New Fortune: How Can The Manufacturing Industry Achieve Green Transformation And Upgrading? CIMC Vehicles Make The Grade In Responding To Changes
As the global leader in sophisticated manufacturing of semi-trailers and specialty vehicles, CIMC Vehicles actively responds to opportunities and challenges. Leveraging on strong industrial experience and technical accumulation, and adopting precise measures from cost-side, manufacturing-side and product-side, CIMC Vehicles has been continuously establishing the Sophisticated Manufacturing System and consolidating the New Management Infrastructure, so as to achieve high-quality development and empower advanced manufacturing.
Cost-Side: Building a Global Supply Chain Management System, Enhancing the Capabilities of Intercontinental Operation
With the flare-ups of the pandemic, the production and operation of semi-trailer enterprises in various places have been affected by the increase in ocean freight and raw material prices, the shortage in global supply chains and global inflation. Against this backdrop, CIMC Vehicles gave play to the advantages of global resource integration through Intercontinental Operation, controlled the global logistics and distribution costs through centralized purchase and digital management of the global supply chain, and optimized the arrangements for local production and manufacturing, and actively captured the business growth opportunities.
At the time of great changes in the industry, CIMC Vehicles' global supply chain management will focus on "products, prices and relationships", and the Company will be committed to the construction of "process digitization", and continuously advancing the design and global deployment of the EPS platform. Benefiting from the global supply chain management system, CIMC Vehicles' overseas business rebounded significantly, with revenue reaching RMB 9,010 million in 2021, a significant increase of 23.1% year-on-year, amid the shortages in the global supply chain. In particular, the revenue of CIMC Vehicles from refrigerated trailers in North America increased significantly by 122.3% to RMB1,516.2 million, ranking third in the refrigerated semi-trailer market of North America with the market share increasing to 10.2%; the revenue from van trailers in North America increased by 11.0% to RMB1,952.8 million, thus ranking first among the market of van trailers in North America, with a market share of 6.7%. Furthermore, the European Business actively seized the market opportunities, as SDC ranked first in the market of the United Kingdom, with its market share increasing to approximately 27.5%, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.8 percentage points; LAG actively optimized its production and assembly lines, improved its production capacity arrangements, and vigorously implemented the ERP system and the global supply chain management system. In the first quarter of 2022, CIMC Vehicles’ overseas market performance was still brilliant, with a year-on-year increase in the revenue of the North American Business by 108.8%; and there was a steady increase in sales volume and revenue for European Business.
Manufacturing-Side: Upgrading "Light Tower" Production Line, Actively Building Light Tower Manufacturing
China has been upgraded from a manufacturer of quantity to one of quality. The digital and intelligent transformation of production has been the technical guarantee for the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry. CIMC Vehicles has invested in the construction and upgrading of more than 20 "Light Tower" production lines in the past six years. Yet, the utilization rate of these production lines has not been fully developed, and they fail to support intercontinental operation and trans-regional operation very flexibly and quickly. In the coming days, CIMC Vehicles will actively prepare the upgraded version of “Light Tower” Plants: "Light Tower” Manufacturing Network. By constructing a trans-regional operation network of the 1#-5# semi-trailer in China, CIMC Vehicles will expedite product launch, improve the utilization rate of “Light Tower" Plants’ core production equipment, effectively connecting the global semi-trailer business in the long run.
Product-Side: Strengthening R&D of Product Technology, Enhancing Core Competitiveness
As of 2021, CIMC Vehicles had a global
research and development team of 795 people, obtained more than 1,000
registered patents, and participated in the formulation and modification of 22
national and industry standards for semi-trailers and truck bodies for
specialty vehicles in China. In terms of research projects, CIMC Vehicles is
actively developing the ERP platform for digital work, K2 refrigerated van manufacturing upgrade
project, the North American refrigerated truck technology upgrade project, the
research on modularization of common parts for mixer trucks, and the research
on four-axle and three-axle semi-trailers with large wheelbase new energy and
Intelligent concrete mixer trucks project, digital simulation technology, LEGO
modular products, I-Eagle digital operation platform for North
American Business, etc.
With respect to research projects, CIMC Vehicles has continuously invested in R&D. In 2021, the main research and development achievements included new curtain-side trailers, new bulk gain tipper trailers, intelligent milk tank semi-trailers, and intelligent aluminum alloy horizontal dry bulk tank trailers. Relying on the research and development of new technologies and products, CIMC Vehicles' products have achieved great advantages in terms of light weight, intelligence, durability and cost-effectiveness.