After 20 years of development, my country's logistics equipment manufacturing system has been established, with complete product system, improved technical strength, and improved equipment level, and continuously developing comprehensive strength. Operation management has been initially automated, informatized, and even intelligent. The logistics equipment industry has accumulated considerable material development foundation, professional team and experience and lessons, and has gathered the momentum and experience to enter the globalization.
In fact, the curtain has long been opened for the globalization of China's logistics equipment enterprises, and in the future we will also see the tide of globalization of the logistics equipment industry accelerated.
1. Development path
The global development of my country's logistics equipment enterprises is different because of different product types and business types, different development models of enterprises, and different stages of experience. The basic evolution path can be divided into several stages such as product export, overseas project construction, global factory establishment and mergers and acquisitions.
In terms of product export, the most typical is the light small handling trucks, forklifts and other products export, representing companies including Nuoli, Ruyi, etc.; shelves is also an important category for export of logistics equipment. Shelf companies such as Nanjing Huade and Shanghai Sbino have all focused on overseas markets. For example, since 2007, Xinsong Robot has begun to enter the overseas market. Its mobile robot has been successfully included in General Motors' global procurement platform and exported to 13 developed countries in Europe and the United States, rewriting the history of my country's robot products being imported but not exported.
At the 2016 Asia International Logistics Technology and Transportation System Exhibition, the heavy-load composite robot launched by Xinsong was well received by domestic and foreign audiences
In fact, because China's modern logistics started late, most domestic logistics equipment companies were established after entering the 21st century, decades later than foreign companies. Therefore, many Chinese logistics equipment companies have experienced the development path of learning foreign technology, digestion and absorption, integrated innovation, and independent research and development.
With the accelerated development of modern logistics in China, the market demand for automated logistics systems has continued to rise, which has promoted the growth of China's logistics equipment companies. Many companies have gradually formed product series and production scale, and have continuously accumulated project construction experience. They are no longer limited to development in the domestic market. They have begun to look at the global market and undertake overseas projects, providing a full set of services such as planning and design, equipment provision, installation and implementation, and after-sales maintenance of the entire logistics system project.
For example, famous domestic logistics system integrators such as Beiqiyuan and Beizi Institute have successfully entered the foreign market. It is worth mentioning that in 2014, Kunchuan Logistics Company successfully signed the Indonesian Salt Warehouse Tobacco Group's raw material logistics system integration project, realizing the first large-scale export of complete sets of equipment for Kunchuan automated logistics system.
In recent years, with the intensification of domestic market competition, logistics equipment companies have devoted more energy to getting rid of low-end homogeneity and pursuing technological updates and leading, so that product performance will continue to improve. Some Chinese logistics equipment companies have begun to set up branches, build factories abroad, and even acquire advanced foreign companies. For example, companies such as Dema and CIMC Tianda were the first to taste the dividends brought by globalization and gain new development space.
It can be said that through more than ten years of technology follow-up to independent research and development innovation, China's logistics equipment companies have continuously enhanced their strength, their technical level has been greatly improved, and they have gradually approached the international advanced level in terms of product systems, equipment functions, etc. Although my country's logistics equipment companies have not been on the road of global development for a long time, they have achieved gratifying results. can be foreseen that in the next 10 years, my country's logistics equipment companies will be able to compete head-on with international advanced enterprises.
2. pull factors
Global development of the logistics equipment industry is first closely related to the general trend of economic globalization.
At present, all levels of the international economy are inseparable and comprehensively related, forming an open economic pattern.As my country's labor costs continue to rise and resource constraints are increasing, the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing enterprises is imminent; in 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission took the lead in formulating the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Going of Equipment", aiming to support Chinese equipment enterprises to go global and compete with multinational companies with advanced technology and strong strength, forcing enterprises to continuously improve their technology, quality and service levels, and improve their overall quality and core competitiveness.
After 20 years of development, my country's logistics equipment manufacturing system has been established, with complete product system, improved technical strength and equipment level, and continuously enhanced comprehensive strength. Operation management has initially achieved automation, informatization and even intelligence. The logistics equipment industry has accumulated considerable material foundation, professional team and industry experience, and has gathered the momentum to enter the global market.
