At the time when he just turned 45 years old, Yan Ping took the helm of China s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines. His appointment was called as lightning airborne. His ability was questioned by the industry: could a government officer without relevant working experience in engine industry continue the success of Yuchai?  

He had been working as a young intellectual, worker, engineer, leader of Communist Youth League, railway station master, chairman of a stock company and director of Yulin City Development and Reform Commission. After 27 years working in Shenzhen, Dalian and other places, he returned to the hometown Yulin. One employee of Yuchai told him: If you do not have version, do not come here; Yuchai is full of passion. He understood that it was urgent and important to combine himself with Yuchai than to operate the Group. A colleagues word that has lingered over his mind for long time is: We are people of Yulin;  Yuchai is the best enterprise of Yulin. If Yuchai collapsed, all of our life would be in big trouble. He realized that the first step is that he has to learn how Yuchai becomes one of the best manufacturers of Yulin, or even in China. 

Yan Ping has the genetic of hard working and smart of south China and has learned a lot from the previous works. After experiencing the lack of resources, facilities and logistics Yan Ping understands well about the significance of human resources. He never credited the success of Yuchai to himself. In stead, he put it: My personal ability is limited. My team has not collapsed and no one high level manager left the company since I joined. He showed full of his love and attention to ordinary employees. For example on occasion when he saw the dirty condition of dormitories for new graduates, he was angry: Yuchai hires 2 to 3 hundred college graduates each year. Can such kind of living environment keep them? He immediately decided to allocate 1 million Yuan to improve accommodation. I got angry because it is the setback of Yuchai. He asked employees to complain or advise. He listened and tried to resolve them. He told his secretary not to holdback any worker who goes to his office. When he comes across with the frontline workers working in the holidays, he offers his warm encouragement and thanks them for working in the New Year holiday.   

Yan Ping improved the company by injecting the spirit of unity and corporate culture along with passion. Three years after he took the office, the annual sales revenue of Yuchai surpassed 20 billion, up 13.51% annually, an increase of 71.59% compared to 2005. The production and sales of diesel engines reached to 550 thousand, an increase of 105.36%. It opened a new chapter of development of Yuchai. It was a remarkable finish of the passionate goal of to build another Yuchai in 3 years. However, his passion never ended. He is trying to lead Yuchai to the world and build a globalized Yuchai. Since he came to Yuchai, Yuchai has been marching to the objectives and showing a positive result on internationalization and R & D.  

Author: Wu Fan                       Source: Trucks Weekly