Australia HeavyQuip Journal had the pleasure to be invited by LiuGong at the Opening of the Company’s new Facility in Melbourne. LiuGong entered the Australian market in 2004, and the opening of the new facility marked the strength of the company’s presence in the Aussie and NZ market, as well as the introduction of the electric machinery range. Here is the reportage of our journalist, Caroline Falls.
LiuGong, the China-based yellow equipment maker, opened a 4,000 square metre spare parts facility in Australia’s manufacturing belt in the northern suburbs of the city of Melbourne in May. The company marked the event with a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony attended by customers, dealers, distributors, executives from the OEM’s Liuzhou headquarters in Guangxi province, and media from Australia and New Zealand.
The yellow equipment maker also launched its new green battery electric powered machines into the Australian market — the 856H-E wheel loader, scissor lifts and excavators. Yellow equipment is a generic term used in the construction, mining, and agricultural sectors to refer to any materials handling equipments such as tractors, excavators, graders, forklifts and cranes.
“Oceania is a high demand, high value customer group. It’s why we set up this facility to fully support the Oceania market,”
said Luo Guobing, LiuGong’s senior vice president and head of global markets. Oceania refers to the geographic region comprising Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and others.
The new facility comprises a 500 square metre of office space, 1,500 square metres of warehousing and a 2,000 square metre yard for parking vehicles and equipment. Within these spaces are areas for training, research and development, and a bay for reconditioning transmissions.
LiuGong knows Australia well as it has been supplying its products into the Downunder market for almost 20 years, since 2004, firstly through Western Australian-based dealer McIntosh. Western Australia is a large state on the western half of the continent with massive mining and agricultural interests — key markets for LiuGong machines.
Indeed Australia was one of the first markets outside of China that LiuGong entered. Now LiuGong is present in 170 countries across the globe. The company, which was founded in China in 1958, today has more than 30 products encompassing equipment for the earthmoving, road construction, concrete, materials handlings and mining industries. It has manufacturing plants in five countries — China, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and India.
LiuGong has several joint ventures with big name global players, including Cummins for engines. The Cummins JV was established in 2012. It is also in a joint venture with Australian-based lithium battery and charger supplier VoltX. LiuGong’s collaboration with these big brands, and others including Kawasaki, Dressta, ZF and Rexroth — exemplifies its core value of cooperation, which extends to customers and its dealer network, said Guobing.
Guobing also took the opportunity of speaking with the event’s audience of about 80 to talk about the company’s history, and other critical values that underpin its strategy. Putting the customer first motivates LiuGong work hard to deliver after sales support and solutions, he said.
A speaker Michael Radford, operations manager at Holcim Australia’s East Gippsland Victoria unit gave a testimonial on the fantastic after sales service Liugong and its dealers delivered when his concreting and aggregate company purchased a LiuGong 856H wheel loader in July 2022.
“It’s currently done roughly 1900 hours. We had a couple of issues when we first got it. We had an issue with the seat which was swapped out. Probably what’s really important, we’ve had this machine 10 months now. When you buy something new you get pre-delivery people come down and they go through things with you; then you might hear from them once or twice. With this machine the follow up and continued support is just outstanding. We just like to thank you guys. Thank you very much.”
said Radford.
Guobing said the LiuGong envisions becoming the world’s leading construction equipment and technology solutions provider. LiuGong said it’s the first equipment maker in the world to produce electric earthmoving equipment. Its battery electric wheel loader, the 856H-E, is the biggest selling wheel loader in China.
It also has a range of autonomous equipment utilising 5G technology, including wheel loaders, excavators and rollers.
Meanwhile, Guobing said the Australian facility will support its dealers located around the continent. It will mean a quicker response to customer demands and better after sales service. It will also mean financial support, aftermarket support and better communication and understanding of customer needs.
Dylan Stanley, a representative of McIntosh, a LiuGong dealer based in the big mining and agricultural state of Western Australia, welcomed the establishment of the new spare parts facility into the country.
Speaking on the side of the grand opening Stanley who is developing the east coast Australian market for McIntosh said:
“It’s a positive for us to have the local support. Now they are in the same timezone, so if you are having an issue, you can get an immediate response, which is a massive positive. Our machines are currently on construction sites, several of them, so basically every hour down, every minute down is crucial to the customer. So because these LiuGong machines are relatively new on the east coast, we’re trying to build that reputation of immediate support. Having LiuGong based now in Australia, will give us that extra strength to have the right response on time”
Guobing concluded:
“Today the opening ceremony is just the start of our investment. We will have more investment here together with our dealers and customers to ensure we all have a bright future together.”
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