Amid the cancellation of high-speed rail projects, XCMG's large-tonnage rotary drilling rigs, with strong rock-drilling capabilities, are leading the rotary drilling rig industry's expansion into hard-stratum civil and industrial construction in southern China. They have achieved a market share of over 60% for large-tonnage rotary drilling rigs above XR280, firmly holding the industry's top position. From independent research and development and difficult beginnings to comprehensive coverage of the southern market, East China, North China, and Northwest China, XCMG Foundation is leading the piling industry into a new era of large tonnage.

First Mover Advantage: Precise Positioning, Seizing Opportunities

In the early stages of development, rotary drilling rigs were mainly used for drilling in softer soil layers and were incapable of handling complex strata such as rock. Before 2010, the main market for rotary drilling rigs was in Northeast China. However, in Southwest China, including Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, the complex strata, especially the abundant bedrock, had always been a blank market for rotary drilling rigs. In 2011, the construction machinery industry experienced an overall downturn, with high-speed rail projects slowing down, real estate regulation, and tightened bank credit. Under these difficult circumstances, XCMG Foundation determined its marketing strategy of "seeking volume in emerging markets, advancing in traditional markets, and planning for blank markets," and took the complex strata of the Southwest as a market breakthrough point. Through in-depth market research, the marketing focus was placed on the housing construction pile market in the Southwest. With precise positioning and high cost-effectiveness of products, coupled with the marketing strategy of "promoting sales through construction methods," XCMG communicated with users on how to select machine models and configure drilling tools, helping customers solve construction difficulties. XCMG rotary drilling rigs quickly stood out, received user praise, and attracted an increasing number of major housing construction pile customers. Through layered penetration, in 2011, XCMG Foundation's sales in the Southwest region increased by 188.89% year-on-year, and revenue increased by 228.29% year-on-year, firmly seizing the market initiative. In just two years, XCMG broke the tripartite dominance of Sany, Zoomlion, and CSR in the Southwest and South China regions, achieving a domestic market share of over 60% for large-tonnage rotary drilling rigs above XR280.

Cross-Boundary Innovation: Product Integration, Promoting Sales through Construction Methods

Market expansion was not limited to strata and regions but was also reflected in "cross-boundary innovation." The research on the cluster brine extraction process using foundation engineering machinery in the Qarhan Salt Lake Basin in Golmud, Qinghai, is definitely a milestone in the development history of XCMG Foundation and is one of the most typical major battles in XCMG's strategy of promoting sales through construction methods. Qinghai Province in China is rich in potash resources, which are stored in underground brine. In recent years, with the increasing market demand for resource extraction, higher requirements have been placed on the speed of excavating brine channels to extract brine. The traditional channel excavation process mainly uses excavators, but for construction requirements deeper than 30 meters, excavators can only use a "stepped" layer-by-layer deepening excavation process, resulting in huge excavation workloads and low construction efficiency. XCMG Foundation keenly perceived the importance of this project and the market opportunities behind it, boldly proposed the "combined construction" method, and explored a construction process using rotary drilling rigs combined with diaphragm wall grabs for cluster channel excavation. That is, using rotary drilling rigs to drill spaced holes, then using diaphragm wall grabs to cut off the edges between the holes, ultimately achieving the through-connection of the brine channel. The implementation of this process expanded the application field of XCMG rotary drilling rigs, achieving remarkable results with a channel width of 1.8 meters, a depth of 30-40 meters, and a length of 40 kilometers, and sold 6 units of XCMG XR360 rotary drilling rigs and other products in one stroke. It also innovatively eliminated the traditional salt mine brine extraction process, multiplied efficiency, and ensured the efficient extraction of national strategic resources.

Standing Out: Overcoming Difficulties, Continuous Improvement

In June 2010, XCMG's first XR360 rotary drilling rig was sent to the Taohuayu bridge construction site on the Xixia Expressway in Henan. Challenges in the first battle came one after another: the winch had rope biting issues, and the overall stability was not strong. XCMG Foundation creatively solved multiple key technologies: adopting a single-row rope main winch structure, optimizing the luffing mechanism, and using a form where the boom and the three-point hinge point and the lower hinge point of the tilt cylinder share the same point, increasing the tilt cylinder force arm and improving the lifting performance of the mast state. With a hole diameter of 2 meters and a depth of over 105 meters, it set a new record for domestic drilling rig construction at that time.

Based on this XR360, XCMG Foundation launched new products such as XRS670, XRS680, XRS1050, XR280D, and XR220D that year, beginning the development of the D series products. After completing the full series development of XCMG's "new D series rotary drilling rigs," they were successfully launched on the market, consolidating XCMG's strong position in the large-tonnage rotary drilling rig industry. In 2011, XCMG successfully developed Asia's largest tonnage rotary drilling rig with a self-made chassis—the XR460, solving several major problems of current rotary drilling rigs in hard rock drilling, such as relying on grinding for footage, high pick consumption, low work efficiency, and poor economic benefits, with advanced and reliable technology. Currently, product development standardization work is underway to improve the level of standardization, generalization, and modularization.

Taking the Lead: Resource Guarantee, Racing Against Time

Decisive battles are in the market, and victory is at the site. Facing the "explosive" growth in market demand, product resource assurance is particularly critical. In a situation where land is extremely precious, XCMG Foundation optimized production management processes and systems, pursued "flexible" production and operation manufacturing, continuously shortened product production cycles, developed third-party logistics, expanded external storage, and reduced warehouse area.

To ensure delivery resources, XCMG Foundation communicated and negotiated with suppliers to ensure the supply of imported parts; identified bottleneck points of suppliers, found problems, and complemented advantages; independently developed and put into use a rotary drilling rig test bench, greatly improving debugging efficiency, reducing worker labor intensity, and ensuring product quality; helped suppliers find and introduce highly skilled workers to improve coating quality and efficiency; prepared emergency plans and established a rapid response mechanism for emergencies. Without increasing site space or personnel, the company doubled its output, providing sufficient resource assurance for the market.

"Make piling and trenchless machinery a world-leading product"—this is the clear requirement of the Chairman of XCMG Group for XCMG Foundation, and XCMG Foundation will surely forge ahead toward world-class status.
       
        Editor: Wu Yue