The birth of XCMG 4000-ton crane is a milestone in the field of heavy lifting equipment in China.
In the past, China could only follow foreign countries in this field, but now it not only realizes independent research and development, but also constantly refreshes the world lifting record, and has completed the super-large hoisting task of 1,000 tons for many times, ending the long-term dependence on imported equipment.
Time and time again, XCMG's cranes have shown amazing resistance to weight on the construction site, but behind it is the hard work of the design and development team for decades.
In particular, the female designer in charge, Sun Li, can be said to be the mainstay of this careerIt was she who led the team and overcame many difficulties to increase the lifting capacity of China's heavy cranes to a historic height of 4,000 tons.
So, how did China's heavy crane go from scratch to today's "world's best"?
The development of cranes has a history of 100 years, as early as the beginning of the 20th century, European and American countries began to produce cranes.
In particular, crawler cranes, with their extremely high difficulty and complexity, have long been regarded as the "pinnacle" of mechanical engineering. The United States, Germany, Japan and other countries have a firm grasp of this technology and monopolize the global market.
In contrast, China did not begin to introduce cranes until the 80s of the last century, when China was still in the initial stage of the machinery industry and could only rely on imported equipment to support the construction of major projects.
Foreign manufacturers often rely on their technological advantages to monopolize sales and technology for Chinese users.
In the absence of independent technology, Chinese users are completely passive and often even need foreign technicians to guide the operation on site. This has caused great inconvenience in major engineering projects, and also reflects the shortcomings of industrial development.
At this time, China urgently needs to independently develop heavy-duty cranes to get rid of its dependence on imported equipment.
After decades of accumulation, by the end of the last century, China's construction machinery industry has gradually grown and expanded, but compared with similar products in Germany, there is still a huge gap.
In 2002, XCMG, a leading enterprise in China's construction machinery, officially launched the R&D project of heavy cranesThe goal is to break the monopoly of foreign technology, and the project is designed by female engineer Sun Li.
At that time, Sun Li had just given birth, and in order to invest in research and development, she ranked her work before her family. After a race against time, the first 150-ton Chinese self-designed crane was born more than a year later.
The success of the 150-ton crane is only a beginning of the development of China's cranes. It not only broke through the research and development of 260-ton and 350-ton products, but also developed the first 4000-ton heavy-duty crane in China in 2013.
This move directly broke the long-term monopoly of Europe and the United States on heavy crane technology, realized the independent and controllable key core technology in China, and marked the Chinese crane to the world stage.
After independent research and development of 4,000-ton heavy-duty cranes, XCMG quickly opened up domestic and foreign markets for this product. In 2019, the first XCMG 4,000-ton crane traveled to Saudi Arabia to participate in a large-scale local oil refining project.
The project required the lifting of a 1,926-ton scrubber with a height of 101 meters and a diameter of nearly 9 meters, resembling a tall tower. This lifting task places extremely high demands on the crane, which simply cannot be completed without large-tonnage equipment.
After arriving at the construction site, the main boom of the crane reached 102 meters, plus a 27-meter jib, and after 6 hours of hard work, the "tower" was finally hoisted in place. This construction directly refreshed the record of similar cranes in the world at that time.
Before this crane was shipped to Saudi Arabia, China had never had too many heavy machinery and equipment shipped overseas for construction. It has opened up a precedent for China's heavy machinery to "go global", and also made foreign users look at China's equipment with admiration.
More importantly, it breaks the foreign monopoly of technology in this field and prompts the price of similar foreign products to be reduced. This directly reflects the strategic significance of China's independent R&D.
Since then, XCMG 4,000-ton cranes have completed a number of large-scale projects in the Middle East. In 2021, it participated in the hoisting of 2,600 tons of tower equipment in a project in Jiangsu, once again refreshing its own lifting record.
In the past 10 years, this crane has continuously withstood tests and set new records, becoming a model for emerging countries to "show their fists" overseas.
Today, Chinese cranes can be seen everywhere at the Saudi Aramco project site. They have successively completed 1,000-ton and even 10,000-ton super-large hoisting tasks, demonstrating the high level and super strength of China's equipment.
Three years ago, Saudi users were suspicious of Chinese cranes, but now they have become loyal users. This change indicates that the equipment of emerging countries is marching to developed countries, and promoting the development of the world's mechanical engineering market to multipolarity.
The birth of China's 4,000-ton crane indicates that the overall strength of China's construction machinery has been in line with the world's advanced level. In this journey to the road of heavy machinery, Xu workers with tenacious will and high morale, continue to climb the peak.
In particular, Sun Li, the designer in charge, can be said to have fought at the forefront of technical research all her life, and cast the king of lifting with the posture of a woman, which can sing and cry.
In the future, under the guidance of Sun Li and other experts of the older generation, China's 4000-ton super crane will continue to create brilliance.
It will help China's major infrastructure construction, and will also play a greater role in the global market, help the development of countries along the "Belt and Road", and show the power of Made in China. Let's wait and see how China's equipment moves to a new level!