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Text: Huaxia Energy Network

According to the statistics of Huaxia Energy Network & Huaxia Wind Power, among the 6 wind power manufacturers, 20 "post-80s" have entered the senior management team, of which half are masters, 2 are doctors, and 8 are undergraduates.

Taking the wind power machine business Yunda Co., Ltd. (SZ: 300772) as an example, in October this year, its chairman Gao Ling abdicated, and Chen Qi, the "post-80s" took over, pointing out the footnotes of cyclical changes for the wind power industry: the older generation gradually left the stage, the new generation of managers stood on the stage, and the "post-80s" moved towards the center of power. At the same time, the changes in the market environment have also brought new management issues to the young Zhuang faction.

The "technocracy" at the helm has emerged

In the personnel changes of wind turbine manufacturers in recent years, the characteristics of a younger senior management team have begun to emerge.

According to statistics from Huaxia Energy Network, among the senior executives and important personnel of the six wind turbine companies, the average age of the team of Goldwind Technology (SZ: 002202) is 52.27 years old, and the average age of the senior management team of the remaining five wind turbine manufacturers is about 42-45 years old.

If the list of management teams is extended to the middle level, especially technical positions, a master's degree is almost the standard for technical management positions. In wind power enterprises, the phenomenon of technical assignment of the main position and marketing assignment of deputy positions is very obvious.

In terms of enabling the Shaozhuang faction, Sany Renewable Energy (SH: 688349) is the most daring, from the general manager to the engineer of the research institute, and the core personnel of its management team are all Shaozhuang: among the 18 executives and core backbone information publicly, the "post-80s" occupy 15 seats, and the remaining 3 seats are "post-75s".

Huaxia Energy Network noted that the average age of 18 senior executives and important personnel of Sany Renewable Energy is 42.78 years old, and the executives of its technology institutes, research institutes and branches are all young Zhuang, with master's degrees accounting for most of them, which can be said to be dominated by the Kochi technology school, and 2/3 of the core personnel were promoted to their current positions around 2020.

In the list of 18 management teams published by Sany Renewable Energy, 14 are "core technology" personnel, which shows the importance that Sany Renewable Energy attaches to technology.

After joining Sany Renewable Energy in 2018, he served as the dean, chief engineer and deputy general manager of the research institute, and served as the general manager in August 2022.

The three deputy general managers of Sany Renewable Energy are from quality assurance, marketing and technology, two of whom are post-80s and one is post-75.

After joining Sany Renewable Energy in 2019, he successively served as vice president and president of the Research Institute, and was promoted to deputy general manager of Sany Renewable Energy in February this year.

Yu Liangwei, another post-80s deputy general manager, has been working in the Sany Group system for 22 years. Yu worked in Sany Heavy Industry in 2002, transferred to Sany Renewable Energy in 2012, has been experienced in many positions, with excellent marketing and management capabilities, Yu Liangwei was promoted all the way, and in November 2022, he was promoted to Deputy General Manager and Marketing Director of Sany Renewable Energy.

Sany Renewable Energy's current senior management team has been in action for more than two years, and its global ranking has been continuously improved, ranking ninth in the world in 2022, and by 2023, it will surpass Electric Wind Power (SH: 688660), Dongfang Wind Power (SH: 600875), and Nordex, a veteran German machine manufacturer, to jump to the seventh place in the world.

The senior management team of Electric Wind Power is younger, all of them are less than 40 years old, and the president and vice president are both post-85s.

President Wang Yong, 38 years old, has rich experience in digitalization and informatization, has served as a senior executive in several companies, and after joining Electric Wind Power, he was promoted to president in 2023 with his outstanding leadership skills.

Vice President Wu Gai has been in the marketing management post for many years, and another Liu Xiangnan has served as the workshop director in the front line, and then served as the secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and the chairman of the trade union.

Sinovel Wind Power (NQ: 400082) was controlled by Dalian Heavy Industry this year, the management was changed in October, and almost all the executives came from the Dalian Heavy Industry Department, President Huang Songjiang and Vice President Huang Qiang are both "post-75s", including three post-80s vice presidents, namely Zhang Dongxing, who was born in finance, Chen Lei, who was born in the market, and Shi Yongji, who has served as the director of the office for many years.

Different from the style of the above companies, Goldwind (SZ:002202) senior management team is mainly composed of post-60s and post-70s, with only one post-80s vice president. Chen Qiuhua, 42, who joined Goldwind in 2007, is also a senior technical executive, accumulating rich experience in various technical and product positions, as well as experience in marketing management positions within the company, and was promoted to vice president in 2022.

Female executives are on the spot, and young people are boosting performance

Mingyang Intelligent (SH:601615) is the company with the largest number of post-80s executives among the six wind turbine manufacturers, including 5 vice presidents, 1 chief operating officer, and 1 business line president.

Among the seven young Zhuang executives, Han Bing, Ye Fan and Wang Dongdong are all 43 years old this year, with technical backgrounds, and all have experience in engineer positions.

It is worth noting that Mingyang Intelligence also has the youngest executive in the industry, Zhang Rui, although he is a "post-90s", only 34 years old this year, the youngest among the executives, although he is a "post-90s", the annual salary has reached one million. According to public information, Zhang Rui has served as a director of Mingyang Intelligent in 2017 and the president of the photovoltaic business line in 2023.

Not only that, there are also two female executives on Mingyang's executive team.

