Sany Cranes Archives

Sany rebrands in Europe

Sany Germany, the wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese crane and equipment manufacturer Sany, has rebranded the business as Sany Europe, changing its logo and launching a new website.

The company says the change is designed to better reflect its presence in Europe, where it is represented in 13 countries – mainly by exclusive distributors.

Sany Europe managing director Bart Decroos, said: “The name change is a take-off for a new era. It just didn’t reflect who we are any more, and definitely not who we want to be. Therefore we’ve taken this action. We’ve also seized this opportunity to improve our corporate identity to strengthen further our brand recognition.”

We have just received confirmation that the company will no longer be exhibiting at this year’s Intermat exhibition. It has cancelled its provisional booking in the external area, where it has exhibited in the past two shows.

USITC judge upholds Manitowoc complaint against Sany

A USITC has issued a final initial determination in Manitowoc’s complaint against Sany, saying that the American crane manufacturer has shown certain products infringe its patents, and that they have shown misappropriation of trade secrets.

The case relates to the two companies’ competing floating counterweight systems. Manitowoc claims that Sany’s system used on its SCC8500 infringes on a patent, US 7,546,928, relating to a mobile lift crane with variable position counterweight. The system was implemented by Manitowoc on its Model 31000, and later on its MLC300 and MLC650 cranes launched at ConExpo.

The full decision has not yet been made public, but a notice promises it will within 30 days. The current notice explains that the administrative law judge has issued a final initial determination on whether there was a violation, and a recommended determination on the remedy that may be appropriate in the event that the USITC finds that there was a violation.

The administrative law judge’s determination is subject to appeal by the federal appeals court. USITC determinations do not result in money damages. Instead, complainants can make a parallel claim in a district court, which Manitowoc is doing in Wisconsin. That case will resume on 23 July.

Palfinger Sany complete tie-up, launch RT range for Russia

Palfinger and Sany have launched a new Palfinger Sany rough terrain range aimed at Russian users, and announced the completion of the two firms’ mutual capital interlinking.

The new Palfinger Sany rough terrain crane series was launched at a Palfinger-Sany CIS-Dealer-Conference in Moscow. Further product developments will be displayed at the CTT 2014, also in the Russian city. The three rough terrain cranes have lifting capacities of 35t, 55t and 75t.

The new rough terrain crane series has four-wheel steering, 116tm to 258tm lifting moment, an ultra long and strong boom base, and a DongFeng Cummins Engine, with safety and control systems in Russian.

The manufacturers said that all the necessary certifications for the official distribution of rough terrain cranes were already available, including the certifications by Belstandard for Belarus and Rosstandard for Russia. The firms said that the first orders from dealers and customers have already arrived.

The two companies also announced the mutual capital interlinking of Palfinger and Sany, which had been in preparation for several months. The deal sees the two firms taking a 10% stake in one another.

China’s crane manufacturers are now world-class

Until now it has been widely assumed that construction equipment made by Chinese companies, and even equipment made in China by the leading foreign firms, was inferior in both quality and technology to gear produced in the foreign firms’ factories back home. These assumptions have been crushed by a new study from CLSA, a broker, which tested a range of Chinese-made diggers, and found them to be sturdy and high-performing. Leading Chinese brands like Sany, Zoomlion and LiuGong, whose products also have the advantage of being cheap, will soon be invading building sites across the globe.

Things have changed drastically since the global financial crisis five years ago. Until then, around 90% of the diggers on Chinese building sites were foreign-branded, albeit often made inside the country. The government’s huge fiscal stimulus, in 2008-09, triggered a construction boom which encouraged existing Chinese makers to expand, and dozens of new firms to enter the market. The local firms lacked the technical know-how of Japan’s Hitachi and the extensive product range of America’s Caterpillar. But they offered buyers such generous discounts and financing that by 2011 they had grabbed half of the domestic market.

As they have expanded, the best Chinese firms have rushed to upgrade their technology by buying, or entering joint ventures with, foreign competitors and suppliers. Sany Heavy bought two German firms, Putzmeister and Intermix, and entered a joint venture with Palfinger of Austria. Zoomlion bought CIFA of Italy. LiuGong and Xugong formed joint ventures with, respectively, America’s Cummins and South Korea’s Doosan, to improve their diesel engines.

As the effect of the government’s stimulus has faded, demand for construction equipment has softened. So the foreign firms, which had hitherto been producing relatively low-tech “made in China for China” products in their local factories, have increasingly switched to making more sophisticated ones for export, in particular to South-East Asian countries.

CLSA’s researchers subjected Chinese-made diggers from six companies—Sany, Caterpillar, Hitachi and Doosan, as well as Komatsu and Kobelco of Japan—to two weeks of gruelling tests of their productivity, durability and fuel efficiency. They all came out well, but most striking was the performance of Sany’s machines. Though not quite as good as the best, made by Caterpillar, they outperformed their Japanese and Korean rivals. CLSA concluded that technology gaps between the best Chinese firms and their foreign rivals are now “almost non-existent”. It expects that Sany and a handful of other larger Chinese brands will lead a consolidation of the local industry, in which 60 firms will become perhaps six.

