Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 441: Not enough money for research and development (please subscribe)

When dealing with Americans, it is more appropriate to talk about money directly.

In order to let James Bond work with all his heart, Li Weidong decided to give him some shares, but these shares were not given for free, but needed to be earned by James Bond himself.

So Li Weidong used a gambling agreement. With this gambling agreement, James Bond will definitely work hard. It will also be a good thing for the early development of leaping into the US market.

Leaving the matter of opening the store to James Bond, Li Weidong also ended his honeymoon trip and returned to China.

After returning to China, the first thing Li Weidong did was to find a qualified foundry for Feiyue shoes.

Li Weidong already has a lot of industries in his hands, and he doesn't have that much energy to open another shoe factory now.

Making low-end manufacturing like clothes and shoes doesn't make much money, but it takes a lot of effort.

Since it is a labor-intensive industry, factory management must be in place, and product quality control is also a top priority. In addition, cost control, production deployment, etc. also take time to do.

From a management perspective, these can only be regarded as primary management tasks. They do not have high technical content and do not require brainstorming. However, it is very tedious to actually do it and requires a lot of energy.

With Li Weidong's current status, doing this kind of junior management is obviously not worth the gain.

If someone else were to be found for management, Li Weidong would not have a suitable candidate at the moment.

What's more, building a new factory also requires costs, not only money costs, but also time costs. In addition, the recruitment and training of employees also require investment of money and time.

In comparison, it is obviously much more cost-effective to directly find a reliable foundry than to build your own factory.

China does not lack shoe OEMs. As early as the late 1980s, top sports brands such as Nike had already begun to set up OEMs in China.

In particular, the "Southern Fujian Golden Triangle" area on the southeastern coast, across the sea from the other side, has also attracted a large number of investment from Taiwanese businessmen. The early investment by Taiwanese businessmen in the mainland was mainly in clothing and shoemaking. The eastern Fujian region also used Taiwan

We will vigorously develop our own industry with the technology brought by businessmen.

So Li Weidong came to Jinjiang, which is located on the coast of eastern Fujian.

Although Jinjiang is a small county town, it is one of the shoe capitals in China. As early as a few years ago, it began to undertake the processing of foreign trade brands. Later, after doing foreign trade for a long time, more and more companies realized the importance of brands.

The importance of starting your own brand.

Sports brands such as Anta, Xtep, Peak, Hongxing Erke, 361 Degrees, Jordan, Guireniao, Xidelong and other sports brands were all born here. In addition to sports brands, such as Qipai, Rimba, Septwolves, etc., are also Jinjiang brands.

.

These national brands basically started as foreign trade OEMs, and then registered their own brands. After more than ten years of development, they finally became well-known domestic brands, and some even entered the international market.

In the mid-1990s, some of the above-mentioned brands were already born.

In contrast, several other "clothing capitals" or "shoe capitals" in China are still in the state of receiving foreign trade orders. At most, they have specialized clothing or shoe and hat trading malls and have not yet started operating their own brands.

In addition to Jinjiang, there is another major shoemaking base in eastern Fujian, which is Putian.

Putian's shoemaking industry mainly produces high imitations. Local shoe factories do everything possible to obtain design drawings or samples of big brands such as Nike and Adidas, and then make high imitation shoes. Many of the imitations are so high that even Nike itself cannot tell them apart.

, and even some high imitation products are of better quality than genuine products.

There are different grades of high imitation shoes in Putian. For example, some of the same shoes sell for 100 yuan, some sell for 105 yuan, and some sell for 110 yuan. There are differences in materials, workmanship, and packaging.

Differences, etc., people who don’t know the industry can easily be fooled.

The price quoted to dealers for a Putian high-imitation shoe will fluctuate between 20 and 30 yuan depending on the quality.

The price range for Jinjiang shoes is around 2 yuan.

If you are a shoe vendor, you will probably give priority to Putian shoes, because Putian shoes are imitations of big brands, and they are available in high, medium and low grades, suitable for all types of consumers.

