The Industrial Giant Reborn

Another major business of Midea is air conditioners and refrigerators, but in fact, they are similar to radios. They are all assembled goods, and they have almost no technology of their own. Even the fans are not as good. The current motors of fans are still produced by themselves.

The core of an air-conditioning refrigerator is naturally a compressor, but this thing is not low in technology, not to mention making it yourself, and even the inner working principle, it is estimated that few people in Hong Kong understand it.

Chen Zhiwen's current main business strategy for white goods is to build his own brand. Even if the main profit is taken away by suppliers of these major components, as long as there is a market and brand awareness, there will be many opportunities in the future. Like automobile brands, they are assembled first, and then slowly develop their own technical reserves.

Hong Kong is a place where you can enjoy the simplest industrial products such as clothing, simple electrical appliances, and electronics, but if it is complicated, there is really no such market. Chen Zhiwen hopes that after the reform of the mainland, he can go to the mainland for research.

Although the current per capita education in the mainland is far inferior to that of Hong Kong, the base is too large and there are still many internal talents. The only disadvantage is that it may be out of touch with the international community, but many industries in China should also need compressors. Talents and technologies in this area There must be reserves. When the time comes, I can communicate with myself as an intermediate bridge. I can not only improve domestic technology in this area, but also reduce my own costs and increase technical patents. Lose a little, just win the market.

After experiencing Midea's air conditioner, Chen Zhiwen still felt that the noise was relatively loud. The air conditioner was always on and off. Although the interior of the room was not hot and cold, it was indeed uncomfortable.

"The compressor of this air conditioner doesn't have a low-power working mode?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Yes, there are two working modes. When the temperature difference is large, it will run at full load. When the temperature is close to the set value, it will reduce the load. The latter has only half the energy consumption of the former." Lei Shengli explained.

"But it always stops frequently, and it will be very noisy when it starts and stops like this." Chen Zhiwen said, it's just a little noisy, but it's nothing to worry about, just get used to it. Customers in the Middle East are used to it. I'm not used to it.

It’s okay if it’s noisy all the time, but if it stops suddenly after a while, it’s easy to attract people’s attention, just like you might fall asleep while watching TV, but if the sound suddenly disappears, you’ll wake up easily .

"Chen Sheng, all air conditioners are like this. A good air conditioner compressor is better, and it is very quiet. We can buy it, but the price is different." Lei Shengli explained.

Everyone knows that good products can be assembled by buying good parts, but the popularity of the brand is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In a mature market, it is not easy for new brands to survive, but it is basically impossible to take the high-end route. , no one will recognize that even if there is no shortage of money in the initial stage, it is impossible to compete with so many mature industrial chains in cost, the cost of procurement will be higher, and there is no possibility of any market.

Only those low-end markets abandoned by industry giants, or untapped markets, have a little chance. Midea obtained the first order by relying on the just-broken Middle East market, which can be regarded as a firm foothold in the Middle East, but It is only taking the civilian route, no matter it is technology or brand, there is no way to compare with traditional giants.

"I'm not talking about the noise of the compressor, but the problem of turning on and off for a while." Chen Zhiwen paused and said, "Have you ever heard of frequency conversion control technology?"

"Frequency conversion control? Chen Sheng is talking about frequency conversion motors?" Lei Shengli said without a moment's pause.

"It's good if you've heard of it, then do you think the frequency conversion technology can be put on the air conditioner?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said: "We can monitor the temperature of the room, and then use the feedback data from the temperature sensor to control the speed of the compressor. , when the temperature difference is large, it runs like the current air conditioner. When the temperature is close to the set temperature, the compressor runs at low power, which can not only stabilize the temperature of the room, but also reduce noise and save electricity. The most energy-hungry."

"Chen Sheng, this idea seems to be a pity in theory, but it is very difficult. We need chips to calculate data. The price of chips is very high, and what level of chips we need can only be known after research and development. In addition, the control technology of variable frequency motors is also very difficult. Controlled by several European and American companies, whether it can be used in compressors requires research to know, and these research and development require a lot of time and money." Lei Shengli said after thinking for a while.

"Funding is not a problem, nor is time. In fact, according to Moore's Law, the computing power of a chip can be doubled every year and a half, so after a few years, the price of the chip will be much lower than it is now, and the software in the chip will not be used. I’m worried, I can find a company in Silicon Valley to write about it, as for variable frequency motor technology, we don’t need to develop it ourselves, we can just buy the finished product, but for the combination of compressor and variable frequency motor, you have to work hard to develop it.” Chen Zhiwen paused Said.

With the current level of Midea, let alone research and development, even if you buy a finished air conditioner and dismantle it, you may not be able to score 60 points. Therefore, even if you have the idea of ​​​​developing an inverter air conditioner, it is impossible to do it yourself. The core Things can only be purchased.

As long as you develop this innovative product first, you can hit the high-end market. In a mature industry, only innovation can have the opportunity to enter the high-end market, similar to the electric vehicles of later generations changing lanes and overtaking fuel vehicles.

Of course, eliminating feature phones from smartphones is like turning the tables. Unfortunately, in the home appliance market, there are basically no subversive innovations except for LCD screens that eliminate picture tubes.

And this kind of innovation is actually very easy to be directly copied by traditional giants, but it is such a time difference. If you can make a little fame, you can get a little fame. If you can get some market, you will get some market. Midea is the first company in the world to invent an inverter air conditioner, and this is a very compelling statement.

Although this invention is just an idea, it has no core technology and can only rely on various suppliers.

"That's okay. If it's like this, our cost will be very high, and we will be caught by the supplier." Lei Shengli nodded and said, the previous ordinary air conditioners, although Midea didn't have much technology, the core components were all purchased , but because the market is mature, there are many manufacturers of this kind of parts, and many parts have been standardized, but if you come up with a new thing by yourself and have to rely on only a few suppliers, you will be completely under control.

"It doesn't matter. Without technology, we can only do this. What matters to us now is the market. With the market and funds, we can make up for these shortcomings in turn." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

If you don’t have technology, you will definitely be deflated. If you have technology, you will be awesome. Even powerful car factories like Volkswagen and Toyota sometimes have to be led by the nose by parts suppliers like Bosch and Magna. However, in markets such as European and American home appliances, users don't really recognize low-end products, so they can only bite the bullet and go on.

Some of Chen Zhiwen's advantages can provide the company with sufficient funds and certain sales channels. This is the only advantage at present, so we must make good use of it and develop it first. Even if we rely on strong suppliers, when we grow in size, we will naturally Have the ability to develop their own technology.

The development path of most traditional companies is like this. So many domestic automobile companies in the future will first rely on various suppliers and various foreign monopoly technologies. Come here to clean up or replace those once arrogant suppliers, and you will also invest in research and development, forming a virtuous circle.