The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Automotive central control system? We can also do it. It's not difficult. The real problem is that there must be something that can attract the technology of automobile OEMs. Otherwise, we will not be able to compete with those suppliers that have stable supply. " Lei Shengli said.

"Yes, so we also need to have more attractive places." Chen Zhiwen said: "For example, the current liquid crystal technology can already make liquid crystal tablets the size of a palm. If the liquid crystal technology becomes more mature in a few years, it will be able to To make a larger liquid crystal, can such a liquid crystal be placed on the car's central control or dashboard?

In this way, the LCD screen can display many things, such as speed per hour, temperature inside and outside the car, car failure alarm, gasoline level, and even replace many existing mechanical display mechanisms. To be more exaggerated, if the memory technology is high enough, we can also You can put a map in it. With the development of semiconductors, the development potential of this field will definitely be very large. "

"LCD screen? This is really unbelievable. We have LCD screens in Midea, and I drive every day, but I have never thought about this problem." Lei Shengli said in surprise, even Zhou Jiayang, who was on the side, felt that the boss These few words immediately made him feel that even cars have a lot of room for improvement.

"The LCD screen is just a carrier. The real core is the integrated circuit and software behind it. How to integrate these together requires in-depth research. At that time, we can also do research and development in this direction." Chen Zhiwen said.

The use of LCD screens in automobiles first appeared in the late 1980s, and began to be widely used by various automobile factories in the 1990s, but this did not include domestic. Under the environment at that time, the technology of domestic fuel vehicles has been several generations behind that of foreign countries. .

Now it is the early 1980s, and it will take a few years before LCD technology can be used in cars. However, this is not because such an LCD screen cannot be manufactured, but because the cost is too high, so it is no problem to find such a screen. , It will take several years to develop such a central control, which happens to be in line with the iteration time of liquid crystal technology.

The research and development of the automobile industry takes much longer than that of consumer electronics. At the same time, even if the research is completed, it still needs to pass various extreme performance tests, and then it needs to be tested simultaneously according to the new car research and development of the automobile factory. After tossing, it will not take ten years It also takes six or seven years.

"Developing the control system of this kind of body electronic components can solve technical problems, but in the automotive industry, the auto factory has to control everything. The general logic is that the auto factory issues design orders, and then other parts companies execute them. We try to It’s easy to upgrade the air conditioner, it’s just a part, but the central control system involves many parts from other companies, which requires the cooperation of the car factory.” Lei Shengli said.

"So we have AMC. As long as you develop it here, AMC will cooperate, and this is also an opportunity for AMC." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Developing new technologies is the most difficult step, even if you can convince a car factory to use your new gadgets, this is a bit difficult for many innovative parts companies, but I have AMC, and I may acquire some European companies in the future. The car company of the United States, wait for Midea's successful research and development, and match it with new models. As long as it succeeds, it will gain a firm foothold.

Anyway, in terms of direction, there is no right or wrong direction to develop on the LCD central control screen and instrument panel. The only problem is quality and technology. Therefore, this is also an opportunity for AMC.

In terms of traditional technology, Chen Zhiwen asked AMC to focus on the research and development of turbocharging technology, and strive to be able to make achievements in this field. In this way, not only will his own car be fuel-efficient and powerful, and it can barely compete with Japanese cars. Sell ​​turbines or related patents to other companies.

But on the car, there are many technologies, and it may not be able to stand firmly by relying on a single turbo technology. Therefore, the gradual electronicization is another opportunity for AMC.

Although they are all enjoyment-type configurations, many modern car users in areas with good economy adopt this set. When everyone’s other technologies are similar, if the comfort level is done well, the market is also very large. For example, several Ten years later, the "ideal car" will not be engaged in high-tech, but will be intelligent to improve the comfort to the extreme. In fact, BBA's technology does not need to be much stronger than GM Toyota, just because the product positioning is high-end.

This point is the opposite of that in China. In China, you only need to be able to drive, not to mention enjoyment, even if the car creaks while driving. As long as it is not broken, or the noise is too loud, otherwise there will be no problems. However, if it is placed in Europe, America, Japan and other regions, complaints can be made if the car makes a strange noise when the door is opened.

Therefore, in the future research on automotive technology, the domestic pursuit of practicality, and the pursuit of comfort abroad, and when the domestic economy is strong in the future, overseas comfort configurations will be introduced.

"That's also very good. With the cooperation of an automobile factory, it will be much more convenient for us to study various technologies." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"In addition to the enjoyment configuration, there are also some safety electronic technologies. Midea can also try to develop them, but this aspect is very difficult. I suggest starting with simple technologies, such as the most basic and practical reversing radar technology. That is to say, we can install a radar sensor at the rear of the car. When reversing, the radar can sense people or objects within a certain range behind, and then it can send an alarm on the center console. How about this?" Chen Zhiwen added said with a smile.

As a traveler, a very common car function he has seen in later generations may be a groundbreaking function in this era, which can be regarded as the current advantage. It is unlikely that he can achieve any achievements in the traditional three major fields. But no one has these places, so I have a chance.

"It shouldn't be of much use, right? When we reverse the car, basically looking in the rearview mirror is enough." Zhou Jiayang said.

"That's because you are all experienced drivers. Many novice drivers are very cautious, and reversing is also very difficult. Besides, even if you are an experienced driver, you can guarantee that you can see everything. Cars have dead spots. Won’t the car reverse and hit something? There is an electronic function monitoring, which can at least reduce possible problems with a high probability. Even, if the radar is advanced enough, it can accurately measure the distance between the rear of the car and the obstacles behind it, and then tell the driver. "Chen Zhiwen said.

