Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 369 Japanese domestic airliner MRJ!

In the Kawasaki Heavy Industries President's Office, Kawasaki Akizo, the president, is making tea for Li Rongcheng with a smile, and the atmosphere is very harmonious.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is an important supplier of parts for Boeing airliners, and Li Rongcheng has been the president of the Asia-Pacific region for a long time. Both of them have a good business relationship and personal relationship.

The boiling water has been poured into the pot, and it will take some time to scald the aroma of the tea leaves, during which time the two of them are chatting.

"Mr. Li, I was surprised to hear that you resigned from the position of president of the Asia-Pacific region not long ago. I thought something happened to you. When I saw you today, you are still radiant, so I am relieved." Kawasaki Mingzang was very angry in front of Li Rongcheng. To relax, he put on a woolen coat, which looked very sloppy.

Li Rongcheng laughed: "Some things happened. The headquarters asked me to resign myself, so I didn't force myself to stay."

"Oh?" Kawasaki Mingzo showed a look of interest: "You have been working in the Asia-Pacific region for many years and have never made a mistake. Why does Boeing headquarters ask for such a request?"

Li Rongcheng didn't seem to want to mention Boeing anymore: "I don't have anything to do with Boeing now, why don't I stop talking about my old club this time?"

Kawasaki Akizo was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed heartily: "Okay, okay, don't say it, don't say it, you obviously still have some resentment."

As if feeling that it was almost done, Kawasaki Mingzang straightened his upper body a little and poured a cup of tea for Li Rongcheng: "Recently I suddenly like green tea, it's light and light, try it."

"Can you change the taste?"

Kawasaki Akizo had always liked black tea before, but he didn't expect that the taste of drinking tea would not change.

"People can change, so why can't taste be changed?" Kawasaki Akizo looked at Li Rongcheng pointedly: "This time you changed your family, what's the matter?"

Li Rongcheng didn't drink the hot tea immediately, but looked at the clear water pattern in the teacup: "I'm working for Mr. Xu Cang now."

"Xu Cang." Kawasaki Mingzang took a sip of tea, "Is that the little guy who crash-landed in Tokyo Bay?"

"Kawasaki, you need to maintain a minimum of respect for my boss, which is also respect for me." Li Rongcheng said seriously.

Kawasaki Akizo was stunned for a moment: "It seems that you value him very much."

"If you can work with him, you will also have such feelings." Li Rongcheng said sincerely.

"That's not necessarily true." Kawasaki Mingzang drank the remaining tea: "Tell me, what is your business for that Xu Cang?"

Only then did Li Rongcheng pick up his teacup and take a sip: "Do you still have spare capacity for fuselage parts?"

Kawasaki Mingzang did not expect Li Rongcheng to ask this, he raised his right leg: "I don't quite understand what you mean."

"Recently, we are besieging Bombardier. Before that, the airframe supplier of Bombardier's C-series aircraft was AVIC. Now, AVIC has cut off cooperation with Bombardier, and will never cooperate again. German Airbus will definitely not produce aircraft for Bombardier. Body parts, the rest is only you." Li Rongcheng smiled and said: "As the last link, we hope you refuse Bombardier's cooperation."

"Bombardier?" Kawasaki Mingzang poured himself another cup of tea silently, without any special expression on his face, which made Li Rongcheng feel uncertain.

After waiting for a while, Li Rongcheng seemed a little nervous: "Kawasaki, this should not be considered a big order for you. If you don't accept it, the impact will not be obvious."

"Is it really so profitable to build airplanes?" Kawasaki Akizo leaned back slightly and looked at Li Rongcheng with a smile: "Everyone is building airplanes, such as the one next door."

"Next door?" Li Rongcheng was stunned for a moment: "Mitsubishi Heavy Industries?"

Mentioning this name, Kawasaki Mingzang's face flashed a trace of coldness: "It's really an annoying name."

"Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also wants to build airplanes?" Li Rongcheng heard the news for the first time: "What kind of airplanes are they going to build?"

"Regional airliners are mainly those with less than [-] seats. This field is relatively safe."

Li Rongcheng pondered for a moment: "Spacejet?"

"That's right, this is it." Kawasaki Mingzang sneered: "Don't you also know?"

