Chapter 462 Stifled in the cradle

Fukang Agricultural Machinery Company, Li Weidong looked at last month's sales data and couldn't help but frowned.

"It has been three consecutive months, and the sales of agricultural tricycles have not increased!" Li Weidong said.

"There is no improvement in sales this month, but last month should have been fine!" Du Jiahai, the second-in-command of Fukang Agricultural Machinery, said from the sidelines.

Li Weidong shook his head: "Last month's sales were pretty good because there were a number of orders for sanitation trucks. Excluding the orders for sanitation trucks, the sales figures were not very eye-catching."

Du Jiahai continued to argue: "I think the market for agricultural tricycles is so big, there will always be times when it is saturated, so when sales reach a certain level, the market will gradually become saturated, and it is normal for it not to rise."

"This is the truth, but it is still early for the agricultural tricycle market to be saturated! At least in the next fifteen years, the agricultural tricycle market will be in a state of rapid expansion."

Li Weidong went on to explain: "Our country's economic development is getting faster and faster, the demand for various agricultural products will also increase, and farmers' income will get higher and higher, so the demand for agricultural tricycles will only grow rapidly.

According to the normal trend, demand is increasing, and our agricultural tricycle sales should be increasing. If our sales stagnate, it means there is something wrong. Is there something wrong with our products?"

Du Jiahai hesitated for a moment, then said, "There should be no problem with our products! In terms of quality, I always strictly control the quality. We sell agricultural machinery, and I am also from the countryside. I don't dare to do anything to harm farmers."

matter."

"What about the price?" Li Weidong asked.

"The price is still the same as before and has not changed." Du Jiahai went on to explain; "Agricultural machinery involves subsidies for agricultural machinery, so the price will not change easily."

"That means there are competitors in the market." Li Weidong said.

"Don't we always have competitors? In addition to our factory, other agricultural machinery factories also produce agricultural tricycles, and they all buy rear axle assemblies from our factory!" Du Jiahai said.

Li Weidong sighed softly and thought to himself that Du Jiahai was indeed hard-working and hardworking in technical work, but if he was asked to do business management, his ability would be slightly inferior.

Originally, Li Weidong planned to promote Du Jiahai to be the person in charge of Fukang Agricultural Machinery, but now it seems that Du Jiahai is only suitable for technical management and workshop management. If he rises to the level of corporate operation and management, he will have to find another candidate.

To put it bluntly, running a business means doing business. This kind of thing still requires a certain amount of talent. Du Jiahai doesn't even have the most basic market sensitivity. He obviously doesn't have such talent.

Then Li Weidong said: "Go and get the sales data of the rear axle assembly this year."

After a while, Du Jiahai brought the information, and Li Weidong immediately checked it.

"Sure enough, in the past three months, not only the sales of agricultural tricycles, but also rear axle assemblies have also dropped." Li Weidong said.

Du Jiahai still blinked in confusion, not understanding what Li Weidong meant.

Li Weidong said: "Don't you understand this? It means that other companies have also begun to produce rear axle assemblies. The cost of rear axle assemblies manufactured by companies themselves will definitely be lower than buying them, and the agricultural vehicles they build will also have more features."

Competitiveness.”

"How is this possible? The rear axle assembly is a technology we got from Japan!" Du Jiahai said.

"To be precise, it was acquired a few years ago, using Japanese technology from the 1970s, and this technology is almost thirty years old now."

Li Weidong continued: "It is no different now than a few years ago, when we first introduced the rear axle assembly. This is indeed a very advanced technology that cannot be copied by other companies.

However, with the development of the country, the technology of various companies is also advancing. It is not new for some companies to imitate rear axle assemblies. I even think that only now are companies having the idea of ​​​​making rear axle assemblies, which is already considered a new thing. It’s too late.”

Du Jiahai had an indignant look on his face: "Damn it, don't let me know who did it! Otherwise, he will look good!"

Li Weidong said: "If you want to know who made the rear axle assembly, it's very easy. I can make a call and find out."

Li Weidong picked up the phone on the table and dialed an out-of-town number.

