Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 391 Technology in important places (please subscribe)

Li Weidong could guess that when Whirlpool microwave ovens launched a price war, it was not only Xizhi Electric that was struggling, other Japanese brands such as Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, etc. must also have suffered heavy losses.

No matter where in the world, as long as Japanese brands and American brands are in the same range, Japanese brands will definitely not be able to compete with American brands.

Li Weidong planned to take this opportunity to contact several more Japanese companies and strive to acquire all their microwave oven production lines.

At the Panasonic China Office in Beijing, Li Weidong met Honma Hirota, the head of Panasonic China.

Honma is a China expert. His grandfather and father both lived in Northeastern China, so Honma can speak Chinese with a Northeastern flavor.

"Mr. Li, you manufacture microwave ovens for Whirlpool, but it has caused heavy losses to our Panasonic appliances in the North American market! Now I am very curious to how low the price of Whirlpool microwave ovens can be reduced!" Honma Hirota said as if he is from the Northeast.

Looks mature.

Li Weidong knew that Honma Haotian was just asking in disguise what the OEM price of Whirlpool was.

Li Weidong did not hide anything and answered directly: "Mr. Honma, the OEM price I gave Whirlpool is 25 US dollars per microwave oven. This price should be 5 to 10 US dollars cheaper than the processing fee for producing microwave ovens in Japan, right?"

Li Weidong lied as usual, deliberately stating that Whirlpool's OEM fee was US$25.

Honma Hirota nodded: "Your understanding of the market is very accurate. If you produce microwave ovens in Japan, the processing cost of each microwave oven is about 3,300 yen to 4,000 yen, which is about 30 to 35 US dollars."

"In other words, if Whirlpool wants to start a price war, Panasonic will never be able to defeat Whirlpool." Li Weidong smiled and then said: "Mr. Honma, I don't know if Panasonic is interested in moving the microwave oven production line to China.

Come?"

"Mr. Li, do you mean that you want to OEM Panasonic's microwave ovens?" Honma Haotian had already guessed Li Weidong's intention.

Li Weidong immediately nodded: "Mr. Honma is just wise. If Panasonic hands over the production of microwave ovens to me, I will only charge an OEM fee of US$15 for each microwave oven. In this way, the production cost of Panasonic's microwave ovens will be

It will be 10 US dollars lower than Whirlpool, so you don’t have to worry about Whirlpool’s price war anymore.”

"Mr. Li, thank you very much for your suggestion, but we at Panasonic do not intend to hand over the production of microwave ovens to OEMs." Honma Hirota refused without thinking.

Li Weidong asked: "Mr. Honma, does Panasonic intend to directly build a microwave oven production plant in China?"

Honma Hirota also nodded candidly: "We at Panasonic Electric are indeed planning to build a microwave oven factory directly in China."

Li Weidong immediately said: "To rebuild a factory, we need to build factories, recruit employees, and train workers, which takes a lot of time. Moreover, after the factory is built, Panasonic will also send out management personnel and pay a lot of management costs.

Rather than that, it is better to produce directly in the OEM mode. In that case, Panasonic does not need to pay management costs and can minimize production risks.

Moreover, my factory has mastered the relevant technologies for microwave oven production. I also have many trained workers who can directly put into production. Panasonic directly hands over the microwave oven production line to me, which can also reduce time costs.

What's more, according to China's policies, even if Panasonic builds a factory in China, it can only set up a joint venture factory, right? Panasonic is responsible for building the factory, recruiting and training workers, and managing it, but in the end it can only get a joint venture.

Factory, it’s not cost-effective.”

Honma Haotian nodded: "Mr. Li, I also know that from a cost perspective, it is definitely more cost-effective to find an OEM than to build a factory from scratch.

But Panasonic has an overall strategic layout, and establishing a microwave oven factory in China is part of our strategic layout. We cannot save a little cost and affect the overall strategy of the company."

"That's such a pity." Li Weidong sighed, and then said: "If there is a chance, I still hope to cooperate with Panasonic."

Before China joined the WTO, domestic policies did hinder many foreign investors. At that time, many domestic industries were not open to foreign investment, and those industries that were open to foreign investment had to have Chinese shareholders and become joint ventures.

There are not many purely foreign-funded enterprises, but they are not many in number, and most of them are concentrated in special zones.

Capital has always been greedy. For many foreign investors, it is not cost-effective to spend money and effort to set up factories in China, only to end up with joint ventures and half of the profits gained will be shared with China.