"But, does this have anything to do with the thing I mentioned?" If he came to hear Kawasaki Mingzang complain, as a friend, Li Rongcheng could listen to him for a day.

After all, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries have never had a harmonious relationship.

However, Li Rongcheng came here this time with a business, and he was more willing to do the business first, and then talk about other things.

"Do you think it doesn't matter?" Kawasaki Mingzang stood up slowly, leaning on the armrest of the sofa: "My ancestors founded Kawasaki Heavy Industries. There is such a thing in the experience passed down from generation to generation. If you can't beat in a certain field Your enemy, then support another one."

Li Rongcheng's eyelids twitched, and he immediately felt something was wrong: "What do you mean?"

"The market positioning of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' regional airliner MRJ highly overlaps with Bombardier's CRJ and Embraer's ERJ. We have no ability or willingness to get involved in the aircraft manufacturing industry, but we are not willing to enter Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. From my standpoint, then I need to support an enemy who can maintain competitiveness against MRJ in the field of regional airliners." Akizo Kawasaki paused: "Perhaps it is not accurate to say support, it should be said to be maintained."

Li Rongcheng probably understood: "You want to use Bombardier to contain Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' MRJ airliner?"

"Now in the regional airliner market, Bombardier's CRJ and Embraer's ERJ are in a dominant position. This pattern is very good. If Bombardier falls, it will inevitably leave a lot of shares in the regional airliner market. This is a good thing for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries It’s good news for MRJ, but it’s bad news for us, isn’t it?” Akizo Kawasaki took a deep breath: “You should understand what I mean, anything that breaks the balance between us and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries won't let it happen."

Li Rongcheng said solemnly: "The regional airliner market does not have that kind of capability, and it can reshape the power situation between you two."

"No, no, no." Kawasaki Mingzang shook his head: "As a senior practitioner related to civil aviation, you shouldn't say that. Even I know that there will be a market size of more than [-] regional airliners in the future. It is not in the mainline airliner market, but it should not be underestimated. Moreover, we are close to the fastest-growing civil aviation area in the world, which is obviously an opportunity for development. Therefore, I must remain sufficiently vigilant against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ MRJ.”

Kawasaki Mingzang pursed his lips: "Bombardier can't die now, at least before Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announces the end of their Spacejet project, it can't just fall like this."

After finishing speaking, Kawasaki Mingzang walked up to Li Rongcheng, picked up the teapot, and poured tea for Li Rongcheng again: "You should understand what I mean."

Li Rongcheng raised his eyelids: "It's one thing to understand, but another to disagree."

"Oh?" A trace of surprise flashed in Kawasaki Mingzang's eyes: "This matter has nothing to do with whether you agree or not. Isn't this my own choice?"

"But, didn't you know that Boeing also participated in the sanctions against Bombardier?" Li Rongcheng said seriously: "Shouldn't you be consistent with Boeing on this matter?"

"Bombardier has grabbed Boeing's order, so it has to be hammered, that's all. In terms of Bombardier's attitude, Boeing's willingness to take the initiative is far less than Airbus. If Boeing's attitude towards Bombardier is really so tough, then they should have They informed us, but they didn’t.” Kawasaki Mingzo said with a smile: “This shows that Boeing is not willing or has much motivation to expand the sanctions against Bombardier.”

After all, if Bombardier hadn't grabbed Boeing's order, Boeing would be more willing to be a spectator.

Moreover, even if the order is robbed, Boeing tends to just cut off Bombardier's hand in the US market, and is not very willing to kill Bombardier.

After all, Boeing is quite happy to keep Bombardier disgusting Airbus.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has a high degree of consistency with Boeing in many interests, and its sense of smell is also quite keen. It is for this reason that when Li Rongcheng mentioned Boeing, Kawasaki Mingzang did not waver in the slightest.

"So the matter can't be discussed?"

Kawasaki Mingzang spread his hands: "I only proceed from the interests of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and I don't mix any personal emotions."

"Kawasaki, there is one thing you may not understand." Li Rongcheng raised a finger: "You start from the market point of view to create trouble for the MRJ airliner, but isn't this a rather naive idea? You should The consideration is not whether the MRJ can be sold after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries builds it, but whether the aircraft can be built.”

Kawasaki Mingzang still had a smile in front of him, but when he heard Li Rongcheng's words, he was obviously stunned: "What do you mean?"

