15 December, 2020, Liuzhou – The day was the annual LiuGong Global Conference in Liuzhou, Guangxi, China. This was a special and unique event with nearly 500 representatives including dealer representatives from almost 100 countries, customers, industry association delegates, business partners, LiuGong management team and staff attending the event both in person and online.
LIUGONG AND SERPEMA: A SUCCESFUL PARTNERSHIP IN THE HEART OF BRAZIL
Heavy machinery multinational places Brazilian Midwest at the core of its strategy
In the past years, LiuGong Latin America has implemented in the Brazilian market an ambitious plan to expand its regional dealers network. That number has grown in quantity and quality, based on partnerships with traditional companies in each Brazilian state.
Serpema, a company that has represented the LiuGong brand since March 2020, is one of those dealers. They are responsible for equipment and part sales, as well as for after-sales service to LiuGong customers in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Serpema’s portfolio offers all the LiuGong equipment available in Brazil: Wheel Loaders, Excavators, Mini-excavadors, Motor Grader and Road Roller.
LiuGong counts on Serpema to take its brand to the Brazilian Midwest, a region where agribusiness has a strong presence. Following this view, the Chinese multinational plans to intensify its marketing actions in the region as of the upcoming years. In order to do so, the idea is to rely on the experience of companies such as Serpema, i.e., players that already have a consolidated brand and are a reference for the local public.
“We are pretty sure that we have made the right choice about this partnership with Serpema. This player has been working since 1995. We are talking almost 30 years of experience in dealing with highly demanding customers. In this context, we believe Serpema is the best name to represent LiuGong in Mato Grosso do Sul”, states Igor de Lião – National Sales and Product Manager.
Over the years, Serpema has been able to get closer to its audience and has been taught an important lesson by the market: it is not just about selling machinery, it is about delivering solutions that will meet the customer’s needs. Cláudio Soler, Director of Serpema, clarifies this different approach: “For us, it is very easy to be a dealer, because we are already used to provide support, to solve our customers’ problems: we do field work, fix issues, reform machines and sell spare parts. A big issue I see in the market nowadays is about after-sales. We are very fortunate in this aspect. Serpema is locally acknowledged for providing the best after-sales service. Our moto is ‘strong support’.”
A success story
Serpema is a Portuguese acronym for serviços (services), peças (parts) and máquinas (machines). The brand was founded in 2002, with the aim of supporting Soam, another traditional company in Mato Grosso do Sul. Soam’s story began much earlier, in 1995.
At the beginning, the two companies shared responsibilities: Serpema dealt with maintenance, while Soam took care of parts. However, in 2007 that scenario started to change for better. Serpema became the exclusive dealer of a heavy machinery manufacturer.
Throughout time, Serpema Group has collected success indicators. For example, it accounts for 65% market share in Mato Grosso do Sul’s heavy equipment area. This fact has strengthened the names of both organizations.
“Between 2010 and 2012, 6.5 out of 10 excavators sold in the state were ours. That was an astronomic market share. We then applied ourselves to do an even better job in customer service, and, by doing so, most of our next sales were based on recommendations”, remembers Cláudio Soler, Director of Serpema.
LIUGONG AND VALVOLINE FORMALIZE PARTNERSHIP IN THE REGIONAL MARKET
A deal with the American manufacturer will start the development of an exclusive line of lubricants for LiuGong equipment
LiuGong Latin America has just formalized a partnership with Valvoline, an American company that is a world reference in lubricant manufacturing. Such agreement means that LiuGong will start to offer the Brazilian market (and later also the Latin American market) a private-label line of products, developed exclusively to meet the specific needs of its equipment.
This global partnership has now reached Brazil and helps to shape the history of LiuGong and Valvoline, the brand’s strategic partner. The greatest beneficiaries of the deal are the customers, who will have access to an essential item to keep their machines in perfect operation, all this with the guarantee of a product certified by LiuGong product engineering, at a global level of quality and performance.
This initiative is consolidated at a strategic moment for the Chinese brand’s operations in the region. According to LiuGong, the idea is that the new product line will lead to greater customer loyalty. “When requesting the dealer reviews, our customers will make a single purchase: products and services that will be carried out by professionals trained by the factory, maintaining the original characteristics of LiuGong products”, explained Luiz João Filho, Spare Parts Sales Coordinator.
Regarding the technical aspects, it is worth noting that Valvoline products will serve the entire LiuGong equipment line, such as loaders, hydraulic excavators, motor graders and rollers. The partner will provide engine oil, hydraulic transmission oil, radiator additive and lubricant fluid analyses. Therefore, the components will have longer lifecycle and less heating, and, above all, the equipment will achieve greater productivity.
FROM GLOBAL TO REGIONAL – A central factor that contributed to the agreement at the regional level was the successful track record of LiuGong and Valvoline in the global arena, an understanding that is reciprocal for both brands.
