- A Special Interview to KDS President & General Manager Zhao Guangzhong

Kinetek Desheng Motor Co., Ltd. (KDS), located in Shunde in Guangdong Province, China, is a Sino-foreign cooperative company, co-funded by America Kinetek Group and Shunde Desheng Motor Co., Ltd. As the parent company of Shunde Kinetek Desheng Motor Co., Ltd., Kinetek Group is specialized in manufacturing motors, gear motors, driving axles, machinery transmission drive and motion control systems, which has built up a number of world famous brands including Advanced DC, Imperial Electric, FIR, Merkle-Korff Industries, Motion Control Engineering and Electrical Design & Control.

Kinetek is engaged in providing equipments and solutions for the specialized fields such as elevators, material handling vehicles, commercial ground maintenance devices, logistics, electrical appliances and vending machines, and the motors from Kinetek are widely used in the industries such as elevators, battery power vehicles, hoisting machines, air conditioners, blowers, metallurgical machineries and other general industrial fields. Shunde Kinetek Desheng Motor Co., Ltd. has been established for a decade, acting as the platform for Kinetek Group to produce and sell specialty motors and finished products to the markets in North America and Asia. In recent years, KDS began to enter the field of AC motors that will be used for electric forklifts in China, of which the products were widely used by the manufacturers of electric forklifts. At the annual meeting of Industrial Truck Institution of China Construction Machinery Association (CITA), KDS was elected to be one of China Excellent Suppliers for Industrial Trucks.

Recently, Chinaforklift.com (www.chinaforklift.com, English version: www.forkliftnet.com) conducted an interview to the President and General Manager of KDS, Mr. Zhao Guangzhong(Mr. Zhao for short).

Chinaforklift.com: Thank you for receiving our interview, Mr. Zhao. As the parent company of KDS, Kinetek Group has a long history lasting for 103 years and now is the largest manufacturer of driving equipment in the world. Can you introduce some information about Kinetek Group, Mr. Zhao?

Mr. Zhao: Kinetek Group started to produce motors 103 years before, and the main products of the Group kept being motors till the middle of last century. But in the end of last century, Kinetek Group also provided the parts matched with the motors besides manufacturing motors. Generally, the motors are used for the driving systems, such as the driving gear box, rear axle, and pump. When the motor is mentioned, the motor for general use will reflect in people’s mind. However, we don’t make general motors in KDS but providing motors to specialized industries. Meanwhile, we also provide the customers with gear boxes, rear axles and motor controllers, with an aim to offer integrated and professional solutions.
　　
At present, our products are mainly provided to the following industries: forklifts, elevators, ground maintenance equipments and wind power equipments. We pay more attention on the requirements of the customers from different industries, and we emphasize the application of our products in various fields. Due to high technological feature, the motors from KDS are specialized in the design and manufacturing, and this also has reflected the changes of Kinetek from the establishment till now. 

Chinaforklift.com: KDS acquired Shunde Motor Factory after entering Chinese market, and it had already been ten years. What achievements had KDS gained in the industries including elevators, battery driving systems, hoisting machinery and metallurgical equipments, especially in the forklift field?

Mr. Zhao: General speaking, the AC motors used in the forklift industry were mainly imported from foreign countries, and the DC motors were manufactured by domestic enterprises. Nowadays, Kinetek has steadily established its brand and fame on domestic market in China in terms of their AC motors that are specialized to be used on forklifts., Kinetek motors have been well received by the customers not only in the forklift industry, but also are highly praised as excellent products in all the industries we are engaged in. KDS is now a high-end brand, acting as a leading motor brand on the market. Numbers of forklift manufacturers are our customers, such as Linde, Crown, Toyota, Raymond, Mitsubishi-CAT, HELI and Hangcha.
　　
Chinaforklift.com: KDS passed down the core value from the parent company, which was to actively provide the customers with sophisticated solutions, powerful technological support, competitive prices, completed after sales service and response mechanism. How did KDS accomplish this?

Mr. Zhao: As I have mentioned just now, our products hold a high technological content, which need powerful and advanced technology to back up. This support is not limited to after sales, but also includes that before sales. The products of KDS are generally applied in the special industries. As for solving the application problems for the customers, we shall provide technological support and service for the customers at the very beginning of the application, especially the technological service on site. Our slogan is to provide a 24-hour on-site service in the global world, and KDS had established service spots in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia Pacific and Middle East.

Here is an example. We had a customer from the domestic elevator industry whose products would be exported to South America. Once they failed to adjust the elevator on the installation site, and the local installation company insisted that the problem lied in the motor of the elevator that was made in China. After the elevator company contacted us and illustrated the situation, we assigned the engineers in America to immediately fly to South America, who arrived at the site within 24 hours and solved the problems quickly. In fact, if the customers in Africa told us that there were troubles with the motor, our engineers in the sister company in Europe could also arrive at the site within 24 hours. We are sure of ourselves, so we have the ability to put such service slogan in practice rather than providing the customer with a blank check.

It is a strong and powerful point full of competitive force in our industry that Kinetek is able to provide timely and perfect service for the customers.
　　
Chinaforklift.com: How about the application situation of KDS AC motors in the forklift industry in China?

