To Be Continued: From Proposal To Delivery Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine

A.  Promote Wuxi JACK Produced Chinese Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine to the World:

1.  Beginning: Let World See Our Chinese Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

a) Every company has a dream, that their products can be seen and welcomed by customers not only homeland, but also across the globe. This is especially true for Chinese people, who are renowned on their hard working, and in the era of, China become core of global manufacturing industry;

b) In the entire process of every business, there maybe numerous up and downs when communicating with customers on our equipment, such as Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine:

1) Product and model selection;

2) Technical explore and detail finalization;

3) Commercial terms settlement;

4) Contract and technical agreement signed;

5) Design and production at supplier company facility;

6) Customer comes and has inspection on machine;

7) Delivery to customer facility, installation and hand over...

This is a never ending course, that there maybe unexpected issues crop up at any time node, and milestones should be set throughout the Order to Delivery value chain, to push the business forward;

2. Wuxi JACK Goal: Every Industrial Country Uses Our Produced Chinese Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

a) We have many learnings and thoughts, accumulated over the past 16 years, ever since year 2009 company start up, to today end of Oct. in year 2025: Different countries customers have different focus/ personality/ practical condition, that you can not copy successful experience from the last business case to next one, even on same product and model;

b) Topics: In this blog, let us take the recent and still going on business case on a set of MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, to find commonality and rule for advancing business progress between customer and us:

1) Wuxi JACK Business on Chinese Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine;

2) Background, Progress and the Latest Condition by Oct. 2025 on a MP20 for Southeast Customer;

3) Unforgettable Points in the Business Process on This set of MP20;

4) Summary on the Machine

B. Wuxi JACK Business on Chinese Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine:

1. Usage of Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

Function: MP series Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine accomplishes flat joint on steel plates into larger ones, either longer or wider, with challenging welding mode of butt welding. The single side butt welding forms fully fusion seam on both sides of joint plates:

1) Finished butt welding seam of front side on joint plates: Bulged welding toe with arc shape lines: (Fig.1)

2) Carry out SAW butt welding in Wuxi JACK MP model Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine: (Fig.2)

3) Wuxi JACK MP20 model Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine: (Fig.3)

The two major applications of this machine are:

a) Acquire longer or larger steel plate, of which Steel Mill do not produce. Customers seeking on this purpose usually come from large scale production industries, such as: Steel Structure/ Hoist Machinery/ Oil and Gas/ Pipeline/ Pressure Vessel;

b) Piece together “Useless” small plates, to make the scraps useful again. Customers have broader background, they may come from any metal production industry;

2. Market Status of Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

a) Nature: This machine is always a kind of niche equipment. Which means, customers do not easy to find qualified supplier on it, even in Chinese market, let alone professional producers with excellent technical strength and appreciable sales performance;

b) The reason behind that can be attributed as below 2 main aspects of:

1) Market demand is not that great, compared with other steel fabrication machines, such as H Beam Welding Machine/ H Beam End Face Milling Machine. Only specific customer groups have demand on this Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine;

2) The core technique being applied in Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine is technical difficulty, of which only very few companies master on mature core technology. Without this core technology, the two easily happened welding defects in butt welding operation are:

a) Burnt welding seam on reverse side of joint plates;

b) Frequently damaged butt welding group, causing unstable machine performance (Shutdown) and considerable repair cost;

3. Sales Performance of Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine:

a) Our Leading Advantages: Wuxi JACK applied and acquired patent on core technique in the field of plate butt welding: Melt-thru, which means, plate butt welding is carried out at single side (Top surface) of joint plates, and stable/ high standard fully penetrated welding seam will be formed on both sides of steel plate:

1) Patent technology certificate “Melt-thru” being applied in Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine: (Fig.4)

2) Finished butt welding seam at reverse side of joint plate, produced from Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine, flat: (Fig.5)

b) Market Demand: There is small and steady volume purchase from customers over the past years. Considering its application nature, customers mainly come from 2 types of countries:

1) Industrial countries with certain level of foundation, typically in China, Europe, South America;

2) Countries with boom economy and rapid development, typically Southeast Asia and South Asia;

In year 2021, 3 sets of MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine being in assembly at Wuxi JACK workshop, an East European customer purchased 3 sets in a roll: (Fig.6)

c) Recent Years Achievement: Some of Wuxi JACK sales on Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, which can be made public over the past recent years are:

1) Year 2018, 2 sets of MP30 to Vietnam: (Fig.7)

2) Year 2019, 1 set of MP50 to East Europe, a CIS country;

3) Year 2020, 1 set of MP30 to Chinese mainland customer based in Guangdong province;

4) Year 2021, 3 sets of MP20 to East Europe, a CIS country: (Fig.8)

5) Year 2022, 1 set of MP23 to Chinese mainland customer based in Yangzhou city, close to Wuxi JACK: (Fig.9)

6) Year 2023, 1 set of MP35 to South American country;

7) Year 2024, 1 set of MP20 to East Europe, a CIS country;

8) Year 2025, 1 set of MP20 to Cambodia: (Fig.10)

d) You can see from the above that, although selling in small volume, there is steady demand on this Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine. By end of Oct. 2025 by the date this article to be published, this set of MP20 is in painting stage, and will be shipped to Phnom Penh in beginning Nov. 2025;

e) In this short blog, let us have a brief review on how does customer and Wuxi JACK reaching this stage on Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine.

