Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Behind the construction of every automobile factory, there are contributions from various equipment manufacturers.

Of course, there is also competition and competition among equipment manufacturers.

Large-tonnage stamping machines in the stamping shop, various welding equipment in the welding shop, coating equipment and robots in the coating shop, and various assembly equipment in the general assembly shop.

In addition, there are many kinds of equipment.

For example, when BMW invested RMB 5 billion to build its Tiexi plant, Brilliance Group, one of the shareholders, also invested RMB 5 billion.

Then the investment in this new factory has reached the order of 10 billion.

Although it is not necessarily a direct investment in one phase, it may be divided into two or even three phases.

But such a large investment is definitely very attractive to the equipment industry.

Generally speaking, of the 10 billion investment in an automobile factory, the cost of purchasing equipment will exceed 50%.

In other words, for equipment manufacturers, this is a big cake with sales of more than 5 billion.

Everyone must want to eat it.

As soon as BMW announced the news, various equipment manufacturers started to take action.

Cao Yang would like to take action personally, and naturally hopes that Nanshan Group can taste a large piece of this big cake.

"Mr. Zhang, you must have heard about BMW's plan to build a Tiexi factory, right?"

Before leaving for BMW, Cao Yang called Zhang Sheng from Ji'er Machine Tool Factory.

Everyone is an old acquaintance.

The products made by Nanshan Equipment are mainly various machine tools and stamping machines and forging machines with a relatively high degree of automation.

For example, the stamping machines used on four-door and two-door automobiles are often TDM presses, which are relatively low-tech.

Of course, this is only relative.

In fact, there are only a few equipment manufacturers in China that can produce TDM presses used in stamping workshops of automobile factories.

Basically only Ji'er Machine Tool Factory can compete with Schuler and others.

Of course, if Nanshan Equipment comes to an end, it can certainly be done.

However, for Ji Er's press, the CNC system is from Nanshan Equipment, the bearings are from Nanshan Bearing, and the gears are also purchased from Nanshan Auto Parts.

There are even some other parts, such as fasteners, etc., which are also purchased from Nanshan Group.

Considering the cooperative relationship between the two parties in the early stages of the company's development, Nanshan Equipment has never entered this market. Instead, it cooperates with Ji'er Machine Tool Factory every time to jointly win orders.

This time, Cao Yang was obviously preparing to take Ji Er Machine Tool Factory with him.

Only when both sides have common interests, many things will be easier to handle.

Otherwise, it will definitely not work to rely solely on feelings to maintain it.

"This is a major event in the automotive equipment industry, and we have been watching it for a long time."

"We are already making some plans internally and are preparing to communicate and report with BMW Brilliance's procurement department."

"Mr. Cao, Nanshan Group should have a lot of cooperation with BMW. Even the Xingchen Racing Team was purchased from BMW."

"You should be the big winner this time, right?"

Zhang Sheng said with a little envy.

Although Ji'er Machine Tool Factory is among the "Arhats" in the domestic machine tool industry, it is considered to be doing relatively well.

But it also depends on who you compare with.

Today's Ji Er, not to mention its scale compared with Nanshan Group, even compared with Nanshan Equipment, is far behind.

No wonder Zhang Sheng was quite emotional.

He can be regarded as witnessing the development and growth of Nanshan Group step by step.

"Without the final announcement of the results, who knows what it will be like."

"Factories such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW often like to use products from various international equipment manufacturers in order to flaunt their advanced nature. It is difficult to say whether we will have the opportunity in the end."

"This time I plan to visit the BMW people in person. Is Mr. Zhang interested in another perfect cooperation between us?"

Cao Yang pulled Ji Er, not just to give him a hand.

BMW Brilliance is a joint venture. The relationship between Nanshan Group and BMW is relatively good, but the relationship with Brilliance is relatively average.

In this case, it is obviously easier to let Ji Er's people deal with Brilliance than Nanshan Group itself.

After all, to put it bluntly, he is also a member of the system.

Otherwise, why do you think Cao Yang is so kind?

"Nanshan Group is willing to give us Ji Er a hand, which is what I wish for."

"Mr. Cao, I have initially obtained part of the Tiexi factory plan, and I will have someone send it to you when the time comes."

"Then you tell me your next itinerary, and Ji Er will cooperate with you throughout the entire process!"

Zhang Sheng is not a ungrateful person.

