China's grader entered the Australian mining area for the first time

The Pilbara region of Western Australia has a hot and dry climate, and large mining machinery is busy working, with mechanical roars and deep gullies.

Australia's iron ore resources account for about 30% of the world's proven reserves, 95% of which are distributed in Western Australia. In Western Australia, 90% of the iron ore resources are in the Pilbara region.

It is also one of the world's highest production areas for iron ore production.

Mining giant BHP Billiton owns five world-class iron ore mines in the Pilbara region, with an annual production of about 275 million tons of iron ore, accounting for about 20%-30% of global iron ore production.

Since April this year, the Chinese mining ore grader has appeared for the first time in this red land. A large yellow block that is more than 11 meters long and about 4 meters high, flattened the earthy hills mixed with stones. These mining graders of the GR3505 are from Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (hereinafter referred to as Xugong Group).

Xugong Group's mining grader in the Pilbara mining area

At the same time, in China's Tibet, more than 10,000 kilometers away, on the low-temperature and low-oxygen Jiama mine, three mining graders manufactured by Xugong Group are working.

Jiama Mine is the largest copper mine in China and the highest open pit mine in the world, with a maximum altitude of over 5,000 meters. Whether it is the extremely low temperature of minus 20 or 30 degrees in Tibet or the high temperature of 40 to 50 degrees in Western Australia, the grader must maintain the all-weather efficient work ability, not only requires reliable hardware performance, but also brings higher machine matching. Requirements.

Xugong Group's mining grader works at low temperatures

From the hot deserts of Western Australia to the open-air low-temperature copper mines closest to the sky, these areas were originally the territory of high-end mining equipment for foreign brands.

The parameters of the system from the high temperature to the low temperature, the parameters of the multiple systems including the engine system, the electrical system and the hydraulic system are very different. The process parameters need to be controlled and controlled by the computer host. How to better match and coordinate these parameters and achieve the best performance is one of the difficulties in the process of developing a large-scale mining grader.

This earth-moving construction machine equipped with a shovel blade and a variety of auxiliary working facilities can cut, scrape, level and compact the soil. The scraper installed between the front and rear axles of the grader can be lifted, tilted, swung and extended, and is commonly used in large-scale ground leveling operations such as roads, airports, and mines.

“The international high-end mining machinery market has been dominated by foreign brands, and the market is in a strong seller market.” Qi Dongqing, a technical staff member of Xugong Group, said. BHP Billiton has always held the highest standards in the industry for its operational performance, safety and attendance.

"From 1992 to 2018, Xugong killed in the international market for 26 years. For construction machinery enterprises, the top-ranking "luxury customers" above the cloud finally opened the door to Xugong." Xugong Group An article on the website wrote this.

In the 1960s, the Tianjin Construction Machinery Manufacturing Plant (hereinafter referred to as Tianjin Machinery) produced the first mechanical grader in China with reference to the 90-horsepower flat-machine prototype of the Soviet Union. Until 1985, Tianjin Machinery was the only company in China that was able to produce graders.

Since the mid-1980s, as foreign capital entered the Chinese market in the form of technology transfer and joint venture factories, Chinese manufacturers have begun technology introduction in the domestic grader industry.

Including Tianjin Machinery, Harbin Sihai Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Harbin Sihai) and Changlin Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Changlin), to Germany O&K Company, American Clark Company, Dreiser Company and Komatsu Company, etc. Many foreign companies have introduced manufacturing processes. Many advanced manufacturing techniques at the time, including engine matching, fixed-shaft power shift gearboxes, and double-row roller chains.

It was also during this period that Tianjin Machinery introduced nine series of 18 models with more than 50 configurations including PY250 grader, which are reliable in performance and lighter in operation. Subsequently, Harbin Sihai launched the 800 series grader, and Changlin introduced the PY165C-3, PY190C-3 and other series of graders.

Although the production of grader in this period has been localized, it is limited by the backwardness of the supporting technology and the low degree of professionalism. The grader industry is developing slowly, and there is still a big gap compared with foreign countries, especially in terms of quality reliability. Technical parameters optimization, electromechanical and hydraulic integration. In addition, some core key components still rely on imports, and domestically produced graders with fewer varieties cannot meet the basic needs of the market.

Before 1998, Tianjin Machinery and Harbin Sihai dominated the domestic grader market. Among them, Tianjin Machinery accounted for about 80% of the market sales, and Harbin Sihai accounted for about 20%.

Since 1985, foreign brands have entered the Chinese market one after another. However, due to high prices and restrictions on national imports, except for the large-scale introduction in 1993 and 1995, sales in other years are limited.

Statistics on the import and export volume of Chinese graders from 1985 to 2000 (according to public information)

During this period, China's graders had a small amount of exports, and the export destinations were concentrated in economically underdeveloped regions such as Asia, Africa and South America.

Since 1998, as the country continues to increase investment in infrastructure construction and the continued growth of export business, the market demand for graders has been further opened. Subsequently, Xugong Group, Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Sany Heavy Industry), Chengdu Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Chengdu Engineering) and other companies began to enter the grader industry, and the market structure began to change.

