Chapter 165 Manufacturing Goes North
I just complained to the branch president about my insecurity about being seen naked by the British in France.

Although the president was helpless about Fang Hexuan's "overreaction", he was still very enthusiastic about helping this young richest man with unparalleled influence solve his problems.

The bodyguards trained by the special department are not just for him. These elite guards are needed in many positions.

But since Mr. Fang's words were sincere, it would not be a big deal for the mainland if the next batch of people sent was appropriately increased.

The next day, June 6, Hong Kong stock investors and media were paying attention to and discussing one thing.

Today's stock market unexpectedly soared, with the Hang Seng Index closing at 1780.55 points, setting a record high in history.

The transaction volume on that day reached HK$9.9 million, setting a record for the highest transaction volume of the year.

Fang Hexuan knew that the number 1780.55 was not the end point. It would take another month to reach the highest point before starting to plummet.

But his layout has been mostly completed. As early as February, he had already started buying long positions in many component stocks, and will switch to short selling next month.

And this is just the stock market.

In fact, Wanda Real Estate has already begun investigating the property rights of houses and land across Hong Kong.

Once the time comes, this real estate giant will enjoy a feast.

On the same day, Sing Tao Daily reported that Lawrence Kadoorie, owner of the Peninsula Hotel and chairman of China Light and Power Company, was made a life peer by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Fang Hexuan originally wanted to take over the Peninsula Hotel, but after a careful analysis, he found that the chances of success were currently slim.

What he values ​​more about this hotel is its excellent geographical location.

In the previous life, the person who dared to get involved in this hotel was the "Fan Liu", who was known as the stock market sniper.

Liu Luanxiong is a formidable expert in capital and stock market operations, but as Huanggua's younger brother, he makes Fang Hexuan somewhat wary.

Therefore, in this time and space, Fang Hexuan would definitely not give him the opportunity to thrive.

As for when to attack the Peninsula Hotel, Fang Hexuan is still looking for an opportunity.

On June 6, thousands of Cathay Pacific employees went on strike, causing heated discussions in Hong Kong.

I guess everyone in the mainland knows about this airline company which is owned by Jardine Matheson & Co.

Even though Fang Hexuan had entered the circle of wealthy people in his previous life, he had taken Cathay Pacific flights.

This is a British airline, and the aviation service personnel it recruits must have been screened and in line with their values.

Therefore, it has always been a historical tradition for Cathay Pacific flight attendants to discriminate against mainlanders.

What's more, they not only discriminate against people from the mainland, they also discriminate against the poor in Hong Kong who are below the middle class.

But ordinary Hong Kong people really have no choice because they have no choice.

This is also one of the reasons why Ningbo native Cao Guangbiao later wanted to join forces with the ship chartering king to establish Dragonair.

Fang Hexuan estimated that with his current status, if Lao Cao really had an idea, he would definitely ask him to join in.

As for whether or not to join, why not?
Even if it was just to vent his anger for his past life, Fang Hexuan didn't mind spending some money.

But I really don’t have any interest in air passenger transport.

On June 6, Hong Kong and the Mainland formally established the Industrial Cooperation Committee.

Fang Hexuan knew that this was actually the beginning of Hong Kong's large-scale manufacturing industry moving northward.

Later generations of mainland netizens often say that Hong Kong's reindustrialization is a false proposition, which is only half right. It's not that there is no manufacturing industry in Hong Kong, but that almost all of it has moved abroad.

The mainland received most of this outward migration.

From a technological perspective, Hong Kong can rely on these relocated companies to re-industrialize.

However, from a strategic and overall planning perspective, it will require tremendous effort and cost for Hong Kong to attract these companies back.

We seldom hear of any famous Hong Kong technology companies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Like many other companies, they are embedded in the supply chains of various industries.

For example, the large die-casting machines that Tesla later installed and used in its factories around the world came from Shenzhen Lijin Technology.

This almost unknown company is actually a Hong Kong-funded enterprise.

This large die-casting machine is called GigaPress. It is an all-in-one die-casting machine with very advanced performance.

GigaPress can transform the 3 parts needed for the Model 70 rear floor into one piece through die-casting, which means only two parts are needed for the Model Y, and they may even be combined into one piece in the future.

Musk is quoted as saying that this will be "a revolution in automotive body engineering."

It weighs 410 tons, equivalent to the weight of a large aircraft, and occupies an area of ​​only about 100 square meters.

Traditional automobile production requires more than 70 parts for stamping and welding, as well as more than 1000 welding processes. With this machine, the finished product can be obtained in one die-casting.

The official data given by Tesla is that it saves 20% of the cost of Model Y.

The cost of Model Y has been reduced by 20% after adopting die-casting technology. The "20%" figure only refers to the manufacturing cost spread over each vehicle.

If it is expanded to the entire upstream parts supply chain, the cost savings will be more than just "20%".

The first is the time cost of production. At Tesla's Shanghai factory, one Model Y rolls off the production line every two minutes on average.

This large die-casting machine takes less than two minutes to complete a die-casting process, and can complete 80-90 seconds. It can complete 40-45 castings per hour and produce 1000 castings per day.

If traditional processing technology is used, it will take at least two hours to stamp and weld these 70 parts to assemble a component, and multiple lines must be processed in parallel to meet the production rhythm.

The second is the production line cost, which includes the four major processes of automobile production: stamping, welding, painting, and assembly.

Under the existing production technology cost framework, except for the lower cost of stamping than die-casting, the other links are much higher than die-casting.

Traditionally, if 70 parts are produced, one set of mold is used for each part, which means 70 sets of molds.
If we add in the robotic arms, transmission lines, and various fixtures surrounding the production line, the cost is bound to be a very large number.

In addition, a large die-casting machine only occupies an area of ​​100 square meters. According to Musk himself, the factory's floor space has been reduced by 30% after using the large die-casting machine.

Labor costs will also be greatly reduced. The investment in a traditional automobile welding factory is about 10 billion yuan. The same investment cost can be replaced by three integrated die-casting machines at the current selling price (as the technology matures, the cost will definitely be lower in the future).

The production efficiency of these three die-casting machines is definitely higher than that of the existing traditional stamping and welding production lines.

In the future, a mainstream domestic automobile factory will have about 200-300 production line workers in a welding plant.

After adopting the one-piece die-casting technology, the number of skilled workers required can be reduced to at least one-tenth of the original number.

Therefore, although many Hong Kong and Taiwan businessmen do whatever they want in the mainland and set a bad example.

But the government had no choice but to swallow its anger because it really needed the other party's technology.

Therefore, the reform and opening up as well as industrialization of the mainland were achieved at the cost of huge sacrifices.

(End of this chapter)