industrial overlord

Chapter 223 The African Version of the Industrial Dream
Harore, the Minister of Industry of the Northern Province of Usan, Africa, walked in the exhibition hall of the Frankfurt International Exhibition Center with a group of entourages. He was full of ambitions. He felt that the time for him to make contributions had come.

Halloy graduated from the Paris Polytechnic University in France in his early years, and was a true returnee in Wusang.He returned to Ousanne from France with the dream of an industrial power, but found himself useless.The king at that time only knew about luxury enjoyment. He turned the foreign exchange obtained by selling ore into famous cars, watches, brand-name clothing and a large number of weapons and equipment produced in the West, regardless of the fact that the domestic per capita GDP was less than 100 US dollars. Life expectancy is just in the early 30s.

Five years after Usan returned home, the coup finally took place.The old king went into exile overseas with his entourage and a large amount of dollars, and the new leader announced the start of democratic reforms and the establishment of a federal new Usan.Halore's good friend Naylor became the governor of the Northern Province through the election, and launched a vigorous land reform plan and industrialization plan when he took office.

As the most industrially savvy person in the entire Northern Province, Halore was appointed by Nale as Minister of Industry and received US$4000 million in construction funds.This money is one-third of the total fiscal revenue of the entire Northern Province in the next five years. When Naylor handed it over to Halloy, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "My old friend, the future of the Northern Province lies in I leave it to you. I hope in my lifetime to see the Northern Province become the Birmingham of Africa."

"Mr. Naylor, don't worry, I will definitely work hard." Haroley promised passionately.

It is not an easy task to build a Birmingham in Africa.The newly emerging Usang Republic is poor in terms of industry, and even within a few hundred kilometers around the Usang country, there is no factory that can produce industrial mother machines.However, Halloy is not worried about this. He knows that there are first-class industrial equipment in Europe, and he has 4000 million US dollars in his hand. Does he worry about not being able to buy a modern one?
Of course, the 4000 million US dollars cannot be used to purchase equipment, which Halloy knows well.To develop industry, roads, factory buildings, workers' dormitories, etc. are also needed, all of which cost money.Besides, the funds Nale gave him were not all real US dollars, and most of them were the local currency of Usang, which could not be bought in the international market.

During his study in France, Halloy had heard of the Frankfurt International Equipment Exhibition and knew that it was the world's top equipment fair.This time, when he got the news of the opening of the equipment exhibition, he brought a few of his entourages and traveled all the way to Frankfurt.In his pocket, there is 1000 million US dollars in foreign exchange, which is all the capital he used to build the industrial modernization of the Northern Province.

Halloley knew that the money was hard-won, so during his stay in Frankfurt, he and his entourage lived in the cheapest hotel and ate the simplest meals.He constantly instilled in his followers the concept of strengthening the country and enriching the people, making them as passionate as himself.

"Minister Halloy, over there is the booth of the ALK Group of the Federal Republic of Germany." A follower named Karabi said to Halloy. Karabi also graduated from university and has studied English for several years, so he can barely understand the exhibition in the exhibition hall. Card. The name ALK was told to him by Halloy, and he started to search for this word from the beginning of the exhibition hall.

"Great, what I'm looking for is ALK." Halloy said enthusiastically, "Do you know that ALK is one of the top 20 companies in the global equipment industry, especially its machine tools, which rank among the top 5 companies in the world?" [-]. When I was in Paris, I had the honor to visit the machine tool demonstration of ALK company. Its turn-mill machine tool is more flexible than our fingers, and it can carve a de Gaulle head."

"Really? That's just amazing." Carabi said fascinated.

Several people squeezed through the crowd and came to the ALK exhibition area. ALK is worthy of being a large international company. The exhibition area of ​​one company occupies more than 200 square meters. There are seven or eight machine tools of various types, as well as models of large-scale equipment such as steam turbines, water turbines, and steel rolling mills.More than a dozen staff members are scattered throughout the exhibition area, introducing their products to merchants from all over the world.

"This is a large vertical lathe, and this is called a gantry boring machine." Haroley introduced the equipment displayed in the ALK exhibition area to his subordinates, "We must have these equipments if we want to develop our own industry."

"Sir, can I help you with anything?" An employee of ALK came over and asked Haroley politely.Haroley didn't notice that behind the staff's professional smile, there was a trace of cold arrogance hidden.

"Oh, hello, my name is Harore, and I am the Minister of Industry of the Northern Province of the Republic of Usan. Sir, what is your name?" Harore said in fluent English. During his study abroad in France, he studied very hard. , able to communicate with people proficiently in English and French.

The ALK staff replied: "My name is Khedira, and it is a great honor to serve Minister Hallore. Excuse me, what equipment are you interested in?"

