With bold investments in technology and global production, Zoomlion is scaling up to meet the demands of tomorrow’s wind and infrastructure projects.
The Crane Industry Council of Australia’s (CICA’s) National Conference and Exhibition attracted a number of important representatives from the Zoomlion organisation including Mr Tongchun Luo, Deputy General Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Baomi Zheng Director of the Wheeled Crane Research Institute, Global R&D Center, who is also the team Leader for the development of the ZAT40000H763 4000 tonne capacity all terrain.
Guanglei (Stone) Su represented Zoomlion on the Crane Manufacturers Panel and Shane Rouhan Managing Director of Zoomlion’s official authorised distributor Nationwide Machinery Group (NMG) entertained local crane companies on the Zoomlion-NMG JOINT stand.
With a lifting capacity of 4000 tonnes Zoomlion’s ZAT40000H763 is claimed to be the most powerful all-terrain on the planet. Zheng attended CICA’s National Conference and Exhibition to help present the ZAT40000H763 and to explore opportunities for this massive capacity all terrain with leading Australian crane hire companies.
ZAT40000H763 4000t capacity all terrain
Zoomlion’s ZAT40000H763 has been designed and engineered to keep pace with the predicted increase of requirements in wind farm construction over the next ten years.
The massive crane is designed to handle the lifting for 15.XMW wind turbines on land for the next 10 years. The ZAT40000H763 is capable of lifting 10.0MW wind turbines at a height of 160 metres and 7.0MW wind turbines at a height of 190 metres.
The lifting capabilities of Zoomlion’s ZAT40000H763 are impressive:
• At a height of 125 metres and a radius of 20 metres, the lifting capacity is 335 tonnes.
• At a height of 140 metres and a radius of 22 metres, the lifting capacity is 310 tonnes.
• At a height of 160 metres and a radius of 24 metres, the lifting capacity is 260 tonnes.
• At a height of 170 metres and a radius of 26 metres, the lifting capacity is 240 tonnes.
• At a height of 180 metres and a radius of 28 metres, the lifting capacity is 210 tonnes.
Flexible maneuverability enhancing mobilisation and de-mobilisation
Equipped with a 10-axle chassis with a width of only three metres and a length of just 22.5 metres, which is comparable to a nine-axle equivalent, the ZAT40000H763 can travel on highways and is more suitable for operations in narrow areas such as mountainous wind farms. With the full boom attached, the overall height of the crane is six metres, featuring a low center of gravity for excellent ground clearance and enhanced safety during heavy-load travel. The 6+2 drive system enables the crane to climb gradients exceeding 20 per cent even with the main boom under heavy loads.
Ultimate operational convenience
The 95.4 metre ultra-long main boom with dual-side pins requires minimal assembly space for wind turbine installation and other similarly limited working conditions such as infrastructure projects. Autonomous boom raising is possible without the need for auxiliary cranes in wind turbine installation scenarios up to 160 metres.
Dual motors on a single winch enable rope threading in just 40 minutes per session. At a working height of 180 metre the crane can be fully set up in just 30 minutes. The 1.4 metre large-distance counterweight displacement reduces the need for two transport trailers, enhancing economic efficiencies. For wind turbine installation scenarios up to 160 metres, only 22 trailers are needed for large-scale relocations.
Zoomlion expands globally
Stone explained more about Zoomlion’s manufacturing strategy in Europe.
“In 2018 we acquired Wilbert Tower Cranes in Germany, and we have been investing in the manufacturing facility evolving it from a single-purpose tower crane facility into a multi-category industrial base covering tower cranes, concrete machinery, and mobile cranes. This transformation is central to Zoomlion’s strategy of building a comprehensive European production network,” said Stone.
Zoomlion officially laid the cornerstone for Phase II of its German factory project on March 31 in Waldlaubersheim. The project, with an investment of over 50 million euro and covering 60,000 square metres, is an upgrade and expansion of the Wilbert Tower Cranes plant.
Aiming to establish a central global hub in Europe, Zoomlion’s Project is expected to produce over 1000 units of construction machinery annually and generate an output value of approximately $300 million (USD) once fully operational. The initiative will further drive collaboration with local upstream and downstream industries, contributing to the region’s economic prosperity.