C. Background and Progress on MP20 Chinese Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

Below are several key milestones on pushing this business forward:

1. Start Up on Purchase Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

The customer contacted with us on May 9^th 2025. They inquired on MP15 model at the beginning, which means the primary steel plates specifications for butt welding joint are:

1) Plate thickness: 4- 20mm;

2) Plate Width (Butt welding seam length): 300- 1,500mm;

3) Plate Length before joint: 1,000 to 6,000mm;

2.  Technical Communication and Arrangement on Visiting Existing Customer of Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine in China:

1) Propose Proposal: The same day when customer first contact with us, we submitted commercial offer and technical proposal accordingly after receiving requirement from customer. They were satisfied with our proposal, only with special request on the minimum width of steel plate: From standard 300mm, to specific requested 145mm;

2) On Site View on Wuxi JACK Existing Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

a) Customer Expectation: Customer is very cautious in selecting supplier. Unlike majority Wuxi JACK customers, who make business with us through on line communication, by viewing on photos/ videos of our machine, and technical discussion, this customer insisted on paying visit to our machine in the way of field observation, to check on work status of our Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine. They would rather spend fairly business travel cost on investigation, to err on safer side;

b) This poses challenge on Wuxi JACK. Because as an export orientated company, 70% of our revenue is from foreign trade, which means, we have far more customers abroad than domestic. As for this product of Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, majority of customers are based in East Europe, far distance from customer country and China;

c) Fortunately, we remembered that in 2022, a set of MP23 was sold to a customer close by in Yangzhou city, which only takes 1 hour drive. Accordingly, the field investigation on this Wuxi JACK Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine was settled, which happened in middle July, 2025. For this purpose, customer team flied from Phnom Penh to Shanghai, and went to Wuxi city;

3. Signing Contract and Manufacture on MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

Business Made: Customer was very satisfied with performance of our machine after viewing MP23 at Yangzhou city. They have deep impression on firmness and robustness of our equipment. In the scorching heat of July, customer recognized value of our machine: The next week following their visit, after customer went back to Phnom Penh, official negotiation on business was initiated, and final contract was concluded on the Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine within one week, on the day of July 28^th 2025, which, same as countless other Wuxi JACK successful business with customer, covers below critical steps of:

1) Finalize machine model from original MP15 to MP20;

2) Adjust transaction term from FOB Shanghai to CIF Phnom Penh;

3) Price negotiation and finalization;

4) Contract and technical agreement signed and stamped by both parties;

Machine Production: Following that, from beginning of Aug. 2025, this set of MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine went into stage of design and production at Wuxi JACK;

4. Current Status of MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine by End of Oct. 2025:

Today is Oct. 27^th 2025, when start writing on this blog. The lead time of machine is 65 calendar days. Looking back, some other milestones after machine production are:

1) In middle Sep. 2025, both sides confirmed on completion date of machine production: It would be end of Sep., on the eve of Chinese National Day holiday;

2) On Sep.29^th 2025, an on line WECHAT inspection was carried out, between customer and Wuxi JACK, on this MP20 model Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine: (Fig.11)

3) On beginning of Oct. 2025 during holiday, the customer once again showed their cautious side: They would pay visit to Wuxi JACK again, to have on site inspection on the finished MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, before delivery. Yes, this customer should be very strong, at least in financial aspect: They do not care on cost of team business travel, to make sure their selection is correct;

4) On Oct.14^th 2025, customer production supervisor and expert went to Wuxi JACK the 2^nd time following July visit, and this time, for inspecting on their own MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

Plate alignment roller mechanism check during machine inspection: (Fig.12)

D. Unforgettable Points in the Process on This set of MP20 Chinese Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

1. Design Change or Not on Conveyor Roller Tables of Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine?

1) Not every business always goes smoothly. There maybe some unexpected issues happened in the process, and this is true with this set of MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine. The most impressive one, is on Oct.14^th 2025, during customer inspection at Wuxi JACK workshop, their engineer raised request on design change on machine roller tables, so as to be capable of:

a) Have 3 pairs (Or more) of narrow plates (145mm ≦Width ≦200mm) to be butt welded together: (Fig.13)

b) Correspondingly, they hoped that there should be 2 more arrays of position adjustable alignment rollers, to be added at both input and output roller tables respectively:

