Reborn Industrial Tycoon

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the casings of hair dryers were all metal, and all had side air intake, which was a single-stage centrifugal design.

This design has high wind pressure and does not require special processing of the fan blades, making it relatively simple to manufacture.

To put it bluntly, the hair dryer of that era was actually a small blower with heating function.

After entering the 1990s, with the advancement of manufacturing technology and the wide-scale application of plastic materials, the rear air intake replaced the side air intake, and a single-stage axial flow design was adopted, which is the hair dryer we use now.

The hair dryer sample Li Weidong took out has a side air intake design and a metal casing.

The hair dryers on the market at that time, whether they were made in China, Japan, Europe or the United States, were all designed with side air intake and had metal casings.

Now Xizhi Electric took out a hair dryer with a plastic shell. Li Weidong immediately guessed that Xizhi Electric planned to use plastic instead of metal.

Li Weidong was not surprised that Xizhi Electric made such a decision. After all, later generations of household appliances used a large amount of plastic materials. Metal parts were generally not used unless they were absolutely necessary.

Plastic materials are the future trend in home appliance manufacturing, and it is obvious that Xizhi Electric is already making plans in this area.

The plastics industry and the petrochemical industry are inseparable. The ethylene used to produce plastics is obtained by cracking petroleum. Therefore, wherever the plastics industry is developed, it must be backed by a petrochemical base.

In the 1990s, Singapore had formed a petrochemical industry cluster and began to extend to downstream industries such as plastics, polymers, and additives.

In this regard, although there were many large petrochemical companies in China at that time, they were relatively scattered and had not yet formed a cluster like Singapore, let alone extended to downstream industries.

…

President Tanaka picked up the plastic hair dryer and introduced: "In the home appliance industry, plastics have replaced metals. This has become an irreversible trend. In addition to us, Nishiba Electric, Panasonic, Sony, Hitachi and other home appliance companies are also doing this.

Possibly use plastic instead of metal.

I believe that in the future, more and more plastic parts will be used in the home appliance industry. Therefore, when we at Xizhi Electric Appliances transfer our home appliance manufacturing business, we are not only looking at low labor costs, but also

Stable supply of plastic raw materials!

In this regard, Singapore can do it. However, Singapore’s labor costs are relatively high, and Singapore is too small. It is impossible for us to move our home appliance production business to Singapore, so we can only settle for the next best thing and choose to compete with Singapore.

neighboring Malaysia.

If the foundry is located in Malaysia, it can use Malaysia's cheap labor force to eliminate production costs, and it can also use Singapore's plastics, killing two birds with one stone! This is a layout for the future development of the home appliance industry.

If the foundry is located in China, although the labor cost will be lower, the plastic parts required for production will still have to be transported from Japan, which will increase transportation costs and is not conducive to our long-term industrial layout."

"President Tanaka, you lack understanding of China. We also have many petrochemical companies in China. They all imported production lines and production technologies from the United States or Japan, and the plastics they produce are fully qualified!"

Li Weidong paused and then introduced: "Take my factory as an example. Within a radius of 500 kilometers, there are at least three petrochemical companies. The transportation cost is also very low. It is definitely lower than the cross-border transportation from Singapore to Malaysia!"

President Tanaka still shook his head: "Mr. Li, I know that your country has been building large-scale ethylene projects in recent years, and I also know that your country is constantly improving its plastic production capacity, but plastic is a complete industrial chain, not only

There is production and processing!

Your country may have the ability to produce high-end plastics, but in terms of the processing of plastic products, your country is generally relatively backward. For example, the shell of this hair dryer can be made by a plastic processing factory in Singapore, but your plastic processing factory in China can make it.

Can it be done?"

President Tanaka hit the nail on the head in one sentence. China has indeed launched many large-scale ethylene projects in recent years, using imported equipment and capable of producing many types of plastics. However, in the field of plastic processing, it is still a primary school student compared with developed countries.

.

Li Weidong picked up the hair dryer with a plastic casing, touched it carefully, and then asked: "Mr. Tanaka, is this plastic casing produced by an injection molding machine?"

"That's right." President Tanaka nodded: "It seems that Mr. Li also has a high level of understanding of plastic processing. In this case, you should know that making such plastic parts is not an easy task. In East Asia,

, apart from us in Japan, only SK, Formosa Plastics and Jurong Island can make products of this quality."

"That's because other places lack high-end injection molding machines." Li Weidong said immediately.

President Tanaka shrugged: "However, high-end injection molding machines are precisely the key to producing these plastic parts!"

Li Weidong thought for a moment and said. "President Tanaka, as far as I know, Singapore's machinery manufacturing industry is not developed, and the machinery and equipment they use are all purchased from abroad. For example, Singapore's petrochemical industry is actually

It was jointly established by international companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, and Mitsubishi.

