Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 552 A small goal

A cotton harvester was placed in front of Li Weidong.

"Although it's a bit ugly, it's still a cotton harvester after all!" Li Weidong sighed softly.

Next, Yue Anping said: "I went to the United States to visit agricultural mechanization before and saw the cotton harvesters used by Americans. At that time, I was still wondering when we could also use cotton harvesters. I didn't expect to see it here."

"Yes, this cotton harvester has filled a gap in this field in China, thanks to Dr. Ni and his team." Li Weidong said, looked at Ni Guilin, and said, "Dr. Ni, please introduce our

Cotton harvester!"

Ni Guilin stepped forward and said: "This cotton harvester is 8.52 meters long, 3.34 meters wide, 3.80 meters high, and weighs 13.83 tons. It uses an American Cummins engine with a displacement of 8.3 liters.

The cotton picking speed is 5.3 kilometers per hour in the first gear, 6.7 kilometers per hour in the second gear, and the transportation speed can reach 22 kilometers per hour. A twelve-tube cotton picking head is used, and each seat tube has 18 spindles.

The row spacing of cotton picking heads can be adjusted, and it is also equipped with a 20 cubic meter cotton box, which can accommodate approximately 2,200 kilograms of seed cotton..."

"Are cotton picks made in China?" Li Weidong asked.

"It is made in China. I have put most of my R&D efforts on this cotton picking head. After our experimental improvements, this cotton picking head has been able to achieve a cotton yield of 88%, and its performance is similar to foreign products.

." Ni Guilin said.

Li Weidong nodded with satisfaction. He knew that the cotton picking head was the core component of the cotton harvester. The localization of the cotton picking head basically meant that the cotton harvester had completed independent production.

The cotton yield of 88%, although there is still room for optimization, is already very good.

Ni Guilin continued: "During the research and development process, we have overcome a total of 157 technical difficulties and applied for 12 national patents, including this cotton picking head."

"Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Ni." Li Weidong said sincerely.

It took more than two years to build a cotton harvester. This research and development speed is indeed very fast.

Of course, the past two years were the time when Ni Guilin received funding from Li Weidong. Previously, when he was at the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, Ni Guilin had already begun the research and development of cotton harvesters. Although the funds were insufficient at the time, he at least did enough theoretical research.

Moreover, the difficulty in the development of cotton harvesters is the cotton picking head. As long as this cotton picking head technology can be overcome, the development of cotton harvesters will be more than half successful.

Other systems such as chassis, power, operation, transmission, etc. are all ready-made technologies and do not need to be re-developed. They only need to be integrated and optimized.

Ni Guilin introduced it carefully. This cotton harvester is highly domestically produced. The chassis is that of a domestic combine harvester, and the control system is also domestically produced. Only the power system is imported.

The manufacturing level of domestic engines is indeed much behind that of countries such as the United States and Japan. If domestic engines are forced to be used, it may be difficult to drive this big guy of nearly fourteen tons.

It is difficult for a domestically produced engine to take on a major role, and there is no other way to use imported products for the power system.

Cummins is the world's top power equipment manufacturer, especially in the field of heavy-duty vehicle engines. Cummins' engine performance and quality are guaranteed.

And with the development speed of domestic engines, it is estimated that only Cummins engines will be used for a long time in the future.

Li Weidong asked again: "How is the cotton picking efficiency of our cotton picking machine?"

"It can harvest about 10 acres of land in one hour, which is equivalent to the international average level of similar products." Ni Guilin said.

Li Weidong had never grown cotton, and he didn't know much about cotton harvesting, so he turned to Yue Ping An and asked: "Mr. Yue, how much cotton can an average worker produce in an hour?"

Li Weidong is accustomed to calling Yue An'an "Mr. Yue" instead of the more affectionate "Lao Yue" because Li Weidong feels that the title "Lao Yue" makes him feel a generation younger and is tantamount to being taken advantage of by Yue An'an.

