Hard as it may be for most companies, Guangxi MESDA Engineering Machinery Co Ltd, once a modest workshop set up by college students to produce mining machinery equipment in 2009, has won itself a major honor — making the list of the Top 10 Global Mobile Crushing and Screening Equipment Manufacturers, rated by global market observer of the sector Ccmobserver — thanks to its high-end equipment manufacturing prowess.

"Five of us university students pooled together 140,000 yuan ($19,525) to start the business after graduation. We never anticipated such rapid growth or that we were on the way to striving to become a leader of material processing equipment worldwide," said Huang Kanghua, chairman of MESDA.

In a MESDA workshop in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a group of green steel giants — about 4 meters high, 20 meters long and weighing over 60 metric tons — is poised majestically, awaiting deployment overseas.

The company's mobile crushing and screening equipment holds a market share of over 50 percent in China. Additionally, they have been exported to more than 40 markets, such as the European Union, the United States and some markets involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Mobile crushing and screening equipment, a niche product in the field of engineering machinery, boasts a history of over 100 years abroad.

In 2011, Huang visited Malaysia at a client's invitation and was surprised to find his mining equipment sitting idle while a mobile screening device from Northern Ireland efficiently crushed and screened iron ore, directly loading it onto ships.

This encounter sparked Huang's idea to bridge the gap in this sector between China and developed markets.

To bridge the technological gap, Huang and his founding team traveled to Europe for on-site learning and exhibition visits. This experience led MESDA to incorporate industrial design and aesthetics, elevating their product image to a new level.

They independently developed products tailored for the Chinese market.

Since 2017, MESDA has been a major player domestically, with its sales volume ranking tops. In 2020, MESDA's product sales exceeded 1 billion yuan.

However, as core components of the machine were imported back then, and due to the foreign monopoly on technologies, manufacturing costs of MESDA's products remained at a high level.

Moreover, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains were disrupted, prompting Huang and his company to crack the hard nut — creating self-developed technology.

And they succeeded in doing so. In 2022, the team developed their own products with increased crushing capacity and higher efficiency.

"The equipment from abroad cost around 15 million yuan. Since we have technologies of our own, our products are very competitive," Huang said.

With competitiveness gained through innovation, MESDA has tapped into other BRI markets, where its sales reached 208 million yuan last year.

The company has four major production bases in Nanning, providing products necessary for five intelligent manufacturing business segments.

Its primary products include mobile crushing and screening equipment, modular crushing and screening plants, fixed mining production lines, rock drilling equipment and excavator machinery.

They are widely applied in mining operations, agricultural and forestry handling, infrastructure construction, construction waste recycling and port material transportation.

Huang said: "Globalized marketing and services mean seeing issues from the customer's perspective. For instance, in Europe, the material hopper is larger than in China, necessitating adjustments to the entire machine."

Huang also highlighted the company's comprehensive thinking strategy when addressing customer requirements.

"We are currently accelerating our global expansion. This will help us integrate global resources and establish a global brand," Huang added.

With the support of the Nanning government, the company is preparing to establish a comprehensive cross-border materials processing equipment industrial park, bringing together upstream and downstream industry chains.

Spanning over 33 hectares, the industrial park is expected to generate billions of yuan in output value and is set to commence construction in September.

By ZHANG LI in Nanning