After a while, the call was connected, and Li Weidong said: "Hey, Lao Shen, it's me, Li Weidong, everything is fine, how about you?"

After a few words of greeting, Li Weidong asked: "Old Shen, in the past three months, has any company purchased a relatively large number of agricultural vehicle engines from you? It's the kind that has suddenly increased its purchases. Still. Is it true, Gufeng Group? Okay, I understand."

Li Weidong's call was to Shen Congzuo.

The two core components of agricultural vehicles are the rear axle assembly and the special engine.

There may be companies that can imitate rear axle assemblies, but special engines for agricultural vehicles must be purchased from companies that specialize in engine production.

Producing engines requires a lot of technical accumulation. If you are not a company specializing in engines, it will be difficult to make engines specifically for agricultural vehicles.

Special engines for agricultural vehicles on the market are only produced by Shen Congzuo, so Li Weidong only needs to make a phone call to know which company has been purchasing agricultural vehicle engines in large quantities recently.

After putting down the phone, Li Weidong asked Du Jiahai next to him: "Has Gufeng Group purchased rear axle assemblies from us recently?"

Du Jiahai thought for a while, then shook his head: "I have some impressions about the Gufeng Group. They have not purchased rear axle assemblies from us for several months."

"It seems they are the ones." Li Weidong then ordered: "I went to the market and bought a Gufeng agricultural tricycle. I want it to be produced on the latest date. We will know after we take it apart and take a look."

…

A Gufeng agricultural vehicle is placed in the workshop of the technical department, and several technicians are dismantling the vehicle into eight pieces.

Fukang Agricultural Machinery now has a group of technicians with university degrees, most of whom have junior college degrees, and a few have bachelor's degrees.

However, whether it is a junior college or a bachelor's degree, they are all academic qualifications obtained through the Adult College Entrance Examination.

A few years ago, Li Weidong paid for his employees to take the Adult College Entrance Examination, and some employees successfully passed the exam. Now that they have graduated, they have returned to Fukang Agricultural Machinery and become scientific research technicians.

This group of employees who returned from their studies also greatly increased the scientific research capabilities of Fukang Agricultural Machinery. After all, at that time, college students were still very scarce. Even those who went to universities for adult college entrance examinations were considered highly educated people.

Du Jiahai next to him began to introduce the Qigufeng Group.

"Gufeng Group was formerly a tool factory. It merged with the local machinery factory in the late 1980s to form Gufeng Group. It merged with the local tractor station three years ago and the local textile factory two years ago.

Gufeng Group is also involved in a wide range of businesses. In addition to agricultural vehicles and tractors, it also produces motorcycle spare parts, steel rims, paints, coatings and glass. I heard that it also plans to develop into the tire field," Du Jiahai said.

"The Gufeng Group is very ambitious, but only such an ambitious company is willing to spend money to invest in the rear axle assembly of agricultural vehicles. If it were another company, they would definitely buy the rear axle from us.

It's assembled." Li Weidong said.

At this time, the technician had removed the rear axle assembly of the Gufeng agricultural vehicle.

Du Jiahai stepped forward, took a closer look, and said, "Sure enough, it is a copy of our rear axle assembly. Our first generation agricultural tricycle used this rear axle assembly."

"That's the oldest rear axle assembly!" Li Weidong nodded.

Du Jiahai said: "The original agricultural three-wheeled vehicle used the first-generation rear axle assembly. Later, we produced agricultural five-wheeled vehicles with more cargo, using the second-generation rear axle assembly.

Now our latest Fukang agricultural vehicle uses the third-generation rear axle assembly. As for the fourth-generation rear axle assembly, it has also been developed for some time.

What we sell to other companies are currently the first and second generation rear axle assemblies. According to your instructions, we will keep the third generation rear axle assembly for our own use until the fourth generation is developed.

Then sell the third generation.”

Fukang Agricultural Machinery has been conducting research and development on the rear axle assembly, mainly to improve the load capacity and performance of the rear axle assembly, so that agricultural vehicles can pull more cargo as much as possible, and the brakes will be more sensitive, thus improving the safety of agricultural vehicles.