"If I remember correctly," Li Rongcheng recalled: "According to the concept case of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Spacejet, the hydraulic system of the aircraft comes from Parker Aerospace, and the control systems of the ailerons, spoilers, elevators and rudders come from Nabtesco. The actuator and electrical system are from Hamilton Sundstrand. In addition, it includes fire detection, fire extinguishing system, pressurization and air supply system, APU, flap and slat device, inert nitrogen gas system generator and engine bleed air The environmental control system has found a suitable provider. But... this is not the most critical."

Kawasaki Akizo frowned: "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"What is the most important point of a regional airliner?" Li Rongcheng asked suddenly.

This time Kawasaki Mingzang was directly questioned.Although Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a hardware provider for Boeing airliners, Kawasaki Mingzang is not a professional civil aviation practitioner after all, especially when it comes to operations.

However, Li Rongcheng did not give a shit: "The price/performance ratio, the most important thing about a regional airliner is the price/performance ratio."

As he spoke, Li Rongcheng snapped his fingers: "Because of their operating environment, regional airliners are mainly aimed at small and medium-sized airports. The routes between such airports are naturally insulated from high-end ones. Therefore, how to ensure a certain passenger experience? , reducing operating costs as much as possible is what regional airliners are most concerned about. And among the various systems of an aircraft, where is the largest part of operating costs?"

Now Kawasaki Mingzang understood, but said a word with cold eyes: "Engine."

"That's right, it's the engine." Li Rongcheng said with a smile: "Most of the engines of regional airliners are simplified versions of mainline airliner engines. Although the structure is simple and the price is low, the power is insufficient to meet the short runways or plateau areas of some regional airports. In addition, under the condition of relatively low price, the engine fuel consumption rate of regional airliners has always been unsatisfactory.”

"It's cheap, fuel-efficient, and powerful enough. How can there be such a good thing?" Kawasaki Mingzang snorted.

While lowering the price of aero-engines for regional airliners, it is inevitable that the advantages of some main-line airliner engines will be castrated.

"However, it's different now." Li Rongcheng said with a smile: "Pratt & Whitney's GTF technology has re-entered the experimental stage. According to Pratt & Whitney's plan, in addition to the PW8000 used for trunk airliners, there is also a GTF technology for branch lines. The PW1200G engine of the airliner."

Before Li Rongcheng finished speaking, Kawasaki Mingzang suddenly roared: "Impossible, isn't Pratt & Whitney's GTF technology always at a stagnation stage?"

"Mr. Xu Cang agreed to cooperate with Pratt & Whitney Power. With enough room for trial and error, will GTF technology still stagnate?" Li Rongcheng said seriously, "Don't you know about the Trent 1000?"

After finishing speaking, Li Rongcheng added: "Kawasaki, the encirclement and suppression of Bombardier is Mr. Xu Cang's meaning, and he is very concerned about it. If you can help, even if Pratt & Whitney's GTF technology is successfully developed in the future, it will not be exported to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries."

GTF technology is the technology that Pratt & Whitney uses planetary gears to adjust the low-pressure fan, which is the technology that Xu Cang has always liked before.This technology can greatly improve the operating efficiency of the engine without excessively increasing the price of the engine, especially Pratt & Whitney's original plan for the application of GTF technology in regional airliners, that is, the PW1200G engine.

Aircraft development has the advantage of being a latecomer. If Mitsubishi Heavy Industries can take the lead in using PW1200G, it will have a clear advantage over CRJ and ERJ in terms of cost performance. Of course, Kawasaki Akizo does not want to see this.

Why does Pratt & Whitney regard GTF technology as an engine revolution, and even hesitate to advance it because it is too anti-traditional?
That's the beauty of the technology.

"If I remember correctly, in the conceptual design of MRJ, it was mentioned that Pratt & Whitney's GTF technology was selected for the power system. However, at that time, Pratt & Whitney's GTF technology stagnated. In the conceptual design, it was only used as a Alternative plan." Li Rongcheng said: "However, now this optimal plan is about to become a reality."

Li Rongcheng has seen the concept design drawing of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' MRJ airliner.

