Photo taken on March 7, 2017 shows a transformer displayed by China's heavy equipment company Sany at 2017 CONEXPO held in Las Vegas, the United States. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)

by Peter Mertz

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Dan Edwards remembers sitting on his father's lap in a John Deere tractor, plowing the fields of northeastern Pennsylvania, back in the day.

The year was 1958 and Edwards was only seven. The machine was a Deere 440 backhoe-loader. It was a scene painted by Norman Rockwell -- as American as apple pie.

Soon thereafter, Edwards's father, 'Hap' Edwards went from machine operator to running his own John Deere distributorship, and his son jumped in behind the counter as the parts manager.

That was 45 years ago and Edwards is still stocking parts, but this time, on a much larger scale.

Edwards recalled his humble roots Thursday at the 2017 ConExpo in Las Vegas, far from the bucolic, rolling farmlands of America's east coast.

Thursday's setting was much different - in the opulent, corporate setting of XCMG's pavilion at the biggest construction trade show in the world.

It was a scene of controlled chaos.

XCMG's young staff rushed around managing a record convention crowd that topped 130,000 and swarmed through the company's displays of gigantic excavators, massive asphalt rollers, and towering cranes.

In the back of the pavilion, Edwards sat down with Xinhua to reflect on his career.

Edwards's current position, running the multinational corporation's American service and parts division, is quite a departure from his humble beginnings as a farm boy in rural Pennsylvania.

"My mother once told me, 'who would've imagined a boy from a small town in Pennsylvania would be rubbing elbows with one of the biggest corporations in the world, and in China of all places?'" Edwards remembered with a smile.

Today, Edwards is 65, and has been working with Chinese construction equipment giant XCMG for more than 20 years.

XCMG's sales were more than 3 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, making it the world's ninth largest construction equipment maker, exporting to more than 176 countries across the globe.

Edwards represents an enduring, successful relationship between an American businessman and a Chinese multinational corporation.

Back in 1988 when the economy faltered, Edwards went to work for a friend who was selling American-made equipment parts to XCMG.

Edwards and his partner would outsource drive shafts, axels, bearings, engines, and hydraulic pumps to China, and get back assembled machines that they sold to American contractors.

"I knew nothing about China, but through working with them became introduced to the culture and the people," Edwards said, recalling his trips to the world's most populous nation in the late 1990s.

"We would travel together to factories that made our components and I started learning more about Chinese culture and Chinese people in general," Edwards told Xinhua.

It was then when Edwards met Wang Min, who became XCMG's CEO in 2009.

Min, 63, a man who dines with dignitaries and presidents, greeted his old friend Edwards with open arms this week, culminating a long-distance relationship that goes back 22 years.

"I've found that over the years, people do the business, not the companies," Edwards said. "Over my career with the Chinese I have forged some genuine friendships."

"When you have the friendships it makes business a lot nicer," he said.

As the years passed and Edwards's trips to China continued, the dinners, meetings, and friendships he had developed and fostered with the world's most populous nation became a permanent part of his life.

"The culture between America and China is somewhat different, and there are some ways they think about things that night not be the way we view things," Edwards noted.

"You need to learn and listen, and find your way through difficult times," he said. "At the end of the day, it is all about people."

Photo taken on March 7, 2017 shows a scene of 2017 CONEXPO held in Las Vegas, the United States.(Xinhua/Yang Lei)

As XCMG brings its excavators and parts to the U.S., Edwards is filling a warehouse in Nevada with supplies to supplement what the company hopes will be a big push into the lucrative but highly competitive American market.

Edwards has been giving talks to XCMG employees since the late 1990s about the necessity of product support, and remembers the days when Americans questioned the quality of Chinese products.

"It's been a long time," he said. "Maybe it was a hangover of the 'Made in Japan' stigma."

"There were questions to me about welding, and about the quality of the steel...but those questions have not been asked in a very long time," he said.

Today, Edwards will tell you first hand his eye-opening look at the transformation of Chinese manufacturing.

"State-of-the-art," he began. "They use robotic welding, parts assembly with conveyer belts, and automation...it's truly remarkable," he said.

According to Edwards, China's equipment manufacturing facilities are virtually brand new -- many were built or revamped in just the past few years.

And Edwards will tell you that the old American adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," is far from the standard in modern China.

"Not them," Edwards said.

"They are always looking for ways to improve their products and manufacturing systems," he said.

Cutting edge cad systems have attracted a new generation of young, talented Chinese engineers who dominate the industry today, according to Edwards.

"These young designers are the wave of the future," said Edwards, the proud father of five children, and five grandchildren.

Edwards is a family man, and happy to mention that his 44-year-old eldest son uses John Deere equipment in his job with the U.S. Forestry Service.

"My family's been in the construction equipment business for a long time," he said with a smile, and still loyal to the John Deere name that began in Illinois in 1836.