In addition to own use, the rear axle assembly will also be sold to other companies.

However, Li Weidong specifically ordered that the latest generation of rear axle assemblies be kept for Fukang Agricultural Machinery’s own use, while rear axle assemblies that are one or two generations behind will be sold.

Never selling the most advanced products is also a common tactic used by technology-leading companies.

Li Weidong thought for a moment and said, "The Gufeng Group has mastered our first-generation rear axle assembly technology. It should be developing the second-generation now. Maybe it won't be long before they can also develop the second-generation."

Rear axle assembly."

"Director Li, what should we do? Are we going to start selling the third-generation rear axle assembly?" Du Jiahai asked.

"No! The third-generation rear axle assembly is the latest model we have, and it is also our trump card. It cannot be introduced to the market yet. How can we reveal our trump card from the beginning?"

Li Weidong shook his head and continued: "But we have reduced prices. The price of the first-generation rear axle assembly has been reduced by 30%, and the price of the second-generation rear axle assembly has been reduced by 20%."

"The prices are reduced by 30% and 20% respectively, which is already close to our cost price." Du Jiahai said.

"It doesn't matter, small profits but quick turnover, as long as you can make a profit!" Li Weidong continued: "And Gufeng Group has already produced the first-generation rear axle assembly. If we don't lower the price, customers will go to Gufeng Group to buy it.

Then it’s our turn!”

"Then as long as the price of the first-generation rear axle assembly is reduced, why should the price of the second-generation rear axle assembly also be reduced by 20%?" Du Jiahai asked in confusion.

Li Weidong smiled helplessly, this Du Jiahai really didn't have any business acumen.

Li Weidong then continued to explain: "The reduction of the first-generation rear axle assembly to the cost price range is to let Gufeng Group know that even if you develop the first-generation rear axle assembly, you cannot expect to make money from this.

The price reduction of the second-generation rear axle assembly is also to tell Gufeng Group not to spend money on research and development. If you spend money on research and development yourself, you will not be able to recover the cost at all. It is better to buy finished products directly from us!

Gufeng Group is an enterprise with ambitions and R&D capabilities. If it is allowed to develop, it will become our competitor in the future. So we need to use some means to nip Gufeng Group’s R&D in the cradle!"

…

Gufeng Group, Chairman Huang Baifa is inspecting the group's scientific research station.

The predecessor of Gufeng Group was a state-owned enterprise, and Gufeng Group has merged with several state-owned enterprises along the way to today.

The advantage of state-owned enterprises is that it is easier to recruit highly educated talents. In the era when college students were allotted, larger state-owned enterprises could get a few college student quotas every year, and the enterprises naturally had research and development capabilities.

Therefore, the scientific research station of Gufeng Group gathered more than a dozen college students, in addition to one graduate student with a master's degree, which was definitely rare at the time.

However, Huang Baifa is not satisfied with this. He has already begun to contact the education department, hoping to cooperate with nearby universities to build a graduate research workstation.

In that era, it was rare to see state-owned enterprise leaders with such vision and courage.

It is precisely because Huang Baifa has this vision that he can turn an ordinary tool factory into the Gufeng Group that spans multiple fields.

Three years ago, the local tractor station was in trouble and was merged by Gufeng Group. Then Huang Baifa learned that the tractor station closed down because it could not compete with agricultural tricycles, so Huang Baifa came up with the idea of ​​producing agricultural tricycles.

However, Gufeng Group was unable to produce the two core components of agricultural tricycles, the special engine and the rear axle assembly. In the end, Huang Baifa could only spend money to purchase them like other companies.

Huang Baifa also understood that if you want to make a good product, it will not work without core technology. And after some research, he found that the rear axle assembly of agricultural vehicles is very profitable, so he decided to develop the rear axle assembly himself.

According to Huang Baifa's plan, if the rear axle assembly can be developed, not only can he use it himself, but he can also sell it to other companies to make a fortune. It is definitely a good deal.
To be continued...