I want to be emperor

Chapter 1068 Automobile Industry Chain

Song Erniu wanted to build a car. This news was nothing in East Asia, and not many people even cared about it.

After all, the automobile industry has been very hot in recent years. A large number of companies want to enter the automobile industry to get a share of the pie, and most of them are very large companies. In addition to the giant Lee Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., there are also Imperial Heavy Industries, Jiangnan Advanced Machinery Group Company, Yangtze Machinery Company and other very large enterprises affiliated to the Ministry of Industry.

Imperial Heavy Industries, on the surface, is an enterprise that was only established in the 1930s, but in fact it is a super-large government-run group enterprise directly under the Ministry of Industry, integrating many heavy industry enterprises, with more than 100 companies under its subsidiaries. .

Jiangnan Advanced Machinery Group Company and Yangtze River Machinery Company are also very large enterprises directly under the Ministry of Industry.

In the 1930s, the Ministry of Industry carried out large-scale reorganization of enterprises directly under the Ministry of Industry to facilitate management, avoid the loss of government assets and promote healthy competition in the market.

According to industrial classification, more than 100 directly affiliated large and super-large enterprises have been established in various industries.

At the same time, the provincial industrial departments have also carried out large-scale integration of their provincial enterprises.

In this process, many giant government-run enterprises emerged... However, the head offices of these giant government-run enterprises are not listed on the market. What are listed are their subsidiaries, so they are not familiar to the outside world. That’s just too much.

These government-run enterprises are also an important force in promoting automobile industrialization.

Some are engaged in auto parts, some are engaged in third-party automobile manufacturers, and some are engaged in the upstream equipment supply chain.

This is not a competitive advantage obtained by government-run enterprises taking advantage of their own government-run background... In fact, most government-run enterprises engaged in the auto parts industry started out as tasks assigned by the superiors.

Seven or eight years ago, Luo Zhixue said that he wanted to develop diesel locomotives... Then the big guys in the Senate gathered together and issued relevant policies.

So... as soon as they started doing this thing, the executives of Guangnan Rubber Company knew that this thing was not profitable... Even now, how many tires can be used for military vehicles with the production and sales volume, but the research and development of this kind of high-performance tires It’s not easy, it costs them a lot of money, and setting up a production line is also expensive.

In other words... when Guangnan Rubber Company started to develop this car tire, it was not because they thought that cars would have great market prospects in the future... Even if there was a market prospect, ordinary car tires could be used with current horse-drawn carriage tires. To top it off, there is no need for high-performance hollow or solid tires. In contemporary times, only military vehicles have such stringent technical requirements.

As a result, a large number of companies rushed forward.

Jiujiang Glass Company is a local provincial enterprise in Jiangxi and the largest supplier of special glass in China.

Nanyang Rubber Company, an important tire supplier of Hekou Machinery Company, is a government-owned enterprise invested by the super-large enterprise "Imperial Chemical Group Corporation" directly under the Ministry of Industry, and also invested by the industrial departments of Malacca Province and Siam Province.

From the core automobile engines and gearboxes to tires, front windshields and even many other automobile parts... they all have the identity of a government-run enterprise and basically occupy a leading position.

In the end, although Guangnan Rubber Company did not lose money in the field of high-performance tires, it actually did not make much money. The only advantage was that it obtained some technical achievements when developing high-performance military tires, and then put these technologies into practice. Finally, we selected some suitable ones and put them into ordinary tires to make our own civilian tires more competitive.

Although the core of the policy at that time was to support the research and development of gasoline engines, other spare parts research and development tasks were also gradually assigned.

Among the current four major automobile companies, the first three, namely Tangshan Machinery Company, Hekou Machinery Company, and Liaodong Machinery Company, are all government-owned enterprises.

Jiangnan Rubber, Bohai Chemical and other important domestic horse-drawn carriage and automobile tire suppliers are all government-run enterprises.

There are many similar situations. The reason why many government-run enterprises engage in the auto parts supply industry is mostly because of their mission.

Ordinary glass is easily broken when hit, and the broken fragments are very easy to injure people. However, if the speed is relatively fast, it will not work without a windshield, and without a windshield, the vehicle cannot be designed to block wind and rain... Although today's cars are basically open-top designs, some people also bring a foldable shed. When it rains, the shed can be pulled out and installed.

But this situation has changed in the past two years... With the explosion of the automobile market and the increasingly obvious huge market potential, many companies, both government-owned and private, have seen opportunities.

As the main responsible department, the Ministry of Industry doubled the number of companies under its umbrella and then assigned tasks one by one.

At the same time, there are many important suppliers in the automobile tire industry, such as Guangnan Rubber Company, which is the only company that can supply high-performance military tires. It is not only the most technologically advanced and largest tire R&D and manufacturer in China, but also a manufacturer of various rubber products. An important supplier of products... The most important thing is that this company is a listed government-owned enterprise invested and controlled by Zhujiang Investment, a subsidiary of the Guangdong Industry Department.

For example, tires. Future cars, especially military cars, will definitely be very heavy. It is normal for them to weigh several tons. The tires used in current carriages are unreliable, so we must develop a usable military car tire in advance. For any such task He was assigned to Guangnan Rubber Company, which has the most powerful technology in the rubber field.

