Chapter 731 The color of battle (finale)

Author: pass the test

Before noon, Wang Jiuyang was already yawning profusely, and his dark circles under his eyes seemed to tell Li Weidong that he had not slept all night.

"The freshly brewed Pu'er is very strong and will refresh you." Li Weidong handed over a cup of tea.

"Thank you, I just need this." Wang Jiuyang picked up the tea cup and took a big sip, and then said, "I stayed up late these two days to watch the World Cup. I really didn't expect Croatia to make it to the finals. It has a population of just over 4 million! Watch again.

Look at us, among more than a billion people we can’t find even 11 people who can play football.”

Li Weidong replied: "The Chinese Super League has been quite popular in the past few years and has introduced many world-class stars. Maybe Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi will come to make money when they get old!"

"You have said that the stars are here to make money. How many of them really want to play football? With them, Chinese football will never develop!" Wang Jiuyang sighed.

"There are so many entertainment projects now, including mobile phones, games, movies and TV shows, and young people don't play football much anymore! There is no reserve talent, and it is normal to become more and more stretched!" Li Weidong said.

"That's right. Our country does not have that kind of atmosphere. If you look at Europe, you can find several football teams in any small town. In cities with tens of thousands of people, there can be football teams playing in the Champions League."

Wang Jiuyang shook his head helplessly and continued: "Sometimes I think that if I have a grandson in the future, I will send him to play in Europe. Maybe I can also cultivate a Chinese Messi!"

"I suggest you let him study hard. Playing football is too risky." Li Weidong said with a smile.

"There is no way to avoid injuries in sports! Besides, for boys, bumps and bumps are normal. When I was a kid, I would run around in the streets, and I would fall and eat shit from time to time!" Wang Jiuyang said.

"I'm not talking about physical injuries. After all, football is a competitive sport. You have to play very well to have a future. If you don't play well, you may not even have a job."

Li Weidong paused and then said: "If you play very well, there are risks. There are too many temptations. If you can't hold on, it's easy to get in."

Wang Jiuyang was stunned and didn't understand what Li Weidong meant at the first time.

Li Weidong said with a smile: "Anyway, playing football in China is a high-risk profession. If you don't play well, you won't get food. If you play too well, you'll get jailed!"

"Uh..." Wang Jiuyang finally understood and was speechless.

Taking another sip of strong tea into his mouth, Wang Jiuyang became more energetic, and then talked about the main topic: "Online transactions on the Internet have developed so rapidly in the past few years, and the online transactions of our products have surpassed offline ones."

"What we sell are small household appliances. It does not involve transportation and installation like large appliances. It is indeed more suitable for the online model." Li Weidong said.

"So I think we can reduce the scale of offline channels and focus on online channels. Next, I plan to expand the warehousing layout, which can speed up logistics, reduce logistics costs, and also give online consumers a better experience."

After Wang Jiuyang finished speaking, he picked up another document and said: "It is now almost confirmed that the United States will increase tariffs on Chinese products, which will most likely include our small household appliances, kitchen appliances and beauty equipment.

The Ministry of Strategy estimates that the U.S.’s increased tariffs on small household appliances and kitchen appliances may reach 12% to 15%, while the increased tariffs on beauty equipment may increase to 20%.”

"The Strategy Department is still conservative!" Li Weidong said calmly: "My estimate is 25%!"

"25%? If the tariff is really increased to 25%, then none of us home appliance companies will have to survive!" Wang Jiuyang said.

"It's not that exaggerated. Although the United States is our largest single export market, our export market is not only the United States. What's more, we are not responsible for paying for things like tariffs. We still earn the part we should earn, and in the end

American consumers pay the bill." Li Weidong replied with a smile.

"You mean the wool comes from the sheep?" Wang Jiuyang sighed; "I'm not as optimistic as you. Once there are really high tariffs, the selling prices of our products will increase, and things will naturally become more expensive.

Losing market competitiveness."

"But our products are still cheaper than those made in the United States." Li Weidong said.

