CITY AIMS TO BUILD ON SUCCESS IN MANUFACTURING AND RANKS TOP IN CHINA FOR CONSTRUCTION

INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING

In 2015, Changsha sounded the clarion call for intelligent manufacturing to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, guiding the intelligent transformation of traditional industries and empowering the development of manufacturing with a new generation of information technology. Changsha's advanced manufacturing industry has achieved continuous expansion in terms of production scale, enterprise scale and development momentum. By 2020, Changsha had 3,016 industrial enterprises above designated size, ranking first among the six provincial capitals in Central China. In the first half of this year, the added value of the city's large-scale industries increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year, 3 percentage points higher than the annual target. With the constant improvement of the city's advanced manufacturing development, Changsha has established a relatively complete production system covering 155 industry categories.

Changsha construction equipment manufacturing colossus Sany has been ranked in Forbes magazine's top 500 global enterprises list, becoming China's first construction machinery enterprise to make an appearance.

Sany placed 468th on the list. In the first half of the year, the company reported operating revenue of 67.1 billion yuan ($10.4 billion), up 36.5 percent year-on-year, with its product competitiveness and market share continuing to rise.

Sany is just one of a vast number of advanced equipment manufacturers in Changsha that have developed rapidly over the years, creating China's capital for construction machinery.

The total output value of Changsha's construction machinery industry alone exceeds 200 billion yuan, which makes it the third-largest construction machinery industry cluster in the world after the state of Illinois in the United States and Tokyo in Japan.

As a result, it's not surprising that Changsha has been home to a number of world firsts in the manufacturing industry, such as world's largest crane tower for building wind power pylons, the largest tonnage crane exported overseas, the world's longest steel jib pump truck and the largest diameter boring machine in China.

Products manufactured in Changsha have been sold in some 180 countries and regions around the world, with many exported to the countries regarded as leading powers in traditional construction machinery manufacturing including the US, Germany and Japan.

On Aug 23, drilling equipment was prepared for export at Shanhe Industrial Town, an industrial park in the city. The equipment will be transported to the African market and applied to one of China's largest single real-economy investment projects in Africa. Two decades ago, foreign manufacturers dominated core technologies in the field of excavators and pump trucks production, which created a disadvantage for the domestic market.

He Qinghua is the founder of Sunward Intelligence, a company that manufactures hydraulic cylinders for excavators. After continuous effort in research and innovation, He's team broke through into the market by cultivating a number of key technologies.

Today, the company has independently developed more than 200 competitive equipment products with independent intellectual property rights.

It has established subsidiaries in the US, Belgium, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and other countries, and its products have been exported to more than 100 countries and regions around the world.

Sany Group, Sunward, Zoomlion and China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, all based in Changsha, were named as top 50 global construction machinery manufacturers in 2021 on a list released by the organizing committee of a global top 50 construction machinery summit.

China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, a leading enterprise in Changsha's manufacturing industry, also saw remarkable development last year.

It has successfully developed the largest domestic 16-meter boring machine and the first domestically made four-arm rock drill. Both of these have been used in the construction of subways, coal mines, water conservancy projects and plateau railways in China.

The company will continue to strengthen its scientific research, enhance the ability to drive core technologies, forge advantageous products and contribute to building Hunan into a national-level advanced manufacturing base, according to Liu Feixiang, chairman of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry.