Chapter 155: The “Whampoa Military Academy” of the Automobile Industry

It is reasonable for AMG to look down on BYD, a makeshift subsidiary.

After all, they have always been cooperating with top automobile groups such as Pingzhi, which saves them both trouble and effort.

But it must be said that the conditions offered by Fang Hexuan are indeed very tempting.

This company's main business is car modification, and most of its employees are technical talents.

They are always striving to develop new technologies.

However, engine improvement and research and development is an extremely expensive task.

Without some financial resources, you really can't afford it.

This is also the main reason why many automobile companies often need to invest money continuously for several years or even more than ten years in order to launch new models.

The development and testing of the two major components, the engine and the gearbox, is a day-to-day, year-to-year job.

It is hard to imagine how much material is wasted and how many working hours are required.

AMG relies on working for Mercedes-Benz, earning some mental money, and then investing in new technologies.

If there is someone who is really willing to be a "sucker", give them money to support them, and allow them to retain the right to divorce, it is not impossible to consider it.

Fang Hexuan chose to acquire it because the current AMG is not worth much and it is easy to acquire.

Secondly, they want BYD and AMG to be deeply integrated and learn real technology from their opponents.

Faced with the temptation of a super-rich man with plenty of money, Ofrecht and AMG finally surrendered.

It only cost $1200 million to obtain absolute controlling rights of AMG.

The former CEO, Aufrecht, still retained 8% of the shares, while another technical expert, Mechel, was given 5% of the dry shares by Fang Hexuan.

By doing this, Fang Hexuan certainly hopes to keep the other party to continue working for AMG and BYD.

He does not intend to interfere in the management of AMG. Ofrecht will still be the CEO and Mechel will be the company's technical director.

When signing the acquisition contract, they also signed a memorandum, which specifically stated that AMG retained the right to independence.

Fang Hexuan gave them respect, so naturally he needed something in return.

He asked AMG to send a technical team to Hong Kong to assist in the development and improvement of the EVO 2.0 and 2.5L engines.

In addition, he will also let BYD send trainees to AMG for three years of training.

AMG doesn't care. They are really not afraid of technology leakage because these people are constantly improving and upgrading technology.

After settling on this company, Fang Hexuan did not leave West Germany immediately. Instead, he went to a company that later became very famous in China - Kuka Robotics.

KUKA Robotics was founded in Augsburg, Germany in 1898 by Johann Joseph Keller and Jakob Knappich.

The company's name KUKA is a combination of the four initials of "Keller und Knappich Augsburg".

KUKA mainly provides customers with many multi-purpose and multi-functional industrial robot models with different load capacities and working ranges. Currently, the most widely used one is in the automotive manufacturing field.

In 1971, Kuka built Europe's first robot-operated welding line for Daimler-Benz, pioneering the use of robots in welding production lines.

In 1973, KUKA developed the world's first industrial robot (Famulus) with six electromechanical drive axes.

BYD and BMW in Shenzhen have already placed orders with Kuka and are preparing to install the latest robotic assembly lines in their two factories.

This is not limited to welding processes. Kuka has also developed corresponding robots for other processes such as assembly, splicing, spraying, etc.

Fang Hexuan has high hopes for BYD and BMW, and naturally hopes that they can use the world's most advanced automobile manufacturing equipment from the beginning. It can be said that once these two factories are put into production in Shenzhen, the shock to the mainland will be huge.

Because Fang Hexuan is more radical than other car companies, like Japanese car brands, the assembly and splicing processes in current car factories still rely on manpower.

But BYD and BMW took a one-step approach and directly used robots. Although there is a risk of failure, it allows them to adapt to this technology platform early on.

The two factories in Shenzhen may be the most intelligent pioneers in the world, or to be more modest, in Asia.

From the beginning of the factory construction, BYD and BMW aimed at the most advanced manufacturing technology in the world.
Coupled with the management skills of former Toyota executive Hisahiko Uchiyama, Fang Hexuan didn't believe that he couldn't carve out a path.

It can be said that the starting points of his two automobile companies are indeed higher than that of South Korea's Hyundai.

Advanced technology does not necessarily bring all benefits. It also places high demands on the quality of workers.

Therefore, Uchiyama Hisahiko's most important task at present is to train enough qualified auto workers, and the pressure is unprecedentedly great.

But this was also one of the reasons why he invited Japanese executives. It was a way of apology to give them the most difficult work.

Fang Hexuan can imagine that BYD and BMW will become the "Whampoa Military Academy" of China's automobile industry in the future.

Those who have worked here will definitely be the most knowledgeable, skilled and disciplined people when they leave.

They will be the seeds and hope for the future development of China's automobile industry.

But isn't this Fang Hexuan's deepest hope? It is his mission and responsibility to cultivate these seeds.

The reason for coming to Kuka was not to inspect the order that had been placed long ago, but to acquire this robotics company.

Before his rebirth in the previous life, Fang Hexuan's venture capital company, like many large funds, also dabbled in areas such as artificial intelligence, smart manufacturing, and the Internet of Things.

There is a very key role here - robots, especially intelligent robots.

Fang Hexuan must make a bet in this field in advance in this life, otherwise, would it be worthy of his rebirth?

As Kuka's robots advance in technology, their application areas will become increasingly broad.

For example, logistics and transportation, food industry, construction industry, glass manufacturing industry, etc.

Fang Hexuan hopes that with his heavy financial support, Kuka will be able to develop faster, more comprehensively and more intelligently than in the future.

Of course, the acquisition of this company is also intended to digest its technology and lay a solid foundation for the development of truly intelligent humanoid robots.

In short, there are many benefits to taking down Kuka.

As for whether the acquisition can be completed, Fang Hexuan is not too worried.

According to the industry information he learned from consulting companies, theoretical research on robotics technology in Europe is still very advanced.

Kuka is purely a robotics equipment company. To put it bluntly, if West Germany loses Kuka, there will be more Kukas.

It’s not that KUKA Robotics is not an industry leader, but West Germany has an intelligent manufacturing ecosystem, and the sky will not fall just because one company goes bankrupt or is acquired.

Therefore, there is no problem in acquiring this company in terms of integrity.

Therefore, it still depends on whether the offer made by Fang Hexuan can attract the management of Kuka.

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(End of this chapter)