"What about Southeast Asia? Vietnam's manufacturing industry has developed rapidly recently. Their worker costs are lower than ours, and they don't have such high tariffs." Wang Jiuyang retorted.

Li Weidong explained: "Vietnam's manufacturing industry is still in the labor-intensive OEM stage, and our use of robots can already replace one-third of the labor force, right? The production efficiency of machines is higher, and the electricity bill is lower than that of workers.

The wages are cheap.

In this regard, our average labor cost should be the same as Vietnam's. If we increase the replacement rate of labor by machines and Vietnam's wages continue to rise, our labor costs may be lower than Vietnam's in the future.

More importantly, the entire upstream industrial chain is in our hands. If Vietnam wants to produce, it needs to import upstream raw materials and components from us. We have the final say on the prices of the upstream supply chain, that is, in terms of production costs.

Vietnam actually doesn't have much advantage.

As you said, tariffs will become an advantage for third countries like Vietnam, but except for the United States, other countries in the world do not impose high tariffs on our products.

This will also form a trend, that is, our manufacturing in China supplies the world outside the United States, while manufacturing in third countries like Vietnam is exclusively supplied to the United States.

Although the United States is the largest consumer country in the world, there is still a big gap between their demand for goods and the rest of the world. Just imagine, the production on one side is supplied to the whole world, and the production on the other side is only supplied to the United States. So whose product is it?

Will the production cost be lower? For the same product, if you buy it more expensively and others buy it cheaply, that’s fine for a day or two, but can you bear to be the wronged for a long time?”

"I understand, what you mean is that even if the United States increases tariffs on us this time, it will not last for a long time. Once the time is prolonged, the United States itself will not be able to bear it." Wang Jiuyang said.

Li Weidong nodded: "Yes, that's what it means.

We Chinese have lived a hard life for decades. In recent years, we have only had enough food and clothing to bear the hardships. However, Americans have been rich for a hundred years. Let them remember the hardships and think about the sweetness. I am afraid it will be too much.

Unable to live."

The essence of trade is exchange, and if you want to restrict exchange, it is nothing more than restricting exchange activities and restricting the scope of exchange. If you cannot restrict both of these, how can you restrict trade!

In 2018, the average U.S. tariff on Chinese goods was 19.2%. Later, the U.S. imposed tariffs as high as 25% on Chinese home appliances. That year, the home appliance sector of the Chinese stock market fell by 30% throughout the year. Buying home appliances

People who trade stocks in the industry have lost a lot.

However, the increase in the price of home appliances has pushed up the cost of living for Americans. Therefore, in subsequent negotiations, the United States granted tariff exemptions to 352 Chinese products, including various consumer products such as home appliances.

As for the trade volume between China and the United States in 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce puts it at 690.6 billion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese Customs puts it at 759.4 billion U.S. dollars. The statistical calibers of the two sides are different, and the figures will be different, but what is certain is that,

No matter which statistical caliber is used, this is a record high for trade between the two countries.

…

In the laboratory of Fukang Engineering, Ding Youliang pointed to a part in front of him and said, "The regulating valve we developed has passed the acceptance of the C919 project team and will be officially used in the C919 environmental control system.

This adjustment valve was originally provided by Liebherr of Germany. After we completed the design, it took us another three years and more than a hundred modifications to conquer this component!"

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone! Thank you for your efforts." Li Weidong nodded with satisfaction.

Ding Youliang continued: "Originally we wanted to make Venturi tubes, but Narada Electromechanical was much ahead of us, so we finally reached a cooperation with Narada Electromechanical and jointly completed the environmental control system for large aircraft. It is expected that the entire environmental control system will be completed within five years.

With the localization of the environmental control system, the localization rate of the entire C919 will definitely exceed 60%!"

Later generations of keyboard warriors will often say that the C919’s localization rate is only 60%, so it is not considered a domestically produced large aircraft. However, for large aircrafts, the localization rate of 60% is already very high. You must know that Boeing has been manufacturing it for decades.

For large aircraft, the localization rate is only 70%.

The first-tier suppliers of C919 all provide core components. About three-fifths of them are Chinese suppliers, and the others are from the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Netherlands. Among them, the United States and France suppliers account for the most

most.