However, at that time, Li Rongcheng did not think that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries would really get involved in the aircraft manufacturing industry, so when Akizo Kawasaki mentioned it at the beginning, Li Rongcheng did not think about it.

Kawasaki Akizo's face was as gloomy as water. If Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' MRJ airliner can really enjoy the first wave of dividends from GTF technology, it is really possible to take advantage of the momentum.After all, Pratt & Whitney should also be willing to first operate GTF technology engines in the field of regional airliners, and then promote it to mainline airliners.

"Kawasaki, eradicating from the source is the safest way." Li Rongcheng continued: "In addition, if Bombardier arrives, after we take over Bombardier, we will integrate the technology of Bombardier's C series aircraft with the domestic ARJ21 to develop a new Better regional airliners will seize the East Asian market in advance. In the future, even if MRJ comes out, the market they can obtain is quite scarce.”

To sum up, if you don't cooperate, there will be many disadvantages, and if you cooperate, there will be many benefits.

Kawasaki Mingzang's face was a little ugly, he felt that he seemed to be manipulated by Li Rongcheng at will.

However, he didn't feel annoyed because of this. In front of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, his slight discomfort was nothing. The question was whether what Li Rongcheng said was true?
"However, it all comes down to whether the GTF technology can be successfully developed, isn't it?" Kawasaki Akizo paced back and forth in the office: "I have seen the first draft of GTF, and I don't think it can be achieved through trial and error. It can be solved. In addition, you seem to equate Xu Cang with infinite trial and error, but he is human after all, and he will definitely encounter some situations that humans cannot solve."

In the final analysis, Kawasaki Mingzang did not think that the bargaining chip Li Rongcheng put forward was effective.

"Bombardier is now the only airframe parts supplier left, which means that we can have greater bargaining power." Kawasaki Mingzang said lightly: "Since your prerequisites are not established, why don't we How about taking advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune from Bombardier?"

Li Rongcheng frowned: "The conditions are not met, this is just your personal idea."

"Isn't this ideal?" Kawasaki Mingzang said with a smile: "Even if you ask the president of Pratt & Whitney Power now, he probably wouldn't dare to give a definite answer. If that's the case, isn't it just relying on your own intuition? , isn't it?"

Li Rongcheng stood up and confronted Kawasaki Mingzang: "So, this is your choice?"

Akizo Kawasaki shrugged: "I trust my instincts, whether it is PW8000 or PW1200G, I don't think it will be successful."

"Really?" Li Rongcheng nodded: "I will bring this answer to Mr. Xu Cang."

After speaking, Li Rongcheng straightened his clothes and made a gesture to leave.

Seeing that Li Rongcheng was about to leave, Kawasaki Akizo was a little surprised: "Just leave like this?"

"Otherwise?" Li Rongcheng patted Kawasaki Mingzang on the shoulder: "Could it be that I have to beg you?"

"If you beg me, maybe I will say yes." Kawasaki Akizo smiled.

Li Rongcheng buttoned up his suit, moved a little bit, and nodded slightly: "I don't need this one."

As the words fell, Li Rongcheng walked to the door, but stopped at the door, turned around and glanced at Kawasaki Mingzang: "Kawasaki, as a friend, I feel sorry for you."

Kawasaki Mingzo frowned: "What do you mean?"

"This juncture is very important to Xu Cang. Most of the time, he will tolerate many things, but now... it's not a friend, it's an enemy."

Kawasaki Mingzang frowned even tighter: "Are you threatening me?"

"No, this is just a piece of advice." Li Rongcheng smiled and said, "When did you change your mind, tell me."

After speaking, Li Rongcheng's figure left Kawasaki Akizo's office.

In the empty office, Kawasaki Akizo frowned.

He knows that Li Rongcheng is not the kind of person who likes to say empty and harsh words, but if Li Rongcheng's words are not false, then... what will happen to Kawasaki Heavy Industries? Retaliation?
"Xu Cang."

啊切
In the cockpit, Xu Cang rubbed his nose and muttered, "Who's talking about me?"

"Mr. Xu, if you feel tired, you can take a rest." Beside, the captain even said flatteringly.

Xu Cang looked down at himself in casual clothes, smacked his lips, and looked outside, it was a clear sky.

Stretching, he murmured in his heart: "It seems that there is nothing wrong, let's take a nap?"

(End of this chapter)