New axle joint venture for LiuGong and ZF

LiuGong and ZF are intensifying their cooperation by building a new joint venture axle company in Liuzhou. China’s construction equipment manufacturer, LiuGong and German drivetrain specialist ZF-Group established a joint venture called ZF Liuzhou Axle. The new company will produce wheel loader axles that are specially tailored for the requirements of the Chinese market. In the long run some 190 employees will be working at Liuzhou Axle Co. Ltd. and more than 30,000 of the newly designed axles will be deliv
September 12, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
269 LiuGong and 2304 ZF are intensifying their cooperation by building a new joint venture axle company in Liuzhou. China’s construction equipment manufacturer, LiuGong and German drivetrain specialist ZF-Group established a joint venture called ZF Liuzhou Axle. The new company will produce wheel loader axles that are specially tailored for the requirements of the Chinese market. In the long run some 190 employees will be working at 6561 Liuzhou Axle Co. Ltd. and more than 30,000 of the newly designed axles will be delivered to the joint venture partner LiuGong. Since 1995, ZF and LiuGong have been operating a joint venture company in Liuzhou, a major industrial city in the south of China. The two parties have now decided to further intensity their cooperation. The new joint venture will be established in the same location.

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.

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