As an important transportation tool for bulk materials, belt conveyors have a wide range of application scenarios and involve various industries. They are widely used in the mining field, underground, ground, integrated equipment, etc., and involve a variety of models, making them very mature products. However, due to the large market and diverse customer demands, the production factories of belt conveyors are also scattered, with uneven product quality and unsatisfactory brand shaping. This chapter will comprehensively sort out the main types of belt conveyor brands.

Considering the maturity of belt conveyors, this chapter will no longer describe foreign brands, but will intersperse some content in the chapter. The development of domestic belt conveyors has witnessed the ups and downs of a large number of enterprises in the process of China's mining and economic development. If the early 21st century to around 2015 were the golden period of China's mining development, then in these more than ten years, the development of belt conveyors has achieved some enterprises and also expanded some enterprises. Economic development cannot grow infinitely rapidly. After entering a stable period, many enterprises inevitably face the risk of being eliminated. Only enterprises with technological and management innovation can continuously adapt to the development of society, survive, and gradually achieve their own brand.

Belt Conveyor Type

Belt conveyor is a mechanical device that uses friction drive to continuously transport materials, mainly composed of a frame, conveyor belt, idler, drum, tensioning device, driving device, etc. After decades of development, product types that can adapt to various working conditions have been developed, mainly including universal belt conveyors, tubular belt conveyors (including U-shaped belt conveyors, etc.), long-distance turning belt conveyors, corrugated edge belt conveyors, etc. In practical usage scenarios, due to the relatively long route of the belt conveyor, comprehensive consideration and selection need to be considered factors such as civil engineering and environmental protection.

Here, we need to specifically mention the tubular belt conveyor. JPC, a Japanese company that developed the tubular belt conveyor, successfully manufactured the first one at the end of 1979. Bridgestone has obtained ownership of the JPC system to produce and sell tubular belt conveyors worldwide. The design, manufacturing, and use of tubular belt conveyors in China started from Sichuan Zigong Transportation Machinery Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Sichuan Zigong Transportation Machinery General Factory). The head drive drum and tail change drum of tubular belt conveyors are the same as those of conventional belt conveyors.

Classification of Production Units

The production factories under the former Ministry of Machinery Industry include Northern Heavy Industry, Tangshan Tangye, Anhui Pan Deng Heavy Industry, Sichuan Zigong YunJi, Tongling Heavy Steel, Hangzhou Xian Luo, Hengyang YunJi, JZCREATION, etc. In many large projects, Northern Heavy Industry, Sichuan Zigong, Hengyang YunJi, JZCREATION, etc. still have strong strength.

The production plants under the former Coal Department include Shanghai Branch of Coal Science Institute, YanKuang Continental, Ningxia TianDi Northwest Coal Machinery, Huainan Coal Machinery, Dongguan Ao Neng, etc.

Emerging private enterprises: Shandong Libo Heavy Industry, Beijing Yue Ji, etc. The investment relationship and operational issues between Beijing Yue Ji and Shuang Jian Co., Ltd. have experienced a significant decline in business in the past two years and have gradually been forgotten by the market.

The Difficult Road to Brand Growth

For conventional belt conveyors, in the fierce market competition, large-scale brand factories no longer have a price advantage, which is basically advantageous for small and medium-sized enterprises; For factories belonging to mining group companies, the conventional belt conveyor is basically an internal procurement model, such as YanKuang Continental; For belt conveyors with large capacity, long distance, and complex operating conditions, in the competition of previous years, major enterprises have gone through multiple rounds of competition and their strength has also been demonstrated; But some emerging enterprises, such as Beijing Yue Ji, have gradually gone downhill one after another due to strategic management issues after a decade of rapid development.

In the field of long-distance belt conveyors, whether it is ordinary groove belt conveyors or tubular belt conveyors, there are many practical applications for equipment with a single unit length exceeding 10km, and the transportation distance of relay type projects has exceeded 40km. In terms of large-scale development of equipment, it is already very mature.

We will list several factories for analysis on the path of enterprise brand growth.

Although Northern Heavy Industry has undergone a very painful corporate restructuring and transformation, losing direction and market for a period of time, many core products still have technical strength and rich project experience. It hopes to regain its charm after merging with FangDa and streamlining its business.

Sichuan Zigong Transport Machinery has set a very good example in the early stages of tubular belt conveyors. Through decades of development, relying on the outstanding advantages of pipe belt conveyors, Sichuan Zigong Transport Machinery has been striving to move forward with great strides. Factories such as Northern Heavy Industry, Hengyang Transport Machinery, JZCREATION, Ningxia TianDi Northwest Coal Machinery, and Shanghai University of Science and Technology Heavy Industry have also achieved great achievements in the production practice of pipe and belt machines.

YanKuang Continental Machinery is a factory with a production history of over 50 years for belt conveyors. The factory belongs to YanKuang Group and is a purely state-owned enterprise. The main products are belt conveyors and scraper machines. Due to the high market demand within YanKuang Group, 70% of the factory's belt conveyors are used for domestic sales, and there are no urgent requirements for brand shaping.

Hengyang YunJi has a relatively innovative sales mechanism, with an independent sales system. It has more than ten sales departments, each of which is an independent legal entity. The company's headquarters is mainly responsible for production, while the sales branch is responsible for sales and after-sales service. Each year, only a certain fee needs to be paid to the headquarters. This model has certain benefits for market development, but further observation is needed to determine whether it is beneficial for building international brands.

Shandong Libo Heavy Industry is a rising star. With strong research and development capabilities, it stands out in the competition of various small and medium-sized enterprises. Currently, it has made good achievements in various aspects such as long-distance transportation, large transportation volume, and intelligence. Its strategic positioning is clear, and its development is steadily moving forward.

Chinese economy is constantly undergoing transformation, and mining is still the foundation of national economic development. Currently, emerging technologies represented by digital twins are rapidly developing and gradually maturing, making digital twin technology continuously penetrate into the field of industrial bulk material transportation. In the field of coal mine transportation, digital twin intelligent conveyors can truly restore the environmental situation, equipment status, and other information of coal mine transportation. Real time monitoring of the distribution and status of factors such as tunnels, transportation routes, belt conveyors, personnel, and alarm events will greatly enhance the management's real-time monitoring of coal mine transportation.

The basic technology of belt conveyors is already mature, and in the future development, intelligence, internationalization, and branding will be the necessary path for many enterprises, hoping to get better and better.

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