Yue An'an thought for a while and replied: "For ordinary female laborers, there is no problem in picking 100 kilograms of cotton in a day. If you are faster, you can pick 120 kilograms. If you are a strong man, you can pick more than 150 kilograms of cotton in a day.

.

The yield of an ordinary cotton field is 110 kilograms to 130 kilograms per acre. There is sufficient sunlight in the Northwest Autonomous Region, which is suitable for growing cotton. The cotton yield will be higher than here, and one acre can produce about 150 kilograms of cotton."

Whether it is agriculture or agricultural machinery, Yue An'an has richer professional knowledge than Li Weidong. After all, he is a cadre who has experienced both in enterprises and ministries, and is much better than Li Weidong, a monk who became a monk halfway.

Cotton yield is related to factors such as planting area, planting technology, cotton variety and natural climate.

In later generations, low-yield cotton fields can have a yield of 200 kilograms per mu, middle-yield fields can have a yield of 30 kilograms per mu, and high-yield fields can have a yield of more than 400 kilograms per mu.

In the 1990s, agricultural technology was not as developed as later generations. In terms of varieties, planting techniques, fertilization, pesticides, field management, etc., they were far inferior to later generations. Therefore, the cotton yield at that time was not that high. One acre of land could produce

150 kilograms of cotton is considered very good.

The greater the yield per mu of cotton, the greater the quantity of cotton per unit area. Similarly, if you grab a handful, you will pick more seed cotton.

Therefore, the efficiency of manual cotton picking in later generations will be higher. Even an elderly woman can pick 100 kilograms of seed cotton in a day, and skilled labor can pick more than 180 kilograms in a day.

Of course, compared with harvesting by harvester, this is really far behind.

After listening to Yue An'an's introduction, Li Weidong nodded: "If you calculate it this way, manual cotton picking only takes one acre of land in one day, and our cotton harvester can do the work of ten people in one hour.

If the cotton harvester works ten hours a day, wouldn't it be able to handle the workload of 100 people? This is really a good thing that can defeat a hundred people!"

Yue Ping An poured a basin of cold water from the side: "The price of this thing is really too expensive! And it uses an imported Cummins engine, so the cost has increased a lot! If I were a cotton farmer, I would rather hire 100 people to pick it.

I don’t buy cotton either.

So Li Weidong asked: "Mr. Yue, how much do we have to sell this cotton harvester?"

"Referring to the prices of similar foreign products, John Deere's similar products are priced at around US$250,000, which is 2.12 million yuan. This does not include the price of after-sales service."

Yue An'an paused for a moment, then continued: "Even if our cotton harvest is discounted and sold for 1.1 million units, it is still unaffordable for cotton farmers. It's better to just hire someone to pick cotton."

The so-called reference to similar foreign products actually has no other reference except John Deere.

Cotton harvesters were originally produced only in the United States and the former Soviet Union, and neither Japan nor Germany made them. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, only the United States was left, and the only company that made cotton harvesters in the United States was John Deere.

big.

In the field of cotton harvesters, the only products we can refer to are John Deere products.

It is precisely because of John Deere's industry monopoly that the price of cotton harvesters has never been cheap. The price of John Deere's high-end cotton harvesters can reach 6.7 million US dollars, which starts at 5 million yuan in China.

.

Ordinary models are not cheap, and basically cost more than 2 million yuan. In the future, Chinese companies independently develop cotton harvesters, and even if they use many imported parts, the price will be just over one million yuan.

In other words, for the same cotton harvester, John Deere would make one million more, basically selling it at double the price. For high-end cotton harvesters, John Deere would make even more.

Before the emergence of domestic cotton harvesters, John Deere was able to earn more than $100 million from China every year just by selling cotton harvesters.

In the late 1990s, even if a cotton harvester sold for only 1 million yuan, it was still an unaffordable price for cotton farmers.

Although a cotton harvester can support 100 laborers, how much more money does it cost to hire 100 laborers to harvest cotton for two months?

After all, labor costs in China were cheap at that time, and the cost of manual picking was relatively low. Later, labor costs increased, and using cotton harvesters became cost-effective.

