Domestically
China's excavator production started relatively late. From the production of the first 1m³ mechanical single-bucket excavator by the Fushun Excavator Factory in 1954 to the present, it has generally gone through three stages: reverse engineering, independent research and development, and improvement.
In the early days of the People's Republic of China, the focus was on reverse engineering the Soviet W501, W502, W1001, and W1002 mechanical single-bucket excavators from the 1930s and 40s, marking the beginning of China's excavator production history. Due to the needs of national economic construction at the time, more than ten excavator manufacturing plants were established.
By the end of the 1980s, China had more than 30 excavator manufacturing plants, producing more than 40 models. Medium and small hydraulic excavators have been developed into a series, with bucket capacities ranging from 0.1 to 2.5 cubic meters, encompassing 12 grades and over 20 models. The industry also produces 0.5-4.0 cubic meter excavators, as well as large mining excavators with 10 and 12 cubic meter mechanical transmissions, 1 cubic meter tunnel boring machines, 4 cubic meter long-arm excavators, and 1000 cubic meter/hour dump trucks. Furthermore, marine hydraulic excavators with a 0.25 cubic meter bucket capacity and amphibious excavators with bucket capacities of 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 cubic meters have been developed. However, in general, China's excavator production is characterized by small-scale, dispersed production, and a significant gap in manufacturing processes and product quality compared to international advanced levels.
Since the reform and opening up, China has actively introduced, digested, and absorbed advanced foreign technologies to promote the development of its excavator industry.
Industry insiders point out that China's single-bucket hydraulic excavators should develop towards a fully hydraulic design; bucket capacity should be controlled between 0.1-15 m³. For large and multi-bucket excavators, due to the high precision requirements for the manufacturing and assembly of hydraulic components and poor on-site maintenance conditions, mechanical systems will remain the primary choice. Research and application of electro-hydraulic control technology should be initiated to automate the operation of hydraulic excavators.
My country began researching and developing excavator products in the late 1960s. In just over 40 years, especially in the more than 30 years since the reform and opening up, China's excavator manufacturing industry has developed rapidly. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2010, there were 252 large-scale excavator manufacturers in China, achieving sales of 169.785 billion yuan, product sales profits of 25.367 billion yuan, and total profits of 21.406 billion yuan, all representing year-on-year increases of over 80%.
China's excavator market is growing at an average rate of 30% annually, making it one of the world's largest markets in terms of user volume. From a development perspective, China is currently experiencing a peak period of infrastructure construction in various sectors, including road transportation, energy and water conservancy, and urban development. The demand for excavators is increasing year by year. In 2010, the total sales volume of excavators nationwide exceeded 165,000 units, representing a year-on-year increase of 74.5%.
At the end of 2010, major domestic enterprises expanded their excavator production capacity, and other companies launched new excavator models, attempting to leverage the rapid growth of the excavator market to boost their profits. However, due to both risk considerations and profit considerations, and the lack of active bank lending in promoting affordable housing construction, the construction machinery market experienced a contraction in sales in the second quarter of 2011. In May 2011, domestic excavator sales reached 13,956 units, a year-on-year decrease of 12.4%, marking the first monthly year-on-year decline. From January to May, cumulative sales reached 115,589 units, a year-on-year increase of 38.1%, a decrease of 12 percentage points compared to the January-April period.
Data shows that the market share of domestic brands further increased to 37% from January to May 2011. Sany Heavy Industry, the leading domestic excavator manufacturer, has reached an annual production and sales volume of over 10,000 units, while the top four companies in the industry all have a production capacity of over 4,000 units per year. Other companies are also expanding their production capacity at a considerable pace. In the coming period, the encroachment of domestic brands on the market share of imported and used excavators may become the norm.
According to data from Construction Machinery Online, as of September 2014, sales of mini excavators under 6 tons totaled 1,006 units, with foreign brands holding a 55.0% market share and domestic brands a 45.0% market share. In addition, sales of excavators over 6 tons totaled 3,139 units, with foreign brands holding a 61.0% market share and domestic brands only a 39.0% market share. According to data from Sany Heavy Industry, from 2011 to 2013, the company's domestic market share of excavators reached 11.56%, 15.8%, and 13.7% respectively, surpassing Caterpillar to maintain its leading position in the industry. Its market share has once again exceeded 15%, and industry insiders believe that the company's victory in securing the top spot this year and achieving its fourth consecutive year as the sales champion is virtually guaranteed.
Overall, the domestic stock of excavators is relatively low, but product prices are relatively high. Sales are primarily based on financial leasing or bank mortgages. Once credit eases, excavator sales will be among the best-performing products. It can be predicted that from 2011 to 2013, with the recovery of the global and Chinese economies and the accelerated pace of real estate and urbanization construction, sales of excavators of all tonnages will continue to grow. Excluding uncertainties, excavator sales of all tonnages will grow at a rate exceeding 15% from 2011 to 2013.
As competition in the excavator manufacturing industry intensifies, mergers and acquisitions and capital operations among large excavator manufacturers are becoming increasingly frequent. Leading domestic excavator manufacturers are placing greater emphasis on market research, particularly in-depth research into the industry's development environment and product buyers. As a result, a large number of excellent domestic excavator brands have rapidly emerged, gradually becoming leaders in the Chinese and even global excavator manufacturing industry.