CLSA’s test makes an interesting contrast with a similar exercise in February, in which Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, stripped down two leading models of Chinese-branded car, to examine their build quality. In this case the Chinese firms were still found to be lagging their foreign rivals. So Chinese companies have not yet learned how to make world-class cars, but they have now cracked how to make top-quality construction equipment at attractive prices—and their foreign rivals should be worried.

Sany America gaining traction in US

For Sany America, the US subsidiary of China’s largest maker of construction equipment, 2013 has been a year worth celebrating.

The Georgia-based company doubled its sales from last year and has fulfilled this year’s budget profit by more than twofold.

Its dealer network has expanded to cover about 65 percent of the US, Canada, and Mexico market, compared to 40 percent in 2012. There are now 32 dealers in 35 US states selling Sany products.

The company introduced a new machine specifically designed for the North American market – an 85-ton tough-terrain crawler crane. It also started selling port equipment this year.

And, Sany America recruited a new CEO, Mike Rhoda, a veteran executive whose recent titles include president of Volvo’s excavator business line.

“I have been following Sany for several years while working for other competitors and I’ve been impressed with their ambition and aspirations,” Rhoda told China Daily.

In April of this year, Sany Group, which owns Sany America, surpassed Liebherr to become the world’s fifth-largest construction equipment manufacturer, after Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hitachi and Volvo, according to the International Construction magazine.

Rhoda said he was particularly impressed with Liang Wengen, chairman of the Sany Group. According to the 2013 Forbes Billionaires List, Liang is the third-richest person in China.

“Liang seems very open to, first of all, understanding how business is done in other parts of the world, and then working to make the kind of changes that are necessary to adapt to those differences,” said Rhoda.

Sany’s plant in suburban Atlanta, started in 2006, was an investment of $60 million, the largest of Sany Group’s five overseas operations. The building houses 60,000 square feet of office space and 340,000-square feet of manufacturing space. Employing about 100 people, Sany America is the largest manufacturing investment from China in Georgia.

The company started with concrete-pumping equipment and crawler cranes. The concrete pump operation was later moved to a Wisconsin factory owned by German construction company Putzmeister Holding GmbH, which Sany Group bought in April last year.

It wasn’t until October 2012, seven years after Sany first set foot in the US, that the company turned its first profit. Sany America has reported a profit each month since.

Jack Tang, former president of Sany America, who departed in December to lead Sany’s other business ventures in the US, attributes the breakthrough to the company’s consistent investment in research and development with the goal of tailoring its products for the North America market.

Tang said US government agencies and customers have high safety standards and demand high efficiency.

“In China, a machine can be run by two people. In the US, you can’t afford to do that. We have to design a machine that can be easily operated by one person,” Tang said. “And, it should consume less diesel.”

Tang is particularly proud of the company’s newest model, the SRC885, the 85-ton rough-terrain crane.

“There are already 70-ton and 100-ton products on the market. We learned through research that many customers in fact needed a model that could fill the gap and do the job on both ends,” said Tang. The machine now takes a 20 percent market share of similar models.

Sany America has gradually refined its product lines. It now devotes main resource in assembling excavators. With dealer network constantly expanding, the facility also has become a testing and training center for dealers.

Kirk Erlinger, director of sales and dealer development at Sany America, said he takes pride in the quality of Sany’s products.

“My goal is to continue to introduce high-quality Chinese products that can complete globally,” said Erlinger, who joined the company two years ago after working for crane dealers for more than 20 years.

“I know what our dealers are going through, so I am more capable of understanding the challenges they face,” said Erlinger. He oversees five salesmen, all locally hired.

Building dealer satisfaction is also CEO Rhoda’s goal. “As we work with our existing and future dealers, we want to establish a high level of satisfaction with the Sany brand,” he said.

Having most recently worked as chief technology officer for Doosan International, a Korean multinational in construction equipment, and having spent five years in China working for Ingersoll Rand, Rhoda said he has reached a level of understanding of some of the cultural differences that Chinese and Asian companies run into dealing with countries and companies in the West.

Sany’s name has been associated with an order signed by US President Barack Obama in September of last year blocking the sale of four wind farms near a US Navy testing compound in Oregon to Ralls Corp, citing national security concerns. Two Sany Group executives had bought Delaware-based Ralls earlier to invest in wind energy by installing Sany turbines.

Sany has since sued President Obama, demanding to know the reasons behind the order. A district judge later ruled that Sany is not entitled to be informed of the grounds for the president’s decision.

Rhoda will start his new year in China, attending meetings at Sany’s Beijing headquarters.

“I hope to establish good relations with the leaders of Sany’s different business units as well as some of the board members. We will be discussing specific areas in the crane, excavator and port equipment business,” he said.

