Chapter 202 Reverse Engineering
When Liu Zhicheng came to Allentown, Philadelphia again, the reaction of Mark Company's management seemed much more normal.

Only Hughes led a few deputies and assistants to greet him at the door, which was much less grand than the last time Liu Zhicheng arrived.

Perhaps Hughes thought that now that Liu Zhicheng was the factory owner, the most important thing was to work hard to make money for him.

Other extra work should be done as little as possible so that the boss doesn't think you are wasting his money.

This is the best way, as Liu Zhicheng doesn't have to deal with them and pretend to be close to his employees.

Mark Company Meeting Room:
"Mr. Hughes just said that the market in the United States will be difficult to recover in the next few years, but I think the market outside the United States is not necessarily the same.

Mack trucks' main market is North America. Europe is not suitable for the sale of Mack heavy trucks due to engine emission standards.
However, the emerging markets in Asia are still undeveloped. I suggest that the company send sales representatives to actively explore the market.
Especially the inland areas north of the Hong Kong River, which have just started their reform and opening up, are vigorously developing their economy and building a better home, which inevitably requires a large number of transport trucks and engineering earth-moving transport vehicles.

I hope the company's development department can send people to Southeast Asia for field research instead of working behind closed doors at home.

To develop a truck suitable for the Southeast Asian market as soon as possible, I think two points are important: low price, good quality and easy maintenance. "

"Boss, there's no problem in sending people out to investigate. We hope to get support from the parent company's Hong Kong headquarters at that time. But the low price and good quality that the boss just mentioned is a bit difficult to achieve," Hughes asked.

"Southeast Asia is not very wealthy right now, and if the price is too high, it will definitely affect our sales.

As for cheap and good quality, it means you have to find the best balance point." Liu Zhicheng said slowly.

Hughes asked, "Mr. Liu, is Mark also planning to build a factory in Southeast Asia?"

Liu Zhicheng nodded and said, "That's right. After all, labor costs in Southeast Asia are low now, which can effectively reduce our production costs.

Mack's most famous product is trucks. Both heavy trucks and light trucks have their own technological competitiveness.

Now that the sales market in the United States has shrunk, we should take the initiative to explore new markets.”

Hughes said with some concern: "Actually, I have discussed this internally before, but the failure of General Motors in the past has made us a little worried."

"That's just because GM is too stupid. Don't worry, with my influence in China, such a thing will never happen.

This is also a good opportunity to expand Mark Company, and I hope to get Mr. Hughes' full support." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

Hughes saw his boss's ambition, and at this critical moment when he had just taken over, it was impossible for him not to support his boss's decision.

Otherwise, you will be the first to be laid off.

"Boss, rest assured, I will give you my full support!"

“Well, now that the R&D funding is in place, I hope Mack Trucks can develop an energy-efficient and sturdy truck soon.”

.........

Stuttgart, Federal Republic of Germany:

German machinery manufacturing is world-famous, and concrete machinery is the leader. In the past, Putzmeister was even more famous and nicknamed "Elephant".

Putzmeister has long held a 40% share of the global concrete machinery market.

In the previous life, by 2011, Putzmeister's annual sales had reached 570 billion euros.

And always maintain its absolute voice in the field of concrete machinery.

In 1974, Putzmeister began to emerge in the field of concrete machinery and successfully created a world record for pumping concrete to a height of 1 feet (017 meters).

In 1982, Putzmeister successfully delivered its first 50-meter concrete boom pump truck, breaking the 1973-meter world record set by Schwing in 45.

At the same time, this concrete pump truck created a concrete delivery speed of 150m per hour, a performance that was unmatched at the time.

Liu Zhicheng's main purpose in acquiring Mack Trucks was to focus on his heavy-duty truck chassis technology and engine technology and to enter the field of concrete engineering machinery.

In the past, the mainland's engineering machinery technology developed relatively late, and before 2000, it was basically dominated by foreign-funded products.

In the past, the owner of a construction machinery manufacturing company in the mainland could be crowned the richest man in the mainland. You can imagine how big this market is.

Liu Zhicheng flew directly from the United States to Stuttgart and personally visited the headquarters of Elephant Company to seek cooperation.

"Mr. Liu, the Elephant Factory is in front." A BMW commercial vehicle was driving on a wide road, with different factories on both sides. Han Chunxi pointed to the front and said.

Before coming here, Liu Zhicheng sent Han Chunxi to scout ahead.