But as a sports brand like Li Weidong, of course he needs a relatively stable quotation, so Jinjiang shoes are still Li Weidong's first choice.

Although Jinjiang is only one county, there are hundreds of companies that can OEM sports shoes. Li Weidong easily found a reliable company.

On the other side, James Bond also selected a store location. After renting the store, he began to decorate it, and everything was going smoothly step by step.

…

Fukang Engineering Machinery Company, in the large conference room, Li Weidong is listening to a work report.

Thanks to the construction of national and provincial highways in the province, Fukang's loader sales have always been very good.

However, Li Weidong was very dissatisfied with the development progress of the excavator.

Looking at the excavator research and development report in his hand, Li Weidong frowned.

"The research and development progress of excavators is really too slow. In addition to some achievements in the transmission system and working device, there are almost no results in the slewing device and traveling device. As for the hydraulic control system, it is only based on our original technology.

A little upgrade is not enough to make an excavator!"

The director of the technical department immediately lowered his head. He knew that what Li Weidong said was the truth. The progress of the excavator's research and development work was indeed very slow.

Originally, the technical department planned to use a report that looked pretty on the surface to try to fool Li Weidong. Unexpectedly, Li Weidong was an expert in this area and couldn't fool him at all.

After all, Li Weidong has been in the second-hand machinery business, and has also made advanced Japanese models. He naturally knows what kind of performance those devices should have, what parameters are advanced, and what parameters are backward.

.It is simply impossible for the technical department to fool Li Weidong with superficial data.

The general manager Zhang Tao next to him also looked embarrassed.

After the loader factory was transformed into a joint-stock company, Zhang Tao changed from the original factory director to the general manager, directly responsible for the company's daily operations. Nowadays, the progress of research and development is slow, and Zhang Tao's face is also dull.

However, Zhang Tao still defended his subordinates: "Director Li, since you assigned the research and development tasks, the technical department has been working overtime and working very hard.

But after all, our technology is weak and our foundation is weak, and the capabilities of our R&D personnel are really limited. Even though we have absorbed and digested some of the technology from the former Soviet Union, our R&D speed is still unsatisfactory."

Li Weidong sighed lightly. He knew that Zhang Tao was saying good things to the technical department, but what Zhang Tao said was also the truth.

In an era when the state-owned economy dominates, the higher the level of an enterprise, the stronger its research and development capabilities. For example, ministerial-level enterprises may have better research and development levels in their own professional fields than 985 universities.

For example, the former Petroleum University's main function was not to conduct scientific research on petroleum, but to cultivate talents for large oil fields such as Daqing and Shengli, as well as large oil and gas companies such as PetroChina.

After talents are trained, they have to enter oil fields or petrochemical companies before they can have research work. Moreover, in terms of scientific research funds and scientific research environment, oil fields and petrochemical companies have much more resources than universities.

Fukang Engineering was originally just a loader factory in a prefecture-level city. For a small company of this level, the level of the R&D team is at most innovating and upgrading production technology. It is indeed necessary for them to develop heavy machinery and equipment such as excavators.

It's a bit overwhelming.

Moreover, if the technology research and development level of the loader factory is excellent, it will not almost go bankrupt.

Prior to this, Fukang Engineering was able to achieve cornering overtaking in the loader project, thanks to the technology Li Weidong acquired from Russia in exchange for canned fruits.

But this kind of "borrowingism" cannot solve the fact that the R&D team has insufficient capabilities.

Just like a rookie doctor, he can use the data on the laboratory report to confirm what disease the patient has, and he can give treatment methods according to the teacher's guidance. On the surface, he looks similar to a high-level doctor.

But if you encounter intractable diseases, complex conditions, or even complications caused by multiple factors, then rookie doctors will be blinded. Their skills and experience are simply not enough to deal with such conditions, and high-level doctors are needed to personally deal with them.

Only by going into battle can the problem be solved.

