Spark

After finishing the regular work meeting of the Spark team, Zhang Guanfeng returned to the SSITU, but at this moment, his mood was completely different from that of a few days ago.

Rich!

Previously, the budget for R\u0026D + manufacturing of the entire project was less than 100 million. Now, the R\u0026D budget allocated for the first phase alone has reached 80 million.

This feeling of getting rich overnight is really cool.

Of course, the money wasn't for him.

But as long as they are engaged in scientific research, who doesn't have a big dream of "buy whatever you want, and test whatever you want"?

Now, his dream has come true ahead of schedule.

Zhang Guanfeng's sense of superiority is almost full when he thinks of his colleagues who are in a dilemma when buying a new hot isostatic pressing furnace.

ha? What Tianjin Dredging Bureau? Where did so many poor relatives come from? What Boss Liu?

Xiao Liu!

——

Of course, this is just a joke. In fact, if this project wants to proceed smoothly, it still needs to rely on the talents and policy support from the Tianjin Dredging Bureau.

Zhang Guanfeng was sitting in his office in high spirits. At this time, the blueprint in front of him had changed.

It was originally a drawing that was nearly completed for the Tianshi, but now, there is only one drawing with a general frame and details are basically blank.

But it made him more content.

Sky Whale!

Compared with the Tianshi, the new design has nearly doubled the size of the hull, with a length of 198 meters and a width of 42 meters instead of the same proportion. Compared with the Tianshi, it is more " "Fat" some.

This design is to install a more powerful reamer shafting system and a more flexible hoisting pipe.

If the Tianshi is a dredging ship that can be used to build islands, the Tiantian Whale is a complete island-building ship.

Only at sea can it play its greatest role.

Zhang Guanfeng took a deep breath, took a blank piece of paper again, and began to make a rough calculation of the overall budget of the project.

The dense numbers kept falling, but he didn't have the anxiety he had before.

In the end, the total cost of design + manufacturing of the entire ship needs about 1.7 billion yuan.

This number cannot be said to be large, it can only be said to be an astronomical figure.

After all, when the Netherlands wanted to sell us the dredger, the price was only RMB 300 million.

But for the current Zhang Guanfeng, Xiaoqian.

It's cool to have golden thighs to hold.

Just a little bit of broth spilled from any other project will suffice on its own.

Moreover, the Xinghuo team does not have the ethos of the old school at all. They don't care about spending money, they just want to complete the project perfectly and achieve the best results.

It fits very well with the perfectionism I pursue.

Therefore, in general, the current Sky Whale project can be said to be at the right time, place and people.

If this is the case, then simply go further.

Thinking of this, Zhang Guanfeng picked up the phone and called his assistant Xiao Wang.

"Xiao Wang, help me contact VOSTA LMG in Germany."

"Yes, they have rich experience in building large cutter suction dredgers, we can consider cooperating with them."

"Let's see what they say about the quotation. Of course, if it's too expensive, don't consider it."

"Yes, we have money now, but we are not being taken advantage of. If the price is set on the ground, then they will not make this money."

Germany, VOSTA LMG headquarters.

Miller looked at the two documents in his hand in a dilemma, with a look of helplessness but deep relief in his eyes.

The good news is that these two documents are cooperation invitations, or inquiry letters, and both come from high-quality customers.

One of them is Huaxia Tianjin Waterway Bureau, which is an official organization with strong financial strength and good reputation.

The other is a shipyard of the Vietnamese military.

Needless to say, no matter what field these two customers are in, as long as they extend an olive branch, a large number of companies will rush to do business with them, and now, they have found themselves at the same time.

This fully proves that the strength of VOSTA LMG has been widely recognized now, and the future development will be much easier.

——

But at the same time, what made him helpless was that the cooperation target proposed by the two parties actually crashed.

All are large cutter suction dredgers.

It's normal when you think about it. Some time ago, they had some conflicts on the sea because of the island issue. Now they are trying to save face, and reclamation is the best "offensive" without using hot weapons. sexual means".

So it's not surprising that they were eyeing the dredger at the same time.

But the problem is, they want to build, VOSTA LMG may not be able to satisfy at the same time!

Although VOSTA LMG is a professional dredging solution provider, in fact, the scale of its own company is not too large, and its project parallel ability is not too strong.

In addition, the company has received many orders from Europe and South America in the past two years, and its design and manufacturing capabilities are almost saturated. It is not easy to solve the problems of China and Vietnam at the same time. .

——

No, it should be said that it is not easy, but basically impossible.

Because both projects have time limit requirements, Huaxia requires within 18 months, while Vietnam requires within 12 months.

In this case, even if VOSTA LMG wants to accept the order, it can only be forced to choose one of the two.

Thinking of this, Miller let out a long sigh.

What a sweet annoyance.

He raised his head, looked at the business director sitting opposite him and asked:

"August, you know the situation, I want to ask your opinion."

"From your point of view, is there any better way for us to protect two customers at the same time?"

Hearing his question, August shook his head and replied:

"I don't think so."

"Actually, this is not a question of design capabilities and production capacity, but a question of standing in line."

"We all know about these conflicts, and we all know why they both proposed to manufacture dredgers at the same time. In this case, if we still only use purely commercial logic to look at the problem, it is actually not advisable. .”

"Of course, you don't see exclusivity requirements in the RFQ because they don't put it on paper."

"But believe me, if we take an order from one of them, the other one will drop us immediately."

"So, we don't have room for speculation."

"What we can do is to comprehensively evaluate the benefits of cooperation with both parties and make a choice that maximizes benefits."

Hearing August's words, Miller nodded deeply.

