Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 292 Inspecting the Stadium
"Thank you!" Li Song nodded.

Then nothing else happened. The home appliance laboratory is progressing according to plan, and it will be located in Guangzhou.

The laboratory was chosen to be located on the road from the motorcycle factory toward Guangzhou because the laboratory is expected to be large-scale in the future.

We are drawing personnel from various departments and factories.

This laboratory is positioned as a whole-house smart home appliance center.

Then comes the whole-house smart service system.

The whole-house smart service system includes many smart devices, including smart service robots.

These robots are there to serve humanity.

There will be plenty of second-hand platforms in the future.

Ma Shengli went back to report on his work, so Li Song had nothing to do.

Li Song had just dealt with matters at three large factories in Guangzhou a couple of days before returning to the city!
Li Song is not the kind of boss who tries to handle everything, because that would only make the boss too busy.

Bosses need to know how to delegate authority, but they also need to know how to supervise.

If a boss doesn't delegate authority, he'll only find himself constantly busy.

Sometimes, being too busy can cause us to overlook certain things.

Because a boss can only watch a limited number of things with just one pair of eyes.

And having internal oversight departments means having countless eyes watching.

In addition, the factory has a whistleblowing system!
If workers feel anything is amiss, they can report it anonymously!
Li Song didn't go to the BMW factory's power plant to see the small aircraft engine manufacturing, because there was no need for the task; he could just pass it on!
The next day, Li Song arrived at the Chang'an Aircraft Manufacturing Plant.

Chang'an Aircraft Manufacturing Plant has begun assembling medium- and long-range turbofan engines.

The turbofan engine parts were delivered by Li Song via cargo ship last time.

Because of the experience gained from assembling small business jets, the engine assembly process was much faster this time than before.

Of course, we don't just rush things. In the past, everyone looked at technical drawings, but now that we're seeing the actual product for the first time, we want everyone to understand it properly!

There are also three engines. After the first one is assembled, it will be sent to an engine testing facility in the southwest.

Then the remaining two units will be assembled.

After the engine assembly was completed, the assembly of the medium- and long-range passenger aircraft began in the assembly workshop.

In addition, the aircraft engine manufacturing workshop has been completed and equipment debugging is underway!

The core equipment was brought over with us last time, while the other equipment was allocated by higher authorities.

Li Song glanced at the progress of the ground testing of the small aircraft, and then listened to Chief Engineer Ma's verbal report.

Li Song plans to establish the space exploration company right next to the aircraft manufacturing plant.

This will make it easier to manufacture rockets here and then transport them to the Northwest via the aircraft manufacturing plant's runway.

This proposal hasn't been discussed with higher authorities yet; we need to see what their plans are.

This space exploration company's rocket manufacturing requires a lot of resources from the mainland, such as various raw materials.

If Li Song's space exploration company were to manufacture all of these materials, it would definitely lose money. It's impossible for him to set up a materials smelting plant just for the materials needed for rocket engines.

Of course, rocket manufacturing requires small-scale smelting equipment, but the raw materials must still be obtained from official channels.

Li Song stayed overnight in Chang'an.

The next day, January 16, 1981, Li Song flew directly to Shanghai.

When Li Song was on his flight to Shanghai, it was Amei's evening.

Nick was back in the CBS studio.

The beautiful blonde female host was wearing a very attractive outfit, and besides Nick, there was another guest.

The beautiful host began by saying, "Welcome to CBS TV. We at CBS TV bring you the latest global news, and there's been a new development in our crowdfunding campaign for the propeller plane."

"We would like to share some news with you all: the novel 'National Treasure' has sold five million copies in Europe and North America, and has topped this year's bestseller list!"

"This is Professor Wilson from Columbia University's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Nick, a senior reporter from CBS, is an old acquaintance of ours and the initiator of the airplane crowdfunding campaign!"

Wilson was a slightly balding old man, with the typical Scottish look!
Wilson nodded and said to the camera, "I'm Wilson, from Columbia University."