Then we provide high-performance front glass for cars. Currently, ordinary cars use ordinary glass, but there are also some expensive high-performance civilian cars and military cars that use a kind of laminated glass.

In order to solve this problem... to be precise, for the problem of windshields in military cars, Jiujiang Glass Company has specially developed a laminated glass. A layer of transparent synthetic plastic is added between the two layers of glass to increase the toughness of the glass... Avoid The glass shattered and flew around!

For example, Hantian Machinery Company, based on the sudden explosion of the automobile industry in recent years, the huge demand for various advanced equipment, and the very strong affordability, they specially conducted research on automobile production, and then based on the characteristics of automobile production We have optimized some of our own machine tools and equipment and introduced some more targeted equipment to the market.

One thing worth mentioning is that in response to the large demand for metal joining processes in the automotive industry, they spent a lot of money to purchase a combustible gas welding technology patent from the Royal Institute of Technology, and then launched a combustible gas welding equipment. Launched, because of its low processing cost, ease of use and mobility, it has received a large number of orders from the automotive industry... Not only that, although this thing was originally designed to solve the metal connection problems encountered in automobile production, it has There are many industries that have demand for metal connections, so this kind of flammable gas welding equipment was quickly discovered and introduced by other industries.

Following the high-performance general machine tool business, Hantian Machinery Company has created another popular and profitable general machining equipment...

After all, welding equipment can be used by both large-scale automobile factories and small-scale mechanical processing factories!

However, although Hantian Machinery Company's combustible gas welding equipment was very profitable for a while, they did not have an exclusive patent on this thing. They just purchased the patent license from the Royal Institute of Technology.

When Royal Institute of Technology licenses patents to others, in order to earn more patent fees, it generally only grants non-exclusive licenses.

Of course, if you want to pay a high price, the Royal Institute of Technology will also be happy to give you an exclusive license.

The patent for combustible gas welding technology is also operated in this way... Later, Hantian Machinery Company wanted to purchase the exclusive patent, but it was not willing to pay a sky-high price. After all, the combustible gas welding technology had not been tested by the market at that time, even though it looked good. , but it cannot be easily blocked and it will definitely explode.

If it doesn't become super popular... according to the sky-high exclusive licensing fee offered by the Royal Institute of Technology, then grandma's family will definitely lose money.

After this thing really became super popular, Hantian Machinery Company came to ask for exclusive authorization. Even if it was willing to pay a sky-high price, the Royal Institute of Technology did not agree.

The patent management agency at the Royal Institute of Technology is not stupid... they are top elites and know the value of this patent better than you... so they have offered a new sky-high price.

Faced with the sky-high millions of exclusive patent licensing fees, no need to talk about it, if they really do this, Hantian Machinery Company will have to lose money to work for them!

Hantian Machinery Company could not obtain an exclusive patent, so the Royal Institute of Technology authorized the patent to more than fifty manufacturers...including Li's Machine Tool Company.

Not to mention, this company charges 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, and then attaches a limited patent sharing contract. The Royal Institute of Technology really relied on this thing to recover millions of patent licensing fees. This is why the Royal Institute of Technology is reluctant to sell exclusive patent licenses most of the time... I can obviously sell this thing to dozens or even hundreds of companies, and I can get millions of dollars back every minute, so why should I sell it to you exclusively at a low price? ?

Relying on various patent licensing fees, the Royal Institute of Technology is actually very profitable, far more profitable than ordinary people imagine... In the 49th year of Chengshun, their expected patent licensing fee income is expected to reach a huge amount of 60 million Chu Yuan... Very Horrible!

As for why it can charge so much patent fees... Royal Institute of Technology holds so many patents!

This is talking about valid patents that have not expired... There is no need to talk about those patents that have expired and are of little value.

And where did these patents come from?

There are tens of thousands of teachers and students at the Royal Institute of Technology, who do nothing every day and just think about various research and inventions... And among these tens of thousands of teachers and students, every one of them is a super genius selected from the whole country. In addition, every year If we spend tens of millions on research and development, how can we not get more research results?

Moreover, many research results are actually some basic theoretical results that cannot be patented, or even applying for a patent is of no use... For example, for things like the theory of relativity, what is the use of applying for a patent?

The Royal Institute of Technology is currently the top and largest science and technology research and development institution in the Chu Empire...

It is precisely because of the technical support of the Royal Institute of Technology that the industrial technology development of the Dachu Empire can progress so quickly.

Many technological achievements applied in the industry are actually basic theoretical research done by the Royal Institute of Technology, and then companies use it for applied research and development.

The automotive industry is no exception... Although the Royal Institute of Technology has not directly engaged in internal combustion engines before, and it seems to be lagging behind in the field of internal combustion engine technology research and development, many things in the internal combustion engine are actually inseparable from the many foundations of the Royal Institute of Technology. Theoretical research results.

If nothing else, there is no materials research at the Royal Institute of Technology. Then several domestic steel companies used these basic theoretical research results to develop steel materials with better performance. Only then can the four major automobile companies use ready-made materials to process them. Cylinders, pistons and other spare parts used in internal combustion engines.