If Nanshan Group cooperates with Ji Er, it will definitely be much better than if they work alone.

Otherwise, he is really not sure whether he can get a stamping workshop equipment order from BMW.

After all, as Cao Yang said, car companies such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, in order to flaunt their luxury and high-end, often choose to use products from international equipment giants.

When the time comes for bidding, we will set certain thresholds for you so that you won’t have anyone to complain to if you lose an order.

Why does Party A's father use the term "dad"? That's because he really has many rights.

It just depends on how people use those rights!

"No problem. Let's go back and visit Phillips, the president of BMW Asia Pacific, and Aimoha, the general manager of BMW China, to let them approve our plan first."

"Within BMW Brilliance, BMW still has a relatively strong voice."

"We can even ask Phillips to consider recommending us to the BMW headquarters after we finish talking to him. At that time, BMW's other factories can also consider purchasing equipment from us."

The equipment industry has always been an industry that Cao Yang attaches great importance to.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have personally gone out to grab orders for BMW's new factory.

Nanshan Group has developed to its current scale, and it is really not that difficult to place an order.

However, the equipment market is relatively fragmented. BMW's new factory project has a strong demonstration significance. If it does not get this order, it will have some impact on Nanshan Equipment's future new factory orders from other OEMs.

The next five or six years will be the peak period for various OEMs in China to frantically build new factories.

Especially starting from the second half of this year, the automobile market has been experiencing a situation in which supply exceeds demand.

The situation is likely to become more serious next year.

Due to the impact of the financial crisis, in 2009, except for Nanshan Group, most of the other auto giants' new factory projects were either suspended or canceled.

Basically, no new factories will be put into production this year, and even very few will be put into production next year.

This means that the tight production capacity situation will continue until 2011.

By then, various OEMs will definitely be working hard to launch various new factories.

Nanshan Equipment is expected to usher in a peak period of rapid development.

This window period cannot be missed.

However, Cao Yang and Zhang Sheng can think of the significance of BMW's new factory, and other equipment manufacturers are no exception.

Schuler, who was once brilliant in China, but has been suppressed by Nanshan Equipment and Jier in recent years and can only survive, feels that his opportunity has come.

"Xu, the headquarters already knows about BMW's construction of a new factory in China."

"This time, the headquarters attaches great importance to it, and we must win the order from BMW."

As the sales director of Schuler China, Lucas has been thinking about being promoted back to Germany in the past few years. However, Schuler's performance in China is really not good.

So in the end he gave up and stayed in China with peace of mind.

He said he was confused, but actually he still had a lot of expectations.

In his opinion, Schuler's press technology is the most powerful in the world.

The previous short-term decline was simply because Schuler's presses had a relatively low localization rate and could not compete with Chinese companies in terms of cost.

In recent years, Schuler has made a lot of efforts to make up for this shortcoming.

Not only has the actual localization rate been greatly increased, but the prices of parts that still need to be imported have also been continuously reduced.

Therefore, the price of a Schuler press is at least 20% lower than five years ago.

Some models have dropped by more than 20%.

Schuler's efforts have not been in vain. Some German parts companies are still willing to purchase Schuler presses like their parent company.

Relying on these orders, Schuler can continue to survive in the Chinese market.

"Lucas, this time BMW announced in such a high-profile way that it will invest 5 billion yuan in the joint venture to build a new factory."

"In this way, equipment manufacturers from all over the world must be targeting this piece of fat."

"Not to mention China's Ji'er Machine Tool Factory and Nanshan Equipment, Japan's Komatsu and Aida are probably not idle either, and even Hyundai Wia wants a piece of the pie."

"Under such circumstances, it may not be that easy for us to obtain orders from BMW."

Xu Dacheng is now retiring in Schuler with peace of mind.

At thirty-five years old, he has already accepted his fate.

If you can't get promoted, you can't get promoted.

Anyway, the job of Schuler China Sales Manager is not very intensive, let alone 996, not even 995.

Xu Dacheng often arrives at the company at around nine o'clock in the morning, drinks a cup of coffee leisurely, works for a while, and then goes out to eat before twelve o'clock.

When I came back after one o'clock, I had to squint in my position for a while.

If there is nothing special happening in the afternoon, no one will be found after four o'clock.

He and Lucas also spend a lot of time, and their working hours are very flexible as long as they don't delay work.

