Chapter 452: Huge Surprise, Big Order

The winter in Shenzhen is not cold at all.

After finishing the 5AT issue, Jiang Hui has been busy at Nanshan Engine to make a sprint for the final bottleneck of the V8 engine.

As a result, a new situation arose at Nanshan Transmission.

“Are you saying that a company in America suddenly signed an order with us to purchase 1 5ATs?”

“You want the shipment to be ready this month?”

Jiang Hui looked at Ji Hua in surprise.

During this period, major automobile giants have basically been in contact with Nanshan Transmission regarding the supply of 5AT.

But no matter which company it is, they will basically start mass production and installation next year, or even the year after.

Now suddenly a customer appears and wants to ship the goods this month, Jiang Hui is of course very surprised.

“Yes, you should still remember the Pep Boys who collaborated with us on Bellows, right?”

“This time the order was placed by them for us.”

After Ji Hua said this, Jiang Hui immediately understood what was going on.

Pep Boys is a famous American auto parts sales chain.

The parts they purchased have two main uses.

One is to provide after-sales parts to American consumers, and the other is to provide parts for modified vehicles.

Obviously, only BMW Group has started to use 5AT in mass-produced cars, and the after-sales demand can be basically ignored.

That can only be the demand for modified cars.

America, Europe and Japan are the three largest modified car market regions in the world.

The other party ordered 1 5AT automatic transmissions at one time, which is definitely a big deal.

You should know that the price of 5AT automatic transmission is not cheap, and only a very small number of vehicles on the market are equipped with it.

“It seems that American consumers’ recognition of our 5AT automatic transmission is higher than we thought.”

“Those who like to modify their own vehicles probably see new opportunities.”

American workers of this era enjoy very good welfare benefits of all kinds.

The polar bear, its opponent, has not yet fallen. In order to demonstrate the superiority of its own system, America has done very well in terms of various welfare benefits.

On the contrary, after the fall of the polar bear, things have gone downhill in this regard.

Even so, the conditions in all aspects are very favorable.

On the contrary, the treatment of many workers in Chinese enterprises in later generations still needs to be further improved.

The boss paid the employee some salary, as if he was hiring a servant.

I want others to do everything for me, and it would be best if I could work every day without rest and be available at any time.

“Yes, the performance of our 5AT is much better than the traditional 4AT.”

“The US auto market has a very high number of cars, with a conservative estimate of nearly 100 million cars.”

“1 5ATs are nothing compared to this huge number of vehicles in the market.”

“I estimate that if it develops well, this market will be able to contribute hundreds of thousands or even millions of 5AT units to us every year.”

Due to the high labor costs, American consumers are generally accustomed to repairing their cars themselves if there is a minor problem with the car.

Under this kind of atmosphere, naturally a group of consumers who have a true love for cars were cultivated.

They have an extraordinary interest in tinkering with their cars.

Some people are not actually short of money, but they like to buy an ordinary-looking car, and then make it look very cool after various modifications.

This change makes them feel a sense of accomplishment.

Or maybe some cars are obviously old cars, but they don’t want to be eliminated.

Instead, various modifications were made to allow the car to keep up with the times.

In fact, the cost of modifying such a car may be higher than buying a new economy car.

But people are happy to do so.

Money can’t buy happiness.

That’s probably what it means.

“If America has such a demand, then the situation in Europe and Japan should be similar.”

“The modification markets in these two regions are also very developed. You can go and confirm them in a targeted manner.”

“Maybe it will bring us an unexpected surprise at that time.”

At present, the production capacity of Nanshan Transmission has not been fully utilized. It will have to wait until the 5AT model routes of various customers are mass-produced next year before full production capacity can be achieved.

At this time, it would be absolutely meaningful for Nanshan Transmission if it could make a breakthrough in the modification market.

Even this kind of thing, after becoming famous in the modification market, can in turn affect the sales of 5AT models.

After all, consumers who modify their cars to have 5AT gearboxes are true fans of the car.

These people can definitely influence a group of people around them.

Especially if the experience after modification is very good, it will be more obvious.

Jiang Hui is still very confident in the performance of his own 5AT.

If other things are inconvenient, simply modifying the gearbox will definitely make the gearbox shifting smoother.

Then the fuel consumption dropped significantly.

The more you like cars, the more you can feel these subtle changes.