"Well, there are so many factories in Germany. It would be great if there was such a scene in Hong Kong." Liu Zhicheng looked around and said in admiration.

After getting off the plane in Stuttgart, he got directly into the car that Han Chunxi had brought to pick him up and drove directly into the industrial area of ​​Stuttgart.

There are all kinds of factories here, but Liu Zhicheng doesn't understand German, so he can't tell what kind of factories they are.

Soon, the car began to slow down and arrived at the gate of a factory. Five or six white Germans were standing outside the gate.

"Hello Mr. Liu, I'm Lacey Schlessiter from Elephant."

As soon as Liu Zhicheng got off the car, the leader of the German group came over with a smile and spoke in fluent English.

"Hello, Mr. Schlessit, nice to meet you." Liu Zhicheng also shook hands and said with a smile.

Lacey Schlessiter, son of Karl Schlessiter, founder of German Elephant Putzmeister, and vice president of Elephant Company.

Then Han Chunxi introduced the other white people one by one and shook hands with them one by one.

These people are the top management of Elephant Company. It seems that Elephant Company attaches great importance to Liu Zhicheng's arrival today.

I took the initiative to visit Elephant Company in Stuttgart today, hoping to have a good opportunity for cooperation.

"Mr. Liu, please." After everyone knew each other's names, little Schlessit invited several people into the factory.

In the reception room of the Elephant Company, old Schlessit was sitting in a wheelchair waiting for Liu Zhicheng and his party.

As soon as I stepped into the reception room, I saw an elderly man in a wheelchair, forcing a smile on his face.

"Mr. Schlessit, you are so polite." Liu Zhicheng took two quick steps forward and greeted him.

"It is an honor for Elephant to have Mr. Liu here. We welcome his guidance." Old Schlessit said in a full-throated voice.

"It is my honor to have the opportunity to visit and learn from elephants." Liu Zhicheng was also very polite.

"Chatting with Mr. Liu, such a young richest Chinese man, makes me feel several years younger," said Schlessit with a smile.

Not long after the greetings began, little Schlesit whispered in Liu Zhicheng's ear: "Mr. Liu, I'm sorry, due to my father's health, it is not suitable for a long meeting. Sorry."

Liu Zhicheng nodded and said with a smile: "Mr. Schlessit, I won't disturb you today. I will go to visit the factory first." "Okay." Schlessit nodded.

Then, Liu Zhicheng, accompanied by little Schlessit, visited the Elephant's production workshop.

"Mr. Liu, the engineering equipment currently produced by Elephant Company mainly includes various concrete delivery pump equipment and spray equipment.
The main products include concrete pump trucks, ground pumps, vehicle-mounted pumps, and spraying equipment for tunnels and slope protection. " Along the way, Schlesiter introduced the entire factory to Liu Zhicheng.

Liu Zhicheng also listened patiently and did not interrupt. In fact, Han Chunxi had sorted out all these into information for him before.

As they walked, many German workers looked at them with curiosity.

Obviously, they didn't know that this group of Asians were planning to steal their company's technology (just kidding, this technology is not that easy to learn.)
The factory area of ​​Elephant is about 2 square meters, and the building area is about 4 square meters, which is not very large.

But this is just their factory in Germany. They are currently building a large factory in Brazil.

After walking around for an hour, the group arrived at the conference room of Elephant Company and began to discuss today's topic.

On the conference room table, there are various product models of Elephant Company to demonstrate the company's strength.

After the greetings, Liu Zhicheng took the initiative to talk about the purpose of today.

"Mr. Schlesiter, I came here today to seek cooperation with the elephant."

Little Shi Laxi nodded and said slowly: "I wonder what Mr. Liu's cooperation means?"

"Asia's economy is growing strongly now, and large-scale infrastructure and building projects require a large number of construction machinery. What I mean is that I hope to have extensive cooperation with Elephant in Asia." Liu Zhicheng said with a smile.

"We have also observed the economic vitality of Asia, so we have established a sales company in RB to be responsible for sales in Asia," said Schlesiter.

"I have just said that I hope to have more extensive cooperation in Asia, which means jointly building factories in Asia to produce Elephant products."

Liu Zhicheng's goal was to build a factory in a joint venture with Elephant, steal their engineering machinery technology, and then achieve self-production.

After hearing Liu Zhicheng's request, Schlessit paused, as if he saw through Liu Zhicheng's motives, and refused.

