Xinhua Finance, Frankfurt, Nov. 14 (Reporter Ma Yueran) — The Hannover International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition is one of the largest agricultural machinery exhibitions in the world. This year's exhibition attracted exhibitors from more than 50 countries, with nearly 300 Chinese enterprises ranking third in exhibitor numbers. China's leading equipment manufacturing enterprise Zoomlion brought four new-energy agricultural machines and a variety of farm implements for a concentrated display, drawing驻足 from farm owners and industry professionals from around the world. Many visitors climbed the vehicle ladders to inspect the cabs, or crouched beneath the machines to observe the chassis and motor structures, and the booth was constantly crowded.

For Zoomlion, this "appearance" is not a simple product promotion, but a concentrated showcase of the development path of its agricultural machinery segment — "high-end, international, new energy" — and also reflects the new exploration of Chinese agricultural machinery enterprises in seeking to enter the high-end markets of Europe and America.

A New Path for Cross-Sector Upgrading

In front of Zoomlion's booth, European industry professional Jan Harm Bismarck was examining a large hybrid tractor. He told the reporter: "Such efficient, energy-saving and multi-functional large machinery is indeed very attractive; at the same time, such large machinery is exactly what the European market needs."

The multiple hybrid main units exhibited by Zoomlion this time target the high-end market in the 160 to 350 horsepower range, a segment long occupied by international agricultural machinery giants. Unlike some enterprises that attempt pure electric in the small and medium power range, Zoomlion chose to take the lead in hybrid technology on high-horsepower agricultural machinery.

▲Photo shows Zoomlion's booth at the Hannover International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition. Photo by Reporter Ma Yueran

In the view of Liu Yuxin, General Manager of Zoomlion's Agricultural Machinery Company, this choice is closely related to the characteristics of large-scale agricultural operations. "Basically, every piece of agricultural machinery is in a full-load state when operating." Some hybrid tractor users operate an average of more than 20 hours per day, placing high demands on endurance. Compared with pure electric, adopting a hybrid technology route can balance the endurance and power required for high-intensity operations, as well as the product's own cost and weight.

"Achieving comprehensive fuel savings of about 20%." Liu Yuxin said this result mainly comes from factors such as the coordinated control of the motor and engine, the precise energy supply of the electric drive system, and the improvement of transmission efficiency. For large-scale farms with heavy workloads, this fuel-saving margin means a real change in operating costs.

"Electrification is the key foundation for intelligence. Only by building intelligence on an electrification platform do we have a better foundation for mounting it," Liu Yuxin said. In some demonstration applications in Xinjiang, tractors based on the hybrid platform have been able to complete unmanned operations within designated areas, with operational tasks automatically executed under the premise of ensuring safety, and equipment managers mainly intervening in links such as fuel replenishment and handling abnormal conditions.

▲Zoomlion's DV3504 hybrid tractor was put into the "Three Autumns" production in Xinjiang

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to "electrification," "smart agriculture" and "digital agriculture" are another value chain that Zoomlion is trying to build. Zoomlion has established an agricultural machinery segment and a smart agriculture segment; the two serve the same customers but have different divisions of labor. The former focuses on equipment such as tractors and harvesting machinery, providing integrated operation solutions; the latter focuses on "how to increase output, improve efficiency and reduce costs," formulating cultivation strategies and data-based service solutions for users.

In Liu Yuxin's view, the combination of electrification, intelligence and integrated solutions is driving the enterprise to transform from "selling single equipment" to "providing system solutions." "The more high-end agriculture is, the more it needs higher-end agricultural machinery; the two complement each other," Liu Yuxin said.

Technology Drives New Agricultural Machinery

Zoomlion's agricultural machinery business did not start from scratch, but is an extension based on years of accumulation in sectors such as construction machinery.

Liu Yuxin introduced that technologies used in agricultural machinery, such as electromechanical-hydraulic, new energy and intelligent technologies, can achieve "true sharing" with construction machinery, and some key components can also be transplanted between different segments.

In terms of R&D paths, Zoomlion has built modular product platforms for each industrial segment, which can meet the needs of different regions and different operation scenarios through efficient configuration. Different versions of products are developed around scenarios and, by pairing with different farm implements, can adapt to differentiated farmland at home and abroad.

At present, relying on Zoomlion's more than 400 outlets worldwide and an overseas localized team of more than 8,000 people, the internationalization process of the agricultural machinery segment is accelerating. In regions such as Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, localized products and services have been advanced around characteristics such as large-scale agriculture and paddy field operations.

The acquisition of the century-old German farm implement brand RABE is an important part of the international layout of Zoomlion's agricultural machinery segment. RABE has long been deeply engaged in the field of soil-working implements such as plows, soil preparation machines and disc harrows, with deep technical accumulation. After being acquired by Zoomlion, the RABE brand and team have been retained, and Zoomlion's technologies in intelligent control and other aspects have been gradually introduced. New products unveiled at this exhibition, such as the "Super Albatross Smart Plow," "Phoenix T600 Soil Preparation Machine" and "Osprey M500 Disc Harrow," have begun to extend toward digitalization and intelligence while retaining the craftsmanship characteristics of German products.

▲Zoomlion appeared together with its German subsidiary RABE

"We want to build RABE's factory in Germany into the operating center of our agricultural machinery segment in Europe," Liu Yuxin said. This operating center will assume functions such as service parts, customer training and localized assembly, further improving response speed and service capabilities in the European market. He revealed that the company hopes to spend about three years building Zoomlion into "a mainstream Chinese agricultural machinery brand operating locally in Europe."

New Test of Global Competition and Cooperation

Although its appearance in Hannover attracted attention, Zoomlion clearly sees that the globalization of its agricultural machinery business still faces multiple challenges.

First, the "time gap" in standards and rules. "China's hybrid products have already achieved commercial application, but Europe lacks corresponding testing standards. This difference in industrial pace is a reality we must face," Liu Yuxin said.

Second, users' awareness of new technologies. European farm owners have concerns about the safety of high-voltage electrical systems and are also highly attentive to data privacy issues involved in intelligent systems. In the face of these doubts, Zoomlion uses field tests and actual data to dispel concerns.

In market expansion, Zoomlion has not neglected its localized operating capabilities. Relying on the marketing and service network accumulated through years of overseas layout in the construction machinery segment, the enterprise is also building teams for target markets in the agricultural machinery field, with groups composed of business, service and technical personnel collecting user feedback and tracking application scenarios on the front line, and forming a two-way circulation with the domestic R&D system.

In the European market, Liu Yuxin said that as the RABE factory gradually transforms into a European operating center, the company plans to rely on capabilities such as service, spare parts, training and localized assembly to gradually expand its influence in Europe's high-end agricultural machinery market.

At a longer-term level, Liu Yuxin considers the development of the agricultural machinery segment within the process of China's agricultural modernization and global agricultural mechanization. He believes that future agriculture is expected to move toward a higher level of mechanization, intelligence and industrialization, and that agricultural operation processes may be broken down into "industrialized processes" with settable scenarios, settable steps and predictable results. In this process, high-end agricultural machinery enterprises face multiple tests in technology and the market, while also seeking new development space in the global transformation of agriculture.