“I understand. When I confirmed the order from America, I arranged for people to contact companies related to the modified car market in Japan and Europe.”

“Nanshan Technology has already cooperated with these companies, so it won’t be that difficult for us to continue communicating about 5AT.”

“Although it is unlikely to get an order of 1 units at one time, if we add up the two major regions of Europe and Japan, I think the potential sales volume will not be much less than that of the United States.”

Ji Hua is now a mature manager.

Jiang Hui didn’t need to make specific arrangements for many things, as he had already started dealing with them in advance.

This is the benefit of having talented people at your disposal.

Otherwise, you have to consider and arrange everything by yourself.

If you don’t make arrangements, the people below will just stand still and not know what to do.

Jiang Hui would be exhausted to death.

Don’t be too busy at work and end up being exhausted when you’re not at home at night. That would be totally not worth it.

“You can actively participate in some parts exhibitions around the world.”

“Then we can also cooperate with some classic car magazines and ask them to conduct reviews of 5AT models.”

“This is the most cutting-edge application in the field of gearboxes and should attract the attention of many readers.”

“We provide some cooperation, and they publish articles to increase magazine sales.”

“It should be a win-win situation.”

The aroma of wine is also afraid of the deep alley.

Nanshan Transmission’s 5AT is definitely the most classic 5AT automatic transmission in history.

Whether it is the 5AT products launched by ZF, Aisin, BorgWarner or Jatco, their comprehensive performance cannot be compared with this product from Nanshan Transmission.

Such a classic product naturally needs to maximize its value.

At this time, it is very necessary to find professional media to cooperate with.

The automotive industry is a highly professional field. If you advertise in traditional large newspapers, the advertising fees will be very high, but the results will be very average.

Consumers who want to buy a car are generally more willing to read information in professional magazines.

Just like consumers in later generations buying cars, people are more willing to read the evaluation and introduction of various vehicles on professional media such as Autohome or Dochedi.

Instead of looking for relevant advertising materials in various major newspapers.

Or go to mainstream portals to read automotive news.

This is a characteristic of the industry.

“It is indeed a very good direction to cooperate with various professional automobile magazines.”

“I’ll make some arrangements later to see if we can work together with Land Rover.”

This type of evaluation work is often carried out in conjunction with the performance of the entire vehicle.

Therefore, the effect will be better if Land Rover takes the lead rather than Nanshan Transmission.

For automobile magazines, the style of cooperation with OEMs is higher than that with parts manufacturers.

“Sure. Land Rover is currently focusing on the European market, and there are quite a few professional magazines there.”

“Many magazines have a global influence.”

Just propose a specific direction for efforts.

The rest is left to the people below to do.

So Jiang Hui didn’t say anything more on this topic.

Nanshan Transmission naturally increased the production plan of 5AT based on the situation of these orders.

……

“Boss, I got news from Nanshan Transmission that in addition to selling their 5AT automatic transmissions to several automobile factories of the group, they will also start exporting them to the American market on a large scale starting this month.”

“The first batch of orders is for 1 units, and we expect to receive orders of more than 1 units from Japan and Europe in the future.”

“According to this situation, their production capacity will basically increase rapidly to a relatively high load state starting this month.”

Yao Yiming had attended the mass production ceremony of Nanshan Transmission 5AT with Liu Tianwu, and knew that various ministries and leaders attached great importance to this product.

However, according to what he had learned before, Nanshan Transmission’s 5AT automatic transmission basically did not receive large-scale orders from other customers in the first six months of mass production.

Although this situation will change next year, some leaders are still a little worried.

Now, this worry can go away.

“Doesn’t it take at least half a year for the OEM to confirm the performance of the 5AT and conduct compatibility verification?”

“How come we received a large-scale export order so quickly?”

Liu Tianwu also made a special understanding of the situation of Nanshan gearbox.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten to the point right away.

“Yes, that’s true for the orders from the OEMs.”

“However, the order received by Nanshan Transmission this time was not from OEMs such as General Motors or Ford.”

“It was provided by some spare parts sales chains in the market.”

“Several chain auto parts companies in the United States have a huge influence in various states.”

“Many American consumers like to buy auto parts from these stores and then repair or modify them themselves.”

“This situation is a little different from our country.”

Before reporting to Liu Tianwu, Yao Yiming naturally made some special confirmations.

