Headed by general manager Li Tiansheng, a six-person team from Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. visited Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd. on May 15, 2009 and to sign strategic cooperation partnership. Following a talk with general manager of Zhongtong Bus Holding Co., Ltd. Shi Honggong, deputy party secretary Kuang Hongtao, deputy general manager Sun Guobin, the chief of the Logistic Department Zhang Xianyi, the team toured the production line of Zhongtong Bus.  

Speaking at the signing ceremony of the partnership, general manager of Zhongtong Bus Shi Honggong said: Zhongtong Bus and Yuchai Machinery had cooperated over the past several years and gained a win-win situation. In particular, Zhongtong Bus received valuable support from Yuchai at the early stage of its R&D of chassis. Yuchai had been an important factor behind the huge development of Zhongtong Bus. Since the beginning of chassis development in 2003, the output of chassis at Zhongtong has kept growing at a high rate. Among the over 4,000 vehicles produced by the company in 2008, over 2,700 were equipped with Yuchai products, accounting for 70%.    

Being the largest independent production base of diesel engines in the world, Yuchai Group has recorded a speedy growth for years. In 2008, Yuchai made and sold about 600,000 diesel engines with a sales income of 21 billion Yuan, maintaining the top place in the industry in China for the consecutive 8^th year. It continued to hold the first place in the industry and created the so-called Yuchai miracle. In the meantime, the Zhongtong Bus becomes a bright spot and important in the industry in recent years since it has enjoyed a marvelous growth.  

Under the impacts of the global financial crisis, the competition in the market is not between single enterprises but in supply chains. The more severe the difficulty is, the more effort should be made to forge a supply chain alliance.  The chain should be direct to the ultimate clients with outstanding suppliers by studying and optimizing the supply chain. The members of the supply chain should build the mutual benefit strategic partnership that is a prerequisite for long term stable and reinforce the overall competitive of the supply chain.  

The cooperation between Zhongtong Bus and Guangxi Yuchai has huge benefits for both sides to seize the market, make progress despite the difficulty and gain a win-win situation. It offers favorable advantages for them to combine their strength under the financial tsunami. The establishment of the tie meets the demand of the mutual development under the current difficulty, as well as the long term perspective because it lays a sound groundwork for future development.  

Author: Song Zhaojun                      Source: Commercial Vehicle Weekly