Shanghai Daily news

Just 13 years after it was founded in Pudong, Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co Ltd has become a world-renowned manufacturer of cranes and large steel structures.
To date, ZPMC's products have been sold to 149 terminals (including 68 domestic terminals) in 37 countries and areas around the world.
ZPMC has established four manufacturing bases in the Yangtze Delta Region and four other professional corollary companies.
The company successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange for B shares in 1997 and for A Shares in 2000.
Huang Hongyu, the company's vice president and one of its senior engineers, says building such a large company so quickly took a great deal of work.
"Well, many people in this field think of ZPMC as a legend. But can you imagine that there were only about 10 people in the company when it was first set up in 1992?" Huang said.
"Even when I came to join ZPMC three years later, the company still had many difficulties yet to be overcome," he continued.
At that time, the company had a great deal of difficulty transporting its cranes after it built them.
So it had to charter special ships from Holland that were suitable for transporting the gigantic cranes.
But with the increasing demand and the limited number of such vessels, it usually took a long period of time for those manufacturers to book and wait for the ships.
And this might cause them some great loss because of the delayed delivery of their cargoes.
"As a result, we decided to take the initiative and develop our own vessels so that we will be able to deliver the products on schedule and lower our costs," he said.
Since Huang majored in mechanics when he was at university, he was appointed to shoulder the main responsibility for designing the whole transport system.
Though it was not an easy task to fulfill, Huang and his colleagues managed to work it out.
"During that period of time, we all worked day and night. After plenty of trial and error, we finally made it," he recalled.
The success of this self-developed transport system greatly enhanced the company's overall competitiveness in the world market.
And now ZPMC's products are being carried to every major port in the world on the company's own ships.
"On the other hand, we also paid much attention to recruit those special talents who are proficient in mechanical, electrical and hydraulic design," he continued.
The company has now attracted more than 800 engineers to join its design team. Most of them are engaged in designing and developing the high-tech products of ZPMC.
"They are excellent employees who made great contributions to the company. They made our products one of the leaders of the crane industry throughout the world. And we couldn't have made so much achievement without them," Huang said in a grateful voice.
With more and more high-quality products being developed, the company is thriving at an amazing speed.
"The net assets of our company have reached US$220 million by 2004," according to Huang.
"And this year, the industrial output of ZPMC is expected to reach about US$1.5 billion, almost five times more than that of 2000," Huang added.
It is true that Huang and his colleagues have a lot to be proud of. Yet they are not fully content with today's success of ZPMC.
"Every employee of the company has a more ambitious goal - that is to have our products used at every container-handling port in the world. And we are all working for this," Huang smiled.