On June 25th, Sinopec and Sinotruk announced their strategic partnership in Beijing, agreeing on comprehensive cooperation in four aspects, namely, technology, business, oversea market, and brands.

Sinopec and Sinotruk have worked together for years in the field of lubricant. They have continuously deepened their cooperation in terms of products, technology, and service. Having a basis for cooperation, the two industrial magnates attached special importance on such a strategic partnership with deeper and broader fields. As introduced by Song Yunchang, Director of Sinopec's auto technology cooperation centre and General Manager of Sinopec Lubricants, the partnership has changed in terms of three aspects:

The first change is that the cooperation has expanded from lubricant to other fields, such as fuel and chemicals. The two companies will be each other's first choice in the supply of heavy-load vehicles and petrochemical products. The purchase range between them includes more than 20 kinds of products in four major catalogs, namely vehicles, lubricants, fuel, and chemicals. Meanwhile, they will also work together through their sale channels, so as to share resources and broaden the coverage of their brands. One example is that they work together to promote the sale of auto chemicals such as lubricant in Sinotruk's after-sale service channel.

The second change is that the previous R&D cooperation in product technology has evolved into co-establishment of laboratory. With each other's laboratories, they conduct evaluations on the performance of auto engines, gear-box, lubricant grease, and chemicals, and also test-driving evaluation. In addition, the two parties will have a seamless cooperation on the research of gasoline quality, chemical products, and vehicles matching performance during the design and R&D phases of automobiles and car parts. The technology cooperation involves more than 20 kinds of products in four major catalogs. It will undoubtedly enhance Sinotruk's competitiveness in terms of technology reform and cost control.

The third change is that they are exploring more room for cooperation in each other's channel network. For example, Sinopec will provide VIP service for Sinotruk's important clients with "Sinotruk-Sinopec Refueling Card"; they will also put on the market a packing product with two trademarks of Sinopec and Sinotruk for lubricants for after-sales service, promoted in Sinotruk's after-sales service system and its parts-selling system. As for the overseas market, the two partners will utilize each other's resource and advantage in the oversea market and work together to explore it. They are probing for a cooperation pattern that is based on lubricants and uses joint brands to develop the oversea market.

From negotiation to signing of agreements, it takes the two partners a very short time to reach such a wide-ranging cooperation. On April 14th, Su Shulin, Communist Party Secretary and General Manager of Sinopec, led a team of Sinopec's personnel to visit Sinotruk. He met with Ma Chunji, General Manager and Secretary of Communist Party Committee of Sinotruk. They reached an agreement on furthering cooperation of the two companies, hoping to take their partnership onto a new height. The two companies soon set up working groups for the purpose and started the work immediately. Besides, some of the major cooperation projects are going on smoothly. In terms of vehicle purchase, Sinopec's materials and equipment team has arrived in Sinotruk to discuss about details of centralized purchasing. Sinotruk demonstrates the performance of the vehicles to the buyer. As for chemicals, such information as types and performance standards of chemicals used by Sinotruk and its parts suppliers has been collected. As for lubricants, experiments about oil quality in driving have been conducted, and R&D solution about oil quality has been confirmed.

It is no rare cases about crossover cooperation on product technology that combines both parties' advantages. In Su Shulin's opinion, the bigger significance of the cooperation of Sinopec and Sinotruk lies in that it reflects Sinopec's major shift in terms of market and customers service awareness. It can also be noted that the platform and bridge for the cooperation of the two companies is Sinopec's Auto Technology Cooperation Centre, which was established not long ago. Set up on March 18th and officially inaugurated on June 16th, Sinopec's Auto Technology Cooperation Centre is the first technology cooperation centre for energy chemical industry and auto industry in China. Sinopec is speeding up in shifting its role from manufacturer of energy chemical products to supplier of energy chemical technologies. The newly established centre will effectively coordinate and integrate Sinopec's resources in the auto service industry. Inside Sinopec, it represents automobile manufacturers and the demands and benefits of its auto customers.  For auto manufactures outside of Sinopec, the centre is a unified window for Sinopec to provide service to the auto industry. It provides one-stop service to customers, and will work with auto companies in products R&D and studies of technology standards.

The cooperation with Sinotruk is the fist cooperation project of Sinopec's Auto Technology Cooperation Centre since its establishment. Sinopec said that it would continue to seek cooperation partners in other segmented fields inside the auto industry, so as to further its strategic partnership with automobile enterprises.
 

Source : internet

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