For example, if you pick cotton by hand, you will be paid RMB 16 to RMB 180 per kilogram, and you have to take care of the food. A meal for a manual laborer of thirty to fifty years old still costs a lot of money.

It costs about 140 yuan to hire someone to drive a harvester to pick cotton per acre. Calculated in this way, although the loss of cotton picking by machine is larger, it is more cost-effective than manual picking.

If you buy a cotton harvester yourself, you can save more money. You only need to pay for gas and depreciation. Moreover, after your own cotton harvest is completed, you can also drive the harvester and earn the 140 yuan elsewhere.

acres of wages.

Around 2015, not many people bought cotton harvesters. At that time, one harvester could harvest 10,000 acres of cotton in one cotton harvest season.

Calculated based on the labor cost of 140 yuan per mu of land, deducting the oil cost and labor, buying a domestic harvester can basically pay back the cost in one year.

Later, cotton farmers realized the benefits of harvesters and began to buy cotton harvesters one after another. As the number of harvesters increased, the work naturally became less. One harvester can only operate three to four thousand acres of land every year.

But even so, if you buy a domestic cotton harvester, you can get your money back within three years.

Another very important point is that cotton harvesters, as agricultural machinery, can enjoy national agricultural machinery subsidies. For example, from the Production and Construction Corps, the subsidy for a cotton harvester can reach 300,000 yuan.

Calculated this way, cotton farmers only need to spend 700,000 to 800,000 yuan to drive home a cotton harvester, and the cost will be recovered within three years. This is still a very cost-effective deal.

In the future, those who grow cotton on one or two thousand acres can only be considered small businesses. There are many large cotton farmers who grow cotton on five or six thousand acres, seven or eight thousand acres, or even tens of thousands of acres. Those who grow cotton on several thousand acres

Of course, a big family can afford to spend 700,000 to 800,000 yuan to buy a cotton harvester.

In the late 1990s, when there were not so many large cotton growers and small farmers were the main farmers, spending 700,000 to 800,000 yuan to buy a cotton harvester was completely impossible for cotton farmers.

What's more, Fukang Agricultural Machinery's cotton harvester has just been developed, and there are no agricultural machinery subsidies yet.

The product has been developed, and it is still an exclusive monopoly. It is supposed to make a lot of money, but it turns out that it cannot be sold. This is really terrible.

"It's too expensive and ordinary people can't afford it! Otherwise, will it be sold to foreigners?"

This idea popped up in Li Weidong's mind, but was immediately rejected by him.

There are only a few countries that grow cotton in the world. Among them, only Americans are considered wealthy. Other countries such as India, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan are poorer than the other, and they probably cannot afford cotton harvesters.

Americans must buy John Deere, so Fukang Agricultural Machinery’s cotton harvesters can only find the Chinese market.

"It has to be sold domestically!" Li Weidong pondered for a moment and then asked: "If we produce a larger quantity, can we reduce the selling price to less than 1 million?"

Yue Ping'an made some calculations in his mind, and then nodded with certainty: "Yes. If it is mass-produced, the cost of various parts will be reduced. Even if we sell 1 million units, we can still make a good profit."

"How much profit can there be?" Li Weidong asked again.

"Conservative estimate, less than 40%." Yue Ping An said.

"This profit margin is quite large." Li Weidong continued: "Calculated this way, John Deere is really bad. Selling a cotton harvester will make three or four times the profit."

"It can't be calculated that way. After all, the production cost in the United States is high, especially in terms of labor, which is dozens of times higher than ours." Yue Ping'an replied.

The profit of the domestic agricultural machinery industry is an uncertain figure.

Because there are domestic agricultural machinery subsidies, different types of agricultural machinery have different subsidy amounts. Even for the same agricultural machinery product, the annual agricultural machinery subsidy amount is different.

In addition, agricultural machinery subsidy policies vary from place to place, so it is impossible to give an accurate figure as to what the gross profit margin of the agricultural machinery industry is.

The profits of foreign agricultural machinery companies are roughly divided into three parts. The first is direct sales of equipment. This part of the business has a gross profit margin of about 10%.

