Weichai: World Famous Enterprises Out of Tiled Houses

More than 60 years ago, in a row of tile houses in Fangfang, more than a dozen technicians from the arsenal produced some of the first diesel engines after the liberation of Shandong Province, relying on a few original equipment. They may not have imagined that this small factory, which relied on counterfeiting foreign engines in the past, will become an international engine manufacturing company that has more than 30,000 employees, has its own brand, and its products are sold worldwide.

The Fire of Stars from the Arsenal

In December 1948, Jiaodong Gonggong No. 6 Factory (Weihai) transferred 12 employees from its original Huanhai Iron Works and deployed 9 transportation equipments. It established Dahua Machinery Factory in the west of Fangzai Sanma Road. In February 1949, Dahua Machinery Factory was completed, and it developed and produced four simulated 1200 single-cylinder low-speed 11-horsepower diesel engines. It was the first diesel engine produced in Weifang and Shandong after liberation, and Dahua Machinery Factory became the largest in East China at the time. First to produce diesel engines.

In 1950, the prototype successfully simulated a single-cylinder low-speed 15 hp diesel engine. In 1951, the trial succeeded in imitating the British low speed 40 hp diesel engine. In 1952, Wantong Iron Works, Huaxin Tool Factory and Guoguang Copper Wire Plant were merged to form Changyi Industrial Company Machinery Factory.

Weifang Diesel Engine Factory was born

In the autumn of 1952, Dahua Machinery Factory moved from Fangfangzi to Weifang and merged with Changyi Industrial Machinery Factory to form a “Dahua Machine Factory” under the Shandong Provincial Department of Industry. After that, the company's joint ironworks and East China Second Industrial College internship were successively merged.

In August 1953, Dahua Machinery Factory was renamed as Weifang Diesel Engine Factory and was attached to the State Ministry of Machinery Industry. The state invested to build 100 units/0.7 million hp of diesel engine for expansion and reconstruction. In 1954, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory introduced the Swiss coordinate boring machine, Czech rocker drilling machine, crankshaft grinding machine, democratic Germany gear grinding machine, camshaft grinder and other important equipment more than 30 sets, completed transformation in two years, invested 2.69 million yuan, rapidly expanded the scale of production And ability. At the same time, the company has successfully trial-produced 6108 high-speed diesel engines and 6160 medium-speed diesel engines, and has successively developed 6160-type variants of 24 kW, 40 kW, 84 kW mobile diesel generators, marine units and 135 hp gas engines. The development and production of the 6160 medium-speed diesel engine is a milestone in the history of enterprise development. Since then, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory has embarked on a specialization of diesel engine production.

Premier Zhou instructs the construction of a new model

In 1968, according to the instructions of Premier Zhou Enlai, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory designed and manufactured a 450-horsepower diesel engine and equipped it with a light seine fishing vessel, filling the domestic gap. This has laid the Weifang Diesel Engine Factory's dominant position in the domestic medium-speed diesel engine industry.

In April 1970, according to the needs of national economic construction and national defense construction, the leading group of the national defense industry determined that Weifang Diesel Engine Factory was responsible for the task of developing military engines. In 1976, the successfully developed 8V160 tank diesel engine passed the ministerial appraisal and reached the international advanced level. In 1978, this model won the National Science and Technology Conference Award. Since 1979, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory has accelerated the pace of reconstructing old products and developing new products. It has successively put into production closed-circuit cooling generator sets, 180 agricultural irrigation and drainage units, 6200Z land-based diesel engines and generator sets, energy-saving gas engines, and 695Q models. With 100 horsepower high speed diesel engine more than 10 new models.

Explore the road to development in the crisis

In the early 1990s, the company took science and technology advancement as the main line, accelerated product development, and became one of the "500 largest industrial enterprises in the country." Since the second half of 1993, companies have successively acquired companies such as Weifang Huafeng Machinery Factory, Weifang Textile Machinery Factory, Weifang Internal Combustion Engine Fittings Factory, and the scale of the company has further expanded, but at the same time carrying a heavy burden.

From the second half of 1996, affected by both internal and external influences, companies began to explore the path of survival and development in the crisis. In 1998, enterprises took reforms and promoted management and drastically implemented institutional and institutional reforms. At the same time, the company has grasped the quality internally, grasped the market externally, greatly enhanced its core competitiveness, achieved a five-year leap-forward development, and became a key enterprise in China's internal combustion engine industry. In October 1999, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory acquired Sichuan Changjiang Diesel Engine Factory and expanded the production capacity of WD615 series diesel engines.

Reform to create "speed for picking firewood"

In May 2000, WD618 series diesel engines for heavy-duty vehicles were introduced on the market. In 2001, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory successfully developed and launched the WD615 and WD618 series diesel engines that meet the Euro I standards. On December 23, 2002, Weifang Diesel Engine Factory invested in operating assets, liabilities and cash related to the production and sales of WD615, WD618 series diesel engine business, and jointly injected cash sponsors to establish Weichai Power Co., Ltd.

Since the establishment of Weichai Power Co., Ltd., we have been building an internationalized Weichai as our mission, and we have fully developed into the fast track. The major economic indicators have doubled for many years in a row, creating an amazing "speed for picking firewood." Today, Weichai products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions including India, Vietnam and Russia, and are well-known both at home and abroad for their high-tech, high-performance, high-quality products and first-class services.