"Professor Wilson, here are the renderings and structural design drawings of our crowdfunded mini-airplane. What do you think, Professor Wilson?" the host asked, holding up a photo of the aircraft's rendering.

Of course, what the audience sees is a close-up photo of the small airplane rendering provided by the camera.

"To be honest, the design of this aircraft is excellent."

"You can tell from its appearance that it is an excellent aircraft, and it gives people a very elegant feeling."

"Although it's a single-propeller, high-wing aircraft, it doesn't have the messy-looking control sticks on the sides like other high-wing aircraft!"

"Of course, specific tests and evaluations of the security devices are still needed!" Wilson said.

"What interests me most is the manufacturing technology of this aircraft; the fuselage frame uses a one-piece casting technology."

"If this aircraft really uses this technology, then its quality level will be quite high!"

"Integrated die-casting technology is only used in very high-end aircraft, such as our large civil airliners."

"And on some spacecraft!"

"The unibody aluminum alloy die-casting technology will make the entire fuselage stronger while reducing the weight of the entire aircraft."

"By reducing the aircraft's own weight, its payload capacity will increase, and its range will also increase!"

"As for their designed six-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, it is also excellent!"

"And it also uses an aluminum alloy engine."

"And their fuselage and wings are made of honeycomb aluminum alloy."

"In my opinion, this would increase costs significantly."

"Of course, aircraft made this way are superior to other aircraft of the same type in terms of service life and maintenance, because we all know that aluminum is not easily corroded!"

"Some aircraft use wood, which is a very cost-effective material. After treatment, it can also achieve the effects of anti-corrosion and moisture-proofing!"

"However, wood is not as good as this honeycomb-shaped aluminum alloy in terms of impact resistance and tensile strength."

"In addition, their surface coating technology is also at a world-class level."

"Of course, all of this is just what's described in this document," Wilson added as a final remark.

Saying that is tantamount to shirking one's responsibility.

"Professor Wilson, Mr. Li Song once suggested that they wanted to find a laboratory to test the horizontally opposed engine they had manufactured."

"Personally, I think Columbia University excels in this area. I wonder if Professor Wilson would be interested!" "Let's all take a look at the power level of this aircraft!"

“I believe Columbia University’s expertise will be able to determine the true level of this engine,” Nick said at this moment.
Wilson came here, of course, for this reason.

This will bring Columbia University into the spotlight more.

Although Columbia University is already very famous, it still won't let go of this kind of attempt to ride on its coattails.

"Of course!"

“I think we can also test your aircraft samples.”

“Columbia University is very professional and excellent in this regard!” Wilson nodded.

"I just feel that some of Mr. Li Song's statements may not be entirely accurate. For example, he said that the minimum crowdfunding price for this plane could reach ten thousand US dollars?" Wilson had discussed this topic with Nick beforehand.

"Ok!"

"I spoke with Mr. Li Song this time, and if we raise enough planes through crowdfunding, the cost price could reach ten thousand US dollars!"

“Of course, the crowdfunding price will not exceed $20,000. If the cost exceeds $20,000, then Mr. Li Song will bear all the excess costs,” Nick emphasized again.

Nick knew that the most important factor for potential customers of the crowdfunded plane was the price.

If people don't care about the price, they'll just buy other planes.

"I think this is a bit of a joke!"

"If the manufacturing standards described in the documents are followed, it would definitely not be possible to make it for ten thousand dollars."

"Therefore, I still have doubts about the manufacturing quality of this aircraft!"

"Actually, when I saw the crowdfunding news, I discussed with my students that with our $20,000 cost at Amer, we could easily make it work if we reduced some features!"

"For example, the fuselage is made of inexpensive steel pipes, and the wings are made of wood."

"Then we also used the cheapest engine, which barely managed to keep the cost down to $20,000."

"Of course, labor and cost of living are lower in the East, but considering the investment in research and development, as well as the extremely long shipping costs!"

