YANMAR Technical Review

1. Introduction

Yanmar Agricultural Equipment (China) Co., Ltd. (YNC), formally Jiangsu Yanmar Co., has established in 1998 in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, and will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2018. The company manufactures the AG600 head-feeding combine harvester (which started production in 2005), the AW82 and AW70 full-feeding combine harvesters (2013), and also tractors and ride-on and walk-behind rice transplanters. In combine harvesters and rice transplanters, in particular, YNC serves as a “mother factory” for the Asian region, with products manufactured at YNC being marketed not just in China but also more widely in Southeast Asia and India.

Moreover, the strength of YNC is that the all divisions that deal with production, sales, development, procurement, and quality assurance are located at the same site. This is a remarkable feature within the Yanmar Group, providing an organizational structure able to move at the speed needed to succeed internationally. A facility completed in 2008 is notable for including a testing center that modeled the research center in Japan, and the new No. 3 factory and an office building were constructed in 2016. This has equipped YNC's factories with production capabilities that are among the best in the Yanmar Agricultural Operations Business.

Company Profile (as of November 2017)

• Production items: AW series and YH series of full-feeding combine harvesters, AG600 head-feeding combine harvesters, YR series of ride-on rice transplanters, AP series of walk-behind rice transplanters, and YT704 tractors
• Sales and service items: Above products manufactured by YNC, dryers, and boom sprayers
• Export products: Full-feeding combine harvesters, ride-on and walk-behind rice transplanters
• Export markets: Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, South Korea, and more
• Location: 8 Huangshan Road, New District, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province
• Site area: 95,500m²
• Employees: 910 (as of November 1, 2017)

Production models and year of production start

2. Current State of Market in China

In the Chinese market mechanization of agriculture has been increasing over recent years, and this trend is particularly evident in the mechanization of the production of traditional staples like wheat, soybeans, and paddy rice. Mechanization is most advanced for wheat, reaching 82% for seeding and 92% for harvesting. The equivalent figures for paddy rice are 45% for transplanting and more than 80% for harvesting. The structure of the agriculture industry is currently going through rapid changes, with a fall in the area used for the cultivation of traditional staples and an expansion in the cultivation of other commercial crops as well as fruit and vegetables. The use of machinery for commercial crops has the potential to grow significantly. As the government has pursued policies of land consolidation and farm field construction, with the formation of numerous cooperatives in various regions of the country, the use of high-performance machinery for agricultural production continues to grow, accompanied by an increase in demand for machinery with high power and efficiency.

3. Activities of YNC's Engineering Division

YNC's engineering division to which the author currently belongs develops a variety of products suitable for Chinese agriculture and establishes specifications that reflect the needs of overseas markets. Its main activities are as follows:

1) Designs in collaboration with Yanmar → Conduct testing and evaluation → Commercialization of product

2) Planning on products customized for the Chinese market → Design and develop → Conduct testing and evaluation

3) Promotion of regulatory approvals in China (application, inspection, certification)

4) Proposal for cost reduction activities → Testing and evaluation → Incorporate into mass production

5) Troubleshooting of market quality problems that are engineering-related

The engineering division is one that is expected to grow further so as to keep making progresses in response to the increasing performance and quality requirements of agriculture machinery as it becomes a more mature product in the Chinese market.

Field testing

Indoor testing

4. Outlook for Future

The requirements for agriculture machinery in the Chinese market are sophisticated year by year. The product range is expanding beyond rice (the conventional predominant crop), and the introduction of the GB4 environment regulations for engines (equivalent to Tier 4) is expected to commence within the next few years. YNC continues to make further advances so that it can contribute not just to China but also to the Yanmar Group, becoming a major site for delivering solutions to customers all over the world.

-IMPORTANT-

The original technical report is written in Japanese.

This document was translated by Research & Development Management Division.