Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Group Company Business Report FY ended Dec. 2014
Business Highlights
Business Overview
-The Company announced that its sales for 2014 reached CNY 11.9 billion, up 11 percent from those of 2013. During the year, it produced 630,000 transmissions, which was 11.3 percent more than the volume produced in 2013. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on February 3, 2015)
-The Company announced that it sold approximately 620,000 transmissions during 2014. The volume was worth CNY 11.9 billion in sales, up 11 percent from those of 2013. Its sales volume of heavy-duty vehicle transmissions was the world’s largest for the ninth consecutive year, and the company continued to capture an approximately 70 percent of the global market. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on January 16, 2015)
-As of December 2014, the company has sold over 900,000 transmissions that are equipped with the lock-pin type synchronizer. (From a press release on January 4, 2015)
New Company
-Shaanxi Fast Gear Co., Ltd., a joint venture of the Company, and Eaton Corporation announced in July 2014 that they signed a contract in Xi'an to set up a new joint venture company Fast Eaton (Xi'an) Drive Systems Co., Ltd. The new joint venture will build a plant in Xi'an High-tech Industries Development Zone. The plant will mainly produce transmissions and clutches. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on July 28, 2014)
Contracts
-The Company announced that Xi'an FC Intelligence Transmission Co., Ltd., its subsidiary, will supply its FC6A140RB hydraulic automatic transmissions for Yanan City's public buses in December 2014. The compact FC6A140RB transmission, which was developed exclusively for use in public buses, is integrated with a retarder and offers superior maneuverability. Its automatic shifting system achieves stable and smooth shifting in various driving conditions. The driver can select either a power mode or an economy mode. (From a press release on December 1, 2014)-The Company announced that its original new transmission (development code: 5DS60TA) will be used on 65 city buses for Baoji City. Of the 65 buses, 30 buses will be built by Yutong Bus, and 35 buses will be built by Hengtong Bus. This will be the first time that Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive's DS series transmissions are used on Yutong's 11-meter city bus. (From a press release on November 14, 2014)
-The Company announced that 44 Yutong buses equipped with the company’s 6DS bus transmissions have been delivered to Zhengzhou Traffic and Transportation (Group) Company Limited, bringing up the total number of these buses supplied to Zhengzhou Traffic to 200. The 6DS engines are used on all large buses that Zhengzhou Traffic and Transportation have purchased since 2013. (From a press release on August 18, 2014)
-The Company announced that its transmission systems are used on 84 new city buses operating in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. Twenty-two buses with a front gas engine employ the Company's 5DS70TA transmissions, while the remaining 62 buses use the 5DS60TA transmissions. (From a press release on July 14, 2014)
-The Company announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Shanxi Heavy Automobile and six other companies. These companies will collaborate on sales of transmission systems and their parts, and procurement of manufacturing equipment and tools, as they accelerate new product development and their global market expansions plans. (From a press release on May 5, 2014)
-The Company said it has successfully completed the testing of its parallel hydraulic retarder. A retarder is a kind of auxiliary braking system for medium- and heavy-duty trucks to assist deceleration on downward slopes. Testing was performed using a 74-ton vehicle on a 41-kilometer downhill with a maximum slope angle of 8 percent. The company’s existing FH400B and FHB320B retarders are already employed on trucks and buses built by various Chinese manufacturers such as Shaanxi, Hualing Automobile, Yutong Bus, and Xiamen King Long. (From a press release on March 10, 2014)
-Currently, Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive’s transmission systems are used on over 98 percent of all vehicles produced by Beijing Foton Daimler. (From a press release on January 7, 2014)
Off the Production Line
-The Company announced that it has held a test-ride event at the Xi'an High-Tech Industries Development Zone to test the performance of 6-speed hydraulic automatic transmission systems produced by Xi'an FC Intelligence Transmission Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Fast's subsidiary in December 2014. The event was held in tandem with the mass-production launch of Xi'an FC Intelligence Transmission's FC6A series hydraulic automatic transmission systems. (From a press release on December 15, 2014)-The Company announced that Fast Auto Drive (Thailand) Co., Ltd., its Thai subsidiary, has begun production operations in October 2014. Its first 12-speed transmission rolled off the production line at this new plant. (From a press release on October 13, 2014)
