Bob stopped the car in front of the factory gate and came down to say hello to Valance. At the other end, Gao Fan also got out of the car.
"Are you Mr. Hatch who called me just now?" Vallance glanced at the two of them and asked Bob.
"Yes, you can call me Bob." Bob was quite low-key.
"Well, then is this Mr. Gao Fan from China?" Valance pointed at Gao Fan and asked.
Gao Fan stepped forward and bowed slightly and said, "Yes, just call me Gao Fan. You are the senior."
Valance was not pretentious. He nodded to the two of them and said, "Okay, you two, please come in with me. The car can be driven into the yard."
As a chemical machinery factory, the Odin factory occupies a large area. Similar to the domestic corporate structure in China, the Odin factory is also divided into production areas and office areas, but there is no family area.
Valance asked Bob to drive the car to the downstairs of the office building and park it, and then called for them to go upstairs to negotiate.
"Mr. Valance, if possible, can we visit your production workshop first?" Gao Fan asked.
"Of course." Valance was not surprised by Gaofan's request. Presumably Gaofan wanted to evaluate the production capacity of the Odin factory in order to determine which products to hand over to the Odin factory for manufacturing. Some customers have made similar requests in the past.
The requirements, of course, are mainly from customers who are cooperating with us for the first time.
The workshops of the Odin factory are tall and sturdy, and some of the industrial architectural style before World War II can be seen. The naming method of the workshops is different from that in China, but they are generally assigned according to the machining, casting and forging, container manufacturing, heat treatment and other processes.
The equipment in the workshop is dazzling. Although Bob is an investment genius, his industrial knowledge is very poor and he can only see roughly. Gao Fan is a chemical expert and has considerable understanding of chemical equipment manufacturing. He can see far more than
Bob has much more.
He could see that the Odin Factory, as a long-established chemical equipment manufacturer, has very complete production equipment, including various machine tools, electric furnaces, plate bending machines, welding machines, flaw detection equipment, heat treatment equipment, etc. Many equipments are available.
It looks quite new, like it was added within the past ten years.
In addition, the layout of the workshop also seems very organized, which shows that the managers have rich management experience and a strong sense of responsibility.
"There aren't many workers at work."
Walking out of the production area, Bob expressed his feelings to Valance.
"There are insufficient orders, and our production capacity has not even been used at 1/5. Alas, it has been like this for several years." There was a look of loneliness on Valance's face.
As a shareholder of the factory, Hatch Group has already known about this situation, so there is no need for Valance to hide it from Bob.
"So, if we give the order to the Odin factory, can Mr. Vallance get the workers back quickly?" Bob asked.
Valance hesitated and asked, "How many orders do you have?"
"About ten million dollars," Bob said.
"Including about 30 100 cubic meter pressure vessels, about 100 centrifuges and other equipment." Gaofan added.
"What about the cycle?"
"Looks like 16 weeks."
There was a troubled look on Valance's face, and he moved his lips several times, but no words came out, as if he didn't know what to say.
"What, have you lost your workers?" Gao Fan asked.
Valance said: "It can't be said that all of them have been lost. There are still some workers idle at home. But if you want to take such a large order and have to deliver it within 16 weeks, it will be far more difficult to rely on these people alone."
It’s not enough anymore.”
"Are you saying that all the workers you laid off previously were recruited by other companies?" Bob asked.
"Only a few went to other businesses, most went to the city," Vallance said.
"What are you doing in the city?"
"There are people who work in everything. They drive taxis, do sales in shops, and work as waiters in hotels. In short, they no longer work in industry. Everyone knows that there is no future in industry, so younger workers are
Changed career."
Bob frowned. There is a consensus in American society that there is no future in traditional industry, but before coming to the Odin Factory, he did not have a very intuitive feeling.
Regarding the decline of traditional manufacturing, the financial community has a positive view. They believe that traditional manufacturing has low profits and is an industry that should be eliminated. The United States only needs to vigorously develop the financial industry. Foreigners are responsible for doing the work, and the United States is responsible for taking the profits.
, why not?
Bob has always held this view, but when faced with a declining Odin factory, he always felt that something was not right.
"Mr. Valance, according to your statement, wouldn't the Odin Factory be closed?" Gao Fan asked.
Valance nodded helplessly: "Yes, its end can only be to close down. In fact, if it weren't for these old workers in the factory who have been with me for decades, I should have closed down the factory long ago. It has already
It has been losing money for several years in a row, and there is no possibility of turning it into a profit."
"But, I heard that Odin Factory is your brainchild." Gao Fan said.
Valance sighed: "Yes, I founded this factory, just like my child. But so what? Now the United States no longer engages in the chemical industry. There is demand in Europe and Asia, but the Germans and
The Japanese dominate the market there.
"Especially for the Japanese, their labor costs are more than half lower than those in the United States, and chemical equipment manufacturing is the most labor-intensive. American companies are simply not competitive."
Gao Fan turned to Bob and said casually: "Bob, what do you think about moving the Odin factory to China? The labor cost in China is less than half of that in Japan. If the equipment of the Odin factory and the
Can China's cheap labor force be combined to regain its glory?"
"Are you serious?" Bob did not take Gao Fan's words as a joke. The two were already very familiar with each other, and Bob thought he could see through Gao Fan's thoughts.
“It’s impossible to move the factory,” Valance said. “It’s impossible to move a lot of our equipment. In addition, a factory can’t produce just by having equipment. It’s only the old workers we have left that can
It is the greatest wealth of Odin Factory."
"Can these old workers be allowed to work in China?" Gao Fan asked.
Valance shook his head resolutely: "This is impossible! Many of our workers have never even been to New York. How could they go to work on the other side of the earth?"
"So, what about you? Mr. Valance, if you were asked to work in China, would you accept it?"
"Me? I don't care, but what's the use of going to China? Although I was an excellent lathe in the past, I alone can't build the 100 centrifuges you want."