Projecting the goal for 2014, Rhoda said, “I’d like to grow the market share of our existing business and dramatically increase the level of our customer support and product service.”

SANY America introduces 550 ton crawler crane SCC8500

SANY America’s new 550 U.S. ton crawler crane will satisfy a niche between 440- and 660-ton machines and is ideally suited for construction of wind energy towers, fossil fuel plants, nuclear facilities, petrochemical installations and a variety of infrastructure projects. The SANY SCC8500 has a host of exclusive and in-demand features to meet the needs of customers in a range of applications. It was first displayed at the Bauma China trade show in late November.

“Customers told us the 500-ton machine is badly needed to fill a niche between existing machine sizes,” said John Lanning, global director of research and development for SANY crawler cranes. “The 400-ton-class machines are too small to handle bigger nacelles in wind construction, and the 600-ton cranes require a back mast and luffing jib to make these lifts. The SCC8500 is the perfect solution.”

The SCC8500 is especially well-suited for construction of 330-foot (100 m) wind towers and placing 2.5-megawatt nacelles. The SCC8500 can do these lifts with a straight boom and an offset wind tip, with no need for a back mast. With a full complement of attachments and options, including fixed jib, luffing jib and the SANY UltraLift package, the SCC8500 is a great solution for construction of nuclear, petrochemical and wind power; and on infrastructure projects such as bridges, waterways, dams and sewage-treatment plants.

“The SCC8500 has lighter overall weight, transports like a 400-ton machine and can be quickly assembled and mobilized on the job site,” Lanning said. “These features, along with the lift of a 500 ton machine put the SCC8500 in a class by itself.”

ACE System Delivers Auto Counterbalance

The SANY-exclusive ACE (auto counterbalance equalization) System senses the boom angle and uses hydraulic cylinders to automatically adjust the position of the movable upperworks counterweight. The standard ACE System has one upperworks tray with hanging brackets and 20 upper sideblocks for 478,404 pounds (217 000 kg) of counterweight. The ACE System design avoids an inefficient carbody counterweight and keeps overall crane weight down. The base machine transports on 21 trucks, the same as a standard 440-ton crane. With the ACE System, the SCC8500 doesn’t need a counterweight wagon, making it much more mobile on the job site.

The optional UltraLift package includes a second counterweight tray with hanging brackets and 36 upper sideblocks for 868,621 pounds (394 000 kg) of counterweight. A second pair of hydraulic cylinders extends the counterweight beam to 52 feet 6 inches (16 m). The counterweight beam is supported by a back mast in the UltraLift configuration.

“The beauty of this design is you get more than 500-ton performance in a machine that transports as easily as a 400-ton crane,” Lanning said. “Contractors will value the quick set up and mobilization of the SANY SCC8500.”

Sleek UltraCab Puts the Operator First

The SANY-exclusive UltraCab puts a premium on operator performance and comfort. The sleek lines of the cab’s exterior reflect the operator-friendly features inside. Styled by the Porsche Design Studios, the cab has a wide field of reinforced glass for commanding views of the load and the job site. The cab’s steel frame has overhead structural plates for added security. Cab air-conditioning and heating is powered by an auxiliary diesel generator. The UltraCab tilts up 20 degrees for optimum visibility. The large, high-resolution display shows crane gravity and many other monitoring statistics in real time.

“During long wait periods on the job site, the operator can shut down the crane engine and maintain a comfortable cab thanks to the dedicated diesel generator,” Lanning said. “For extra versatility, the generator can also power the engine and reservoir heaters during overnight cold-weather shutdown.”

The proprietary SANY load moment indicator automatically detects lifting capacity, boom angle, top height and radius to ensure reliable operation. A closed-circuit television system gives the operator views of all winches, the counterweight and job-site surroundings. An anemometer on the boom tip monitors wind speed and transmits the data to the in-cab monitor. An electronic level indicator displays data on levelness of the crane. Ground pressure can also be displayed on the control panel.

Pressure-compensated drive motors on each end of the tracks can be independently operated for forward and reverse travel, pivot steering and counter-rotation. The hydraulically driven system offers better gradeability in adverse ground conditions.

The SCC8500 has 10 available configurations for main boom, fixed jib and luffing jib. Maximum main boom length is 354.3 feet (108 m) on the basic machine and 393.7 feet (121.1 m) with the UltraLift configuration. The fixed jib has a maximum length of 137.8 feet (42 m) in both basic machine and UltraLift. The maximum luffing jib length is 236.2 feet (72 m) for the basic machine and 275.6 feet (84 m) in the UltraLift configuration.

The crane is powered by a 600-horsepower (447.4 kW) Cummins diesel engine with 1,845 foot pounds of torque. Hydraulically driven planetary gears raise and lower the load. Maximum line speed is 568 feet (173 m) per minute. The swing system uses dual drives and planetary gear reduction to automatically center the load and precisely regulate swing speed up to 1.8 rpm. The track roller system is maintenance free. A centralized system automatically lubricates the slewing bearing and other grease points on the crane.