As for leave, there are 20 days of annual leave each year, plus 5 days of paid sick leave, and some other random holidays.

Basically you can take a vacation every month.

And at Schuler China, as long as you are on vacation, no one will call you to talk about work under normal circumstances.

Unlike many companies, vacations are like working from home, and work calls come in one after another.

Xu Dacheng had tried to look for job opportunities outside before, but after getting to know them, he was no longer interested.

Just stay here and take care of yourself.

Of course, he also knows that if he wants to stay comfortably, it is best to achieve some results.

What's more important is not to make mistakes and not to be caught by obvious reasons.

If Lucas promised the headquarters that he could win the press order for BMW's new factory, the situation would be troublesome.

When the pressure is decentralized, Xu Dacheng feels that he will not have a good life in the next year.

That's why he gave Xu Dacheng a vaccination in advance.

"I am naturally aware of this situation, but we have received some news that BMW's new factory in China will use servo presses. This is the new technology area in which Schuler is best at."

"Many companies in China have relatively weak accumulation in this area. Even Ji'er Machine Tool Factory has delivered very few servo presses in the past."

"That is to say, Aida and Komatsu will put a certain amount of pressure on us, but as Japanese companies, I think they have no advantage in competing with us for orders from BMW."

Lucas is confident because Schuler has always had a good relationship with BMW.

Not to mention that BMW’s first factory in China used Schuler presses. BMW’s factories in Germany and its factories in the United States all used Schuler presses.

So under normal circumstances, BMW's second factory in China will also use Schuler presses.

This is definitely a good thing for Lucas.

Servo presses have many advantages.

The first is that the servo press has precise control capabilities.

It uses a servo motor drive system to achieve high-precision pressure control. Through precise control, servo presses ensure product quality and consistency during production.

Secondly, servo presses have efficient production capabilities.

The fast response and precise control of the servo motor enable the press to complete pressure processing tasks at higher speeds and shorter cycles. This improves production efficiency, shortens the production cycle, and thereby reduces production costs.

Furthermore, servo presses offer flexible operability.

It can be adjusted and set up according to different production needs. Operators can adjust parameters and set up programs to achieve different pressure processing requirements.

This flexibility makes servo presses suitable for a variety of different production scenarios.

It can be said that the servo press is Schuler’s new generation flagship product.

"The relationship between the headquarters and BMW is relatively good. Can we consider asking the sales director of the headquarters to communicate with the BMW purchasing director to see if we can obtain orders directly through the headquarters?"

Xu Dacheng felt that it would not be that easy to obtain orders from BMW China.

So he hoped that the headquarters could help resolve this matter.

Even if the final credit will fall on the headquarters, it doesn't matter.

At least he doesn't need to worry about making mistakes or failing to meet KPIs.

"BMW Brilliance is a joint venture after all, and the BMW headquarters cannot have the final say on China's situation."

"Especially when it comes to the purchase of equipment for joint venture factories, theoretically the decision-making power rests with the joint venture company."

"Of course, what you said about communicating through the headquarters is also a way."

"But more of it depends on the efforts of the Huaxia branch."

"I'm going to personally go to BMW Brilliance to see if I can get the press order for the stamping shop as soon as possible."

Lucas knows that the headquarters attaches great importance to this project, so he is also preparing to go all out to respond.

However, sometimes when you don’t get good results, it’s not necessarily because you didn’t work hard enough.

It's because others work harder than you.

Volume, this is how it continues to strengthen!

…

Schuler is so interested in the press order for BMW's new factory. As Aida Stamping, which is almost on an equal footing with Schuler internationally, naturally he doesn't want to give up without any effort.

In that case, Aida Huaxia would have no way to communicate with the headquarters.

Therefore, Sales Manager Kato Ichiro personally took Sales Section Chief Liu Wenfei to BMW Brilliance to visit customers.

In November in the Northeast, it has started to snow.

So road traffic is not particularly good.

Kato Ichiro and Liu Wenfei were stuck in traffic on their way from the airport to the hotel.

Fortunately, the two of them could take this opportunity to talk about work directly without getting too upset.

"Minister, it is very difficult for us to obtain orders for BMW's new factory this time. We need to find another way to succeed."

Liu Wenfei can be considered an old man in Aida stamping.

He has a full understanding of the level of competition in the domestic market.

This is not like Japan, where everyone just sits down and divides the cake.