The second is subsequent service income. The gross profit margin of this part is as high as 30%, and the gross profit margin of spare parts services is as high as 60%;

The third part is equipment rental income, including providing drivers and simply leasing equipment, with a gross profit margin of about 20%.

Domestic labor costs are cheap, and there are agricultural machinery stations, so the company's follow-up service income is almost negligible, and it only makes money from selling equipment.

In the machinery manufacturing industry, a gross profit margin of 30% is considered a relatively healthy figure.

For example, the gross profit margins of later Sany Heavy Industry, concrete machinery, excavators and cranes and other major products are all around 30%. The gross profit margins of piling machinery can reach more than 40%, while the gross profit margins of high-end products are almost non-existent.

Basically, they are sold at several times the cost price.

Calculated according to this ratio, as a new product, the cotton harvester has a gross profit margin of 40%, which is already a fire sale price.

After all, the domestic market is still not rich. In order to sell the products, Li Weidong can only reluctantly accept a gross profit margin of 40%.

After thinking for a moment, Li Weidong said: "Then we will set a small goal and sell a hundred units first!"

"The key is who to sell it to!" Yue Pangan sighed, and then said: "Is this goal too ambitious? One million yuan, where are we going to find a hundred rip offs!"

Li Weidong smiled slightly: "The most valuable thing about being taken advantage of is precision rather than quantity. We must pay attention to the quality of the taken advantage of, not the quantity. As long as the quality is good enough, one taken advantage of is enough."

Yue Ping An blinked his eyes in confusion, and thought to himself, from what you said, are you planning to target a certain person and trick him into death?

Li Weidong ignored Yue Ping'an's puzzled eyes. He turned to look at Ni Guilin and said, "Dr. Ni, this cotton harvester project is considered a success. I wonder what your plans are next?"

Ni Guilin was slightly stunned, with a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

The cotton harvester project is a cooperation project between Li Weidong and the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute. For this project, Fukangni Agricultural Machinery Company has set up a temporary postdoctoral workstation.

Now that the project is completed, Ni Guilin should also return to the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute. After all, his human relations are still with the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute.

But now that Ni Guilin is asked to return to the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, he feels unwilling to do so.

The cotton harvester is a project hosted by Ni Guilin. Ni Guilin has put a lot of effort into it. Now that the project has finally succeeded, but when it is time to harvest the fruits, he is asked to leave. Ni Guilin must not feel happy.

This is probably like a pig that was finally fattened and was taken away by someone else without paying.

More importantly, Fukang Agricultural Machinery has just carried out reforms and introduced an equity incentive plan, and the R&D team can receive 20% dividends.

Ni Guilin heard clearly the conversation between Li Weidong and Yue An'an just now. A cotton harvester sold for 1 million can have a gross profit margin of 40%, which is a net profit of 40W.

Two components are given to the R&D team, which is 80,000 yuan. If 100 units are sold as Li Weidong said, the R&D team will receive a dividend of 8 million yuan.

As the developer of the cotton harvester, Ni Guilin should not be exaggerated to receive 1.8 million from it!

How can you not be moved when you see such a huge dividend? If you leave at this time, wouldn’t you lose your share of the dividend?

After studying hard for twenty years, I finally got a doctorate. Isn’t it just to have a better life after becoming famous?

Nowadays, there is an opportunity to make a million. If you give up, how can you live up to the books you read before? How can you live up to the glasses on your nose?

Li Weidong seemed to see Ni Guilin's hesitation, and he immediately said: "Dr. Ni, if you don't mind it, why not just come to our Fukang Agricultural Machinery? Our technical team is in need of a talented person like you to lead. And the cotton harvester

We will also need you for subsequent improvements."

"Technical team leader? Doesn't that get the biggest dividend?"

The next second, Ni Guilin nodded hurriedly, as if he was afraid that Li Weidong would regret it.

The update is delivered today. Thank you to all the parents for subscribing. Please ask for a guaranteed monthly pass. Thank you for passing the test!