Dongfeng Interview Released in International Construction Magazine
2010-11-12
Dongfeng has long been viewed as one of the more serious equipment manufacturers to emerge from China over the last decade. It was established in the late 1950s and has more than 50 years’ experience building wheeled loaders. In fact its strong presence in the enormous Chinese wheeled loader market means it is reckoned by some to be the largest manufacturer of these machines in the world – ahead of the household names like Caterpillar, Komatsu and Volvo.
But Dongfeng today is about more than just the Chinese market,and more than just wheeled loaders. Its portfolio now includes excavators, cranes, graders, rollers, pavers, milling machines, skid steer loaders and backhoe loaders, and it is growing all the time.
Despite terrible market conditions around the world over the last two years, Dongfeng continues to invest in its export infrastructure, as president Zeng Guang’an explained.
"We will open another three subsidiaries this year. One in Singapore for south east Asia, another in Dubai for the Arabic markets, and a third in Johannesburg, South Africa for the sub-Saharan markets. So by the end of this year we will have nine regional subsidiaries for the international markets taking care of service, parts, marketing and so on. It’s a big change for us to move things closer to the markets, but of course there is a lot of support from the home factory,” he said.
As well as these sales subsidiaries, the company has an ambitious plan to open various manufacturing facilities around the world. Indeed, Dongfeng made history last August when it became the fi rst Chinese construction equipment manufacturer to open a factory outside its home market with the inauguration of a 177000 m2 wheeled loader plant in Pritampur, near Indore in India.
Dongfeng invested US$ 30 million in the facility, which is designed to put out as many as 2000 wheeled loaders per year, as well as excavators, backhoe loaders, compaction equipment and forklift trucks. However,according to Mr Zeng, things have got off to a slower than expected start.
"We’re working on improving the skills of the workers, because they were very poor. We also looked at the effi ciency and safety,
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But Dongfeng today is about more than just the Chinese market,and more than just wheeled loaders. Its portfolio now includes excavators, cranes, graders, rollers, pavers, milling machines, skid steer loaders and backhoe loaders, and it is growing all the time.
Despite terrible market conditions around the world over the last two years, Dongfeng continues to invest in its export infrastructure, as president Zeng Guang’an explained.
"We will open another three subsidiaries this year. One in Singapore for south east Asia, another in Dubai for the Arabic markets, and a third in Johannesburg, South Africa for the sub-Saharan markets. So by the end of this year we will have nine regional subsidiaries for the international markets taking care of service, parts, marketing and so on. It’s a big change for us to move things closer to the markets, but of course there is a lot of support from the home factory,” he said.
As well as these sales subsidiaries, the company has an ambitious plan to open various manufacturing facilities around the world. Indeed, Dongfeng made history last August when it became the fi rst Chinese construction equipment manufacturer to open a factory outside its home market with the inauguration of a 177000 m2 wheeled loader plant in Pritampur, near Indore in India.
Dongfeng invested US$ 30 million in the facility, which is designed to put out as many as 2000 wheeled loaders per year, as well as excavators, backhoe loaders, compaction equipment and forklift trucks. However,according to Mr Zeng, things have got off to a slower than expected start.
"We’re working on improving the skills of the workers, because they were very poor. We also looked at the effi ciency and safety,
More>>