"So the cost of $20,000 should be just enough."

"However, using the materials and manufacturing processes mentioned above is not enough. The molds for casting the fuselage frame and wings as a single unit alone would require a considerable amount of cost!"

"So I'm really looking forward to the prototype of this aircraft. If the prototype is really manufactured according to the advertised process, then I wouldn't mind buying one, because with such a manufacturing process, its service life will be quite long!" Wilson said a lot.

As a professional, Wilson felt that $10,000 was simply not enough based on the advertised manufacturing process and materials.

As a professional, his questioning stems from his own expertise, which leads him to make this judgment.

On the other hand, the reason why the TV station approached him was because they also needed viewership for this matter!

There needs to be someone who opposes this, someone who discusses this, or even someone who deliberately stirs up this issue.

That's how news gets attention.

Faced with Johnson's statement, Nick could only reply, "Yes, I believe Mr. Li will surprise us!"

"Then let's wait and see!"

This report by CBs television quickly attracted the attention of others!

Ami's small aircraft manufacturing company was keenly aware of the danger posed by Li Song!
Of course, they also knew why Li Song did this.

Of course, it's all about seizing market share.

Using low prices to seize the market is the most effective tactic, bar none.

These small aircraft manufacturers, through various means, were unsure whether Li Song could manufacture an aircraft.

Because the environment in which Li Song was located simply did not provide for this capability.

Moreover, Li Song's approach completely surprised everyone.

Crowdfunding is a highly participatory method.

This is not like a typical buyer-seller relationship!
Moreover, due to Li Song's unique status, these small aircraft manufacturers had limited means to employ.

So after seeing this news, they immediately took countermeasures.

The main issue is that, from the perspective of these aircraft manufacturers, the aircraft manufacturing method described here is nothing more than a complete gimmick.

It was a marketing farce.

So the following evening, CNN used this incident as a topic of discussion.

Furthermore, they also invited experts in related fields and used content broadcast by CBS, mainly focusing on aircraft manufacturing processes.

To say how difficult this integrated casting manufacturing process is, how excellent and advanced it is, and how many tons of aluminum alloy casting press it requires.

Furthermore, it was stated that the factory under Li Song's name did not possess such excellent craftsmanship.

They even said that no other major Eastern country possessed such craftsmanship.

This is a marketing tactic by Li Song, because he has no responsibility or obligation to complete this task.

Anyway, other smaller aircraft manufacturers started to step up their efforts.

The main reason is that these manufacturers are scared; they really want to push the price of small planes up to ten thousand dollars!
Don't live any more!

Let alone using such advanced technology and processes, anyone with even a little bit of expertise would be scrambling to buy it!

These small aircraft have an extremely long lifespan, and Li Song's actions might just bankrupt them.

Although the market size for these small aircraft is decent, the annual growth rate is not very high.

The accumulated number may be in the hundreds of thousands, but the time span is likely to be thirty years. In other words, Li Song's wave may have snatched away the market for the next three to five years or even seven or eight years.

So other manufacturers have had no market or a very small market in recent years, leaving them with no choice but to go bankrupt!

And it could also lead to even worse chain reactions.

Including impacting markets other than Aramco!
Therefore, these talents responded proactively, on the one hand by publicizing it extensively in the media!

On the other hand, we can seek help from the government.

A two-pronged approach is needed: on the one hand, to convince people that the other party is exaggerating; on the other hand, to be prepared for an administrative ruling should the other party actually produce the evidence.

This is already a very familiar tactic for Amer's capitalists.

If you can't win in business, then resort to administrative tactics.

This is consistent with Ami's usual style!
Li Song didn't know much about these things because he was currently in Shanghai inspecting the Taihu Lake motocross track, mainly looking at the advertising setup around the track, as well as the rescue arrangements and the water and instant noodle supplies. Tian Jiahui was also there, along with Yang Wen.

(End of this chapter)