1. The internal motivation and external pressure of the enterprise's own expansion drive
The internal motivation of the enterprise is always the most core and most powerful force of globalization.
Logistics equipment industry, like other industries, industry giants are international enterprises without exception. Chinese logistics equipment companies with enterprising spirit have long been exploring the path of global development, which is due to the internal driving force and external pressure of corporate development. When enterprises develop to a certain stage, globalization will inevitably be put on the agenda.
The development of the logistics equipment industry undoubtedly requires a broader market, cheaper labor, and more advanced technology to obtain maximum profits. Logistics equipment companies are no longer just production units of products, but also organizers and integrators of resources. The internal development of an enterprise requires that it organizes lower-cost resources and provides products with better quality and lower prices within the scope of the possible range. Therefore, it is the only way to build a global supply chain for the enterprise.
With the rapid progress of modern manufacturing and logistics industries, the production and service nature of logistics equipment requires equipment companies to have customized production capacity, rapid response capabilities, and instant service capabilities, making equipment companies closer to the market and also promote globalization and localization.
2. The construction of the "Belt and Road" drives
Countries along the "Belt and Road" include 2/3 of the global economic output, 1/3 of the global GDP, and 1/4 of global services and production. Obviously, the construction of the "Belt and Road" will greatly promote the development of logistics equipment, the construction and operation of logistics platforms, equipment, warehousing and distribution systems along the road, the construction of conversion facilities for different transportation systems, the construction of full-process monitoring systems, the standardized application of pallets and other container equipment, etc., etc., and there are huge business opportunities. At present, China has built a large number of logistics parks in Belarus, Kazakhstan , Indonesia and other countries to coordinate the above problems. There are also private enterprises and local joint ventures to build logistics nodes, etc., and logistics equipment companies are also involved.
" Logistics Technology and Applications" magazine Editor-in-chief Professor Wu Qingyi pointed out two years ago that the construction of logistics system along the "Belt and Road" is more important than equipment exports. He particularly emphasized that enterprises should grasp such development trends, seize opportunities, follow the "Belt and Road" and develop together at the coordinated development of domestic and foreign markets.
3. Cross-border e-commerce drives
The rapid development of e-commerce in my country has promoted the globalization of e-commerce. The huge demand for "Double 11" in several years has put forward a test on logistics equipment. "The competition in e-commerce is the competition in logistics, and the competition in logistics is the competition in logistics equipment" has become a consensus, and the logistics equipment industry has achieved reasonable and unexpected huge developments.
It is predicted that by 2020, the scale of cross-border e-commerce transactions in my country will reach 12 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 30% of China's total import and export volume. The latest "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Express Industry" also clearly mentions "expand overseas markets, accelerate international development, and encourage express delivery companies to go global."According to incomplete statistics, SF Express international business outlets are spread across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Tiantian Express International Business Department has built 8 overseas branches, 14 overseas warehouses and 7 international dedicated lines. YTO has launched 18 overseas franchises, ZTO has established a Thai company, and Shentong Russian Far East Company has opened 11 export dedicated lines... Although the strategic focus and layout strategies are different, major express companies are jointly weaving a China Express international business network; Chinese companies are accelerating the pace of global e-commerce layout, which undoubtedly has formed a great driving force for the globalization of logistics equipment companies.
4. Economic globalization drives
At present, many industries in my country's construction industry, energy and resource industry, clothing industry, marine and petroleum and petrochemical industry, steel, electronics, automobiles, etc. have entered the global market and achieved major results, establishing a global development system. As the above-mentioned enterprises go abroad, logistics equipment companies must provide relevant construction and supporting services; in the process of serving the global development of Chinese enterprises, Chinese logistics equipment companies have also built their own globalization system and gradually gained a foothold abroad.
In addition, my country's logistics equipment companies are also accelerating their integration into the global supply chain, providing increasingly advanced logistics technology and reliable equipment, and gradually becoming important equipment vendors and integrators around the world.
3. Representative model
At present, there are many Chinese logistics equipment companies that go abroad, among which the representative companies and their development models can be summarized into the following 4 types:
1. Dema Model
Looking at the top international logistics automation system solution companies, all of them are global enterprises. Logistics automation equipment and system solution planning, experience and technology are highly intensive, and the stronger the stronger. Globalization can enable DeMarketing to conduct in-depth strategic cooperation with leading international logistics automation companies to achieve the fastest concentration of the best technology.