This is what Li Weidong is encountering now. The upper limit of Fukang Engineering's R&D team is too low. If they are asked to digest existing things, they can still be competent, but if they are asked to develop complex excavators, their capabilities will be limited.

Not enough anymore.

Li Weidong suddenly remembered that the research and development capabilities of Fukang Agricultural Machinery next door were not as good as Fukang Engineering!

The predecessor of Fukang Engineering was a state-owned enterprise at the prefectural and municipal levels, while the predecessor of Fukang Agricultural Machinery was just a county-level collective enterprise. The technical department was staffed by a group of technical secondary school students, and their abilities were limited to upgrading the rear axle assembly.

“I didn’t expect that I would be stuck with my scientific research capabilities so quickly!”

Li Weidong sighed lightly, but secretly made up his mind to find a way to recruit some college students or research institutes to form a high-level scientific research team. Otherwise, within a few years, both Fukang Engineering and Fukang Agricultural Machinery will go bankrupt!

However, distant water cannot quench local thirst. Building a high-level scientific research team does not happen overnight. Now, what Li Weidong has to solve is the research and development of excavators.

The scale of domestic infrastructure will become larger and larger, and the real estate market will rise in a few years. As the difficulty of construction increases, the demand for excavators will also increase.

If the excavator is not built as soon as possible, it will not be easy to enter this market again when the market is filled with excavators of other brands.

Li Weidong looked at the research and development report of the excavator again and said: "As for the research and development of the excavator, the R&D Department can change its thinking appropriately and start with the simpler ones first, and then move on to the difficult ones.

For example, the hydraulic control system is an original system of the loader. If you want to use it on the excavator, you need to carry out certain modifications and upgrades. This is much easier than developing a new system.

So we can start with the transformation and upgrading of the hydraulic system, try our best to overcome this difficulty, and then develop the next project, such as this walking device...

Speaking of this walking device, I looked at the report and found that our crawler walking device was made almost from scratch! Didn’t we have this technology before?"

Li Weidong said, looking at Zhang Tao with confusion.

Zhang Tao immediately replied: "Chairman, our previous crawler walking device is still at the level of the 1960s. If it is used now, it is already outdated.

Prior to this, our factory mainly produced loaders. Loaders were mainly wheeled products. The demand for crawler loaders was very small and they were generally used in the military.

The army has specialized enterprises to supply equipment, and it is not our turn. Therefore, small loader factories like ours generally do not produce crawler loaders, so our crawler traveling devices are relatively backward."

"That's it!" Li Weidong nodded. He thought for a moment and said, "Crawler walking device should not be a very difficult technology. Many domestic construction machinery companies and even tractor factories have mastered this technology.

Technology!

If it really doesn't work, we can just spend money to buy it. This technology is relatively common. If we just spend money to buy it, it shouldn't be too expensive. It might even be cheaper than developing it ourselves. The key is that it saves time.

"

Zhang Tao nodded, and then said: "Chairman, if you want to spend money to buy it, you can go to the city tractor factory. They have the technology for crawler walking devices, and they are from Jinggong. The quality should be very good. I heard that it can reach

The standard for making tank sites."

"City Tractor Factory? Hasn't it closed down yet?" Li Weidong asked subconsciously.

The tractors produced by the municipal tractor factory were not very competitive in the first place. Since the emergence of agricultural tricycles, the tractor sales of the tractor factory have plummeted. Bankruptcy should be a matter of time.

Zhang Tao replied: "The city's tractor factory has stopped production now, and the workers are all idle at home. We are relying on loans to pay the workers some basic wages. In their current situation, they are short of money. If we buy crawler walking technology

, and you can even drive down the price!"

"The Municipal Tractor Factory was also a key enterprise in Qinghe back then. I remember that during the planned economy era, it was still quite brilliant. But now it cannot adapt to the changes in the market and has reached this point." Li Weidong sighed with a sigh.

