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On August 12, Caixin reported that Tan Xuguang, who had been in charge of Weichai for nearly 30 years, officially retired at the age of 63.

Weichai Power (000338.SZ) announced on the evening of August 12 that Tan Xuguang has applied to resign as the company's chairman/legal representative, director, chairman of the Strategic Development and Investment Committee, and other positions due to age, and the company elected director Ma Changhai as the seventh board of directors Chairman and chairman of the Strategic Development and Investment Committee, and legal representative of the company.

In July, the latest leadership team information of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group on its official website indicates that Tan Xuguang has resigned as the chairman of China National Heavy Duty Truck, a subsidiary of Shandong Heavy Industry Group, and Wang Zhijian now serves as the party secretary, chairman, and general manager of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group.

Public information shows that Tan Xuguang joined Weifang Diesel Engine Factory in 1977, became the factory director in June 1998, was appointed as the chairman and chief engineer of Weichai Power in April 2003, and began serving as the party secretary, chairman, and general manager of Shandong Heavy Industry Group in June 2009.

Whether in Weichai or Shandong Heavy Industry, Tan Xuguang's strong management style has profoundly affected the development trajectory of the enterprise, leaving a heavy imprint of Tan Xuguang.

To some observers who pay attention to Weichai, Tan Xuguang's complete retirement is expected, but it is also somewhat surprising. On May 10, 2024, the Weichai Power Board of Directors agreed to elect him as the chairman of the seventh board of directors and executive director of the company. However, three months later, Tan Xuguang retired due to age, which seems a bit abrupt.

Emphasis on technology and capital

Tan Xuguang, who came from a technical background, is passionate about technology.

From being a test engineer in the product test laboratory of Weifang Diesel Engine Factory in 1977 to becoming an expert in multi-field powertrain, Tan Xuguang's fate has always been closely linked to China's power industry.

"I am a person who likes to constantly challenge myself. I have to strive to be the best in everything I do. That's why I came up with the idea that 'if you don't fight for first place, you're just coasting by.'" Tan Xuguang said.

Under his leadership, Weichai developed the first fully self-developed European III engine Blue Engine; the world's first heavy-duty commercial vehicle powertrain, agricultural equipment CVT powertrain, hydraulic powertrain; and the world's highest thermal efficiency engine...Tan Xuguang and Weichai have been driving China's power equipment industry forward.

At the same time, Tan Xuguang was active in the capital market and directly led Weichai's takeoff.

Information shows that as early as 2002, the struggling Weichai had received investment from Shenzhen Capital, and with the assistance of Shenzhen Capital, Weichai spun off a newly introduced production line and established Weichai Power.

Two years later, in 2004, Weichai Power successfully listed in Hong Kong, raising funds to revive the entire enterprise.

Having tasted the sweetness of capital operations, in 2005, Weichai Group bought Xiang Huojue at a sky-high price of 1.023 billion yuan, turning from a single heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturing enterprise into a heavyweight commercial vehicle full industry chain enterprise and re-listing on the A-share market from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

On April 30, 2007, Weichai Power was listed on the main board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first domestic company to achieve H-to-A dual listings on two different stock exchanges through stock absorption and merger.

By 2009, under the backdrop of Shandong Province's response to the global financial crisis and the optimization and adjustment of its economic structure, Weichai Holding Group, Shandong Engineering Machinery Group, and Shandong Provincial Automobile Industry Group jointly established Shandong Heavy Industry Group, and Tan Xuguang, chairman of Weichai Holding Group, served as the chairman of the new group, which is now under the management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration.

Afterwards, Weichai actively participated in various mergers and acquisitions and completed a series of cross-border M&A deals, such as Ferrari Group in Italy, Kion Group in Germany, Linde Hydraulics, and Dematic, driving the steady development of Shandong Heavy Industry.

Then in 2019, Shandong Heavy Industry strategically reorganized China National Heavy Duty Truck, becoming China's largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.

With the help of sinotruk's superior income ability, shandong heavy industry has also become a state-owned enterprise giant. On the product structure, the operating income of 10-30 billion yuan products were 401/1288/60 million yuan respectively, a significant increase of 28.10% compared to the previous year.

Full of defamation.

Tan Xuguang brought weichai power and shandong heavy industry to the peak, which cannot be separated from his iron-handed leadership and reform. Therefore, Tan Xuguang has influenced the interests of too many people in the development of the enterprise.