Since 2010, the relocation of Dema headquarters in Shanghai marks the official start of its globalization. Since then, Dema began to build assembly factories and service institutions overseas. It has now built factories or established offices in Australia, Malaysia , Singapore , the United States, New Zealand, Mexico , and Brazil, and will build European sorting equipment factories in the near future.
Dima's global development model is similar to "central kitchen", that is, using China's factories as production bases to achieve large-scale, standardized and modular production of products, and then export them to the global market, and assembly and installation services are provided by local companies or partners in Dema. For example, the products provided by Dema Australia are divided into small parts orders and manufactured in Australian factories and directly provided to users. The complete equipment is manufactured in China and exported to Australia according to Australian standards. In order to make full use of the advantages of factories in both places and produce the most cost-effective products. In this model, "standards" are the key factor in equipment manufacturing. Only when the standards are controlled can products be passed unhindered in domestic and foreign markets.
2. Xinsong Robot Mode
Xinsong's globalization began early, and its AGV products had entered General Motors' global procurement system in 2007. It is understood that Xinsong's assembled mobile robots are exported to more than a dozen countries and regions including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, India, etc., and the international market sales account for more than half of its total sales. Globally, except for Fanuc and ABB, Xinsong ranks third in the robotics industry.
At present, China has become the largest application market for robots in the world. All international robot giants have already entered the market. In 2013, Chinese companies' domestic market share was only 10%, and in 2015, they were only 25%. The core components were monopolized by foreign companies. Chinese companies have difficulty finding opportunities in the domestic market, which has become a severe challenge in the development process. Therefore, Xinsong's globalization is also included in its competition with international giants in the domestic market.
In order to deal with the global competition between the two international and domestic markets, Xinsong's model is to build a platform to gather resources such as government support, capital, and technology accumulation to provide full guarantee for its global competition. For example, in the past few years, Xinsong has established a professional team, including the establishment of several funds of 10 billion yuan, and is looking for mergers and acquisitions opportunities around the world.In terms of technical trends, Xinsong focuses on laying out machine perception systems; in the search for target companies, it aims at high-quality European and American companies, only looking at industry leaders or hidden champions of a certain technology; in terms of investment methods, it only conducts industrial integration and does not conduct financial investment. Xinsong President Qu Daokui clearly stated that Xinsong is committed to becoming an international robot company with leading technology. "Our mergers and acquisitions will be some big mergers and acquisitions, which will change the industry structure."
3. CIMC Tianda Logistics Model
CIMC Tianda Logistics System Engineering Co., Ltd., as a subsidiary of CIMC Group, has adopted the group's model of globalization: through overseas mergers and acquisitions, it has achieved "Made in China" to "global manufacturing". Its core view is: "Made in China" does not necessarily mean that it is local in China, but can also be global. To summarize its main concept is "global operation, local wisdom."
From integrating Chinese resources to integrating global resources, CIMC Group has become a large enterprise with an average annual output value of about 60 billion yuan. Not only has the largest container production and sales volume ranked first in the world for 20 consecutive years, but it has also completed the establishment of new business areas such as container semi-trailers, offshore equipment, food equipment, fire trucks, etc., achieving overseas business revenue of more than 60%, and its business covers more than 100 countries or regions around the world, with about 300 member units. Among them, CIMC Tianda has more than 20 years of professional logistics system planning and integration experience. Through the reverse acquisition of Singapore Deli International Pteris, it has successfully achieved overseas listing and is also the second listed company under CIMC. Pteris is headquartered in Singapore. Its main business includes airport baggage processing system, global airport logistics management system, international air meal distribution processing system, air cargo processing system, aviation express delivery processing system, etc. After CIMC Tianda acquires Pteris, it will collaborate in the design, production and sales of airport luggage processing systems, global airport logistics management systems, etc., and focus on researching high-end technologies such as logistics sorting and system integration.
CIMC Tianda's focus on integrating global manufacturing resources is on the introduction of technology and the upgrading and transformation of existing domestic manufacturing, which is more transparent and less risky than before. In this way, the "Made in China" brand has also become a symbol of "global manufacturing" in a sense. CIMC Tianda has explored and accumulated more mature experience in overseas enterprise mergers and acquisitions and management, and has become a global enterprise.
