Fuwa, China’s fast growing trailer axle manufacturer, is all set to launch drive axles targeted at the global OEMs. The company is already in discussions with several Chinese and global OEMs for supply of drive axles for the new generation commercial vehicles.
Says Mr. Scott Tan, International Business Manager of Guangdong Fuwa Engineering Manufacturing Co. Ltd.: “We are also planning to launch axles for off-highway and construction equipments in the future”, he added.
The Fuwa brand owned by Guangdong Fuwa Engineering Manufacturing Co. Ltd. was founded in 1997 and has now become one of the world’s largest trailer axle makers. In just over a decade, Fuwa has grown to become one of the worldwide market leaders. Now it is taking the next step, investing in a new factory that will help double the company’s current capacity.
To further expand the business, Fuwa has invested Euro 150 million in a new state-of-the-art factory in Taishan. As a result of China’s booming economy, Fuwa started out supplying the domestic market with axles, trailer landing gears, suspension systems and other products for trailers. Today, it has a dominant position in the Chinese trailer axle market, with an impressive 70 per cent market share.
“In total, we produce around 1,000 different axles,” says Scott Tan, Fuwa project manager. “For example, in China and in developing countries, there are many poor roads, so the axles have to be constructed with heavy-duty components to perform well even under these difficult conditions, while in the US, where the roads are normally much better, the components used are slightly different. The product structure and configuration varies in different countries based on their applications.”
Fuwa produced 600,000 axles in 2007, and 500,000 each in 2008 and 2009 in keeping with a retracting automotive market. The company also manufactures other products, including 200,000 landing gears and 100,000 air suspension systems per year, some of which are licensed for other well-known brands in the industry.
In addition to being market leader in China, Fuwa has considerable market shares in many regions around the world, including Australia, South-East Asia, South America, South Africa and the US.
The new site in Taishan will be almost double the size of the existing Shunde plant in terms of production, adding another 600,000 trailer axles to Fuwa’s annual capacity, as well as introducing new products, such as drive axles and front axles for trucks.
It will be a top-class factory equipped with advanced machinery from all over the world, including an advanced painting system. The factory set-up is in accordance with European standards and will produce items similar to what it produces in Shunde. Mostly high-end products will be manufactured in Taishan.
In India, Fuwa currently sells trailer axles, landing legs, air suspension systems and other trailer parts through its partner KKTC in Mumbai, the authorised distributor for Fuwa parts in India.
“We are very interested in supplying drive axles to Indian truck manufacturers”, says Mr. Tan. “India is a very important market for us as the road and usage conditions are very similar to China. We believe our product is perfect for the Indian market. We are fully confident of our success in the global market and hope to make an entry into the Indian market as well”, he adds.
Currently out of the total sales, 70 per cent comes from the Chinese domestic market and the balance 30 per cent from exports. Once the new facility is ready, the target is to increase the share of exports to 50 per cent and the remaining from the domestic market.
