As a leading enterprise in the machinery industry, Zoomlion's operating revenue already exceeded 90 billion yuan in 2012. In 2013, the overall development of the industry showed a downward trend, but encouragingly, when many enterprises lacked confidence and hesitated amid the market winter, Zoomlion closely aligned itself with national strategy and, through proactive transformation, opened up a new horizon.

In 2013, factors such as overcapacity, reduced downstream stimulus from national infrastructure construction, and an excessively high market inventory of construction machinery made China's construction machinery industry struggle. Taking excavators as an example, national production capacity can reach 600,000 units, but total sales for the whole of 2013 were only 114,743 units. Based on relevant data from the industry's third-quarter reports, the main business revenue of major Chinese construction machinery enterprises in 2013 is expected to decline by 30%-40%.

At the shareholders' meeting in June 2013, Zhan Chunxin, Chairman of Zoomlion, stated that the company would transform from focusing on the construction machinery segment to advancing five major segments in parallel: construction machinery, agricultural machinery, environmental industry, heavy trucks, and finance, so as to avoid as much as possible the risks brought by fluctuations in the construction machinery industry.

Zhan Chunxin believes that the current state of industry development is also an opportunity for enterprises. Companies can take this opportunity to expand into related industries and seek new market growth points, new development space, and new profit growth points. The environmental industry is precisely the blue ocean market that Zoomlion has found.

The environmental industry is precisely the industry with the greatest development potential in China. The National Environmental Protection Work Conference held on January 9 showed that in 2014, water pollution control and soil pollution control, together with air pollution control, will jointly form the "three major battles" of environmental protection work. Zhuang Guotai, Director of the Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection, stated that future investment in the "three major battles" "may reach a scale of hundreds of billions of yuan."

Previously published information also shows that during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, China's investment in the environmental protection industry reached 3.1 trillion yuan, of which the solid waste treatment industry reached 800 billion yuan, and total investment in the construction of harmless treatment facilities for urban domestic waste nationwide was about 263.6 billion yuan.

The Lugu Second Industrial Park is a concrete manifestation of Zoomlion's efforts in the environmental industry and its steady advancement of the "layout of five major strategic segments." Chen Peiliang stated that the industrial park will focus on developing environmental industry products and systems in nine major categories and nearly 100 varieties, including waste collection and transport equipment, complete sets of equipment for waste compression stations, complete sets of equipment for waste landfill sites, and kitchen waste collection, transport, and resource recovery treatment systems.

Chen Peiliang believes that with the advancement of urbanization and increasing public attention to environmental protection, the market for the environmental industry will gradually surpass the construction machinery market. This includes the demand for construction waste treatment brought by the renovation of old urban areas and the treatment of urban kitchen waste, both of which have very broad market prospects. Zoomlion, which holds a leading position in these areas, will welcome a new round of development opportunities.

"After the industrial park is completed and put into production, its future output value will exceed 10 billion yuan." Chen Peiliang stated that the Lugu Second Industrial Park enables Zoomlion's Environmental Industry Company to firmly occupy the top position in the domestic environmental industry, and the environmental industry will become another major business highlight of the company after the construction machinery industry.

Lü Ying, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Construction Machinery Association, once predicted that industry sales in 2014 are expected to grow by about 8%. This means that the current situation of overcapacity will continue to trouble the construction machinery industry. Zoomlion, which is boldly exploring the path of transformation and pushing into the environmental industry, will once again strive for the target of 100 billion yuan in operating revenue in the future. A Citigroup research report pointed out that benefiting from national environmental protection policies, the environmental industry will enter a period of rapid growth, and Zoomlion's performance is very likely to surpass the upward cycle.