The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Chapter 367 Sister and Brother-in-law
Hou Guoming and Chen Chenxing both have part-time jobs at Nanshan Technology.

As people who have a certain understanding of the various parts of a car, their reactions were very different after listening to Jiang Hui's hot stamping solution.

"Director, I think if this hot stamping technology can be successfully used on Land Rover off-road vehicles, it will be very helpful for our products to be sold all over the world."

"In the field of off-road vehicles, consumers pay much more attention to the strength of the vehicle than ordinary models."

"Especially if some people really want to drive these cars to places with bad road conditions, users will have a lot of concerns if the car body strength is not good enough."

"When a car accident happens, the impact is even more obvious."

"As long as we do a good job of publicity, we can use this point to promote the good performance of off-road vehicles."

"Combined with the stunning appearance of the Land Rover off-road vehicle, it is much easier to sell it well."

As the person in charge of sales, Chen Chenxing knows all too well the importance of an impactful selling point to a product.

Hot stamping technology can increase the tensile strength of steel plates from more than 200 MPa to more than 1,000 MPa, and even reach an exaggerated 2,000 MPa.

This is something that the cold stamping process cannot achieve at all.

In later generations, many auto parts companies in Japan were able to perform cold stamping processes for 980MP and 1180MPA steel plates, which to a certain extent could compete with hot stamping.

However, 440MPA is already considered a high-strength steel plate, and it is only used in a few key parts on most cars. There is no sign of mass production of 980MPA and 1180MPA high-strength automobile steel plates.

In such a big background, Land Rover off-road vehicles have developed a 1500MPA hot stamping process to weld parts into key parts of the car body. The impact is definitely huge.

Chen Chenxing has already started thinking about how to use this hot spot for publicity.

However, as the technical director, Hou Guoming has different considerations from Chen Chenxing.

"So far, only Saab Automobile has tried to use some hot stamping parts on one model. Toyota, General Motors, Ford and BMW and other auto giants have not yet started using hot stamping technology."

"I don't think it's because the engineers in charge of body design in these car companies have poor vision, but because the hot stamping technology is too immature."

"We want to use it on Land Rover off-road vehicles, which is very likely to delay the mass production of Land Rover off-road vehicles, or even put mass production at a distant date."

“This result is difficult to accept, so before we can see the concrete prospect of mass production application of hot stamping technology, I am not very supportive of using it directly on Land Rover off-road vehicles.”

Hou Guoming had no doubt about Jiang Hui's vision, and he also knew that Jiang Hui's technical level was very high.

However, this technology has never been researched in China, and both materials and equipment are in short supply.

Even internationally, there are very few companies doing research in this field, so it is extremely difficult to make a major breakthrough in a short period of time.

Hou Guoming feels that if the mass production of such a promising model as Land Rover off-road vehicle is really delayed, it will be a loss.

"I think the key reason why those auto giants don't use hot stamping technology on a large scale is not because hot stamping technology is not mature, but because hot stamping parts produced abroad are too expensive."

"In the entire automotive industry, no one is using this technology on a large scale, and consumers' requirements for vehicle strength are not very high. It is completely understandable that auto giants do not want to spend more money for their own benefit."

"Otherwise, the heating furnaces, presses, and laser cutting machines used to process hot stamped parts are not very different from other similar equipment used in the industrial sector. They only need to be slightly modified before they can be used."

"For example, a heating furnace heats steel plates to a high temperature of about 900 degrees. Are there any technical difficulties? Not at all!"

"For example, compared with traditional cold stamping, the biggest feature of hot stamping technology is pressure retention, which has low production efficiency. We can just use a hydraulic press."

“I think it’s enough that there’s almost no need to make any major changes to this seemingly backward hydraulic press.”

"I will contact the Ji'er Machine Tool Factory later to see if they have an 800-ton or 1000-ton hydraulic press and buy one directly from them."

Jiang Hui directly expressed his views on the key equipment of hot stamping process.

This kind of equipment has a threshold, but it is definitely not as high as everyone imagines.

Especially now the requirements for hot stamping parts are not as high as in later generations. Even if there are some quality defects, they are actually acceptable.

For example, later hot stamping parts require the strength of any part to reach 1500MPA.

This places very high demands on the layout design of the mold water channel. If you are not careful, some places will reach 1500MPA, while some places will only have 1200MPA due to inadequate quenching, or even have a tensile strength of only 800MPA.

In the absence of competitors, this kind of defective parts from later generations are completely fine now.

If I have the guts to say I can't do it, I have to wait until other manufacturers start using better technology than Land Rover off-road vehicles.

Similarly, the heating furnace has very high requirements for temperature stability control. If the fluctuation is large within the specified range, it is likely that the metallographic structure inside the steel plate cannot be fully austenitized, which will ultimately affect the strength after quenching.

This problem is the same as the mold water channel design problem just now, and it is not a fatal problem now.

On the contrary, Jiang Hui feels that domestic equipment manufacturers may not be able to produce machine tools for processing mold water channels, and they may need to be imported from abroad.

Although Nanshan Equipment will have to develop this type of machine tool sooner or later, it may not be able to catch up in a short period of time, so you can consider importing one first.

Anyway, given the friendly relations between China and the United States at this time, even if the imported machine tools are products that were restricted from export to China in the past, it is possible to succeed.

After all, importers and users are Hong Kong companies, not Chinese state-owned enterprises.

As for laser cutting equipment, domestic technology is not particularly backward. It’s just that the speed and accuracy of laser cutting are not particularly high.

But it is not a big deal and does not affect the competitiveness of Land Rover off-road vehicles.

If these issues are not a problem, cost will be even less of a problem.

The gap between the wage levels of Chinese workers and those in Europe and the United States is really too big.