Mr. Zhao: I believe that Kinetek had gradually taken the place of the AC motors that were wholly imported abroad. It was not me that spoke this boldly, but our customers in the forklift industry who told me directly. The leading forklift manufacturers in domestic China such as Heli and Hangcha had been cooperating with us on some key projects. This is also a sign that our products has stayed in a leading position on domestic market. 
　
Chinaforklift.com: Well, is the motor for forklifts among the core products in the eight application departments of KDS?

Mr. Zhao: Our products are all designed targeting at specialized industries, and forklift industry is among our key customers. At present, the products for elevator industry occupied the most shares of our products, and forklift motors ranked after it, holding 35% of the shares.

Nowadays, as the application of AC motor for forklifts had become more and more expanded, it had taken place of the DC motors which had a high fault ratio due to the use of carbon brushes. AC motors can bring higher working efficiency and advanced driving experience for the forklift users. I believe that in the coming future, our products will occupy larger shares in the Group.
  
Chinaforklift.com: KDS was elected to be China Excellent Suppliers for Industrial Trucks in China. Congratulations to you! So, how do you consider this award?

Mr. Zhao: Thank you! Firstly, we felt quite happy to win the title of China Excellent Suppliers for Industrial Trucks, which was a symbol that we were affirmed and well-received by the industry, and our value had been realized. This was not only an honor, but also responsibilities. In the future, we will enhance our support to the forklift industry through providing the customers with high-performance and quality products, assuring the reliability of the delivery and offering timely after-sales service in the worldwide. In the whole, we will continue to do better in terms of our own business. 
 
Chinaforklift.com: It has been ten years since KDS was established. In your opinion, what are the main competitive forces of KDS in the past ten years? How much has KDS invested on the development of forklift motors?

Mr. Zhao: In the past ten years, we had made use of our great advantages on human resources. We had a large number of talents in terms of marketing, engineering, technology, production and operation. The competitive force of one company actually lies in the competition in human resources. The proportion of talents and elites will directly influence the strength of the human resource team. Along with the growth of the company, we gradually cultivated and introduced numbers of talents. As the products are mainly used in special industry and applications, technicians and engineers occupy a larger proportion of the human resource. At present, there are 110 technological workers, up to more than 10% of the whole employees in the company. These 110 workers are all engineers in different departments in KDS, among whom 40 are engineers for product design and development and 10 are for the production of forklift motors. This is only the situation in KDS, and we also has the design team from the sister companies abroad, who will communicate with the engineers in our company. Meanwhile, there will be a global seminar in America for the engineers to communicate on engineering technologies.
　　
Chinaforklift.com: In KDS, what is the ratio of the AC motors for forklifts that are made in China?

Mr. Zhao: We have a group of validation engineers in our technological team, who will specially validate if our products have reached the required technological indicators. Besides validating the products, these engineers also have to investigate the quality of the parts made in China. The products need a long time to be validated before they pass the qualification check. As for forklift motors, there are some parts that still need to be imported, while most of the domestic parts has passed the validation. The domestication of the spare parts may be up to about 90-95% with the value ratio up to nearly 80%.

Chinaforklift.com: How do you regard the development of forklift industry in China, especially the potential of electric forklifts?

Mr. Zhao: Great potential! It is sure that China has become the largest forklift market in the world. The manufacturing and sales of forklift keeps a increasing rate each year, and the export rate is also raising, which indicates the enhancement of forklift manufacturing in China. In the future, China will definitely become the world factory for the forklift industry. The end market of forklift has also been gradually mature, leaving clearer requirements on the development of forklift industry. The potential of electric forklifts on the market is in evidence to see, which is also determined by the demands of market. In the developed countries, the average ratio of electric forklifts is about 60%, but on Chinese market the rate of electric forklifts is only 20%. The gap between the two numbers has also shown that there is a considerably large space for the development of electric forklifts.
　
Chinaforklift.com: Thank you for receiving our interview. Hope KDS to make more contributions for AC electric forklifts in China!

Zhao Guangzhong, the President & General Manager of KDS

About KDS

Kinetek is a privately held global manufacturing company with 28 facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. It provides engineered control, motor and drive system solutions with advanced technology for world class customers.

Kinetek traces its roots to 1908 with the founding of the Imperial Electric Company. Today, Kinetek is a leader in the world economy by providing product and technology solutions that exceed the expectations of our customers. Kinetek holds market leading positions in the elevator/escalator, commercial floor care, material handling, golf and utility vehicle, commercial food equipment, aerial work platform and medical market segments.

Kinetek operating companies include Advanced Motors and Drives, Euclid Universal, FIR Group, Imperial Electric, Kinetek Controls, Kinetek De Sheng （KDS）, Kinetek Jinghe （KJH）, Merkle-Korff Industries, Motion Control Engineering （MCE）, Scott DC Power Products, Valmark Industries, and Zhongxiu Kinetek （ZXK）.

KDS provides Kinetek with a strong Asia base for the design, manufacturing and sales of products for domestic and international markets. Located in Foshan City, Guangdong province, PRC, KDS manufactures products for elevator, escalator, battery-powered vehicles, hoists and other industries.

Since its founding in 2002, KDS has strongly adhered to Kinetek's core values by supporting customers with strong technical support, competitive pricing, outstanding after-sales service, and continued responsiveness to changing market conditions. By providing cutting edge international technology, quality products and excellent service, KDS has gained trust and support from customers, provided Kinetek with a strong base in Asia, and become an influential brand in many industries.

KDS will continue to faithfully collaborate with customers for our mutual benefit, and will always strive to attain our goal of "Technology in Motion, Serving the World".