"I'm interested in all of them." Haroley said, "You know, we are an agricultural country, and we are now industrializing. We need power generation equipment, metal smelting equipment, and mechanical equipment. I think ALK will be a good choice for us. one's business Patner."

"I think so too." Khedira said coldly, "Then, what equipment do you want to know first?"

"Power generation equipment, our northern province is very short of electricity." Halloy asked, pointing to a model of a steam turbine, "If I'm not mistaken, this should be a steam turbine for a thermal power plant, right?"

"Yes, this is a 60-kilowatt main engine. Its technical level is the world's leading, including more than 300 patented technologies of our ALK Group. If it cooperates with the control system we provide, it can be unattended. You Look, this photo is what its main control room looks like." Khedira introduced.

"This is really advanced!" Carabi exclaimed beside Harore.Judging from the photos, those power station workers don't look like workers at all. They wear white shirts, hold coffee in their hands, and see rows of green monitoring panels in front of them. This is simply a science fiction world.

"This set of equipment should be expensive, right?" Haroley asked timidly.Although he has studied in Paris and learned a lot about industrial technology, he has never purchased equipment in person, and he has no concept of equipment prices in his mind.Seeing that the control room alone is so advanced, he secretly thought, the 1000 million in his pocket is probably just enough to buy the equipment of this power plant, right?
Khedira said: "The stand-alone price of this steam turbine is 5.3 million US dollars, if you need matching..."

5.3 million US dollars, not including supporting equipment, it would take the residents of the entire northern province to earn five or six years to buy it.

"Uh... I think this may be a bit too advanced." Halloy said, wiping the sweat from the top of his forehead, "Our Northern Province has a total population of only 80 people. I think two 2-kilowatt generating units should enough."

"2 kilowatts?" Khedira shrugged his shoulders and said, "Minister Harore, I'm very sorry, our ALK Group has not produced such units in the last century."

In the last century...Halore covered his face and felt that his teeth were hurting badly. He knew that Khedira was telling the truth. In the last century, the ALK Group did not produce 2-kilowatt generators, because at that time the alternating current was just invented.If it were someone else who teased him like this, he would have to resort to traditional African martial arts to fight the other party.However, the other party was an employee of ALK, and he had already completely overwhelmed him in terms of momentum. He really couldn't muster up the courage to protest to the other party.

"Then, may I ask how many kilowatts is your minimum power generating unit?" Haroley asked holding back his breath.

"10 kilowatts. However, because it is an obsolete product, its price is not cheap, and it needs 2.4 million US dollars. The main purpose of our retention of this product is to provide it to some merchants who are interested in collecting."

"Well, well, why don't we talk about machine tools." Halloy gave up the idea of ​​buying power generation equipment. There is also a small 5000-kilowatt power plant in Northern Province, which can barely guarantee the electricity consumption of the government and a few factories. , or just make up and use it first.

"This CNC gantry milling machine uses the industrial control system of Siemens, and the price is 280 million US dollars." Khedira pointed to the equipment in the exhibition area and said carelessly to Halloy.As a salesperson, he couldn't refuse to introduce products to customers, but he already knew that these old black men in front of him would never be his customers.Isn't a place like Africa teeming with lions and hippos?What kind of industry?
"Turning and milling integrated machining center, 400 million."

"Welding robot, plus control system, a set is 570 million."

"..."

Khedira said boringly, Halloley's face became more and more ugly.Before setting off, he had a basic idea of ​​building a small industrial park in the capital of the Northern Province.However, he never imagined that the price of machinery and equipment would be so high that just one milling machine would cost a quarter of his foreign exchange. Could he build a Birmingham in Africa with just four milling machines? ?

"I'm sorry, Mr. Khedira, I think we may need to look at other manufacturers' products, thank you very much for your introduction." Haro Lei said slowly, then took his entourage, and fled away ALK booth.

"Khedira, I don't understand why you specifically introduced the most expensive equipment to this black man. Don't we also have machine tools under 5 US dollars? I think this price is more suitable for them." A colleague told He Dila said.

Khedira smiled contemptuously, and said: "I don't think black people can operate machine tools, and I don't doubt their athletic ability at all, but machine tools are too advanced for them."

"You are right. Machine tools can only be controlled by the Germanic people who pursue precision." The colleague said with deep empathy.

　...Explain but do not correct one point: I mentioned the Machinery Industry Committee in the previous article. This department was actually established in 1986. Its predecessors included the Ministry of Ordnance Industry and the First Ministry of Machinery Industry.Let's write it like this first in the book, so as to avoid conflicts with real people when specific officials are mentioned.The African countries mentioned in this chapter are also fictitious to avoid international disputes.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)