Therefore, the explosion of the automobile industry in the Dachu Empire was ultimately due to the deep foundation laid by the Royal Institute of Technology in the past few decades.

After all, a car is not a simple mechanical device, but a comprehensive industrial consumer product, involving all aspects of the field, including materials, smelting, electronics, chemicals, precision processing, etc., and all Everything involved is top notch.

This cannot be done by one or two companies alone. What is needed is the joint efforts of the entire industry and the use of the technological achievements of the entire industrial system to finally assemble industrial consumer goods such as automobiles.

The Royal Institute of Technology is the cornerstone of the industrial system of the Chu Empire!

On this foundation, the huge and complex industrial system of the Chu Empire was developed. Using this industrial system, the four major automobile companies were able to develop gasoline engines and cars.

When it comes to third-party automobile manufacturers, they are even more inseparable from the support of the industrial system.

Except for some technically simple parts such as the car shell, almost all other parts of the car that Song Erniu is planning to build need to be purchased...

But Song Erniu discovered that even some relatively simple spare parts could not be purchased locally in America!

The local industrial base in the Americas is too weak.

There was no other way, Song Erniu could only find suppliers one by one in East Asia, and persuade some of the suppliers of spare parts to set up factories in Tacheng to produce locally to reduce costs.

However, those large parts supply companies ignored him... For example, Guangnan Rubber Company made it clear that they were very welcome to purchase tires, but they would not go to America to set up factories.

The market in the Americas is not worth it for them to go there and set up a factory. The investment in this automobile tire factory is not low... and even if they go to the Americas to set up a factory, the raw material rubber still has to be transported from Nanyang or South America.

Several other large tire companies have similar attitudes.

However, in order to obtain many preferential policies from the three provinces of North America, Song Erniu had no choice but to find a way to purchase some parts and components in the three provinces of North America.

So he took the next step and found some small and medium-sized tire manufacturers... There were many tire manufacturers in the Da Chu Empire.

In addition to the top few, there are more than a dozen medium and large tire manufacturers. After all, there are many carriages in the Dachu Empire, and the demand for carriage tires is also very large, so a large number of tire manufacturers have been spawned. Although tires from major manufacturers have some problems, it doesn't mean they can't be used...and they are cheaper.

In the end, Song Erniu reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with Xihu Rubber Company, a medium-sized tire manufacturer. The two parties signed an exclusive tire supply contract for ten years. Xihu Rubber Company promised to set up a tire factory in three provinces in North America to ensure tire supply.

The reason why the two parties were able to reach a cooperation agreement is only a small part of Song Erniu's factors. The main reason is that the West Lake Rubber Company has not been doing well in the past four or five years. The carriage tire business has been increasingly depressed by competitors, and it has spent a lot of money on research and development. For automobile tires, it has not been included in the supply chain of any of the four major automobile companies until now. It can only supply small quantities to several third-party automobile manufacturers.

Those third-party automobile manufacturers are all small and medium-sized enterprises, very small in scale.

In comparison, Song Erniu, the richest man in America, is expected to invest at least millions in a car factory. This is already the best cooperation partner they have come across so far.

West Lake Rubber Company also wants to take a share of the automotive industry that is already taking off. It cannot just watch the previous major tire companies gorge themselves on meat and remain indifferent.

Compared with the two core industries of engines and gearboxes, which are highly monopolized by the four major automobile manufacturers, the competition in the tire industry is much more intense.

In order to squeeze into the supply chain of the three major automobile manufacturers that have launched vehicle business, tire companies have shown their unique skills. Even Lee Power Company, which does not have vehicle business, is considered by the previous tire manufacturers. A battleground!

Even though a car hasn't been built yet, Lee's Power Company has already decided on two tire suppliers...one of which is Guangnan Rubber Company.

However, the life of the more than ten medium-sized rubber tire companies below is relatively difficult. They cannot enter the supply chain of the four major automobile manufacturers at all, and the supply of military vehicles cannot enter. In the end, they can only find third-party automobile assembly plants. Cooperated.

However, although there are currently many third-party automobile manufacturers, according to industrial and commercial registration information, there are currently only more than 500 so-called complete automobile manufacturers nationwide, but in fact most of them are small workshops. , there are only a few companies with an annual output of more than 1,000 vehicles.

As for the American Automobile Company run by Song Erniu, let's not talk about how much it can sell, but the first phase of their factory was designed and built with an annual production capacity of 5,000 vehicles.

Five thousand units may not seem like much... but as long as the start goes well, it may not be possible to achieve a production capacity of tens of thousands or more in the future.

Therefore, West Lake Rubber Company still attaches great importance to this cooperation, and for this reason, it does not hesitate to go to America to build a factory...

Of course, after setting up a factory in America, the production of car tires is actually just a small business. The main business should still be the production of horse-drawn carriage tires. Even if the car tire business fails by then, you can still make a lot of money relying on the local horse-drawn tire business in America.

These overseas territorial markets are not favored by large tire companies and it is impossible for them to go there and build factories, but they are attractive to West Lake Rubber Company.

(End of this chapter)