Coal mining machinery industry where "gold rushing" China's enterprises still have room for improvement

The "gold rush" in California in the last century has caused the people who sold iron shovels to make big profits. As an industry directly providing technical equipment for the coal industry, the development of the coal mining machinery industry is closely linked to the rise and fall of the coal industry. It can be said that the coal mining machine industry is the "iron seller" in the "black gold" wave of coal mining.

The sustained and rapid economic growth in China has given birth to a strong demand for energy. Coal is the most important energy structure in China. The unprecedented prosperity of the coal mining industry has also driven the traditional industry of coal mining machinery into a new spring. With the major equipment manufacturing industry being included in China's industrial revitalization plan, the coal machinery industry has ushered in new opportunities for development.

The State Intellectual Property Office officially released the “Coal Mine Machinery Patent Analysis Report”, which systematically studied the status of global coal mining machinery patent applications in the past 20 years, and sorted out the development of the patented technology of the coal mining machine industry, pointing out the direction for “gold rushing”.

The global traditional industry has witnessed new vitality
“As a traditional industry, the coal mining machinery industry has been developed for decades and is technically mature. In recent years, patent applications have maintained a steady growth trend,” said Zhang Xubo, deputy director of the Department of Mechanical Invention Examination of the Patent Office of the State Intellectual Property Office. Observing the global patent application status chart of the coal mining machinery industry, we can find a very clear context:

1. The number of global patent applications has continued to grow rapidly since the 1970s and reached its peak in the 1980s. During this period, the heavy industrial powers represented by the Soviet Union and Germany, etc., contributed most of the applications, which was also the period when the mechanization of coal mining in other countries became popular.

Second, global patent filings have dropped from the mid-1990s to the lowest point, and have been hovering low. As the number of patent applications in the Soviet Union (and later Russia) and Germany declined, the total amount of global patent applications for coal mining machinery also decreased. At the same time, the main coal mining countries have gradually completed the mechanization of coal mining and some of the old mines have been depleted due to resource exhaustion. Closed, the demand for coal mining machinery declined slightly.

3. From 2005 onwards, the number of applications for coal mining machinery branches began to show a significant upward trend. The number of national patent applications represented by China and Russia has increased significantly, and it has also led to an increase in the number of global patent applications. “Over the past few years, due to technological upgrading, development, and implementation of intellectual property strategy, China’s patent applications have greatly increased, and it has also stimulated the enthusiasm of other countries for patent applications. It can be said that the rapid development of China’s coal industry has promoted global patents. The recovery of the application." Zhang Xubo said.

In addition, it can be seen that the major applicants in the coal mining machinery industry of the world have been merging and reorganizing. At present, there are two giants of fully-mechanized coal mining equipment – ​​Joy Global International Mining Equipment Co., Ltd. (JOY) and German DBT Corporation. Mainly acquired by Caterpillar, the two major coal giants have mastered most of the important patents, firmly occupying the global high-end coal market.

It is worth noting that from the distribution of patent applications over the years in major patent applications, it can be seen that from the 1990s onwards, the number of applications filed in Germany as a place of application has decreased significantly, and only in recent years has seen a certain increase. This is because Germany vigorously develops new energy and gradually shuts down coal mines. By 2018, it will be completely separated from coal production. It can be seen that as developed countries turn to the search for clean energy, they will certainly affect the coal machinery industry in the relevant regions. However, Germany is still a big equipment manufacturing country with strong technical strength. The reduction of European coal mining volume does not affect Germany's export of coal-fired equipment. On the other hand, Australia, South Africa, Russia, and Canada, as the world's major coal exporting countries, have abundant coal resources and have great demand for coal mining machinery. Major coal mining machine manufacturers attach importance to local patent applications. With the changes in the global coal mining industry, the coal mining industry also needs to adapt to new markets in a timely manner.

China benefits the rapid growth of the domestic market
With the economic development, China has become the largest coal producer in the world, and coal production accounts for almost 50% of the world's total. There is no doubt that the largest market for the coal mining machinery industry is currently in China, and the prosperity of the industry has drastically increased the number of patent applications.

As of December 31, 2010, a total of 6,813 applications involving coal mining machinery were filed in China's patent applications, of which 1,779 were for invention patents and 5034 for utility model patents. Since 2006, the number of patent applications has rapidly increased. However, the proportion of utility model patents in various technical branches of coal mining machinery is very large, roughly two to three times that of invention patent applications.

“This is because utility model patent applications only need to undergo a preliminary review, and the application period is relatively short, and the invention patent application needs to undergo substantive examination, and the time from patent application to approval is longer. As Chinese companies are often eager to convert their own technology into With the protection of patents, two types of applications for utility model patents and invention patents are generally applied at the same time, and utility model patents may be relinquished after such invention patents are approved.But overall, utility model patents are not as stable as invention patents and the number of invention patent applications It is gradually increasing,” said Zhao Yuxia, an examiner of the Ministry of State Intellectual Property Office’s Patent Department’s mechanical invention review department.