When a secretary reports to a boss, he or she will think about what questions the boss will ask in advance, and then think about how to answer them appropriately.

If I find that I can’t answer the question, I will do some confirmation in advance.

So in fact, it is not that easy to be an excellent professional secretary.

She’s not a personal boss’s secretary, so just being pretty is enough.

“Then this is a pleasant surprise.”

“Nanshan Transmission’s 5AT automatic transmissions can be recognized by these chain companies, so their performance is very excellent.”

Although Liu Tianwu had also heard about the relevant introduction made by the people from Nanshan Transmission, explaining how excellent their 5AT is.

However, the persuasiveness of a company’s own explanation is completely different from that of outsiders’ recognition.

After all, what I say contains some self-boasting elements to a certain extent.

But market behavior is different.

If you are good, you are good; if you are bad, you are bad.

It is simply impossible to get people to pay for bad products.

“Yes, some workers who were still in training at Nanshan Transmission will start working immediately.”

“Otherwise, the production pace won’t keep up, and we won’t be able to deliver on time.”

“Today, the number of employees of the entire BMW Group has exceeded 7, making it the largest employer in Lingnan Province.”

“This is because many of their factories have a high degree of automation. Otherwise, the scale would probably exceed 10 people.”

“And they outsourced some labor-intensive parts to other factories.”

“For example, the production of wiring harnesses requires a lot of manpower.”

“A manufacturer in Guangzhou that supplies wiring harnesses to BMW Group now has more than 5000 employees, and it is said that the number will soon exceed 1.”

When Yao Yiming said this, he became very excited.

The bigger the BMW Group becomes, the better the economic development in Shenzhen will be.

Behind these 7 employees are nearly 7 high-income families.

If the entire industrial chain is included, there will be hundreds of thousands of high-income families.

The impact on the entire city of Shenzhen is enormous.

Nowadays, various catering and service industries are very developed around the automobile industrial park.

Shenzhen has made almost no effort in this regard, and it is entirely a result of the spontaneous development of the market.

“The primary schools, junior high schools, high schools and hospitals in the automobile industrial park must be well built.”

“If it’s not enough, then expand the scale in time.”

“Road conditions also need to be paid attention to in a timely manner. If there is traffic congestion, we need to find ways to expand the road or think of other ways to deal with it.”

“In short, we want to make the BMW Group feel deeply attached to Shenzhen and make them realize that Shenzhen’s advantages in all aspects far exceed those of other cities.”

Liu Tianwu knew that the time for BMW Group to develop in other places was definitely getting closer.

Shenzhen can’t always have everything to itself.

But as the person in charge of the economy in Shenzhen, he definitely hopes that this time will come as late as possible.

……

“Mr. Jiang, this is the second phase expansion plan for the special steel plant of our Nanshan Steel Plant,”

“With the large number of orders from Nanshan Transmission, the demand for special steels such as bearing steel and gear steel will increase sharply in the future.”

“The increase in Land Rover sales has also led to an increase in the use of steel in various parts such as chassis and engines.”

“At the current pace, our production capacity is totally insufficient.”

As the general manager of Nanshan Iron and Steel Plant, Wu Ming has naturally not been idle during this period.

On the one hand, BMW Group began to import more steel from the polar bear.

So which steels can be directly replaced with existing ones, and which steels need secondary processing.

This requires various tests to confirm.

Although these tasks may not sound simple, they are actually very time-consuming.

Especially for some tests like corrosion resistance test, there is no shortcut.

“No problem, but when it comes to production capacity arrangements related to special steel, we must focus not only on output but also on quality.”

“Low-end steel is not that scarce in China.”

“Especially after Baosteel started mass production of various steel products, domestic steel production capacity was basically sufficient.”

“Only when the economy is hot at a certain stage will a certain tension arise.”

Throughout the 1980s, judging from steel production alone, China’s production capacity was basically sufficient.

What is not enough is high-end steel.

Jiang Hui has a special say on this point.

“We also took this aspect into comprehensive consideration during planning.”

“Various bearing steels, gear steels, die steels, spring steels and hot-formed steel plates are our key development areas.”

“After giving priority to improving the types, quality and production capacity of these steel grades, we will further consider other high-strength steel plates.”

Wu Ming is quite familiar with the working style of his brother-in-law Jiang Hui.

