Company says the approach is key to its successful overseas development

Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd said that its involvement in major disaster rescues - as well as boosting its efforts in localization - has been key to its successful and evolving overseas development.

According to the leader in heavy machinery manufacturing in China, Sany has helped in about 50 overseas disaster rescues since 2001.

Additionally, about 70 percent of its overseas employees are locals, said Li Jingjing, vice-president of the company.

Founded in 1994, Sany Heavy Industry has branches or offices in more than 140 countries and regions.

Last year, the company donated 200,000 yuan ($29,000) to Ethiopia for the development of clean energy and helped construct solar power stations at the village of Hadar near where Lucy, the famous early human-like female anthropoid fossil dated back 4.4 million years, was found in 1974.

"Villagers here used to use diesels to generate power, which was very unstable," she said. "A continuous and stable power supply can help guarantee local people's daily lives and protect ancient relics."

The project was still in operation, Li added.

"Flooding and landslides are very common during the rainy season in southeastern areas like India and Thailand. We give them a hand when it is needed," she said.

In 2014 a village in western Indian city, Pune, was hit by heavy rain and a landslide. In response, Sany sent three large excavators to help rescue 22 people.

The company also donated a pump truck worth around $1 million to the Tokyo Electric Power Company in 2011 to cool down the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant after the explosion.

"The unmanned truck, which was under remote control, prevented humans from being exposed to nuclear radiation," Li said.

Sany sent cranes to save 33 men trapped 700 meters underground when a collapse occurred at the San Jose mine in Chile in 2010.

The company's cranes, pumps and other equipment were also used in the post-disaster reconstruction, she added.

"We don't regard our overseas branches as Chinese companies, but as local ones which are integrated into local society and culture," Li said.

"Job opportunities, training of local staff and transfer of patents are ways to achieve localization."

Some top level management are hired locally.

Amri Tarek, the former ambassador of Tunisia to China, was appointed vice-president of Sany Group last year, in charge of projects conducted in economies along the Belt and Road, including a wind power project in Egypt and construction project in Saudi Arabia.

Tyson Teh PouMa, an Indian employee working at the company's industrial park in Changsha, Central China's Hunan province, said he hoped to bring the experience and techniques he learnt in China back to his hometown.

The company offered training for more than 2,000 workers on operation and maintenance of equipment as well as commercial and engineering training projects for foreign middle managers and engineers, Li said.

She said the company aimed at hiring more local female employees in the future, to help improve the employment of women in some countries and regions.

Li added that the company was also working on providing incentives to local middle and executive management to buy their houses.

chenmeiling@chinadaily.com.cn