Wilhelm Rehm, member of the board of ZF and responsible for the Industrial Technology Division, which includes the Business Unit of Off-Highway Systems said, “Together with our partner LiuGong, we have developed a product which matches the requirements of the Chinese market.”
The joint venture will strengthen ZF’s activities in China. “During the past years, the country has experienced a rapid development of construction machinery,” explained Dr Stefan Sommer, CEO of ZF. “More than half of the world’s wheel loaders are produced in China. A considerable amount of machines are also being exported abroad from there. The impressive export rate, in particular, represents a big challenge since it frequently leads to market fluctuations. With the new joint venture company, ZF will continue its growth in China.”
Wang Xiao Hua, chairman of LiuGong, also said, “The new venture will benefit from the many successful years of cooperation already between LiuGong and ZF and by further extending this beneficial cooperation, we will continue to set many things in motion on the fiercely competitive construction machinery market.”
A team of engineers from ZF Headquarters, LiuGong and ZF China have been working together to upgrade the existing axle models for LiuGong wheel loaders since October 2011,” said Hermann Beck, head of the ZF Business Unit Off-Highway Systems. “These joint efforts brought about a modular axle concept which, besides the standard version with dry disc brake, offers the possibility to supply a new, even more sophisticated solution with wet multi-disc brake using a large portion of common parts.”
He added that this modular concept will reduce production costs. During 2014, 3,300 new axles are scheduled to leave the Liuzhou production plant. The annual volume will increase to more than 30,000 by 2018. Approximately 190 employees will be working in the newly founded company by 2018.
