Shantui, the King, never rests
More than 2 500 years ago, Confucius, the influential Chinese philosopher, teacher and political figure, walked the areas of Jining, situated in the Shandong Province in northeast China.
Today, in the nearby walled town of Qufu, the two-millennia old renowned Confucian temple still stands strong, and located just 30 minutes from here is another valued entity, the Shantui Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
Founded in the 1980s, Shantui provided much of the muscle that helped give rise to China’s spectacular economic development in recent decades.
At present, Shantui is one of the top 50 manufacturers of construction equipment in the world, and one of China’s top 500 manufacturers. Bulldozers may be the beginning of the Shantui story, but the tale does not end here.
The brand has in the recent years added an entire gamut of construction machinery to its offering, ranging from trimming dozers to pipe layers, motor graders, wheel loaders, road rollers, compactors, concrete truck mixers, truck-mounted concrete pumps, crawler cranes, overhead work vehicles, and fire engines.
It is also a leading supplier of undercarriages, track roller, top roller, sprocket, idler, transmissions and metal structural components. In fact, the company has at present more than 140 individual model numbers in its catalogue.
Shantui at work
Listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the past 18 years, Shantui was one of the original companies included in the launch of the CSI 300 Index. In 2009, Shantui joined Shandong Heavy Industry Group as a subsidiary to further realise its growth goals.
Two years later, Shantui exceeded US$2,3 billion in sales, and became the largest brand name bulldozer maker and seller in the world.
Shantui’s four main production bases cover more than 2 000 000m². The Shantui International Industrial Park and the Shantui Heavy Industry Technology Park are located in Shandong Province; the Shantui Wuhan Industrial Park is in Hubei Province; another,
Shantui Fushun Industrial Park, is in Liaoning Province. Shantui also established branch offices in the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Brazil, Hong Kong and South Africa.
“Shantui already has more than 300 units in operation in southern Africa, and is fully committed to continue the growth and development of its business,”
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Ever Star Industries (Pty) Ltd (ESI), better known as Powerstar, obtained the rights to distribute and service Shantui equipment in South Africa.
Today, ESI boasts a seasoned sales team, headed by Flora Zhang, a dedicated parts distribution centre and a fully operational service facility, providing local customers with the required technical support for the complete Shantui range. “We are fully committed to providing our client base with world class service,” says Zhang.
At Shantui’s recent open day in Johannesburg, the company displayed a range of its more recognised machinery, validating the company’s long-term assurance to maintain a consistent growth in Africa’s ever changing market. “Shantui already has more than 300 units in operation in southern Africa, and is fully committed to continue the growth and development of its business,” says Zhang.
Shantui ‘s annual production capacity: 15 000 bulldozers, 7 000 road machineries, 5 000 concrete machines, 180 000 track assemblies, 160 000 torque converters, 50 000 transmissions and 1 400 000 construction equipment rollers.
With its goal of becoming a leading multinational brand in the construction machinery industry through high technology, sustainability and strong competitiveness, Shantui is rapidly expanding its global network to support this goal.
As such, four dealerships have already been established by ESI throughout South Africa, namely Jet Park, North West, Limpopo and Pietermaritzburg, and more are set to open in due course.
A key focus area for both ESI and Shantui in 2015 is to continuously provide its dealers with technical and product training, so as to ensure confidence in the brand and attain the skills, knowledge and ability to provide a global best service.
“We believe that we offer the unique balance between high performance and great price. We commit our wholehearted attention to value and putting our customers’ needs first,” says Bob Wang, CEO of Ever Star Industries.
The company has five codes of customer service that are embraced and followed globally. These are: a customer’s time is precious; create customer value; Shantui service, anytime, anywhere; it’s all about you; and proactive service.
Ahead of the innovation curve
The company’s production capability, manufacturing standards and product quality have been developed to lead the way both locally and internationally, and strive to meet or exceed global standards.
Its annual production capacity exceeds 15 000 bulldozers, 7 000 road machineries, 5 000 concrete machines, 180 000 track assemblies, 160 000 torque converters, 50 000 transmissions and 1 400 000 construction equipment rollers.
“ESI is confident that in the coming five to 10 years, the company will experience real growth – both in its commercial vehicle and yellow equipment range,…”
The respected Shantui Technology Research Centre and Post-Doctoral Research Lab are both recognised as a national-level research and development (R&D) centre in China, and are the foundation of Shantui’s innovation and internationalisation programmes.
The Shantui R&D centre was established to ensure that the company remains on the leading edge of product development, with an R&D system integrating product development, research on key technologies, trial production, and experimentation.
“ESI is confident that in the coming five to 10 years, the company will experience real growth – both in its commercial vehicle and yellow equipment range, which includes vehicles/ units, parts and service,” says Wang.
Shantui enjoys Sage influences
Shantui assigns much importance to bringing in and cultivating professional technical personnel, to assist in technical consultations and training seminars. In addition, it has sent abroad many senior and middle management technical personnel for advanced studies.
“There is nothing more pleasurable than greeting a friend from afar.” It’s the ESI/Shantui way.
These efforts effectively contribute to the talent cultivation of the company, placing it squarely on the road to becoming a top multinational construction machinery manufacturer.
Importantly, woven into its business principles are the values Confucius taught and which ESI solidly strives for: it is best to be ‘business partners today, friends for life’.
As the sage himself once said, “There is nothing more pleasurable than greeting a friend from afar.” It’s the ESI/Shantui way.