Everyone in the conference room secretly looked at Li Weidong with strange eyes. Everyone secretly said in their hearts, this chairman is really a cat crying and a mouse pretending to be compassionate. Who doesn't know that the city tractor factory was killed by your Fukang Agricultural Vehicles?

Knocked down.

Zhang Tao continued: "There is news that the city tractor factory is also planning to restructure, but it is more difficult to restructure due to lack of funds. Now their factory director Gao Chongguang goes to the city every day just to get approval from the leaders

A sum of funds will be used for the restructuring of the tractor factory."

"We don't have the financial funds to help the tractor factory!" Li Weidong shook his head.

There are so many companies facing difficulties these days, how can they come up with so much money financially? If you were really rich financially, you wouldn't want to go to a wholesale mall for free.

Funding is the key to enterprise restructuring. The reason why the loader factory was able to successfully transform was mainly because Li Weidong was willing to spend a lot of money. If a large sum of money was spent, the enterprise could replace equipment, update products, improve productivity, and employees would also benefit from improvements.

If the enthusiasm for production is increased, the restructuring will naturally be successful.

But if there is no money, the company will just stick to the old equipment and old products of the past, and the employees will live a miserable life. How can the company succeed in restructuring!

Li Weidong thought for a moment and asked: "Old Zhang, what do you think about us taking over the tractor factory?"

"Chairman, do you plan to merge the tractor factory?" Zhang Tao was shocked.

In the 1980s, the tractor factory was much larger than the loader factory. When Li Weidong proposed taking over the tractor factory, Zhang Tao felt like a snake swallowing an elephant.

Li Weidong said: "The tractor factory has ready-made production lines and skilled technical workers. If we take over the tractor factory, we can directly obtain the production line of the crawler travel system. This will not only increase the speed of excavator research and development, but also improve future excavator production.

Also helpful.

And the tractor factory should have some other technologies, right? We may get some technologies again, and some technologies can be integrated with the Fukang Agricultural Machinery Factory next door. I think this is better than buying and selling, and we will definitely not lose money!"

Zhang Tao nodded: "Since the chairman has this idea, I will contact Gao Chongguang, the director of the tractor factory, tomorrow to explore the possibility of acquiring the tractor factory!"

But Li Weidong shook his head: "This is not good. The intention to acquire is exposed in advance. For us, it will fall into passivity. Moreover, the tractor factory is a city enterprise after all, and the acquisition must be reported to the city first.

of.

Tomorrow I will go find Secretary Zhang to see what his opinion is. If Secretary Zhang is willing to support our acquisition, then it will be much easier to go to the tractor factory to negotiate the acquisition conditions."

…

The next day, Li Weidong met Zhang Jiagang.

The two exchanged pleasantries, and Li Weidong first reported to Zhang Jiagang the progress of the construction of Shilibao Wholesale Mall, and then talked about the acquisition of the tractor factory.

"You plan to acquire a tractor factory? This is a good thing. The city supports it in principle."

Zhang Jiagang nodded, and then said: "The current situation of the tractor factory is indeed very difficult. If it can be merged into your Fukang Project, it would not be a bad thing. It will reduce a lot of pressure on the city's finances. Tractor

The employment problem of the 1,500 workers in the factory can be solved."

"Fifteen hundred employees?" Li Weidong was shocked.

In Li Weidong's impression, when the tractor factory was at its peak, it sold more than 300 tractors in one month during the peak sales season. This sales volume required 1,500 employees, which was indeed an exaggeration.

"There are 1,500 employees. I don't know how many are front-line technical personnel, how many are administrative and logistics personnel, and how many are tertiary industry personnel. If there are too many administrative and logistics personnel, it will be really troublesome. It seems that the tractor factory may not

It’s a piece of meat!” Li Weidong thought to himself.

However, Li Weidong had already said in front of Zhang Jiagang that he wanted to acquire the tractor factory. It would definitely not be appropriate to back out at this time. Even if he really wanted to back out, he would have to find a suitable reason.

Now Li Weidong can only take one step at a time!

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