"Looking at it this way, there is indeed a big market, but the problem is, we don't have much experience with sensors, do we? Especially ultrasonic sensors are needed for distance measurement. Should we also acquire overseas companies in this regard?" Lei Shengli asked. .

"Basically, there are novices in this field. Even if there are, they are cutting-edge industrial companies. It is difficult to acquire them. However, you can try to cooperate with domestic companies. Radar technology itself is the key research object of various countries. Although their radar It is very different from the radar needed by cars, but it is the same thing. We can entrust a domestic expert team to develop it, or develop it together, and build a laboratory in a large domestic city for research and development. After we have achieved results, we can try to install it. Take a look on the car." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

"This is indeed a method. Although these technologies are not involved in China, the principle is the same. It is much easier to let them develop than our own." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"With Hong Kong's small population, the industrial foundation is not good enough, and we will not be able to build a research and development base in the future. For the manufacturing industry, we still need to rely on talents from the mainland, whether it is home appliances, consumer electronics, or automobile-related technologies. , try to use domestic talents to develop the technology we need, we just need to control the capital investment and the direction of research and development." Chen Zhiwen said.

With a population of one billion in China, there are actually a lot of relevant technical talents, especially professors in many universities. It’s just because the technical foundation is a bit poor, but the advantages in numbers, after screening, are enough to meet the needs of Midea in several fields. In addition, a large number of college students will enter the society in the next few years. Although most of them will enter state-owned enterprises or government departments, but in today's era, as long as foreign exchange clears the way, many people can still be recruited, not to mention the deep sea of ​​investment. A university of science and technology is already under construction.

"Understood." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"That's all for now. In fact, there are still some automotive technologies, but they are relatively complicated. We should at least prepare a large number of R\u0026D teams. After some of these technologies are successful, we will develop other ones. After all, our Energy is limited." Chen Zhiwen continued.

The 1980s was actually the fundamental era for the development of various electronic technologies for automobiles. In this decade, many automobile OEMs and large auto parts companies have actually studied the foundations of many technologies, such as turbocharging technology, body stability system ESP, high-speed Performance automatic transmission, ABS, EDB, navigation, LCD central control, multi-function central control, full-range airbags and air curtains, head-up display, etc.

Here, some fields have the opportunity to enter the market. Therefore, Midea needs to invest in these aspects, but any technology in it needs to invest a lot of money and resources from inception to maturity. Although Midea is not short of money, but It is also impossible to conduct multi-faceted research and development at the same time, so Chen Zhiwen first chooses some high-possibility ones to break through.

When the team is established, there are some achievements, and the research and development has a certain basic ability, and then develop more advanced technologies. For example, if the reversing radar is successfully developed, then you can try the front vehicle radar based on this basis, and contribute to active safety. Into the field of aspects.

However, there are also some parts that he is unlikely to intervene, such as the body stabilization system ESP. Of course, he knows how profitable this technology will be in the future. The car price is charged as a percentage. It’s just this system, although Bosch has not yet launched it, but Chen Zhiwen already knows that they are already developing it, and it is impossible for him to keep up with it. Besides, this technology does not have a large research and development foundation, a large number of professional high-tech talent teams, and enough It is impossible to develop experience successfully, and Midea does not have such conditions at all.

"Okay, then, like Hutchison, I will directly set up a large-scale automobile research laboratory in Yanjing City, and hire various high-tech talents from the mainland and overseas talents. The joint venture between AMC and China is also in Yanjing , it's much more convenient to cooperate." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"It is possible in Yanjing, but it is also needed in other places, such as Shanghai. There are also many talents there, and they must be utilized. In the future, my budget for Midea, our research on automotive electronic components, will exceed hundreds of millions of dollars every year. As long as you can produce better results, I can invest more money." Chen Zhiwen said again.

Now Midea has gained a very solid position in the consumer electronics market. In the game market alone, it is estimated that its annual net profit will not be less than 1 billion US dollars. In the past, Atari also had this figure, but now Midea has achieved even higher achievements. In the future, when personal computers start to explode, the computer game market and computer software market will have huge returns. Not to mention, he still has the opportunity to invest in the future technology giants of the United States. These giants, in the 1990s, Which one is based on tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars as the market value unit.

When the electronic product market has already achieved success, a normal company should not be satisfied with the existing success. It is also necessary to enter new fields. For example, after the success of the Apple Company in the mobile phone market, it also wants to enter In the field of electric vehicles, however, pedantic thinking has led to a complete failure. If Apple invested in building a factory in 2013 instead of blindly trying to copy the mobile phone OEM model, then after 20 years, perhaps the world In the automotive market, Apple may still have a little chance.

Making cars is Chen Zhiwen's goal, but relying on AMC or acquiring some other brands in the future will not achieve much at all. To expand the automotive field, it is necessary to deeply cultivate technology. After more than ten years or even decades of research and development, the company's cars can compete with big brands in many aspects. Only in this way can it be regarded as a real success.

The long-term income in the electronics field can just become the funds for research and development in the automotive field. The country can provide a large number of talents and a market that can continue to try. As long as the previous steps are successful, it is only in the auto parts industry that you can get rewards , In this way, the entire business itself can form a cycle, and finally feed the terminal automobile market.