Many key components are actually provided to COMAC in the form of joint ventures. For example, the landing gear is produced by the joint venture established by Liebherr and AVIC.

Ding Youliang continued, "In the C919 project, we have also established a relationship with Xijing Flight Control. The hydraulic system of Xijing Flight Control is produced in cooperation with Parker Aerospace of the United States, and Parker is also a supplier of Boeing.

If we can reach cooperation with Xijing Flight Control, our hydraulic system will definitely make great progress. It will be just around the corner to catch up with Sany and XCMG. The quality of our construction machinery will also be greatly improved.

Unfortunately, in terms of the overall manufacturing of high-end construction machinery, we are still lagging behind compared with Sany and XCMG, let alone compared with foreign companies like Caterpillar and Liebherr."

Ding Youliang let out a long sigh as he spoke, and then said: "When the negotiations with Xijing Flight Control come to a conclusion, it's time for me to step back."

There was a sense of unfulfilled ambition in his tone.

Ding Youliang is more than ten years older than Li Weidong. He is almost 70 years old. He has already reached the retirement age. If he was in an ordinary enterprise, he would have retired long ago.

But after all, Ding Youliang is the chairman of the board of directors of Fukang Group, and he also owns stocks of Fukang Group. It is impossible for an executive of this level to retire easily.

In the past few years, Ding Youliang proposed to retire many times, and Li Weidong also kept trying to persuade him to stay. Ding Youliang never quit. Now that he is almost 70 years old, Ding Youliang is really unable to do what he wants. This time he is determined to retire.

Li Weidong looked at his old partner next to him and couldn't help but feel a little sad. Both of them were the first wave of trendsetters to emerge after the reform and opening up. One was engaged in the private economy, and the other was rooted in state-owned enterprises.

In the 1990s, the two used to be competitors and fought to the death. Later, the two worked together and built Fukang Engineering into a first-class construction machinery company in 20 years.

Now this old friend is leaving. Maybe this is just the beginning. As time goes by, Li Weidong's old partners will retreat from the wave of the times one by one. Li Weidong, including Li Weidong, cannot resist the "years"

of invasion.

"Old Ding, I think you are still in good health. Why don't you work for another two years?" Li Weidong made his last plea to stay.

"Weidong, I can understand what you mean. I have been working for a lifetime. If you say I am tired, I am really tired. But if you say I am willing to let it go, I am really reluctant to let it go! But every generation has its own mission. I am

The mission of a generation has ended, so I have to step down and give the stage to young people!" Ding Youliang said with some emotion.

Ding Youliang had decided to leave, and Li Weidong no longer wanted to stay. He said, "Old Ding, before you retire, do one last thing for me."

"What's the matter?" Ding Youliang asked.

"I plan to expand the production line of light and small construction machinery, at least to triple the current production capacity. This involves the running-in of production, the deployment of production capacity, and the supply of the upstream supply chain. I am really worried about leaving it to others.

." Li Weidong said.

Ding Youliang frowned: "Light and small construction machinery have low technical content and low profits. Selling dozens of them is not as profitable as one high-end machine. Is it necessary to expand production?"

"The profit is not big, but the market demand is huge. If we expand production, we can also reduce production costs." Li Weidong said.

"The market demand is huge, but the competition is also very fierce! For example, small construction machinery can be produced by many second- and third-tier companies in China, and there are even more that can be produced internationally. If we want to sell it, we have to set the price.

If you fight, the profit will be reduced. At most, you will make a profit." Ding Youliang continued to advise.

"Old Ding, you overestimate the resilience of foreign supply chains!" Li Weidong said with a smile.

At this time, Li Weidong had already begun to prepare for the epidemic in a few years.

A few years later, the epidemic enveloped the world. The biggest impact on the construction machinery industry was not the sales of products, but the upstream supply chain. The epidemic destroyed the global supply chain system, resulting in insufficient production capacity of many parts and components, or the inability to transport them in time.

This makes the production of enterprises full of uncertainty.
To be continued...