Moreover, at that time, China's market was not as big as it is now, and it was not attractive to foreign investors. Many foreign investors would rather not make this money than put in the effort to set up factories in China.

Companies like Panasonic, which are willing to accept the conditions of a joint venture and build factories, are basically planning for the future.

…

Li Weidong's visit to Panasonic was more of a test, because in Li Weidong's memory, Panasonic did not choose OEM in the end, but chose to set up a microwave oven factory in China.

Panasonic was the first Japanese company to invest in China. As early as the early days of reform and opening up, Chinese leaders visited Panasonic when they visited Japan.

Later, Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, visited China and provided complete sets of black and white picture tube equipment to Chinese companies, which kicked off the dialogue investment of Panasonic Electric.

In 1987, Panasonic established a joint venture with a Chinese TV manufacturer, so Panasonic has never been opposed to joint ventures.

From televisions and washing machines to refrigerators and air conditioners, Panasonic's strategy for China has always been to invest and build factories. At its peak, Panasonic had more than 80 factories in China, and the number of Chinese companies attached to Panasonic's industrial chain was also

Very huge.

Time has changed, and with the rise of manufacturing in China, Panasonic has been losing money in the electrical appliance business for many years. Finally, it abandoned the strategy of directly building factories and began to use OEM.

Today's Panasonic TVs are OEMed by Hisense and TCL, refrigerators are OEMed by Meiling, washing machines are OEMed by Goldfish, and only air conditioners are manufactured by Panasonic's own factory in Guangzhou.

Those who spend a lot of money to buy a Panasonic TV and then start to brag about how great the resolution of Panasonic TVs is, much better than domestic ones, must not know that what they are bragging about is actually Hisense or TCL.

In the 1990s, microwave ovens were very profitable, and Panasonic would certainly not miss it. So in 1994, Panasonic invested in and established a specialized microwave oven factory in China, intending to produce and sell Panasonic microwave ovens in China.

Panasonic's microwave oven factory is also a joint venture. Japan's Matsushita Electric Co., Ltd. holds 35% of the shares, Panasonic Electric Co., Ltd. (China) holds 25% of the shares, and an investment company with a Chinese government background holds 40%. However, considering that Panasonic Electric Co., Ltd. (China) at the time

It is also a joint venture, so China and Japan each hold approximately 50% of the shares in this joint venture factory.

At that time, the total investment in this factory was 2.5 billion yen. At the 1994 Japanese yen exchange rate, it was equivalent to more than 20 million U.S. dollars. It was a very large investment.

However, just after the factory was built, Galanz launched a price war on microwave ovens, cutting the price of microwave ovens in half for three consecutive years. As a result, Panasonic's microwave oven factory simply stopped production before it was put into production.

Later, although Panasonic's microwave oven factory was successfully put into production, in the end it was only sold abroad, such as the Americas, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and back to Japan. In the Chinese market, Panasonic microwave ovens were uncompetitive.

…

After Li Weidong confirmed that Panasonic would set up a microwave oven factory in China, he then turned his attention to Japanese brands such as Hitachi, Sharp, and Sanyo.

In the end, only Sanyo was interested in Li Weidong's OEM proposal, while Hitachi and Sharp both stated that they would not use OEM, but would directly set up factories in China.

In the 1990s, the strategy of Japanese home appliance brands in China was basically to directly invest in building factories instead of choosing OEM.

Sanyo's business in China focuses mainly on motors, compressors and refrigeration equipment. It makes upstream equipment for the home appliance industry. It doesn't have so much energy to develop downstream industries, so it is more able to accept OEM production.

Li Weidong originally planned to look for Samsung and LG in South Korea, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided to forget it. Samsung and LG are OEMs themselves, so how could they go to others for OEMs!

…

In the conference room of Puppy Electric, Li Weidong directly announced the goal of annual production of 1 million microwave ovens.

"We didn't say that the annual output was 300,000 units before, why did it suddenly become an average of 10,000 units!" Wang Jing muttered in a low voice.

Wang Jing is the deputy director in charge of production. The production capacity has been increased by more than three times. Wang Jing suddenly felt a little dizzy.

Li Weidong continued: "In the future, new microwave oven production lines will be shipped from Xizhi and Sanyo. In addition, our original production lines will also be expanded. With our current technology, it should be possible."

"Then we have to build a new factory and recruit more people?" This time it was Ma Zhongyi who spoke.

Ma Zhongyi is responsible for recruitment and construction, which is also the topic he cares about most.