4. Essential Star Mode
Shelf Products have a low technical threshold and small product differences, resulting in serious low-price homogeneity competition among enterprises. Because domestic shelf companies are severely troubled by project advance funding, and although foreign markets have low profits, payments are timely, shelf companies have opened up international markets. As a leading shelf company in my country, Shanghai Jingxing has been going global for nearly 20 years. Jingxing follows the development trajectory of products, talents and brands, and has gone through projects one by one. Jingxing’s model is to gradually establish a brand through projects. This model represents the characteristics of private shelf companies going global.
Jingxing actively went overseas with logistics system integrators such as Beiqiyuan and Kunchuan, etc., to support each other and jointly create a price competitive advantage. At the same time, through high-quality projects, Jingxing has created a reliable reputation for its high-end shelf technology. At present, in countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, the brand of Jingxing has a certain popularity and the amount of projects undertaken is getting bigger and bigger.
4. Development ideas
No enterprise's road to globalization is not full of difficulties. Through colorful stories and legends, it is not difficult to see that accessing technology and markets is the purpose of globalization, capital and financial services are strongly promoted, and technology and capital are the two wings that help logistics equipment enterprises take off in the globalization.
First of all, an important means of enterprise globalization is investment and mergers and acquisitions.
is worth mentioning, and the concept of globalization has undergone important changes. The popular view before was: after winning the domestic market competition and becoming an industry leader, we will enter globalization in order to seek greater development, so as to fully tap the international and domestic resources and make full use of the international and domestic markets.
However, as the competition among enterprises has entered the competition of the supply chain, the current understanding has been updated and improved on this basis.The domestic development of transforming into a company must also make use of global resources as soon as possible. At the beginning of development, we must plan the two domestic and international markets and two resources. It is no longer two stages, but mutually complementary and development at the same time. Because the trend of globalization has accelerated significantly, the changes are profound, and time is endless.
Secondly, the current popular new idea of overseas investment is:
First, looking for China 10 years ago. Our business community firmly believes that what happened in China 10 years ago will definitely happen in countries that have risen. Due to the low labor costs, low land use costs and low government management costs, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Philippines are the current investment depressions.
Second, China Power grafts global resources. The general rule of is that the world's number one companies account for about 1/3 of the product market. According to this logic, find the world's number one companies or companies with the world's number one potential quality, and the market share of their products is best below 20%, and acquire or reorganize these companies. This is also what we see as Chinese companies that seem to pay more attention to their German and Japanese counterparts, because they are very likely to be "hidden champions" that have created products that have been sophisticated by generations, and sold them in China, the world's largest market, and ultimately achieved obvious world first, and thus continue to make the most profit. Logistics equipment companies have practiced the above ideas.
In addition, at the global level, standards are also very important. On the one hand, they must comply with and comply with the standards of various countries and regions; on the other hand, they must actively increase the market share of China's logistics equipment products and actively and consciously enhance the influence of Chinese standards.
In addition, international development cannot be separated from mutual cooperation. Because the logistics equipment industry has a long industrial chain, almost no company can exclusively provide all products from software to hardware in logistics system projects, and provide one-stop services from system planning and design to equipment manufacturing and installation. Therefore, forming partnerships with upstream and downstream companies and going overseas together is an inevitable choice for most logistics equipment companies to explore overseas markets.
Undoubtedly, the vast majority of logistics equipment companies are facing more opportunities in this round of globalization, while private logistics equipment companies are better at learning and competition, have more flexible and efficient operations, and have become an indispensable and important force in globalization after 20 years of exploration and tempering.
President Xi Jinping pointed out: "Human society is in an era of great development, great changes and great adjustments. The world's multi-polarization, economic globalization, social informatization and cultural diversity are developing in depth. The general trend of peaceful development is becoming increasingly strong, and the pace of change and innovation continues to move forward."
We believe that under the guidance of the "Belt and Road Initiative", in the future, Chinese logistics equipment companies will unremittingly pursue automation, informatization and intelligence, move from China to the world, and create new glory for the development of logistics equipment.