So the plastic processing equipment in Singapore is not actually developed and produced by them, but imported from abroad, right? If my factory can buy the same plastic processing equipment, such as high-end injection molding machines, it means that we can provide

The same plastic parts as in Singapore! If so, would Xizhi Electric be willing to give me a chance?”

President Tanaka thought for a while and said, "Mr. Li, if you can really get a high-end injection molding machine, your factory will be on the same starting line as the factories in Malaysia."

The implication of President Tanaka is that even if Li Weidong has a high-end injection molding machine, he still has to compete with factories in Malaysia, and the winner can do OEM work for Xizhi Electric.

In other words, high-end injection molding machines are just the ticket to OEM for Xizhi Electric!

Li Weidong was not surprised by this. A large international company like Xizhi Electric Co., Ltd. naturally has many manufacturers vying to do OEM work for it, and it is impossible for Xizhi Electric Co., Ltd. to hand over OEM orders to Xizhi Electric Co., Ltd. just because of a few simple sentences.

Li Weidong.

So Li Weidong said: "According to my understanding, there are companies in Japan that can produce high-end plastic processing equipment, so I ask President Tanaka to give me a few days. I will use the fastest time to contact Japanese manufacturers to purchase plastics."

Processing equipment.”

"How many days? I'm afraid it's not enough for you to buy high-end plastic processing equipment!" President Tanaka shook his head with a smile, and then said:

"Mr. Li, I need to remind you that high-end plastic processing equipment is very expensive. If you want to buy high-end plastic processing equipment, it will be a huge investment. If it cannot bring returns, your factory

You may face huge losses!”

"President Tanaka, please believe that I have the ability to buy the required plastic processing equipment in a short time." Li Weidong smiled confidently and continued, "I think Xizhi Electric also hopes to place OEM orders.

Leave it to a capable partner!"

…

After walking out of the headquarters of Xizhi Group, Li Weidong rubbed his temples with both hands to wake himself up.

Li Weidong chose Xizhi Electric because he knew that Xizhi Electric would transform into a high value-added technology field, and his home appliance production business would be abandoned and gradually outsourced to other countries. In the end, the entire home appliance business would be sold to Midea

.

Li Weidong took the initiative to ask Xizhi to do OEM work, which is in line with Xizhi Electric's development strategy, and the chance of getting an OEM order will be much greater.

"I originally thought that Xizhi Electric would question my scale. After all, the electric stove factory is just a township enterprise. Unexpectedly, it ended up being stuck, but it was plastic parts!

It is said that Huanghai Petrochemical came here to purchase plastic production lines, and it was purchased from the deceptive Sakurada Co., Ltd. I don’t know what the deal was like with them.

However, with Sakurada Co., Ltd.'s stubbornness, it will definitely make the lion open its mouth again. I guess their negotiations will definitely not go smoothly. Maybe they are arguing over the price now!

Sakurada is indeed skilled in the field of high-end machinery manufacturing, and the parameters of the injection molding machines they produce should meet the requirements of Nishiba Electric."

Thinking of this, Li Weidong let out a sigh of relief. An empty-handed plan had already appeared in his mind.

…

At this time, in the meeting room of Sakurada Co., Ltd., the two parties were indeed bickering over price matters.

"Mr. Itokawa, your quotation is really too high. We are not purchasing just one or two pieces of equipment, but dozens of pieces of equipment. I hope Sakurada Co., Ltd. can give us a preferential price." Song Jinlong said.

Say it with a straight face.

On the opposite side, it was Itokawa Katsuya who was negotiating with Song Jinlong.

At that time, Itokawa Masaru also wanted to make a fortune from Yankuang, but Li Weidong found out. With Li Weidong's help, Yankuang's technical department solved the problem on its own, and Itokawa Masaru could only return to Japan in despair.

However, in recent years, Itokawa Katsuya's work performance has been very good, so he has been promoted. He no longer has to travel around the world and can stay at the headquarters in Tokyo.

Sakurada Co., Ltd. considered that Itokawa Katsuya had done a lot of business in China, so it handed over the negotiation work with Huanghai Petrochemical to Itokawa Katsuya.

The translator translated Song Jinlong's words to Itokawa Katsuya. After hearing this, Itokawa Katsuya shook his head firmly:

"Mr. Song, you have to know that high-end plastic processing machinery is a product that is in short supply, and we have no shortage of customers. If it weren't for the fact that Huanghai Chemical had to purchase dozens of units at a time, our Sakurada Co., Ltd.

The club will not receive you specially."

Ye Jun translated Itokawa Katsuya to Song Jinlong. Song Jinlong frowned and then said: "Mr. Nishikawa, if Sakurada Co., Ltd. insists on this price, then we will have nothing to discuss."

But Itokawa Katsuya pretended to be indifferent: "Mr. Song, I just said that we have no shortage of customers. But I must remind Mr. Song that high-end plastic processing equipment, except for us in Japan, is available all over the world.

Only the United States can produce it, and the Americans’ quotations are higher than ours!”

This day's negotiations ended in a deadlock again.