????2011年3月中旬，在工程設(shè)備行業(yè)這個價值數(shù)百億美元的產(chǎn)業(yè)中，但凡有點名氣的公司都來到了拉斯維加斯參加工程機械博覽會（Conexpo/Con Agg）——這是一個大型行業(yè)博覽會，為期五天，每三年舉辦一屆。各種挖掘機、起重機和其他工程設(shè)備列于展道兩側(cè)，確實值得一看。在2,000多家參展商中，有一個展位尤為顯眼：這里有一幅長100英尺的巨型海報從天棚垂下，海報上是一個五十多歲，身材魁梧的男人。他佩戴著一副有色眼鏡，一頂紅色安全帽，昂首站在一臺大型起重機前面，目光中充滿斗志。海報上的文字是：“質(zhì)量改變世界”。海報上的人正是約翰?蘭寧。對于普通人而言，這個名字可能并不熟悉，但在工程設(shè)備圈子里，蘭寧卻是偶像級人物——他是美國屈指可數(shù)的頂尖履帶式起重機工程師。要談到設(shè)計世界上最強大的起重機——能把頂蓋吊到核電站廠房頂部的那一類——蘭寧肯定是最優(yōu)秀的人選之一。

????之所以稱之為履帶式起重機，是因為這些起重機有一系列履帶作為支撐，提供了穩(wěn)定性，能夠越過崎嶇不平的地形。不過，要把這些重型機械從一個工作場地移動到下一個工作場地卻是一個復(fù)雜的難題。蘭寧降低了這項工作的難度。他設(shè)計出了一些最早的機型，操作人員可以方便地把它們拆卸為可移動的部件，裝配也很簡單。24年來，他一直在馬尼托瓦克公司（Manitowoc Company，MTW）從事這項工作，并幫助它成為行業(yè)中的佼佼者。這家公司是財富1000強成員（2013年排名：591），總部位于威斯康辛州。

????但工程機械展上，蘭寧的海報并不在馬尼托瓦克的展位上。這張海報屬于蘭寧的新雇主——三一重工（Sany Heavy Industry），因為這家中國大型工程設(shè)備公司在一年前把他挖了過來。雖然海報上的蘭寧露齒而笑，但馬尼托瓦克的表情卻沒有這么輕松。就在拉斯維加斯展會開幕一周之前，這家公司提起了針對蘭寧的訴訟，指控他幫助三一招聘他在馬尼托瓦克的前同事。馬尼托瓦克的律師們在展會上向蘭寧遞交了法律文書。

????雇用蘭寧——而且在戶外廣告牌大小的海報上大張旗鼓地宣傳——只是這家中國公司為大舉進軍美國市場而使出的一系列組合拳中最新的一招。三一在國內(nèi)早已主宰了市場，迅速成為了國內(nèi)最大的工程設(shè)備制造商。而目前，隨著中國爆炸性增長的施工活動放慢了腳步，三一開始尋找新的銷售目的地，而且已經(jīng)大踏步進入了美國市場。實際上，它的步伐非常激進，不信可以問問馬尼托瓦克——或者問問巴拉克?奧巴馬總統(tǒng)——三一的高管正在起訴這位總統(tǒng)——沒錯，是在起訴——理由是他阻止了三一的關(guān)聯(lián)公司在俄勒岡州北部啟動一個風(fēng)電場項目。

????In the middle of March 2011, anyone who was anyone in the multibillion-dollar construction equipment industry gathered in Las Vegas for Conexpo/Con Agg, the industry's massive five-day trade show. Held every three years, the event is a sight to behold, with excavators, cranes, and other construction equipment lining the aisles. But amid the more than 2,000 exhibitors, one booth in particular stood out: the one with a giant, 100-foot blowup poster hanging from the ceiling featuring a burly-looking man in his mid-fifties. Wearing tinted eyeglasses and a red hard hat, he is standing, looking defiant, in front of a massive crane. The caption read QUALITY CHANGES THE WORLD. The poster boy was John Lanning, who may not be a familiar name to the average person, but in the construction world he is an icon -- one of the few top American crawler crane engineers. When it comes to designing the world's most powerful cranes -- the kind that can hoist a dome roof atop a nuclear power plant -- Lanning is one of the best.

????Crawler cranes are so named because they're supported by a set of tracks -- crawlers -- that provide stability and can maneuver through uneven or tough terrain. Moving the heavy machines themselves from one job site to the next, however, is complex. Lanning made it easier, helping to pioneer some of the earliest models that crews can assemble just as easily as they can break them down into movable parts. For 24 years he did this for Manitowoc Company (MTW), the Wisconsin-based Fortune 1000 company (2013 ranking: 591) that he helped make a leader in the category.

????But the poster of Lanning at Conexpo wasn't Manitowoc's. It belonged to his new employer, Sany Heavy Industry, the massive Chinese construction-equipment firm that had poached him a year earlier. And while Lanning might have had a doughy-faced grin in the blown-up poster, Manitowoc wasn't smiling. Less than a week before the Vegas show kicked off, the company filed a lawsuit against Lanning, accusing him of helping Sany recruit former colleagues at Manitowoc. Lawyers for Manitowoc served him papers at the show.

????Hiring Lanning -- and flaunting it with a billboard-size poster -- was just the latest salvo in one of the more aggressive pushes into the U.S. by a Chinese company. Sany has long dominated markets at home, where it has rocketed to becoming the biggest construction equipment manufacturer. Now as China's construction boom slows, it is looking for sales elsewhere, and it has moved aggressively into the U.S. market. Too aggressively, if you ask Manitowoc -- or President Barack Obama, which Sany executives are suing -- yes, that's right, suing -- for stopping an affiliate from starting a wind-farm project in northern Oregon.