"Five-Star" Zoomlion Becoming a World-Class Enterprise

From being selected as one of the Top 500 Brands in Asia, to being named a Chinese "five-star brand," Zoomlion continued along the path of "strengthening the country through strong brands" in 2013. On January 19, the National Enterprise Brand Evaluation and 2013 Chinese Enterprise Five-Star Brand Forum were held in Beijing. At the Forum, the list of Chinese enterprises recognized as five-star brands in 2013, which included Zoomlion, was announced.

Wang Xuhong, director of Zoomlion's brand promotion department, said, "Zoomlion's soul comes from its culture of sincerity, and its breakthroughs are a result of innovation. The company has constantly opened up international markets and is increasingly demonstrating the strength of an independent brand on the global economic stage. The ‘China Dream' of strengthening the country through strong brands is gradually being realized."

Five-star brands are selected in accordance with standards set out in the Commercial Enterprise Brand Evaluation and Corporate Culture Building Guidelines promulgated by the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China. These standards are used to conduct a comprehensive system evaluation of corporate and commercial brands using five level-one indicators: "ability, quality, reputation, corporate culture, and influence;" 17 level-two indicators, including brand planning and brand management; and 52 level-three indicators. Each brand is then awarded between five and two stars. 

Founded in 1992, Zoomlion is the leading company in China's construction machinery industry. The company's brand image of having "devotion to the profession, leading technology, and a sincere sense of responsibility" has been widely accepted and recognized by the industry. Wang Xuhong believes that Zoomlion's growth from a startup with an RMB 500,000 loan into a five-star Chinese company is closely related to its corporate culture of believing that "to entire sincerity there belongs ceaselessness." As Wang Xuhong notes, "A very important reason Zoomlion has gotten where it is today is that we've always integrated the concept of ‘sincerity' into all aspects of management."

Chairman of the China Federation of Industrial Economics Li Yizhong stressed at the Forum that enterprise brand building is inseparable from unerring quality. He stated, "The responsibility of an enterprise is to provide society with high-quality products and good service. If it can continue to do so in the long term and receives market recognition, then it may become a product or service brand."

Zoomlion attaches great importance to product quality. In the course of the company's development, there have been numerous defining moments similar to Haier's Zhang Ruimin taking a sledgehammer to the company's substandard refrigerators. In 1994, for example, as a result of imperfections and a number of faults with the first generation of concrete pumps, the company applied the brakes, and Zoomlion Chairman Zhan Chunxin made the decision to "stop all production." In July of the same year, Zoomlion successfully developed its second generation of concrete pumps, and by the end of the year the company had sold 45 pieces of equipment and exchanged for free 10 pieces that it had sold previously. Zoomlion's focus on responsibility to the customer and its constant attempts to improve quality led to a successful turnaround and safeguarded the reputation of the brand. 

From the company's early days of rigorously pursuing product quality, to establishing a "zero-defect" quality management principle, Zoomlion has gradually grown into a model of "quality management" in the construction machinery industry, for which it was recognized at the highest level in China by being nominated for the inaugural China Quality Award.

As Wang Xuhong points out, "Using innovative technology and management, Zoomlion manufactures high-quality products. At the same time as it creates value for its customers and society, it also creates value for itself." He also notes that in the course of pursuing product quality, Zoomlion has also improved its operational quality. 

Wang Xuhong went on to say that, having achieved improvements in quality, Zoomlion set a benchmark for internationalization among Chinese companies, and that the company has displayed the strength of Chinese brands on the global stage by becoming a world-renowned brand itself. 

In 2008, Zoomlion successfully acquired the world's third largest concrete machinery manufacturer, CIFA of Italy, which laid the cornerstone for Chinese construction machinery to move into overseas markets in Europe and beyond. In recognition of Zoomlion's contribution to the Italian economy through post-merger integration, the President of Italy presented the International Leonardo Award to Zoomlion Chairman Zhan Chunxin. This honor also illustrates the recognition the Zoomlion brand has received in Europe. Since the end of 2013, Zoomlion has again been accelerating the pace of its globalization, with the announcement that it has acquired Germany's M-TEC, the world's foremost dry-mixed mortar equipment brand. Analysts believe that Zoomlion will soon become the world leader in the field of dry-mixed mortar equipment.

In the international market, Zoomlion is also increasingly demonstrating the influence of independent Chinese brands, and is gradually realizing its dream of becoming a "world-class enterprise," having demonstrated its ambition of creating a world-class brand from a five-star Chinese enterp