“This partnership with LiuGong demonstrates an important step forward in our strategy to consolidate our global partnerships also in Brazil. We want to bring quality and high performance products to LiuGong consumers, which will help keep the equipment always ready to deliver the best performance”, said Osvane Lazarone, Sales Manager at Valvoline.
The President of LiuGong Latin America, Mr. Dawei He, stressed the importance of maintaining the focus on the customer. The executive explained that now the customer starts to count on even more quality products, shorter downtime for equipment and lower maintenance cost. “A long-term partnership has been established between LiuGong and Valvoline. LiuGong is always innovating and offering the best solutions for its customers, both in products and parts and in services”, he stated.
Do you want to know why LiuGong is moving in fast pace to the top? Because we do massive investments in improving our technology and always take special care of our customer’s needs.
We have successfully applied a growth, conquest-marketing strategy to the technology of our wheel loaders and now we would like to share this vision with you.
Check out this article from M&T review. It’s a must-read!
The content is available on this link:
LiuGong was highlighted on August edition of the M&T, one of the main heavy machinery reviews in Latin America.
On this exclusive talk, you can find a summary of our President’s view, Mr. Dawei He, and his plans for LiuGong’s operations in Latin America, especially in Brazil.
You can access the interview on this link:
The future of heavy machinery is at Conexpo 2020. Therefore, LiuGong Latin America sent the best of its teams of employees and distributors to that great event. The teams have used their experience to absorb knowledge and to learn about market trends.
Our special hug to the representatives of LiuGong distributors who are part of this delegation: CBMaq, Priori and Tracsul.
A strong brand reflects a supportive team and managers who are always looking to find solutions and propose tools that facilitate the work of their employees, partners and customers.
During Conexpo 2020, Mr. Kevin Thieneman, Vice President of LiuGong Machinery and Chairman of LiuGong Americas, and Mr. Tiago Eufrásio, Product and Marketing Manager at LiuGong Latin America, took the opportunity to reinforce the ties with the ones present.
We would like to thank all of our partners who honored us at that event and send a special hug to our distributors across all Latin America! May more experiences like this come in a near future. Count on us!
Jumasa, the new dealer of Liugong Latin America for Mato Grosso State in Brazil, promoted the opening ceremony of its first branch focused on Liugong business on March 4th.
The event was hosted in the city of Sinop, Mato Grosso, Brazil, where is located one of the four branches of the company.
The event counted with the attendance of more than 120 customers and had the special presences of Mr. Kevin Thieneman, Vice President of LiuGong Machinery and Chairman of LiuGong Americas, and Mr. Dawei He, President of Liugong Latin America.
During the event, Mr. Dawei He, in his speech, reinforced the importance and commitment of Liugong Latin America with Brazil, and especially with Jumasa and Mato Grosso State, which is one of the main agriculture regions of the country, the main producer of soybean, cotton and corn.
Mr. Kevin Thieneman, in his speech, highlighted the importance of Brazil for the Global strategy of Liugong and reinforced the investments of the company in the country, as the factory and de Parts Distribution Center in Mogi Guaçu, São Paulo.
Jumasa is a company with a huge experience in agriculture business in Mato Grosso State, with more than thirty years commercializing agriculture machines as tractors, harvesters and etc., with partnership with traditional brands, like Massey Fergusson. It will use all its experience with machinery dealership to develop Liugong business in the region, not only in agriculture, but also in construction, mining, rental business and etc.
During the event, many customers commended the partnership Liugong and Jumasa, saying that the companies “fit each other”, LiuGong with its fantastic products already proved and Jumasa with its huge experience and professionalism in machinery dealership and market knowledge.
The evening was closed with a special dinner and a musical entertainment.
Today, Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd. announced the completion of the equity transition of Hertz Equipment Rental Company Limited (AKA Hertz China), a former Herc Holding Inc. company, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of LiuGong.
Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HRI) has sold all of its interest in Hertz Equipment Rental Company Limited (AKA Hertz China), to Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Co., Ltd. Terms of the transaction have not been announced.
“The sale of our business in China completes the disposition of all of our international operations to better focus on the North American market,” said Larry Silber, president and chief executive officer of Herc Holdings Inc. “We are pleased that the business will transition to LiuGong, a leader in the construction equipment and material handling industries in China. We believe that LiuGong will offer a significant growth platform for the Hertz China team.”
Kevin Thieneman, Guangxi LiuGong Machinery Vice President, said “For construction equipment, rental is the largest industry segment in Europe and North America and is projected to become a significant portion of the industry in China. Rental already represents more than 90% of the industry for aerial work platforms in China. We are pleased to acquire a business led by an experienced team trained in the business methodologies of one of the world’s leading rental companies. The Hertz China business will enable LiuGong and our dealers to accelerate the development of rental solutions both in China and globally.”