He has also considered this issue, but before Auguste said it, he still had some unrealistic fantasies in his heart, hoping that he could rely on his own mediation to let both parties spend money here .

Isn't that what people in the United States do?

Arms are sold all over the world, fighter jets are sold to the attackers, and anti-aircraft missiles are sold to the defenders.

Well, VOSTA LMG is not the United States, and it is true that it does not have this ability.

Thinking of this, he said:

"I see."

"Then now, our problem is very clear."

"Do you choose Vietnam or China?"

Seeing that August was about to speak, he directly raised his hand to interrupt him, and then continued:

"Let me talk about my thoughts first."

"First of all, I personally prefer to cooperate with Huaxia for the simple reason that they have a better reputation and a wider market."

"We don't have to worry about the issue of repayment, and if we can open up the market with this project, then we are likely to get a steady stream of orders in the future."

"You know, China's territorial waters are much larger than Vietnam's, and their island-building needs are also much larger."

"Taking a step back, even if you don't consider the matter of 'island building', in terms of dredging rivers, the vast inland and rich water systems will bring infinite possibilities to our business."

"And Vietnam...they're much smaller."

"On the other hand, their official institutions are seriously corrupt, and repayment is likely to become a big problem."

After all, he looked at August quietly, waiting for his answer.

August, on the other hand, was silent for a few seconds before speaking:

"I disagree with that."

"I think that Huaxia's so-called 'broad market' is actually just an illusion."

"Yes, they do have market potential, but that potential is not reserved for us."

"The reason is simple, they will pursue full autonomy in all fields."

"It can be seen from their great breakthroughs in the aviation field in the past two years-not only do they have ideas, but their execution and research and development capabilities are also frighteningly strong."

"In this case, our first collaboration with them may very well be our last."

"Making money will definitely make money, but if they learn our technology in the process...then we will have another strong competitor."

"Even, after this time, they will gradually start to enter a larger market and gradually eliminate us."

"On the other hand, Vietnam -- I don't need to say it? We all know what they are like."

"There is no need to worry about any long-term risks in cooperating with them. Even if it is difficult to recover the money, it will be recovered."

Miller frowned slightly, and he knew that what August said was indeed true.

From a strategic point of view, cooperation with Huaxia will indeed cause long-term uncontrollable competition risks. On the whole, the loss of technology outflow is greater than the short-term gain.

but the problem is

If you reject China and choose Vietnam, does your side really not have to consider the potential "negative impact"?

You must know that maritime disputes are actually disputes over national destiny.

Even a small act of being forced to be involved in such a dispute could end up on the books.

And once on the list.

Miller looked at August and said:

"But we don't seem to have a lot of options."

"No matter from which point of view, Vietnam cannot compete with China in the short term. If we want to reject them, we must have a strong reason"

"It's not that complicated."

August said bluntly.

"When dealing with such a big client, as long as you stick to one principle, you can protect yourself."

"That is, business is business."

"What we have to do is to exclude all off-site factors and only keep one criterion: the highest price wins."

"Under this standard, we will not leave any excuses and will not offend any party."

"On the contrary, the focus of the conflict will return to the two sides."

Miller's eyes lit up, he patted August's shoulder appreciatively, and said:

"Okay, let's do it!"

Two days later, Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Zhang Guanfeng received a reply letter from VOSTA LMG, but the above content far exceeded his expectations.

The quotation was as high as 120 million RMB!

Moreover, this is still the first phase of quotation. If we consider the follow-up design improvement and the manufacturing cost of some key modules, the price charged by VOSTA LMG will reach an astonishing 200 million.

Isn't that how a lion opens its mouth?

They sold the whole boat for only 300 million yuan.

You are not responsible for the main production and manufacturing, dare to ask for 200 million?

What a joke!

Zhang Guanfeng threw the reply letter aside angrily, and said to Chen Guo in front of him:

"VOSTA LMG is really a bit deceptive. With such a price, do you think we really can't do it ourselves?"

"I just took a fancy to their experience and wanted to introduce them to bring us some process and standardization inspiration. I didn't expect them to be so shameless."

"I won't consider cooperating with this company in the future. This time, I didn't think carefully."

However, what he didn't expect was that instead of being angry, Chen Guo on the opposite side had a smile on his face.

Compared with Zhang Guanfeng, he has more information at hand, and he has already known the news that Vietnam is in contact with VOSTA LMG.

Therefore, he couldn't be more clear about what VOSTA LMG wants to do.

It is nothing more than my lack of ability to complete the time-limited project requirements of two customers at the same time, so I use this method to show my "impartial" attitude.

Raise the price up, or you accept the offer, and we'll do our best to do your business too.

Either you don't accept it, then logically, we will do business in Vietnam.

I am unwilling to pay, no matter from which angle, I cannot accuse a company that pursues commercial interests.

This is indeed a good calculation, but they missed one point:

It is really not necessary for Huaxia to build dredgers.

Thinking of this, Chen Guo said:

"Don't be so angry, there is nothing wrong with what they did."

"Also, such an offer is not only bad for us."

"Since they gave us such an offer, they must treat Vietnam equally."

"Using this, we can actually do a lot of things."

"For example, we don't need them anyway, so we might as well push the boat along and raise the price a bit."

"Listen to me, start a round of negotiations with them."

"The cooperation doesn't have to be reached, and we don't need to spend money."

"However, we have to find a way to make that our neighbor pay more money"

So, a few days later, Ruan Huakai in Hanoi received the latest news from VOSTA LMG.

Facing the representative of VOSTA LMG, he said with a serious expression:

"I don't care how many rounds of negotiations you have had with Huaxia, or what price they paid, but this cooperation seat must be reserved for us!"

"Didn't they pay 240 million? Ours is 2.5!"