In the following two decades, the mileage of highways in China has grown rapidly. In 1998 and around 2005, road construction ushered in two rounds of development climax, and the demand for domestic graders was strong.

Xugong Group entered the grader market in 1998. Starting from the production of PY160 and PY180 graders, the sales volume of graders reached 105 units in the following year, ranking third in the domestic industry. In 2000, sales of 102 units became the second largest in the industry. .

In 2007, Xugong Group became the sales champion of the grader market and continues to this day. The market share has remained at around 30% to 40%.

According to the statistics of 11 major domestic production enterprises of China Construction Machinery Industry Association, the total number of domestic grader sales in 2011 was 5,059, which is the peak of sales in 50 years.

Around 2010, the domestic flat machine market pattern has gradually stabilized, and several head enterprises occupying a major market share have failed to become enterprises with absolute industry discourse rights. Domestic grader manufacturers are more focused on the agricultural and road markets, and affordable graders are more popular in the market, so the overall performance requirements are not strict.

In order to break through the pattern of homogenization competition, Xugong Group turned to the high-horse open-pit mine grader at this time. This area was at a blank in the country at the time.

Xugong Group believes that with the expansion of mining scale, the widening of roads and the increase in the tonnage of heavy transportation equipment, large and heavy-duty will become the development trend of grader products.

The mine has a hard road surface, a wide working surface, and a large amount of work. It requires higher strength and reliability of the structural parts and key components of the grader, enabling long-term uninterrupted work. High horsepower graders with engine power above 250hp are more suitable for these requirements.

The mining area in North America and Australia is the main area of ​​use for high-horse mining graders. At present, the country has also formed a large-scale large-scale mining grader, large-scale coal mines, non-ferrous metal mines and petroleum systems, etc., which need to purchase high-horse mining graders every year.

Around 2012, Xugong Zhulu has successively launched a number of large-horsepower mining graders such as GR300 and GR500, which broke the monopoly of foreign products on the domestic mining grader market.

In order to better develop the market, in 2013, Xugong Group reformed its business division system and officially established the Xugong Road Machinery Division. Its subsidiary Xugong Road Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xugong Road Construction) is under the management of Xugong Road Machinery Division and is responsible for the grade machine business.

In October 2018, Xugong Road was selected as the third batch of manufacturing single-model champion enterprises of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Road Machinery Department of Xugong Group, Xugong Group's share in the domestic large-scale mining grader market has exceeded 80%.

The imported machinery of foreign brands has superior quality and performance, but the price is expensive, usually two to three times that of domestic brands. The high cost makes many users discouraged.

With the improvement of the quality of domestic machinery products, with the affordable price, Xugong and other domestic grader brands have become the new choice of the market.

Previously, Xugong Group has entered North America, South America, Africa and Europe, and has established cooperation with traditional mining countries such as Argentina and South Africa, but has not been able to set foot in the Australian market.

Due to repeated price increases by an internationally renowned brand, the cost of post-maintenance and parts and components is high, and the quality of after-sales service declines, which affects the equipment attendance rate and the production efficiency of the mining area. BHP Billiton began to seek new partners.

"Our technological innovation and research on large-scale mining graders has been completed, and the cooperation with BHP Billiton is also a matter of course." Qi Dongqing said.

Xugong Group has a full range of mining grader models from 240hp to 550hp. It is the only manufacturer in China that has a large-scale mining grader technology. It is also the only one in China that can provide a full range of mines. Grader enterprise.

In terms of independent technology, Xugong Group has completed the independent production of key components such as drive axles and gearboxes, and the hydraulic system has achieved more than 80% localization.

In May 2017, Xugong Group and BHP Billiton signed a cooperation agreement for the GR3505 mining grader. According to the agreement, Xugong Group will customize the production of high-end mining machinery higher than the industry standard in accordance with the requirements of BHP Billiton.

“In order to meet the requirements of these indicators, Xugong Group must fully optimize human-machine interaction, automation and safety performance,” said the relevant person in charge of the road machinery department of Xugong Group. Xugong Group has become the exclusive mine solution provider of BHP Billiton. For this global mining giant, we provide complete sets of high-end mining equipment and after-sales services including graders and large-tonnage hydraulic excavators.

The accompanying engineers who signed the agreement with BHP Billiton made a series of requests. In addition to higher requirements in control systems, digitization, safety standards, fire protection systems, comfort, etc., details such as engine maintenance and fuel tank replacement are also written into preventive maintenance programs.

This requires Xugong Group to carry out a large amount of data collection and research work, and at the same time has a fairly high level of awareness of product attendance. For example, BHP Billiton requires that equipment be faulty on site and must be towed off the site to repair the workshop.

"This is a challenge, but it is an opportunity." Qi Dongqing said.

Since the second half of 2011, the domestic infrastructure construction has weakened. In the following five years, the growth rate of the construction machinery sector has dropped significantly. In 2015, the sales volume of domestic graders was only 2,620 units, which is close to the data in 2011.

Beginning in the second half of 2016, the improvement of the domestic economic environment and the overall recovery of the industrial market, the sales of graders began to rise steadily. (Peng Qiang)