Concept idea on design change of MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine: (Fig.14)

2) This is truly a challenge to engineers of Wuxi JACK. We understand that this requirement is for the purpose of raising productivity on butt welding. But the problem is, how to attain it? The discussion process is long and with different opinions within Wuxi JACK team. Yes, this request is not listed in technical agreement of MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine, but does that mean we can decline customer requirement on this reason? Of course not;

3) From customer angle view, when they reflect on the whole process, they may ask themselves, why not raise up such special requirement from beginning in early May, when both sides explored technical details of this MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine? That will be more easy and economical to reach solution;

4) Common Census: After one week time, when customer team finished their long winding business travel among several cities in China, and come back to Phnom Penh, in the 3^rd week of Oct. (20^th ) 2025, a meeting was held between customer and Wuxi JACK, and reached common sense;

5) For this meeting, Wuxi JACK engineering team prepared Slides for explain/ analysis/ Proposal on several feasible optional measures taken for customer, on how to effectively fulfil multiple small plates welding, in this MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine. Yes, we may not meet customer expectation hundred percent, due to practical condition, but we should stand in the position of customer to deal with every difficulty, which should be hundred percent;

2. Selecting Proper Special Bottom Layer SAW Welding Flux for Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

1) Another “event” worth mentioning is selecting correct special flux for SAW butt welding, for subsequent daily operation. Especially customer comes from a primary industrialized nation, and some special welding consumables maybe not easy to source locally. Below sketch gives explanation on laying double layers of welding flux in the machine:

Illustration on V slot of welding table, in MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine, and its double layers of SAW flux: (Fig.15)

2) Wuxi JACK purchase this special welding flux, so as to during assembly and test on each set of our Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, we can have effective test on performance of butt welding. Accordingly, we have also accumulated experience and technical data, on recommending proper source of such special welding flux to customer;

3) To have effective communication with customer on this topic, we prepared Slides again, covering topics of:

a) Role of special flux for running of Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, and why it matters;

b) What if butt welding performance, suppose without using such special flux;

c) Criterion on selecting proper special welding flux in technical view;

d) Propose 2 optional suppliers accordingly, their price and contact information;

e) Cost estimation by calculating on consumption volume of special welding flux in one year, for running a set of MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine at customer facility.

E. Summary on Wuxi JACK Produced Superior Quality Chinese Steel Plate Butt Welding Machine:

1. This is just a not so typical epitome, of every year over hundreds business of Wuxi JACK, interacting with customers across countries and industries. Some customers make deal very rapidly, they may place order within 2 weeks after technical communication. These are just lucky ones; More often seen customers go through longer terms consideration and compare, to make final decision on supplier choice, which may go through several months, or even over a year time;

2. With This Machine: As introduced at the beginning of this article, MP series Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine belongs to relatively small selling volume equipment, and customers are more targeted. There maybe some special requirement involved, as in the case of this set of MP20;

3. Focus: To bridge the gap between customer and us, to find the most appropriate solution for customer, is always the No.1 focus of Wuxi JACK engineers. In this sense, sales engineer works more like a project engineer, that a clear timeline/ Milestone/ Critical task/ Mechanism to cope with unforeseen issues, should always be in the mind of engineer, as this time with this MP20;

4. To be Continued on This set of MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welding Machine:

Never Ending Job: For this set of MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine, it is not a completed task for Wuxi JACK staff until today, it is always on the way. Today, on Oct.28^th 2025, the machine will be finished painting this week, and planned to be shipped to Sihanoukville port in Nov. Looking forward, there exist still more tasks waiting for us, including but not limited to:

1) Package and shipment on MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine as time schedule;

2) Shipping documents render to customer (Commercial invoice/ Certificate of Origin/ Bill of Lading ...);

3) Machine installation/ commissioning/ training/ hand over to customer at customer workshop...;

5. Customer Next Action following MP20 Steel Plate Butt Welding Joint Machine:

1) So, what happened on the 3^rd week of Oct. (20^th) 2025, when Wuxi JACK engineers communicated with customer, on design change of input and output conveyors roller tables, of this MP20 Steel Plate Flat Butt Welder Machine? On Wednesday Oct.22^nd, a new contract was signed between customer and Wuxi JACK, on purchasing 2 sets of ZHJ15 model 3 in 1 H Beam Assembly Welding Straightening Machine;

2) Yes, 2 sets of machines in one business deal, on another box and superior products of Wuxi JACK. This fully tell the truth that, with 5 months working together from May to October in this year of 2025, customer has full confidence and recognition on our technical strength/ professionalism/ service. This time, customer raised special technical requirement on the 2 sets of ZHJ15 model 3 in 1 H Beam Welding Machines, which will initiate on another interesting and rewarding journey. Let us discuss on this truly happened and interesting story again after 2 months.