The birth of the largest tonnage of China's automobile cranes in the Zoomlion "Challenges Impossible"

Kuwait, on the west coast of the Persian Gulf, has 10% of the world's total oil reserves, ranking fourth in the world, and it also has a relatively strong financial position in Kuwait. Therefore, the local infrastructure industry has high requirements for imported products of construction machinery. . Especially in the field of truck cranes, due to the high technical content of large-tonnage truck cranes and the complex product structure, local businesses have agreed on the customary purchasing habits: Small-tonnage cranes will consider Chinese brands, but most large-tonnage cranes are imported from Europe, America, or Japan.

Zoomlion 150t Truck Crane in Kuwait

Recently, in the Kuwait City, the capital, people saw a large-tonnage truck crane that sparkled in a green light, which caused a sensation in the local industry. It is understood that this equipment from the leading domestic equipment manufacturing giant Zoomlion, its maximum weight up to 150 tons, in one fell swoop to Kuwait's largest tonnage Chinese brand truck crane. Its appearance has enabled the rewriting of the history of China's large-tonnage truck cranes in Kuwait and has also become a new story of Chinese manufacturing continuing overseas breakthroughs.

Breaking the "conventional common name" This equipment challenge is impossible

At the beginning of this year, a large multinational engineering contractor in Kuwait started to plan to purchase new large-tonnage cranes for the new project they undertake — the maintenance and repair project of the UHV power transmission network of the Ministry of Hydropower of Kuwait.

The company’s procurement plan manager introduced that this project is a project with a high risk factor. Workers need to use cranes to work alongside the 500,000-volt EHV lines. If there is a slight loss of construction equipment, it will lead to major safety accidents. Therefore, the stability and safety of the large-tonnage crane are the first consideration for them.

In recent years, this company has been using large-tonnage mobile cranes in Europe and the United States. This has almost become an established rule. Only a few small-tonnage products will be selected in China. The reason is simple—the technological content of large-tonnage products. Gao, Chinese branded products are unlikely to be competent.

The opinions of the purchasing department were quickly submitted to the table of procurement decision makers, but this time it has changed - in addition to several European and American brands, there is also a Chinese brand called Zoomlion. The reason is: "Before the 80-ton truck crane that used Zoomlion brand, their outstanding quality and excellent service can be considered."

According to Liu Yang, manager of Zoomlion responsible for the sales of the five Gulf countries, this time the cooperation: "The procurement team began to communicate with us, we introduced them to the research achievements of the United Zoomlion cranes over the past 10 years and in the global market. They are very interested in the impressive sales, but they are very cautious and understand the situation while comparing with other brands."

After understanding the basic situation, the procurement team deliberately flew from Kuwait to Changsha, Hunan, where Zoomlion headquarters is located. The site visited the production process and production scale of large-tonnage truck cranes. After a technical exchange with the scientific research team and an on-site inspection of the factory assembly line, Far-off guests have changed their prejudice against Chinese brands of large-tonnage cranes and praised Zoomlion’s advanced design concepts and rigorous process flow.

This trip to the field of research, the procurement team also went to other companies to compare, Liu Yang said: "shopping than three very normal, ZTC1500 is China's leading product, can stand the test."

Zoomlion 150t truck crane officially delivered to customer units

After returning to Kuwait, after several rounds of discussions, the purchasing team finally decided to purchase Zoomlion ZTC1500 large-tonnage truck cranes, and purchased a single purchase of five QY80 truck cranes. This made Liu Yang and his team very excited. "This is the first large-tonnage domestic-made truck crane in Kuwait with a 150-ton class, which is of extraordinary significance."

Breaking down the doubts

After the equipment arrived in Kuwait, it immediately started to work. The ZTC 1500 needed to undergo two tests - the first test was the high temperature operating environment. Kuwait ranks first in the "World's Top 10 Hottest Cities". In the desert construction site in summer, the temperature can reach 60 degrees during the day, and the summer heat is hard to resist.

The second test is that the operations must be accurate. Because there are ultra-high voltage transmission lines around, any movement error may cause the car to crash. This requirement is even more stringent: In the case where the main boom of the 7th section of the crane reaches a full extension of 72 meters, it is necessary to maintain smooth and smooth movements such as contraction, rotation, luffing, and lifting.

Due to the influence of local traditional concepts, many people in the industry questioned the actual performance of Chinese brand large tonnage truck cranes. A local industry expert said: "In such a hot environment, it is not only difficult for people to accept. It is a big challenge for the normal operation of the hydraulic system of the equipment."

From the time of delivery in May to more than three months, facing the external high temperatures and the internal components running-in period, this crane, like the Chinese “hard guy”, has withstood many tests, the hydraulic system is operating normally, and the overall operation of the equipment is safe and efficient. . In the high-density ultra-high voltage transmission line network, the equipment moves smoothly without any slightest problems. Some industry professionals who have been biased towards domestic large-tonnage cranes have finally accepted the high standards of Zoomlion’s heavy tonnage cranes.

ZTC1500 High temperature operation in live EHV line network

The project manager of the construction party introduced that we will receive many construction companies on site every day. Many companies that used large-tonnage cranes from Europe, America and Japan have come to the construction site to visit and see. After seeing the outstanding performance of the ZTC1500, they all said that once the next time With the purchase of large-tonnage equipment, Zoomlion will be the focus.

In terms of after-sales service, Zoomlion is also constantly optimizing. The localization companies in the Middle East have expanded the Dubai Central Bank in recent years, radiating Kuwait and other neighboring countries, and continuously strengthened service skills training for agents in the five Gulf countries to ensure the normal operation of local customer equipment.

Driven by the national “One Belt and One Road” initiative, Zoomlion increased its investment in scientific research, continuously introduced new products, optimized product structure, and carried out localized design. In a number of overseas markets, it continuously broke some products that were monopolized by foreign brands for a long time. situation. Liu Yang said: "We expect that in the future market competition, there will be more and more Zoomlion mechanical equipment, breaking the dominant position of foreign brands, and showing the ever-changing level of national industrial manufacturing to the world." Associated Branch)