Li Weidong nodded and continued: "Brother Ma, you just need to do a good job in the construction of factories and dormitories. If we want to recruit people, we can go directly to Director Wang of the Municipal Poverty Alleviation Office. He can send as many people as we need!"

"

Ma Zhongyi hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "Weidong, to build new factories and dormitories, we need more land from the town."

"Will it be difficult to obtain land?" Li Weidong was slightly stunned.

Although Xiangyang Town is not far from the urban area, it is a rural town after all. Logically speaking, it is not difficult to obtain land.

Ma Zhongyi explained: "Last year, it was not difficult to get land from the town, but it is different now. The country passed an "Agricultural Development Outline for the 1990s", which included the protection of cultivated land. We can protect farmland around our factory.

It’s all farmland, so it’s not easy to get it. At the very least, the approval process will be much more complicated.”

"That's it!" Li Weidong frowned and began to think about countermeasures.

In the early 1990s, China had approximately 2 billion acres of cultivated land. However, with the development of industry and the expansion of cities, a large amount of cultivated land has been converted into industrial land, or urban residential land, or commercial land.

The reduction of cultivated land affected the country's food security, and eventually the country established a red line of 1.8 billion acres of cultivated land.

For enterprises, the more land, the better. However, the state is becoming more and more strict in the approval of industrial land, and it is paying more and more attention to the protection of cultivated land. If cultivated land is to be converted into industrial land, it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain approval.

Li Weidong thought about it for a moment and then came up with an idea.

Just listen to Li Weidong say: "Mayor Chen mentioned to me before that an industrial park will be built in Taiping Town. Now the plan has come out, and the industrial park management office has also been established. This industrial park is just the first phase.

1,200 acres of land have been planned!”

"Weidong, are you planning to move our factory directly to the industrial park?" Ma Zhongyi suddenly had a bitter look on his face, and then said: "In these years, I have been building houses, workshops and dormitories.

, after renovating the dormitory and building a workshop, it took a lot of effort to build so much, but we can’t just move it!”

Li Weidong smiled: "Brother Ma, don't worry, we won't move. The factory and dormitories we finally built have only been used for a few days. It would be a waste to abandon them.

Although we are not moving, we have to put on a show to make the district and the town think that we have to move so that we can get the land! The country’s land policy is getting stricter and more and more land will be needed in the future.

It’s difficult, no matter what, I have to ask for more this time!”

…

In the office, Xu Zhilong was reviewing documents when the phone on his desk suddenly rang.

Xu Zhilong answered the phone and remembered a hurried voice.

"Hey, are you District Chief Xu? I'm Liu Junjie from Xiangyang Town!"

"Mayor Liu? Is something wrong?" Xu Zhilong asked.

"Mayor Wang came to inspect our town!" Liu Junjie said.

Xu Zhilong was stunned for a moment, wondering why no one said hello when the city leaders came to inspect. Then Xu Zhilong asked: "Which Mayor Wang is there?"

"Mayor Assistant Wang Jingping." Liu Junjie answered.

Although the mayor's assistant does not have the official title of mayor, he is also a city leader. When addressing subordinates, he still has to address him as "Mayor X".

"You receive the reception first, I'll be there right away." Xu Zhilong paused, then asked: "By the way, besides Mayor Wang, are there any other leaders?"

"Director Li from the Municipal Industry and Commerce Bureau and Director Zhang from the Municipal Construction Bureau are also here." Liu Junjie answered.

Xu Zhilong thought about the division of labor among city leaders, and Wang Jingping wrote down that he was not in charge of the Industrial and Commercial Bureau and the Construction Bureau.

"How did these three people get together?" Xu Zhilong was a little confused, but he immediately arranged for a driver to take him to Xiangyang Town.

After arriving in Xiangyang Town, Xu Zhilong inquired and found out that after the city leaders came to Xiangyang Town, they did not come to the town government, but went straight to the Puppy Electric Factory. Obviously their inspection target was the Puppy Electric Factory.

The next second, Xu Zhilong suddenly thought of something.

Not long ago, an industrial park was established in Qinghe. The city attached great importance to this project and sent the mayor's assistant Wang Jingping to personally serve as the director of the industrial park management committee.

In addition, the director of the Municipal Industry and Commerce Bureau, the Director of the Construction Bureau, the Director of the Land Bureau, the Director of the Finance Bureau, etc. are all deputy directors of the Management Committee, and the city has also set up a public security bureau specifically for the industrial park.