Zoomlion actively promotes the convergence of technology, products, capital, and industry with the global market. It has achieved profound integration of R&D and manufacturing, supply chain and sales service in the sectors of construction machinery and agricultural machinery, realizing co-creative sharing and win-win cooperation. Since 2001, Zoomlion has acquired Powermole (UK), CIFA (Italy) (2008), m-tec (Germany, 2013), Raxtar (the Netherlands, 2014), Ladurner (Italy, 2015), Wilbert (Germany, 2018), Rabe (Germany, 2020), and other excellent companies.
In recent years, Zoomlion has accelerated the expansion of overseas markets with the “global village” vision to make full use of internet thinking and construct a new overseas business ecosystem based on “end-to-end, digitalisation, and localisation” strategic directions, and it has achieved a strong growth trend.
To date, Zoomlion has built 400 overseas branches with over 210 service and spare parts warehouses; its products are available in more than 170 countries and regions; and 11 overseas production bases have been built in eight countries, including Italy, Germany, India, Mexico, Belarus, Brazil, Turkey and the US.
Zoomlion performs locally
Shane from Nationwide Machinery Group (NMG) confirms how the Australian market is increasingly embracing the Zoomlion brand.
“We’ve been representing Zoomlion for almost 20 years and increasingly we are seeing a growing acceptance of the brand. In fact, we pretty much achieved our budget for the year in the first quarter which speaks volumes.
“During the CICA event we received a lot of interest in the 60 tonne all terrain we were displaying. Everybody commented on the quality of the machine and how ideal it was for the market. In the past we have brought in machines and been told about the changes that need to be made. We’ve had large and well-known crane companies visit the stand, and they’ve been really impressed with what they’ve seen. It’s been a good show for us,” said Shane.
Zoomlion’s ZAT600V6Z 60-tonne all-terrain crane is designed for medium-scale lifting, and the related ZAT600V6Z model for tough jobs. The ZAT600V6Z has a 48-metre main boom and a maximum lifting height of up to 64.5 metres with a jib. Key features include a powerful diesel engine, all-terrain capability for manoeuvrability, and modern safety and control features.
Shane agrees that there has been a significant shift in the local industry.
“If you go back in time, customers wanted to know more about the product, the expected life span, the resale value and the levels of after sales service and parts support. We’ve proven all of that. Today, it’s a case of putting a product into the market and those customers are now saying, ‘let’s look at what are we paying for the machine, what we are getting per hour and what the crane is costing over an extended period of time.’ They can see the after sales service and support service is there and with all these considerations, they are determining that Zoomlion mobile cranes make smart business sense,” said Shane.
Shane has been impressed with the level of cooperation his team receives from Zoomlion’s design team and how responsive they are to customer feedback.
“Recently, we had Lee Crane Hire take a look at a 350 tonne lattice boom crawler. During the examination, their technicians and operators saw a number of issues around the assembly timeframe which would be a problem when they got the crane to a mine site.
“Zoomlion had one of their designers present to help assemble the crane and he took notes on the feedback and said they’d have a look at the various issues when he got back to the factory. Lee Crane Hire went on to order the crane and in early October we took them to the factory and when the covers were taken off, they could the machine included all the suggested changes, which they couldn’t believe. That was the real turning point for them, they were so impressed with the cooperation from the factory and in particular the designers,” said Shane.
Shane is impressed with the investment Zoomlion is making in the Australian market.
“Twenty years ago, representing Zoomlion was hard work, but we have stuck with it. The product has evolved and improved immensely, and the performance is now comparative with the more recognised brands. Zoomlion is now backing the Australian market with after sales and service and spare parts availability in every major state.
“Durning the CICA Conference we had a meeting with Zoomlion’s top management Mr Tongchun Luo and explained how we want to take the business the next level.
“We recently made a multi-million-dollar investment in our new premises which they acknowledged and reassured us they are in this for the long haul and together, we will continue to bring world class product to the market and back it with excellent after-sales service and parts support.”