History of the Ricardo brand
The History and Development of the Ricardo Brand
Today's generator equipment market offers a wide range of diesel power plants based on Ricardo engines. Most of these units are imported from China, and some are assembled at Russian plants. To mislead customers, some domestic suppliers describe these engines using the terms Weifang and Weichai. Weifang is the name of a prefecture-level city in China's Shandong Province, home to numerous engine plants. Weichai is also a city district in Shandong, but it is also the name of a major machine-building giant, Weichai Holding Group. This company produces high-quality diesel engines under the Weichai brand and also exports engines under the Baudouin Moteurs brand. Today, Weichai has no connection whatsoever with the Ricardo brand.
To understand what equipment is supplied to Russia under the Ricardo brand, let us look at the history. In the 1970s, the Communist Party of China and the government led by Mao Zedong set the task of mastering and launching mass production of a new type of inexpensive industrial diesel engine. These engines had to be simple to manufacture, repair and maintain. China needed equipment that could be produced even with limited industrial facilities and a shortage of skilled personnel. Environmental friendliness, fuel economy and reliability were not priorities. Insufficient reliability was to be compensated by mass production within China's planned economy.
The task of developing suitable engines was entrusted to the British engineering company Ricardo PLC, which signed a contract with the Chinese side. As a result, a series of engines with the required specifications was developed. China received the documentation and set up production of diesel engines under the Ricardo brand.
Initial production of engines according to this documentation was carried out by Weichai Huafeng. This old state-owned enterprise was located in the city of Weifang and was founded in 1920 as part of the Weichai Group machine-building holding.
In 2004, Weichai Huafeng was privatized and renamed HF Power Co., Ltd. After privatization, several key specialists and engineers left the company, taking the British designs with them. They founded new companies, such as Huayuan Diesel Engine Manufacture Co., Ltd and Weifang Huadong Diesel Engine Co., Ltd, which also began producing Ricardo engines. At that time, the Chinese government paid little attention to intellectual property protection, which contributed to the spread of production.
This "branching off" of manufacturers continued. Specialists periodically left the new companies as well, setting up their own small production facilities. Today there are about thirty manufacturers of diesel engines under the Ricardo brand, including Kate, KOFO, Tianhe, Shenhang, Yifa, Kaidong and others. The number of manufacturers keeps changing: new ones appear, while some close down due to competition.
In summary, the original Ricardo engines were manufactured by HF Power Co., Ltd (formerly Weichai Huafeng). Copies of these engines are still produced by Huayuan Diesel Engine Manufacture Co., Ltd and Weifang Huadong Diesel Engine Co., Ltd. Other manufacturers make copies of Ricardo copies.
To reduce costs, many manufacturers change the production technology, so spare parts for Ricardo engines are often not interchangeable. Some manufacturers lower product quality to undercut competitors on price.
Currently, the leadership in Ricardo engine production is held by the three oldest companies:
- HF Power Co., Ltd.;
- Weifang Huadong Diesel Engine Co., Ltd.;
- Huayuan Diesel Engine Manufacture Co., Ltd.
These companies manufacture engines mainly for diesel power plants and are modern large enterprises with high-quality products certified to international environmental standards. Their engines are sold mainly in South America, the Middle East and India. The price of these engines is comparable to that of European manufacturers, so they are rarely supplied to the Russian market.
In Ukraine, however, engines are offered from "third-tier" companies, which include both modern enterprises and "garage" manufacturers without their own production. Such "plants" often do not comply with environmental standards and use cheap fuel, causing environmental pollution. Many of them work at night to avoid the attention of law enforcement, and their products are often of unreliable quality.
Such engines are often used to assemble "real estate grade" generator sets, which are installed on construction sites to formally meet requirements. Their main task is to start at least once during an inspection; further reliability does not matter for such "applications".
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