Zhang Chao, a female vice president, is 36 years old and has a bachelor's degree. After joining Mingyang Intelligent in 2017, he served as the general manager of the capital operation and asset management department and the deputy general manager of the smart energy division, the chairman of the East China Smart Energy Research Institute, the vice president of business and the general manager of the investment and asset management department, and was promoted to vice president in 2023.

Zhang Chao and Zhang Rui are sisters and brothers, and they are the children of Zhang Chuanwei, chairman of Mingyang Intelligence.

Another female vice president of Mingyang Intelligence is Yi Lingna, who just turned 40 years old this year, joined Mingyang Intelligence in 2008, starting from the secretary of the chairman, and then serving in the management positions of investor relations and capital operation department. Until 2018, he began to serve as vice president of business, and in 2020, he became the vice president of Mingyang Intelligence.

Yi Lingna not only deeply participated in the preparation and global roadshow of Mingyang Intelligence's 2010 New York Stock Exchange IPO listing, but also promoted the completion of the privatization and return to A-share plan, and led the launch of the "Reconstruction Mingyang" management reform project in 2017, took the lead in building an internal talent ecological chain management system, introduced many high-tech talents, and improved the skill level evaluation and training mechanism, which is an important person to promote the internal talent transformation of Mingyang Intelligence.

Wu Mingxia, the financial director, chief accountant and general counsel of Yunda Co., Ltd., was born in 1979 and is one of the few female executives in the wind power company.

Looking back at the wind industry as a whole, female executives are still in the minority. Among the nearly 100-person management teams of 6 OEMs, including the core backbone, there are only 7 female executives.

In October this year, Yunda completed the election of the new chairman, 43-year-old Chen Qi officially took over the "handsome" flag from the 56-year-old Gao Ling, and became the chairman of Yunda shares, and 42-year-old Cheng Chenguang was also promoted to general manager.

Chen Qi is a technical background, joined Yunda in 2004, has held a number of technical positions in important positions, is a senior engineer, enjoys the special allowance of the State Council experts, Zhejiang Province has outstanding contributions to young and middle-aged experts, honors, etc.

Cheng Chenguang is a marketing background, worked in Yunda Co., Ltd. in 2007, has held management positions in a number of marketing positions, and has the title of senior engineer.

Three years ago, Yunda Co., Ltd. appointed three post-80s executives. Among them, Chen Qi served as the general manager and Cheng Chenguang served as the deputy general manager, and the two became the "partners" of the highest decision-making level for the first time.

At that time, Yunda Co., Ltd. ranked sixth in the world in the ranking of machine manufacturers. By 2023, it will surpass GE, Siemens Gamesa and other manufacturers, and rise to the fourth in the world and the third in China, which can also be regarded as the most intuitive performance achievement of the new leadership team.

The time when several post-80s executives entered the top decision-making level of Yunda coincided with the wind power industry encountering a downward cycle and starting a fierce price war, and the revenue scale of Yunda shares achieved steady growth, but there were huge fluctuations in earnings and stock prices. However, it is rare that as of the first three quarters of this year, it still achieved positive year-on-year growth in net profit.

The young Zhuang faction meets the challenge of "three new".

In the past few years, with the rapid rise of the competitiveness of China's wind power enterprises in the international market, the backbone of the post-80s generation of wind power enterprises has successively completed the growth from the middle level to the top level, and even become a higher level manager.

In order to motivate management and retain excellent management talents, many companies have also offered high salaries for post-80s executives.

Among the six wind power manufacturers, Sany Renewable Energy has the highest salary, with general manager Li Qiang ranking first with an annual salary of 6.4785 million yuan, Chen Qi, chairman of Yunda Co., Ltd., ranking second with 3.2169 million yuan, and Chen Qiuhua, vice president of Goldwind Technology, ranking third.

In the fluctuation of the industry cycle, the management "relay" of leading enterprises tests the wisdom of the decision-making level, which is not only related to the construction of talent echelon, but also related to whether the overall organizational structure of the enterprise can adapt to the new industrial environment and economic environment.

The rejuvenation of the management is also for the sake of maintaining the vitality of the organization. Age, though, is clearly not the primary factor. He Xiangjian, the founder of the manufacturing giant Midea Group, once proposed that it is easy to judge seniority in large enterprises, depending on a person's age, how many supervisors and how many directors he has done, so the management culture he advocates is "who has the ability to be on the list".

Judging from the management of several wind turbine manufacturers sorted out in this article, most of the incumbent young Zhuang executives have served in the enterprise for many years, but age is still a secondary factor, and the more decisive factor for being able to play a key role is still their management ability.

After years of front-line struggle, the young Zhuang faction who are at the peak of their careers in their 40s have the strength to take charge in terms of age, qualifications and ability.

But in the future, they face no less challenges. In addition to facing the old problem of industry cycle fluctuations, the new generation of managers also has new problems such as global geopolitical contraction, fierce price wars, and technological no-man's land, which put the new generation of managers in a more complex competitive environment.

At the same time, the new business environment has also left new management topics for the Shaozhuang faction. The young Zhuang faction should not only do a good job of "keeping the success", but also open up a "new city", break the original inertia of themselves and the organization, effectively innovate the production capacity and efficiency in the new cycle, and achieve continuous breakthroughs in enterprise management.

In addition, whether the self-growth of executives can keep pace with the growth of the enterprise is also a more important test. In the face of the "three new" - new market, new business environment and new management issues, the managers of the Young Zhuang faction still have a long way to go.