Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor: Making a Difference With Pioneering Spirit

Preventing epidemic and resuming production

Liuzhou is famous for its industrial development, among which the automobile industry is the highlight. After years of development, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor) has become an automobile manufacturing company with a wide customer base and strong scientific research strengths.

The precursor of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor is Agricultural Machinery Factory. In 1969, it joined the automobile industry and produced the first automobile in Guangxi. Later, the factory combined with Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, forming the new company we see today.

In the interview with our reporters, Tang Jing, general manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, reviewed the development history of the company for more than 50 years, “Generations of people implemented the enterprise spirit of ‘self-reliance, innovation, solidarity, and dedication’, thus achieving remarkable results in China’s automobile industry.” 

The innovative upgrading of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor is inseparable from the support of software and hardware. According to Tang Jing, the company is a national high-tech enterprise with more than 1,400 talents and experts, forming a knowledge reserve base.

Huang Pengwu, an employee of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, entered the company in 1986 and witnessed its development. He said, “I have worked in the paint workshop for more than 30 years. In the past, many operations were carried out manually. Now our production lines have basically realized automation, and gradually become intelligent. Along the way, I witnessed the development of the company’s production technology.”

Pu Zhiwei, who entered the company in 2013, said that the deepest impression of the company for him was the people-oriented atmosphere. “The company will arrange a series of training to improve the production skills of employees, such as the job rotation system. We will change a job in half a month or in a week, so that we will be familiar with and learn the knowledge and skills of different posts, which will enhance the cooperation between us,” said Pu Zhiwei.

The cultivation of talents and the continuous improvement of staff skills have injected soft power into the development of the company. In terms of hardware, the company is well-equipped, having the ability to complete vehicle design, vehicle tests, and the research and development of new products.

Tang Jing said that the development of products cannot be separated from employees’ collaborative innovation. Therefore, the company has set up an incentive mechanism through establishing a mass innovation center and setting up a cultivation fund for outstanding ideas.

Consolidating local market, marching towards overseas

“In China, aiming at commercial vehicles, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor has achieved the goal of taking the first share in the southern region and selling 90,000 vehicles under the strategy of consolidating the southern market and marching towards the north. Outside, ASEAN is an important overseas market. The company decided to make a breakthrough in the ASEAN market by setting up factories and expanding overseas markets together with strategic procurement cooperation units,” Tang Jing explained the market layout of the company.

It takes a good blacksmith to make good steel. The reason why Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor can gain a good reputation mainly depends on its implementation of product strategies. Li Ke, an engineer, expressed confidence in the products, “At present, the production technologies of tractors, trucks and engineering vehicles of the company are in the forefront of China.” In recent years, the company has completed more than 90 improvement projects by focusing on the mainstream market and more than 10 key products in key markets, and has also improved 11 core technologies.

New energy vehicles are now a major development trend of the automobile industry. Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor will optimize the planning and layout of pure electric products and continue to carry out research on fuel cells and hybrid technologies in the next few years. Focusing on key markets, it will gradually achieve coverage. In terms of passenger vehicles, the company has produced S50EV. In the future, it will launch small-size domestic SUVs and sedans powered by new energy, continuing to make efforts in new energy vehicles.

While consolidating the local market, the company has shifted its focus to overseas markets, with a layout in Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa. “Among them, the ASEAN market is the most important one. In the next three to five years, ASEAN is expected to become the largest market,” said Cheng Yuan, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor Import and Export Company. In 2019, the company made two remarkable achievements in the ASEAN market. First, in Myanmar, the export volume of Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor has reached a new high among its peers, ranking first with 750 sets. Second, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor has had a place in the automobile market of Thailand. In the past, Japan and South Korea occupied most of it. 

ASEAN countries have paid more attention to the development of automobile industry, which provides greater opportunities for Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor. At present, Myanmar has banned the use of second-hand cars and right-hand-drive cars. “That means opening a window for Chinese auto enterprises. After the epidemic, the ASEAN auto market should have a peak,” said Cheng Yuan. At present, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor and several Myanmar consortiums have discussed the introduction of vehicles to enterprises.

Preventing epidemic and resuming production

After the outbreak of the epidemic, how to balance epidemic prevention and production is a difficult problem for all manufacturing industries. During this period, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor undertook the responsibility, donating RMB 1 million yuan for anti-epidemic work through Dongfeng public welfare foundation and 216 thermometers worth RMB 140,000 yuan to Liuzhou Red Cross Society.

During the epidemic, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor coordinated materials, gave priority to the production of anti-epidemic vehicles, and organized employees to work overtime to manufacture vehicles. In addition to successfully completing the production task of 13 negative pressure ambulances designated by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor also received orders for 522 ambulances and 260 disinfection sprinklers, assisting the work of epidemic prevention and control.

Although the epidemic can not be underestimated, enterprises can not stop for a long time. Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor organized the employees to return to work in an orderly manner after formulating epidemic prevention measures, such as monitoring the physical condition of employees, fully disinfecting, registering people who enter and leave the factory, and implementing the system of individual dishes serving. At present, the number of suspected cases and confirmed cases in the company is 0.

No matter the special response in the special period or the production development in ordinary times, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor, with a persistent ingenuity, cuts through the thorns on the road full of challenges to create a good car for customers. We also believe that in the future, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor will win a great deal of glory with its pioneering spirit.

Source: CHINA-ASEAN PANORAMA