Engine of high-quality power, mobility

Internal combustion engine manufacturer Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group Co will innovate its technologies further to accelerate its international expansion and strengthen its pursuit of a leading position in the global market this decade, its chairman Yan Ping said.

The State-owned enterprise, headquartered in Yulin, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, will remain customer-focused, pursue high-quality development and concentrate on its main business, Yan said.

The company is already aiming to outperform domestic counterparts in five years, he said.

Founded in 1951, Yuchai makes engines that are used to power a wide range of products. The conglomerate has total assets of 40.5 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) and nearly 20,000 employees.

Yuchai's main engine products have been sold to more than 180 countries and regions around the world, including developed countries such as Singapore, Germany, South Korea and developing countries such as Vietnam and South Africa.

According to the company, sales in overseas markets have been growing rapidly in the past 10 years. In 2019, exports surpassed 50,000 units－a record.

Annually, about 20,000 units are exported to Vietnam, accounting for 40 percent of the company's total export volume, the company said.

Yuchai has received large purchase orders from Saudi Arabia in recent years. Since 2007, the company's exports to Saudi Arabia have exceeded 22,000 units.

Having already expanded in international markets for several years now, Yuchai boasts 17 offices, 222 service agents overseas, and a sales subsidiary in Europe.

The group also set up a European research and development center in 2017, as its global customers demanded higher-quality products that conform to stricter emission regulations. The center will endeavor to maximize the use of global innovation resources and improve Yuchai's R&D and innovation capabilities, Yan said.

Meanwhile, Yuchai has established close partnerships with major international research institutions such as Austria-based AVL that specialize in internal combustion engines.

According to a 2019 evaluation led by the National Development and Reform Commission, Yuchai was certified as a National Enterprise Technology Centre, ranking fifth among 1,563 companies. It is a status given to certain R&D structures established by enterprises with strong innovation capabilities and remarkable technology results.

Its strategic cooperation with world-renowned companies such as Germany-based MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH effectively boosts the Chinese manufacturer's reputation and expands its influence, the company said.

MTU Yuchai Power Co was founded in February 2017. The joint venture mainly produces S4000 engines, and serves China's highend power market. The move further strengthened Yuchai's position as a leading manufacturer of marine and power generation engines. At present, the company has a rich product mix, covering low-, medium-, and high-speed internal combustion engines.

A key reason for the rising overseas sales of Yuchai's products lies in the manufacturing giant's devotion to technology advancement, Yan said.

As early as 2011, Yuchai had produced China's first diesel engine that complied with Euro VI emission standards－requirements that were put in place to improve air quality and health.

In 2018, China released the final rule for the China VI emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, or HDVs. The regulation, hailed as the most stringent emission standards, will be implemented in two phases. The regulation will require all new HDVs sold in China to meet the standard in the next few years.

To meet the strict standards, Yuchai YCK08 China VI engine completed 1,460 hours of emission durability test and emission certification at the Tianjin Automobile Technology and Research Center. In 2019, it produced the first China VI heavy-duty diesel engine that completed all inspection items.

Yan said: "Our factory lines for the VI engine products meet a new and higher standard. We have decisively eliminated excess capacity worth about 400 million yuan, and closed down industries with low efficiency, with focus on production of power products.

"The group has eliminated more than 800 units of obsolete equipment, and established a new intelligent development platform meeting the national VI standard. It will lay the foundation for increasingly stringent environmental protection emission standards and Yuchai's 2025 strategy," Yan said.

The company said it aims to increase both its engine sales to more than 900,000 units and revenue to more than 60 billion yuan by 2025. In 2019, its total sales volume reached 385,000 units.

Last year, Yuchai's first cooperation project with Huawei, Yuchai R&D System Reform, was launched. This marks an important reform to transform business management from being product-oriented to being customer-oriented.

With the help of Huawei's experience in the construction of systems, the two sides plan to create a modern world-class R&D management system integrated with China's machinery manufacturing industry.

Yan said the new era will see Yuchai overtaking other world-class enterprises and upholding the national industry. So, learning from such a great enterprise as Huawei is the most effective way to fulfil Yuchai's destiny in the global markets.