-The Company announced that its 5 millionth twin countershaft transmission system rolled of its production line at the Xian High-Tech Industrial Development Zone in March 2014. (From a press release on March 17, 2014)
Awards
-The Company has received the 2013 Excellent Supplier Award from Caterpillar of the U.S.A. in January 2014. (From a press release on January 18, 2014)
-The Company has received the following three awards from Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive: the Excellent Supplier Award; the Outstanding Technical Contribution Award; and the Science and Technical Innovation Award. (From a press release on January 7, 2014)
R&D
R&D structure
-The total number of R&D staff as of December 2014 is 500.R&D Facilities
-Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Engineering Technology Research Center is located in the Xi'an high-tech industries development Zone, including Reserch Institute Office, Design Research Institute, Processing Research Institute, Test Center, Material forming Center, Trial Manufacturing Center.R&D Activities
-The Company announced that it will receive financial support from the city of Baoji for its all-aluminum transmission case project in January 2015. Shifting to all-aluminum material is expected to reduce vehicle weight significantly, improve fuel economy, and cut emissions. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on January 14, 2015)New Products
-The Company announced that it has exhibited its eight new products at the Bus & Truck '14 commercial vehicle exhibition held in Thailand in November 2014. These eight technologies included a transmission, a transmission and in-line retarder, a transmission and parallel retarder, an original S transmission, an automated manual transmission, and a deceleration device. Shaanxi Fast says the new transmission is already used on heavy-duty trucks built by Shaanxi, Beiben, and Iveco. (From a press release on November 17, 2014)Technological Alliance
-The Company and AVIC Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of hydraulic mechatronics such as hydraulic drive systems for construction machinery in October 2014. Going forward, Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive intends to strengthen its cooperation with the institute further in the area of automotive components. (From a press release on November 3, 2014)Patents
-The Company announced that its lock-pin type automobile synchronizer received the 16th China Excellent Patent Award from the State Intellectual Property Office in January 2015. This technology has also obtained patents in the U.S., Canada, and Russia. The technology is already applied to Shaanxi Fast's 9JSD, 10JSD, 12JSD, and 16JSD transmissions. The lock-pin type synchronizer with a longer service life and higher performances, increases the synchronizer capacity of the auxiliary transmission, and improves transmission performances. By the end of December 2014, the company has sold over 900,000 transmissions that are equipped with the lock-pin type synchronizer. (From a press release on January 4, 2015)
-As of 2014, the Company had acquired 187 patents for its core technologies.
Investment Activities
Investments in China
-The Company announced that it will construct a transmission plant at the Baoji Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone at the end of December 2014. The new plant, which will be constructed on a 533,600 square meter plot, will have the capacity to produce 1 million transmissions for medium and small size trucks. The company invested CNY 3 billion in this project, planning to generate CNY 5 billion in sales per year. (From a press release on January 6, 2015)-Shaanxi Fast Gear Co., Ltd., a joint venture of the Company, and Eaton Corporation announced in July 2014 that they signed a contract in Xi'an to set up a new joint venture company Fast Eaton (Xi'an) Drive Systems Co., Ltd. The new joint venture is capitalized at CNY 1 million. It is 51% funded by Shaanxi Fast Gear Co., Ltd. with the remaining 49% held by Eaton. (From news releases issued by multiple sources on July 28, 2014)
-Xi'an FC Intelligence Transmission, a joint-venture between the the Company and Caterpillar, began commercial production in January 2014. This is the first time that Shaanxi Fast and Caterpillar inaugurate an automatic transmission joint venture in China. The facility is located on a 176,000 square meter plot at the Xi'an Economic and Technological Development Zone. The total investment in the joint venture has reached CNY 1 billion. When the plant begins full-scale operations, it will be able to produce 120,000 large automatic transmissions and 1.5 million construction machinery components per year. Annual sales at the joint venture are expected to reach CNY 10 billion. (From a press release on January 17, 2014)