Unless you grab it, the thing won't go to your mouth on its own.

"Of course I know about this situation, and the headquarters does not expect us to definitely win this order."

"However, Toyota, Honda and Nissan will soon build new factories in China. This time we can preview them in advance to see how other competitors will play. We will have an idea by then."

Kato Ichiro's mood was not particularly heavy.

Because this time the order is not inevitable, but just a matter of hard work.

There is even a psychological expectation within the company of losing orders.

In this way, Kato Ichiro's pressure will naturally not be so great.

"China's automobile industry produced almost 10 million vehicles in the first ten months of this year, and the total for the whole year is expected to exceed 12 million."

"This explosive growth has exceeded everyone's psychological expectations. There should be news soon about various OEMs restarting the construction of new factories."

"We really need to start preparing in advance."

Liu Wenfei has been working in the same position for almost ten years.

As a good employee who is relatively responsible and capable, after working in the same position for ten years, he must have a good understanding of the information related to this position.

The next few years can be regarded as the years of explosive growth in the press industry.

After all, if a car company wants to build a new factory, it must have a stamping workshop.

Then your new factory is built, and the suppliers who supply stamping parts also need to expand their production capacity?

In this way, the demand for press orders will naturally increase rapidly.

Compared with other industries, the equipment industry has a relatively long product preparation cycle.

Our production capacity is relatively fixed, and there is no way to increase it immediately in the short term.

So even if Schuler doesn't work so hard, he still has the opportunity to get some orders that others can't.

After all, the customer requires delivery by the end of next year, and if other manufacturers can't do it, they will consider giving up even if the other manufacturer's price is advantageous.

This is the advantage when the market is good.

…

Just as various equipment manufacturers were heading towards BMW Brilliance, Cao Yang took a shortcut and brought Zhang Sheng, Pan Jinxing, Li Shigui, Mi Ying and others directly to Phillips' office.

The "Audi odor door" that happened some time ago has not been completely eliminated yet.

As the president of BMW Asia Pacific, Phillips also hopes that BMW can have a good cooperative relationship with Nanshan Group.

Even if Nanshan Group hadn't owned luxury brands such as Xingchen Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, Phillips would have thought about whether he could establish a new company in a joint venture with Nanshan Group.

Anyway, according to China's current policy, an automobile giant can have two joint ventures in China.

BMW has now used up only one joint venture quota, and there is still one that can continue to be used.

Therefore, Phillips was also very enthusiastic about Cao Yang's visit.

"Mr. Cao, according to the current plan, the stamping workshop of the Tiexi plant will be put into operation before the end of 2012. This will be the stamping workshop with the most advanced equipment, the largest scale and the highest production efficiency in the BMW Group."

"As the starting point of the production process, most of the large body parts needed in the factory are produced here, including the roof, left and right side panels, and hood."

"According to the current plan, the stamping workshop will introduce the world's leading 6-sequence servo high-speed stamping machine, with a tonnage of 10,000 tons."

"If Nanshan Equipment and Ji'er Machine Tool Factory hope to obtain this order, they must come up with convincing results and quotations in this regard."

"Otherwise, it is very likely that the factory at BMW headquarters will use Schuler presses directly."

Phillips briefly exchanged greetings with Cao Yang, and Zhang Sheng from Ji'er Machine Tool Factory also explained his press plan as a representative.

In this regard, Phillips was quite sincere in revealing some of the information he knew.

In this way, Xiji Second Machine Tool Factory and Nanshan Equipment do not need to wait for the formal bidding to start preparations.

By then it might be too late.

In China, many things have procedures.

But people can kick you out if they comply with the procedures.

At that time, you will have no chance even if you file a complaint.

In this regard, both Cao Yang and Zhang Sheng were clear-minded.

"The servo press we cooperate with Ji'er uses the latest CNC system developed by Nanshan Equipment, which can achieve high production efficiency, which is three times that of traditional hydraulic presses."

"And our equipment also has the advantage of low noise. Compared with traditional hydraulic presses, the noise is reduced by 12 decibels."

"In addition, its high degree of automation and high efficiency are also its advantages, and it can also stamp high-strength steel plates to meet the production needs of parts such as floors."

We have already talked about the main topic, so Cao Yang naturally wanted to come out in person to provide additional explanations.

Otherwise, if he goes out to grab orders, he can't just be a platform.