Therefore, all aspects of work arrangements will take Jiang Hui’s preferences into full consideration.

This is a phenomenon that exists within every company.

The people below should try to figure out what their superiors are thinking and then carry out their work accordingly.

This is the only way to reap the greatest benefits.

Otherwise, if the direction of your efforts is not consistent with the direction your leader hopes for, even if you work very hard, you may not gain anything.

Even if your efforts are in the wrong direction, the harder you work, the less you may gain.

“In addition to increasing production capacity, we must also increase investment in the research of a new generation of special steel.”

“In fact, many scientific research institutes in China have carried out theoretical work in this area.”

“We can fully communicate with them, try out some meaningful things, and finally implement them into products.”

The scientific research work of domestic universities is seriously out of touch with the actual situation of the industry.

However, there are still some merits in some theoretical research work.

Especially for basic industries such as the steel industry, the development has been relatively fast in the past few decades.

There are a large number of relevant practitioners, and you can always find some objects or projects worth cooperating with.

“We have already started work in this area. Several universities, including South China University of Technology and Central South University, have project cooperation with us.”

“We also promptly follow the research and development of various internationally advanced special steels and try to keep up with the pace.”

“For example, in terms of ultra-high-strength steel plates for car bodies, we will continue to focus on hot stamping steel plates.”

“Dual-phase steels and twinning-induced plasticity steels are also being studied.”

“It is estimated that it won’t take long before we can make some breakthroughs in these areas.”

“When the time comes, these high-strength steel plates will be used in combination with hot stamping steel plates to further improve the strength and rigidity of the car body.”

Wu Ming quickly explained the situation at Nanshan Iron and Steel Plant to Jiang Hui.

Even though they are brothers-in-law, they don’t have much time or opportunities to communicate directly about work in the company.

Jiang Hui is too busy.

The BMW Group is now a large and powerful company with a lot of things to deal with every day.

Jiang Hui also has to participate in the research and development of many projects to the greatest extent possible.

As a result, time naturally becomes more tight.

“Just make your own arrangements.”

“Be bolder and do bigger moves!”

Jiang Hui knew that Wu Ming had some concerns and pressure in his work, so he let him relax appropriately.

This is the only way to maximize your potential.

By then, Nanshan Iron and Steel Plant will become the largest special steel plant in the country.

……

“Chief Engineer Cheng, I heard a piece of news.”

“The Nanshan Iron and Steel Plant has officially started the construction of the second phase of the project.”

“And the scale of their second phase project is much larger than the first phase.”

As Wu Ming’s former boss, Li Dagang is very concerned about the developments at Nanshan Iron and Steel Plant.

He was very afraid that the Nanshan Steel Plant would develop too well.

That would make him lose face.

“I remember the production capacity of their first phase factory is 20 tons, right?”

“Is it running out of capacity so soon?”

Cheng Jianqiang asked with a frown.

If it is an ordinary steel plant, a scale of 20 tons is totally not enough and can only be regarded as a small-scale steel enterprise.

You should know that the production capacity of many steel mills is measured in millions of tons, and even in later generations it is measured in tens of millions of tons.

But the situation is different in special steel mills.

Since the products produced are high-end special steels, the production capacity is generally much smaller.

A production capacity of 20 tons is not small.

Now we have to expand production so quickly.

No wonder Cheng Jianqiang felt strange.

“The BMW Group is developing too fast.”

“For example, a large number of special steels are used in gearboxes, and Nanshan Transmission was the first to launch the world’s first 5AT automatic transmission.”

“Many of the world’s auto giants have cooperated with Nanshan Transmission. It is estimated that the total production capacity of all transmissions at Nanshan Transmission will soon exceed 200 million units.”

“As a result, the demand for various special steels is very huge.”

After Li Dagang’s explanation, Cheng Jianqiang understood immediately.

A gearbox weighs more than 100 kilograms and is made almost entirely of various iron products.

If it is 200 million units, that means the demand for special steel is about 30 tons.

This is just the requirement for the gearbox. The engine’s crankshaft, camshaft and other parts are also produced using special steel.

The amount of special steel used in an engine is no less than that in a gearbox.

Even if the output of Nanshan engines is not as large as that of Nanshan gearboxes, it is still an existence that cannot be ignored.

(End of this chapter)