Linde forklift: always put a new symbol

——Interview with Linde (China) Forklift Truck Co., Ltd. President and Chief Executive Officer Guo Jinpeng Linde forklift as a high-end brand forklift, achieved sales of more than 15,000 units in 2011, far ahead of peers factory. Guo Jinpeng, the president of Linde (China), who is a veteran in the industry, is familiar with the forklift manufacturing industry. Therefore, our correspondent interviewed Guo Zong in the first month of the new year and asked him to review and prospect the forklift industry.

Q: In recent years, China's industrial vehicle industry has maintained a rapid growth. According to statistics, from the third quarter of 2011, a relatively clear "inflection point" began to appear. In this regard, some people think that this indicates that the industrial vehicle industry has entered the "deep winter period", and many people believe that this is a "buffer period", is a rational return after the high-speed surge. So how do you think about this issue?

Guo Jinpeng: I personally prefer the latter term. Such an "inflection point" is not necessarily the signal of "winter", but it is a natural adjustment stage that the Chinese economy will inevitably emerge under rapid development. Over the past few years, the industry has grown too fast and investment enthusiasm has been greatly stimulated. At the same time, due to the large proportion of demand for low-end and mid-range products, the market entry threshold is low, low-price competition and product homogeneity are serious. Core technologies The lack of it has made almost all important parts dependent on imports. In any market, it is difficult to avoid the initial blind expansion and rapid expansion, but as the market and the company itself continue to mature, sustainable development ability is valued, so companies will continue to improve technical strength and adjust product structure to meet market demand, To adapt to competition from home and abroad, in the process will also be through the innovation of marketing tools and service models for companies seeking greater room for development. Therefore, just as we often say spiraling up, some of the data's intuitive decline often reveals the qualitative information contained in it.

Q: In your opinion, what problems still exist in China's industrial vehicle industry? How will these problems affect future development? How should we cope with and solve the crux of the problem and take the path of healthy development as soon as possible?

Guo Jinpeng: As mentioned earlier, the current development of China's industrial vehicle industry is strong, but due to the rapid growth in previous years, it has led to an increase in duplication of construction and disorderly competition. This situation is very unfavorable to the industrial product structure adjustment and industrial structural upgrade. In addition, we have some differences with some developed countries. This is also a major drawback of ours. In China's forklift ownership, internal combustion forklifts account for 80%, while electric forklifts account for only 20%, from environmental protection. From an angle, this pattern is not particularly reasonable. However, as the environmental awareness of the Chinese people continues to increase, more and more people have begun to pay attention to electric forklifts.

In this regard, I would like to put forward proposals from two aspects. First, we must strengthen the hard power of the industrial vehicle industry, maintain organic unity in terms of development speed, sustainability, and coordination, and at the same time adjust the product mix and promote product upgrading. The second is to focus on the improvement of soft power, start with cultural construction, training management and other aspects, change the inherent ideas and awareness, learn from the advanced experience of domestic and foreign companies, and constantly improve their comprehensive competitiveness.

Question: 2011 has already passed. The world economic situation this year is very complicated. Please talk about it. Under this general environment, what kind of development is China's economy? How will the current global economic recovery process affect China's industrial vehicle manufacturing industry?

Guo Jinpeng: In 2011, the global economic environment was affected by the European debt crisis and the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. The overall situation was somewhat cloudy, but the Chinese economy maintained a good momentum of development under the government's timely and appropriate control. I believe that with the recovery of the world economy, the influx of hot money last year will gradually ebb in the Chinese market, and the economic situation will return steadily. In the first half of 2012, the global industrial vehicle manufacturing industry will still be in a downturn under inertia, but it should show a rational upward trend in the second half of the year.

Question: Equipment manufacturing industry is one of the pillar industries of China's national economy and is also a concentrated expression of the country's overall strength and technological level. Please talk about what expectations and prospects exist for the future development of China's industrial vehicles and even logistics equipment manufacturing industry. What new technologies and new products will Linde launch in the new situation? What are the new measures in the formulation of future market strategies?

Guo Jinpeng: The national “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” clearly stated that it is necessary to vigorously develop the logistics industry. There is no doubt that the entire equipment manufacturing industry will inevitably leverage on this breeze to soar. Industrial vehicles are an indispensable part of constructing a modern logistics system. Forklifts with high working efficiency and wide application range are the second largest construction machinery products after loaders in China, covering all industries and fields in China. At the same time, the application of forklift trucks is still continuing to expand, which also indicates that the industry will have more room for development in the future.

In the booming environment of the entire industry, Linde will continue to improve its product structure and introduce more models that meet market needs, such as the new-generation Volkswagen's Linde internal-combustion forklift HT30, its comprehensive R&D strength and local manufacturing advantages. We believe that in the future Linde will have a broader market in China.