Therefore, even though the processing time of hot stamping parts is several times that of traditional cold stamping parts, the final increase in processing fees is relatively limited.

As for the depreciation expenses of various other equipment, the impact is also very limited as long as imported equipment is not used.

A domestic heating furnace can be made for less than 100,000 yuan.

Similarly, the selling price of domestic laser equipment is about the same level.

Although 10 yuan is not cheap in this era, but when amortized to each car, the cost increases by less than one yuan, which is a small matter.

Jiang Hui had a very clear idea in his mind, so it was imperative to vigorously develop hot stamping technology and regard it as an important weapon for Land Rover to go global.

Feeling Jiang Hui's strong determination, Hou Guoming had no choice but to move forward.

Fortunately, from the perspective of automotive parts design, the design of hot stamping parts is almost the same as that of cold stamping parts. In fact, because hot stamping parts have better forming performance, the part design can be more complicated.

This allows the design of the mating parts to be simpler, thereby reducing the difficulty of producing the mating parts, which is also an advantage of using hot stamping parts.

……

"Lingling, my sister and brother-in-law have been working in Shanghai for many years, but their level has not been promoted much."

"Our family doesn't have much influence in Shanghai. For better development, how about inviting them to work in Shenzhen?"

When he returned home in the evening, Jiang Hui set his sights on Zhu Ling's sister and brother-in-law.

One of them works in a hospital and the other works in Baosteel.

If we can invite them over, we can completely let my sister take charge of the preparations for the group's affiliated hospital, and let my brother-in-law take charge of the research and development of hot stamped steel plates.

It would be even better if I could use my brother-in-law's relationship to persuade Baosteel to cooperate with BMW to develop and produce hot stamped steel plates.

After all, as a steel plant that the country has focused on developing in the past few years, Baosteel's equipment and technology level are second to none in the country.

By working with them, Jiang Hui feels that the development of hot stamped steel plates will be faster.

Of course, Baosteel is definitely not the only choice. Shougang, Angang, and even Shaogang in Lingnan Province can all be considered.

"Do you mind letting them come to work in the group?"

Zhu Ling looked at Jiang Hui with anticipation.

In fact, she had this idea a long time ago.

Unlike many people of this generation who have five or six brothers and sisters, Zhu Ling only has one sister.

But the two sisters rarely see each other once a year, and this is definitely not the situation she wants to see.

"What's there to worry about? I was originally worried that they would get used to their current jobs and wouldn't want to come out."

"And when people work within the system, their social status is definitely different from that of working in a private enterprise."

"But right now our group is in great need of technical experts who are proficient in materials. I think it would be very meaningful for us if my brother-in-law is willing to come."

In the short term, Jiang Hui has no plans to set up his own steel plant, but in the long run, a special steel processing plant belonging to the BMW Group is still necessary.

Otherwise, with domestic special steel technology, when the technology of many parts wants to be further improved, they will encounter material bottlenecks.

Even if we can import from abroad at that time, the cost will be unacceptable.

What's more, even if you want to import some key special steels, they will not be sold to you.

"Although my sister and brother-in-law are considered leaders in their units, their room for advancement is limited."

"Our BMW Group is no longer what it used to be. They don't need to worry about their treatment after they come here."

"There will definitely be a bigger stage for them to display their abilities in the future."

"So as long as we invite them sincerely, they will definitely be willing to come."

"I'll call my sister now."

After Zhu Ling finished speaking, she immediately took action.

……

"Wu Ming, Linlin wants me to help build a hospital affiliated with the BMW Group. At that time, this hospital will import a batch of equipment from abroad and cooperate with Shenzhen City to develop into one of the top hospitals in Shenzhen."

"She also said that Jiang Hui hopes you can go to the BMW Group to help with steel research. There is a deputy director position in the R&D center that will be reserved for you."

"what do you think?"

Although Zhu Fang was already tempted, she still did not directly agree with her sister's suggestion on the phone just now.

Such a big thing must be discussed with my husband.

"The main business of the BMW Group now is the production of the BMW Light, and the steel plates are purchased from the Capital Steel Plant."

"Is there any information that the country has not allowed foreign investment or private enterprises to enter the steel industry?"

Wu Ming didn’t quite understand Jiang Hui’s arrangement. After all, it was just the Zhu Fang sister who were talking on the phone just now.

"Jiang Hui will call you tomorrow to tell you the specific situation, but since he said he needs your help, it shouldn't be a polite gesture."

"Although you are the head of the technical department in your company, it will probably be difficult for you to get promoted further."

"It will be different when we go to BMW Group. Jiang Hui and his wife will definitely not treat us unfairly."

Thinking about the small house she lives in now and the house her sister saw when she went to Shenzhen on a business trip last year, Zhu Fang didn't want to stay in Shanghai anymore.

As the largest city in China, the housing situation in Shanghai is the most tense.

Even though Zhu Fang and his wife's housing conditions are quite good, considering that they have five children living with them, the situation is not good at all.

"I'll call my dad tomorrow morning to discuss it and see what he thinks."

Wu Ming's family is just an ordinary working class. Although the working class has a high social status in that era, it cannot provide any particular help to his personal development.

My father-in-law is now the principal of a school. If he goes further in the future, his influence will be completely different.

Before, Wu Ming had been staying at Baosteel honestly, just wanting to wait for Zhu Jiansheng to be promoted and see if there would be any improvement in his future.

Now that Jiang Hui suddenly said he wanted to invite him to Shenzhen, he was a little conflicted.

"You might as well ask Dad. The current situation is very different from that of previous years. Dad must know more information than us."

"He should be able to give us some advice on whether it is better to continue to stay in Shanghai or go to Shenzhen."

Zhu Fang did not continue to persuade Wu Ming, giving him some time to think about it. The effect might be better by then.

(End of this chapter)