a subsidiary or appoint dealers in Europe before the end of 2011, with any move into North America following in 2012. Mrs Xu said export sales would represent half of its business in 2011.
The company's currently has a 10000 m2 production facility, but is about to start construction of a new factory in Changsha. This will initially be a 66000 m2 plant, but Sinoboom said it will be further expanded in two stages to reach a production area of 180000 m2 by 2015.
Sinoboom is another Chinese manufacture that is fast-developing its product range. At bauma China it showed a new 41.6 m platform height telescopic boom and an electric 15 m articulated boom. The 41.6 m model has been developed for the massive shipyard market in China, although the first customer is actually a big state-owned Chinese contractor, China CMIIC Engineering & Construction Corp (CMIIIC), which is using it in Asia.
Mrs Xu said the company plans to launch telehandlers next year, probably 18 m models with 3 t and 5 t capacities, and also widen its range of articulating self-propelled booms.
The other Chinese booms and scissors producer that has been building a worldwide presence in recent years is Beijing Jingcheng Heavy Industry, a state owned company.
Bruce Zhang, Jingcheng's international sales director, told AI that it has sold 100 booms and scissors to Brazil this year [2010] and is also selling in India, South Africa and the Middle East.
However, it is also selling well in China, in particular to the shipyards where large telescopic booms are being used extensively. Mr Zhang says one decent sized ship will typically have five booms working on it.
Like other Chinese manufacturers the company continues to expand its product line. At bauma China the company showed a new 42 m telescopic boom (targeted at shipyards and other customers) and its largest yet rough terrain scissor, a 13 m platform height.
More are on the way. "We are working on a Spider boom with crawler tracks", says Mr Zhang, "We already have a wheeled 22 m unit, but we are developing a 24 m version." Also on the agenda are more rough terrain scissors and smaller, electric articulated booms.
The attractions of the shipyard business were evident in the number of very large telescopic booms on show. South Korean company, Junjin CSM, which has grown on the back of Korea's enormous shipbuilding industry, is now targeting China's shipyards with its range of booms.
On show was a new 42 m telescopic model, the TJ-420, which is larger than its previous biggest, the 38 m T-380N and TJ-380N. The 420 uses a heavier frame and wider axles than the 380 models and also has a polymer canopy rather than steel.
Mr Aleksei Baek, of JUNJINCSM's overseas sales team, told AI that the company sold 170 booms to Chinese shipyards lasts year and has sold around half that number in 2010.
Mr Baek says the company is now looking at producing a new range of articulated booms, with an 18 m model dies for launch early in 2011 and a 20 m unit to follow. He says a key target in producing these models has been to get costs down - the company's existing 15 knuckle boom is expensive, he says.
Export markets like Brazil and Russia and also key to JUNJINCSM's plans, and it has recently appointed a new Brazilian dealer, AR Tiger.
The show was also notable for the number of Chinese hoist and mast climber manufacturers (see the Mast Climber Feature on pagexxx)
Your next big chance to see Chinese suppliers in force will be the 2011 BICES show, taking place in Beijing on 18-21 October next year. Bauma China returns in November 2012. We are not sticking out our necks very far when we predict more Chinese access manufacturers and yet more platforms.
