Guangxi Liugong Group eyes worldwide growth

Workers conduct routine inspection at Liugong Group. [Photo by Wu Qijun/Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Executives said the company adheres to its "4K" strategy, which refers to key regions, key distributors, key products and key clients, focuses on 20 key countries and products and launches new products based on different regions' particular features.

In 2018, sales volume in 20 key countries accounted for nearly 70 percent of the company's total overseas sales and the revenue created by these sales accounted for about two thirds of the total overseas revenue.

Internationalization is necessary for Guangxi Liugong to survive and grow, said Zeng Guang'an, the company's president, adding that overseas marketing, factory building and operations abroad and international mergers and acquisitions are all an indispensable part of the same strategy.

From 2003 to 2010, Guangxi Liugong founded eight overseas marketing service headquarters and built a global marketing service network involving more than 200 foreign agents, covering 130-plus countries. Some of the company's European and American counterparts spent nearly half a century achieving that goal, the president said.

The factory of Liugong Group. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In 2009, Guangxi Liugong's first overseas plant, which is located in India, came into operation. It is also the first plant built by the Chinese in South Asia, laying the foundation for the company's "Made in India" products' leading position in South Asian market.

Guangxi Liugong began manufacturing in the European Union with the establishment of its Poland factory in 2012. The company's European headquarters has been built in Warsaw and loaders and excavators that meet EU's technical quality standards are mass-produced in Poland. The products have gradually been recognized by local clients, the president said.

In 2012, China's engineering machinery market suddenly took a turn for the worse. Guangxi Liugong responded quickly and strategically, spending a great deal of money building a globally leading earthwork machinery engineering center and global engineering machinery research and development test facilities.

It has successfully developed the first vertical lifting loader, strategically integrated and closed plants and restructured its domestic marketing system. The plants in Brazil and Argentina have come into operation.

The development of emerging sectors — agricultural machinery and robotic business — should lead Guangxi Liugong to an even more prosperous future, the president said.