Weichai Power, the automotive and equipment manufacturing developer in the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, has set an ambitious goal of becoming the world's top player in the automotive equipment development sector.

Weichai has implemented many strategies to support its goal.

Weichai has invested heavily in the past few years on expanding its product range through independent development, cooperated innovation, international cooperation and mergers and acquisitions.

The company achieved good results in new products development. For instance, Weichai can supply different engines with displacement that ranges from 2 liters to 579 liters. Weichai also includes new-energy engines on its products list.

Weichai is currently one of only a few companies worldwide that can provide a full range of automotive products, according to the company. The full range of products and services allow Weichai to seize opportunities in many automotive-related industries, such as the commercial vehicles, agricultural equipment, engineering equipment, ship building equipment and power generation equipment sectors.

Weichai has also successfully expanded into the spare parts and reproduction markets and the automotive aftermarket.

Weichai said it has achieved good results in overseas market expansion by building factories, exporting key technologies and opening direct sales offices.

Weichai Power's industrial park in the Weifang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone.

Core technologies

Weichai has long committed to developing core technologies to meet the evolving demands of clients. They believe that new technology is the soul of a manufacturing company and will help to lift the quality and value of products.

Weichai has developed key technologies that are many years ahead of its competitors. One of these is its highly reliable powertrain technology.

The company's internal combustion engine businesses have a 70-year development history. The company differentiates its products by continuously enhancing their reliability.

Weichai took seven years and spent 550 million yuan ($84.7 million) to establish a national key laboratory to support internal combustion engine development.

It said the lab has passed national C-NAS testing for reliability. The lab allows experts to conduct testing on internal combustion engines and key components.

Tong Dehui, vice-president of Weichai, said experts once suggested that Weichai establish a lab for energy conservation or lightweight products rather than reliability.

"There is a big gap between domestic products and foreign products in term of reliability," Tong said. "We believe reliability is the foundation for energy saving products and lightweight products."

In addition to reliability, Weichai has established a strong position in powertrain upgrades.

The acquisition of Zhuzhou Torch Spark Plug Co in 2005 allows Weichai to establish an industrial chain that includes crude oil engines, transmissions, driving axle development and manufacturing facilities.

Weichai has established many research and development centers in cities including Weifang, Shanghai and Yangzhou. It also has R&D centers in the United States, Germany and Italy.

Shaanxi Fast Gear Co, a subsidiary of Weichai that focuses on developing gears for heavy trucks, occupies almost 80 percent of the market share in China. It is one of the top gears developers in the nation.

Hande Axle, another subsidiary of Weichai, has a national level powertrain experimental center. Hande Axle’s products are used by many leading heavy truck manufacturers in China.

Weichai started to develop a national-level commercial vehicle powertrain development center in 2009, which has passed all testing and verification. Weichai’s powertrains are used on Asiastar-branded coaches in China. Asiastar is a leading domestic coach maker owned by Weichai.

Weichai will continue to strengthen its innovation and creativity in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the company said.

Tan Xuguang, chairman of Weichai, announced the company's development plans for the next five years earlier this year.

"We will develop an advanced management system," he said. "We will break bottlenecks in innovation, enhance development efficiency, upgrade performance evaluation and incentive schemes, allow failure and respect talent to promote development."

The company established partnerships with many leading research centers and businesses to strengthen cooperative innovation. The partnerships allow Weichai to access the latest trends and learn the most advanced technologies in the world.

Zhuang Jian contributed to this story.

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