In October 2022, according to the official website of the China Construction Machinery Association, statistics from 26 excavator manufacturers showed that in September 2022, 21,187 excavators of various types were sold, a year-on-year increase of 5.49%. Of these, 10,520 units were sold domestically, a year-on-year decrease of 24.5%; and 10,667 units were exported, a year-on-year increase of 73.3%.
Internationally, the first manual excavator has a history of over 130 years, evolving from steam-powered semi-rotary excavators to electric and internal combustion engine-powered full-rotary excavators, and finally to fully automatic hydraulic excavators using mechatronics technology.
Industrialized countries began producing excavators earlier. France, Germany, the United States, Russia, and Japan are major producers of single-bucket hydraulic excavators with a bucket capacity of 3.5-40 m³, and began producing extra-large excavators in the 1980s.
From the late 20th century onwards, international excavator production has trended towards larger, miniaturized, multi-functional, specialized, and automated models.
1. Develop a variety of multi-functional, high-quality, and high-efficiency excavators. To meet the needs of municipal and farmland construction, foreign countries have developed mini excavators with bucket capacities below 0.25m³, with the smallest bucket capacity being only 0.01m³. Furthermore, the most numerous medium and small excavators tend to be multi-functional, equipped with various working devices-in addition to front shovels and backhoes, they are also equipped with cranes, grab buckets, leveling buckets, loading buckets, rake teeth, breakers, twist drills, electromagnetic chucks, vibrators, bulldozer blades, impact shovels, container forks, aerial work platforms, winches, and draglines, etc., to meet various construction needs. Simultaneously, develop special-purpose excavators, such as low-pressure, low-noise, underwater-specific, and amphibious excavators.
2. Rapidly develop fully hydraulic excavators, continuously improving and innovating control methods, enabling excavators to evolve from simple lever operation to hydraulic operation, pneumatic operation, hydraulic servo operation, electrical control, radio remote control, and integrated computer program control. In hazardous areas or underwater operations, radio control is employed, combining electronic computer-controlled receivers and laser guidance to achieve full automation of excavator operation. All of this is underpinned and facilitated by the full hydraulic system of excavators.
3. Emphasis is placed on adopting new technologies, processes, and structures to accelerate standardization, serialization, and generalization.
4. Updating design theories to improve reliability and extend service life. Countries such as the US, UK, and Japan have promoted the adoption of finite-life design theory to replace traditional infinite-life design theories and methods. They have applied advanced technologies such as fatigue damage accumulation theory, fracture mechanics, finite element method, optimization design, computer-controlled electro-hydraulic servo fatigue testing technology, and fatigue strength analysis methods to the strength research of hydraulic excavators, promoting high-quality, high-efficiency, and competitive products. The US has proposed dynamic design analysis methods for assessing dynamic strength and established theories for predicting product failure and replacement. Japan has developed strength evaluation procedures for hydraulic excavator components and a reliability information processing system. Guided by the aforementioned fundamental theories, and through extensive experimentation, the research cycle for new products has been shortened, accelerating the upgrading of hydraulic excavators and improving their reliability and durability. For example, the operating rate of hydraulic excavators reaches 85%–95%, and their service life exceeds 10,000 hours.
5. Strengthening operator protection and improving working conditions. Hydraulic excavators adopt cabs with falling object protection and rollover protection structures, install adjustable elastic seats, and use sound insulation measures to reduce noise interference.
6. Further improving the hydraulic system. There is a clear trend towards variable displacement systems in the hydraulic systems of medium and small hydraulic excavators. This is because in a variable displacement system, when the pressure decreases during pump operation, the flow rate is increased to compensate, keeping the hydraulic pump power constant. In other words, hydraulic excavators equipped with variable displacement pumps can frequently and fully utilize the pump's maximum power. When external resistance increases, the flow rate is reduced (speed is decreased), multiplying the digging force. A three-circuit hydraulic system is adopted, generating three independent working movements that do not affect each other, achieving power matching with the slewing mechanism. The third pump is connected to other working movements, becoming the second independent rapid movement in an open circuit. Furthermore, the widespread use of hydraulic technology in excavators has created conditions for the application and promotion of electronic and automatic control technologies in excavators.
7. Rapidly expanding the application of electronic and automated technologies in excavators. In the 1970s, to save energy consumption and reduce environmental pollution, to make excavators easier and safer to operate, to reduce noise, and to improve operator working conditions, electronic and automatic control technologies were gradually applied to excavators. With increasing demands for excavator efficiency, energy conservation, environmental protection, ease of operation, safety, comfort, reliability, and durability, the application of mechatronics in excavators was promoted, resulting in a qualitative leap in their various performance aspects. In the 1980s, high-tech innovations centered on microelectronics, particularly the application of microcomputers, microprocessors, sensors, and detection instruments in excavators, promoted the application and promotion of electronic control technology in excavators. This has become an important symbol of the modernization of excavators, namely, advanced excavators are equipped with electronic control systems such as automatic engine idle speed and throttle control systems, power optimization systems, working mode control systems, and monitoring systems.