"Mr. Liu, it's impossible to build a factory through a joint venture. It's not in the interests of Daxiang. If it's just a sales agent, we can still consider it."

After hearing this, Liu Zhicheng was also paused. He didn't expect that Schlessit would not give him any face and refused so bluntly.

In the past, under such difficult conditions, the mainland became the world's leading engineering machinery country after a generation of hard work, and its products were sold far and wide at home and abroad.

In terms of starting time, it was more than ten years later than it is now, and the comprehensive industrial chain was much better than it is now.

If he enters this industry now, Liu Zhicheng will be based in Hong Kong and face the global industrial chain.

In addition, with the cards in the bag, Liu Zhicheng doesn't believe that his current financial resources are inferior to those engineering machinery manufacturers in the mainland in his previous life.

"Well, thank you very much for the elephant's hospitality today. See you in the future." Liu Zhicheng said with a meaningful smile.

After saying that, Liu Zhicheng stood up and left.

Without the butcher Zhang, do we have to eat pigs with hair?

In the past, mainland engineering machinery manufacturers started out as imitators and assemblers, and gradually grew stronger.

Liu Zhicheng did not stay in Stuttgart and flew directly back to Hong Kong.

After being hit in the face by an elephant this time, I must fight back many years later.

After returning to Hong Kong, Liu Zhicheng convened a special office meeting. The participants of the meeting were only Liu Zhicheng, Han Chunxi and Huo Haiqing.

"What do you think about Elephant's refusal to cooperate this time?" Liu Zhicheng asked the first question.

"Mr. Liu, if you are optimistic about the prospects of construction machinery, I suggest that we start from scratch and develop it ourselves." Huo Haiqing said after thinking for a while.

"Well, if I wasn't optimistic about the prospects of construction machinery, I wouldn't have acquired Mack Trucks. My purpose is to use the chassis and engine of Mack Trucks to produce our own concrete construction machinery." Liu Zhicheng said slowly.

"In that case, I will immediately recruit people from home and abroad to form our R&D team." Seeing his boss's determination, Huo Haiqing agreed without hesitation.

"You can set up a research team and hire a legal team to investigate the patent composition of concrete engineering machinery. We cannot fight an unprepared battle."

In its previous life, Elephant registered a large number of related patents around the world, successfully blocking the overseas sales of mainland engineering machinery.

Later, the patent constraints were resolved through mergers and acquisitions.

"Moreover, we will also cooperate with investment institutions to see if there are other factories that we can cooperate with or acquire.

I don't believe that all the factories have the courage to reject us. Han Sheng, you immediately arrange personnel to take charge of this matter." Liu Zhicheng instructed.

"Okay, Mr. Liu." Han Chunxi nodded in response.

"In addition, our research and development work will start with imitation. Mr. Huo will purchase a few concrete pumps and disassemble them for me first, then assemble them for me.
"For every part, find the source manufacturer for me. I don't believe that all the parts are produced by Elephant." Liu Zhicheng said firmly.

"Okay, Mr. Liu." Huo Haiqing replied.

In the past, when the mainland first began to reform and open up, "copycats" were everywhere, but it eventually became an industrial power.

Liu Zhicheng's dream of engineering machinery also started from copying.

Moreover, RB's manufacturing industry started out by relying on copying, and RB manufacturing once became synonymous with shoddy products.

After the war, RB tried its best to get out of its predicament. It was hopeless to drive the economy solely by domestic consumption. How could it get others to pay for its products?
The answer is obvious: copycat.

So, they began their reverse engineering, starting with white appliances such as refrigerators, and eventually became an industrial powerhouse.

It is not shameful to copy for a while. What is shameful is to only be able to copy but not have the determination and ability to surpass.

Liu Zhicheng said this to Huo Haiqing countless times, and it also inspired Liu Zhicheng's determination to enter the manufacturing industry.

Liu Zhicheng believed that after about ten years of hard work, he would be able to build a manufacturing empire.

“Mr. Han, now that we have acquired Mack Trucks, Hong Kong will make due contributions to the sales and development of Mack Trucks.

You should also take the initiative to contact the mainland and help Mack Trucks settle in the mainland as soon as possible. "Liu Zhicheng continued to instruct.

"Okay, Mr. Liu."

Liu Zhicheng's industries are entering the mainland, this is his established plan and there is no doubt about any rebuttal.

What's more, this is a truck project that Liu Zhicheng spent a lot of money on, and there is no doubt that it will be launched in the mainland.

(End of this chapter)