At present, the Chinese market has initially formed six major coal-fired machine groups with relatively complete product chain or leading-edge products that are expected to become leaders in the coal machinery industry: China Coal Energy, International Coal Machinery, SANY Heavy Equipment, Tiandi Technology, Taizhong Group Zheng coal machine. Except Taizhong Heavy Group, the remaining five major coal mining machine companies and some regional and segmented market leading enterprises have landed on the capital market. In terms of patent applications and possession of inventions, Sany Heavy Equipment, Tiandi Technology, and Zhengjiji have clearly taken the lead, laying a good foundation for sustainable development.

As far as the market conditions of coal mining machinery in China are concerned, due to the obvious cost-effectiveness of domestic products, imported products only account for a small market share. “In terms of hydraulic supports and boring machines, the market share of foreign products is very low. Basically, domestic products are used. In terms of coal miners and scraper conveyors, small and medium-sized products are mainly domestic products, while foreign products are in terms of safety and reliability. Excellent, occupying the high-end market,” said Li Quanxiao, an examiner of the Ministry of State Intellectual Property Office’s patent examination department for mechanical devices.

The report pointed out that in the domestic coal mine machinery, the hydraulic support technology is strong, and it is already at the forefront of the world in terms of support height and work resistance, and is gradually moving towards the international market; the development of the roadheader is also relatively rapid, and high-powered production has been produced. Rock and semi-rock roadheaders have a high degree of market acceptance. At present, China's imports of coal mining equipment are mainly high-end coal mining machines. In terms of reliability, service life, and safety monitoring, there is still a large gap between domestic and foreign products, and there is a need for greater investment in technology. There will still be more import substitution space in the future.

In the future, Chinese enterprises will still have room for improvement

Although China's coal mining machinery industry has a good momentum of development and has formed its own advantages in some areas, there are also many problems. For example, some technology branches and key technology patents are mainly held by foreign companies. Chinese companies also rely mainly on imports for key components such as hydraulic pumps, operating valves, controllers, picks, reducers, and hydraulic motors. "This is also related to China's basic industrial level, the processing level of some key components can not meet the requirements." Li Quanxiao said.

"Because of the good efficiency, many companies have focused their efforts on the market and have not paid enough attention to patent protection," said Zhang Xubo. Coal mine safety certification is a mandatory measure before the coal machine product enters the market. Products sold by the company must be certified before entering the market. In order to occupy the market, many companies are eager to carry out coal safety certification and ignore patent applications. Once the product is first certified and entered the market, it is equal to the disclosure of the technology, the patent will lose its novelty, leading to the application failed. Therefore, Chinese enterprises must attach importance to coal safety certification and pay attention to patents in order to protect both intellectual property rights and industrialization of technological achievements.

Due to historical reasons, most Chinese coal mining companies have obvious advantages in a single product, and lack comprehensive and large-scale product lines. For example, international coal machinery and heavy coal machinery are the leading enterprises in coal mining machinery. SANY reloading and international coal machinery are the leading enterprises for mining machinery; while Zheng coal machinery is almost exclusively used for hydraulic support, and other products are rarely involved.

“If a large-scale integrated coal supplier can provide complete sets of products, it will undoubtedly avoid the need for customers to purchase products from different companies. In the future, the interaction between various machines will increase, and the use of products from the same company will be beneficial to coal mines. The development of mechanical cooperation in the direction of intelligent cooperation.” Zhang Binghua, an examiner of the Ministry of State Intellectual Property Office’s Patent Department’s Machinery Invention Review Department, said. At present, leading companies in various technical fields are taking advantage of their respective strengths to develop in an integrated manner so as to increase their competitiveness.

In addition, colleges and universities are inferior to enterprises in terms of the conversion rate of patent achievements. This is because companies and users are more closely linked. Users have very high requirements on the safety and reliability of coal mining machinery. They usually need long-term cooperation and mutual understanding and trust before they use the new products recommended by enterprises. Colleges and universities in this area do not have advantages. Therefore, scientific research projects in universities must strengthen cooperation with enterprises so that more patented technologies can be applied to practice rather than being shelved.

“As a major equipment manufacturing industry included in China's industrial revitalization plan, we hope that the report will allow companies to see what other companies in the industry are doing and what the industry giants are doing to further awaken their intellectual property awareness.” Zhang Xubo said. We also hope that domestic enterprises can have a long-term strategic vision, truly learn to use patented weapons to protect themselves, participate in competition, and enlarge and strengthen the national equipment manufacturing industry.