Farm Trader's Jaiden Drought visited the new LOVOL tractor factory to take a closer look at their advanced manufacturing processes and find out more about their upcoming plans for the NZ market
High build quality, a much cleaner and green space than I was expecting, and lush countryside were the main takeaways from a recent trip to find out more about LOVOL tractors, which have interesting plans in New Zealand.
There are several interesting insights into some of the subsidiary groups of the Shandong Heavy Industry Group, namely LOVOL Heavy Industry and LOVOL Tractor Manufacturing, both owned under the Weichai Group.
While the organisation structure might be a little confusing, the important part is that the business means just that – business. When it comes to manufacturing, a vertically integrated supply chain continues its growth, aiming to gain the lion’s share of the construction and agriculture market in mainland China, with more than 550,000 employees.
Construction equipment
Right: The holding yard of the Lovol F Series diggers, all set for dispatch
LOVOL Heavy Industry Group is the construction arm of the business, running Weichai engine plants and some significant numbers through three manufacturing plants. EV machines now also make up growing numbers of construction machines, as the government is requesting construction firms increase the number of low-emission machines in their fleet (but there’s no actual government funding currently for this initiative). You can see in the pictures the grey-bodied machines with green panels are battery-powered machines with a six-tonne capacity – the largest currently manufactured by LOVOL Heavy Industry Group.
The new factory I visited sits on a 500-acre site, which started scaling up production in May and will be in full production around September/October this year. Of the 500-acre site,185 acres is made up of buildings, fully equipped with fully automated welding, computerised line boring machines, and automated electromagnetic painting.
Despite the automation in the factory, more than 800 employees are involved across assembly, monitoring, and testing: all of which take place in the vast, clean, and efficient factory.
Machine monitoring
TBOX (or Tech BOX) is a big part of the company direction. Every machine that has left the factory since 2021 can be remotely monitored for faults and machine data. The factory features a large, curved wall-sized monitor analysing for faults, which is the main objective of the system.
Market data for factory production and scheduling are also a major reason for its implementation. If we look at diggers, for example, on a Tuesday at 11am, only one-third of all monitored machines were working, which suggests a market slump and the business can make production decisions based on these real-time trends.
Tractors
LOVOL Intelligent Agricultural Technology was the main reason for my visit, to see first-hand the build quality of the LOVOL branded tractors through two manufacturing facilities and the R&D facility, plus the new intelligent/smart facility that will be 130 acres under roof, all constructed from start to finish in 14 months.
Like the construction machines, the TBOX has been in all tractors since 2021. Now with government regulation where you have to be able to monitor any ag machine that’s self-propelled, there are approximately 453,800 total machines monitored in mainland China from LOVOL alone who were the first Chinese manufacturers to implement this.
The LOVOL Intelligent Centre has 122 people answering the phone 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. LOVOL monitors machine movement, machine location, codes, weather, and yield mapping, all of which come into the Intelligent Centre with an eight- to 15-second delay, so it’s practically a live feed.
Production
Two hundred tractors and 100 harvesters (rice, corn, wheat) come off the production line each day in the ‘older’ factory. This feeds the massive domestic demand of 80,000 tractors and 24,000 harvesters for the local market alone. On top of this, the company exports various product lines to 120 countries around the world, with the exporting facility loading and shipping an average of 40x40ft containers each day.
Once the new ‘intelligent/smart factory’ is online, 93% of the tasks will be robotic, and this will produce 100,000 tractors per year in the 100+hp category alone, of which 72% will be destined for the local market.
NZ arrivals
LOVOL showcased some of its tractors at Fieldays® this year, with the P4000 (90hp to 110hp), F4000, and TB series (50-75hp). While in China, we got to ride and drive some new models entering the market of which, my personal favourite was the P5000, namely the P5130. This 130hp, 4-cylinder machine equipped with a 45×15 transmission with 3 powershifts on the go and a handy de-clutch button, combined with plenty of glass area European-style loader and a well-modulated clutch, make this an exciting opportunity for the LOVOL brand in the New Zealand market.
For more information on LOVOL, visit metrade.co.nz