For example, in 1998, weichai power was in a difficult situation with complicated interwoven interests. There were only 3656 of 0.0136 million workers still in the frontline production. Tan Xuguang pushed for downsizing in just three years, reducing the number of employees from 0.0136 million to 8000, a decrease of 41%, in order to resolve the crisis of bloated and redundant organization.

20 years later, with sinotruk, he once again stood on the opposite side of many people and carried out thorough reforms for the enterprise. Tan Xuguang made amazing statements such as "State-owned enterprises are not a place for lazy people to thrive", "We have to peel off a layer of skin from management", and "I hope Shaanxi Auto and Sinotruk compete with each other. I will reward whoever does better" to address the chaos, hierarchical mentality, aging cadres, overloaded work, complicated positions, and heavy burdens of sinotruk at that time.

He was thus criticized frequently. In 2019, local media in Shandong reported that Tan Xuguang had been reported hundreds of times in less than a year since he came to sinotruk.

Regarding this, Tan Xuguang remained high-profile and persevering: "I am not afraid of death. If I die, I would rather my ashes be placed on Hero Mountain in Jinan than in Weifang. Since I came to sinotruk, I have been prepared for all kinds of situations."

Tan Xuguang once said that in his understanding, the spirit of an entrepreneur is to step forward when faced with many difficulties and challenges that others dare not shoulder.

In recent 20 years, weichai power's revenue has grown 30 times with an annual compound growth rate of 33 times. In 2023, sinotruk also became the top selling heavy truck.

With outstanding achievements, Tan Xuguang has been awarded titles such as National Model Worker, Outstanding Entrepreneur in Shandong Province and National Excellent Engineer.

On March 31, 2021, at the Weichai Power performance briefing meeting, Tan Xuguang, who had already turned 60 years old in February, faced his 'retirement issue'. He said, 'I haven't thought about retirement for the time being. The party committee and the government have already made it clear that I should continue to serve the enterprise.'

However, at a subsequent group meeting, Tan Xuguang openly stated, 'The biggest concern now is finding a successor, a team that can realize the strategy for the next 10 years.'

Born in December 1970, Wang Zhijian has worked at Weichai for a long time and has now become the General Manager of Shandong Heavy Industry, the Secretary of the Party Committee of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, the Chairman and Executive Director of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.

In recent years, Shandong Heavy Industry Chairman Tan Xuguang has become synonymous with reform. Under his leadership, the most successful enterprise he has built is Weichai Power. In 1996, Weichai Group was formed under his leadership. In 2023, Weichai Power intends to achieve revenue of 400 billion yuan. Today, explains the core of Wei Chai's growth strategy, which is to integrate all resources and capabilities in order to establish a global industry chain.

Ma Changhai takes over.

"The biggest worry now is to find a successor, a team that can realize the strategy for the next 10 years."

"Are you from the Organization Department?" When faced with the question of "Do you have a retirement plan?" raised by investors at the 'Old Tan's Living Room' event held in March this year, Tan Xuguang first asked humorously, then said seriously that he thinks retirement should be handed over to young people as soon as possible.

Nowadays, the chairman and general manager of Shandong Heavy Industry, and the chairman of Weichai Power, are respectively taken over by Man Shengang, Wang Zhijian, and Ma Changhai.

Tan Xuguang once said that in his understanding, the spirit of an entrepreneur is to step forward when faced with many difficulties and challenges that others dare not shoulder.

Wang Zhijian, born in December 1970, has worked at Weichai for a long time and has now become the General Manager of Shandong Heavy Industry, the Secretary of the Party Committee of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, the Chairman and Executive Director of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd.

Ma Changhai, the new chairman of Weichai Power, is also an old Weichai person. He joined Weifang Diesel Engine Factory in 1997 and has held various positions such as deputy manager of Shandong Weichai Import and Export Co., Ltd. Management Department, head of Weichai Power brand management department, and director of foreign affairs management office.

Meanwhile, the head of Shandong Heavy Industry Group, with a production capacity of 500 billion, was taken over by Man Shengang, director of the Shandong Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. He had previously held important positions in several state-owned enterprises such as Shandong Energy Group and SD Gold Group.

At the beginning of this year, Tan Xuguang leads Shandong Heavy Industry Group to determine the overall budget target for 2024, which is to strive to achieve a total revenue of 600 billion yuan and a profit of 25 billion yuan, ensuring a growth rate of more than 10%. For the path to achieving this goal, Shandong Heavy Industry Group direction is: focus on the entire vehicle and machine-driven global strategy, find incremental growth in stock.

With the change of the management team, this task falls on the new leadership of Shandong Heavy Industry Group.