The Public Security Bureau is different from the police station. The Public Security Bureau is a formal first-level public security agency, which can only be equipped by county-level units at least. Therefore, although this industrial park management committee does not have a clear level, it is at least equivalent to a county.

level unit.

Now, Wang Jingping, the director of the management committee, came with two deputy directors for an inspection. Xu Zhilong instantly realized that Wang Jingping was here to poach people and wanted to invite the Puppy Electric Factory to the newly established industrial park!

Xu Zhilong suddenly felt nervous. Puppy Electric is a major taxpayer in the district. What's more important is that Puppy Electric holds job fairs two or three times a year and has created thousands of jobs for Dongcheng District.

If Puppy Electric is moved, Dongcheng District will not only lose a large amount of tax revenue, but the employment pressure will also increase dramatically.

"No, we must not let Puppy Electric go!" Xu Zhilong secretly made up his mind. After the city leaders left, he would quickly treat Li Weidong to a meal and make sure to keep Puppy Electric.

…

At the dinner table, not only Xu Zhilong was present, but the mayor of Xiangyang Town, Liu Junjie, was also called over.

At this time, Liu Junjie was even more anxious than Xu Zhilong. The Puppy Electrical Appliance Factory was a large company in Dongcheng District, and even more so in Xiangyang Town. If the Puppy Electrical Appliance Factory moved away, Xiangyang Town might have degenerated from the industrial era to the agricultural era.

After three rounds of drinking, Xu Zhilong finally asked the city leaders about the purpose of the inspection.

"Director Li, this time the city leaders went to your factory to inspect, what exactly were they inspecting?" Xu Zhilong asked.

"The city leaders mainly cared about the production of our factory and helped our factory solve some difficulties." Li Weidong said with a smile.

"Difficulty?" Xu Zhilong continued: "Director Li, your puppy electrical appliances are so efficient, how can there be any difficulties!"

Li Weidong answered: "There are still difficulties, mainly land issues. Next, our factory will expand several microwave oven production lines, and we need land to build new factories and employee dormitories. Mayor Liu said that as long as our factory is willing

If you move to a newly built industrial park, you don’t have to worry about the land issue, you can get as much as you want.”

"It's just land. It's not like Xiangyang Town doesn't have land!" Xu Zhilong said, winking at the mayor Liu Junjie.

Liu Junjie also immediately said: "Director Li, although our Xiangyang Town is not big, there is still a lot of usable land. As far as I know, there is a lot of land around your factory! If you need to expand, directly

Just ask me for land, there is no need to move to an industrial park."

"There is land around our factory, but it is all cultivated land!" Li Weidong continued: "Recently, the country's policies are relatively strict, and it is necessary to protect cultivated land. Converting cultivated land to industrial land is a troublesome matter. Just go through the procedures.

It takes a lot of time, not to mention that the approval is not that easy to pass.”

"It's easy to talk about the approval. I'll go through the approval procedures for you!" Xu Zhilong said immediately.

Although the approval procedures for converting cultivated land into industrial land are very troublesome, Xu Zhilong is a district chief after all. It is not easy to personally go through the land approval within his jurisdiction!

Li Weidong continued: "Xu District, I will expand the production capacity of microwave ovens several times this time, and I will introduce several production lines. In addition to expanding the original production lines, I may need more than 60,000 square meters of land.

." Li Weidong said.

Xu Zhilong nodded: "One acre is 666 square meters, which is 60,000 square meters, which is less than 100 acres. So, I will grant you 100 acres of land, which should be enough for your factory expansion!"

…

The so-called city leaders hope that Puppy Electric Appliances will relocate to the industrial park is just a play directed and acted by Li Weidong.

Li Weidong knew that if he went directly to the town or district to ask for land, he would most likely be able to get it, but the quantity would definitely not be large, and the approval procedures would be very lengthy.

So Li Weidong simply used a strategy to turn against customers and invited the leaders of the industrial park management committee to come over. Then he revealed to Xu Zhilong that Puppy Electric was moving to the industrial park. It would be much easier to get land at this time.

Li Weidong had previously decided to move the Fukang Agricultural Machinery Factory and the Loader Factory to the industrial park. Based on this, it was not difficult to invite the leaders of the industrial park management committee to visit the Doggie Electric Factory.

This trick is indeed very effective. In order to keep Puppy Electric, Xu Zhilong will not only offer a lot of land with both hands, but also help Li Weidong simplify the approval process.

One hundred acres of land was easily obtained by Li Weidong!

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