America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 292 A single arrow pierces the clouds, and a thousand armies come to meet it.

In the development landscape of Guangdong's battery industry, Guangzhou battery factories are definitely veterans.

This local company, which dates back to the 1920s, once enjoyed a period of great success.

In the 1970s and 80s, whose radio didn't use Guangzhou brand 555 batteries?

Furthermore, due to its advanced management philosophy, it was awarded the titles of "Model Enterprise in Learning from Daqing" and "Daqing-style Enterprise" by the Ministry of Light Industry and the Provincial Party Committee.

In 1984, Guangzhou Battery Factory became one of the first batch of self-operated import and export enterprises in Guangdong Province, and took the lead among its peers nationwide in setting up a business in Hong Kong.

But no one expected that the once-prosperous Xiang, after entering the 1990s, would gradually fall behind the fast pace of economic reform, as if it had been put on slow motion, and its business situation would deteriorate day by day.

If it weren't for the good news of land acquisition and demolition on Industrial Avenue last year, which brought the factory a compensation that was enough to give it a breather, the Guangzhou Battery Factory might already be a thing of the past, and the factory area might have been transformed into a residential community.

Even with this life-saving money, for the Guangzhou battery factory, it only delayed the crisis. It was like having a chronic disease. If it could not keep up with the times through reform in time, it would be extremely difficult to achieve development.

That day, the atmosphere in the conference room of the Guangzhou battery factory was unusually tense. The entire leadership team was gathered together, and everyone had a solemn expression on their face.

Factory manager Li Minghua looked at everyone present and, seeing that everyone was there, cleared his throat and said, "I'm sure everyone is aware of the situation. Let's hear your opinions on how to make a decision."

As soon as Li Minghua finished speaking, someone in the conference room immediately chimed in. It was Deputy Factory Director Zhang Jianjun, who was rather impatient, and his face was full of rejection: "I disagree with supporting BYD."

"Our factory isn't short of funds right now. This is precisely the time to seize this rare opportunity to invest in research and development and break through our own difficulties. We're barely making ends meet ourselves, so how can we have the time to worry about other people's business?"

He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and lightly slapped his hands on the table. "And why should BYD get the meat while we can't even get a sip of soup? This is clearly discriminatory treatment by the province. Are we going to provide support? Isn't this just working for BYD for free, even if we bring our own food?"

As soon as Zhang Jianjun finished speaking, different voices immediately rang out in the conference room. Cheng Jianguo, the head of the technical department, had some gray hair, but was full of energy. "You can't say that. We have been working in the battery industry for many years. BYD is now facing production capacity problems, and we can't just stand by and do nothing."

"If a world-renowned battery manufacturer could emerge in China, it would be a source of pride for everyone in the battery industry. It would greatly help enhance the influence of the entire domestic battery industry."

Cheng Jianguo took a sip of tea and continued, "Although we're not having an easy time right now, helping BYD might actually be helping ourselves. If BYD can successfully penetrate the high-end international battery market, our battery exports could increase significantly. Isn't that a great opportunity for our factory to seek development?"

"I don't care what you think, even if I, Lao Cheng, am all alone, I'm going to support BYD!"

When he said this, his tone was firm and his eyes were resolute. Many people in the conference room nodded in agreement, feeling that what Lao Cheng said made sense.

Seeing this, Zhang Jianjun's tone softened a bit, but he still frowned. "I'm not saying we won't help BYD, but isn't the province being too biased? Why is it that BYD gets an order at $6.12 per piece, but we only get 40 RMB?"

"It's one thing to not use foreign exchange settlement, but BYD still wants to make a profit from the difference. What's going on here? We're there to help them, not to work for them. The difference in treatment is too great."

The reason for this price is clear to everyone: firstly, the core technology is in BYD's hands, and they are only responsible for the basic operations of grouting and winding.

The second point is to appease BYD. They brought in the orders, so we can't let them not make a penny, and they even have to contribute technology, right?

At this point, everyone understands the difference in status between a leading international battery manufacturer and an ordinary battery manufacturer struggling to operate at full capacity within the province.

This was precisely the brilliant idea that Mayor Li came up with, and the reason why he readily agreed to Cook's order requirements.

BYD does face a problem of insufficient production capacity, but this does not mean that BYD is the only factory in Shenzhen, nor does it mean that BYD is the only factory in Guangdong that can produce batteries.

BYD has modified its own production lines, so setting up a lithium battery production line is not a problem at all. As long as the relevant component and raw material factories can be coordinated, the production line can be put into operation at any time.

That would allow BYD's skilled workers to go to other battery factories in the province to lead the main production work. In the battery production process, such as grouting, the major battery factories have a lot of skilled workers, so there is no need to worry about a shortage of manpower.

With BYD's workers at the core, the originally scattered production lines were transformed into a vast production network. This was Li Shi's idea.

The province also attaches great importance to BYD. Although the global lithium battery market size was only US$28 billion in 1997, its development speed was very fast.

Between 1995 and 1997, the global lithium battery market grew by more than 140%, and this growth rate continues to increase.

Moreover, the industry is relatively competitive, with fewer than ten manufacturers worldwide capable of producing lithium batteries. This presents a tremendous opportunity for Chinese companies.

The lithium battery project is definitely a promising one, especially with the rise of various electronic products and the increasing popularity of mobile phones and laptops. Many professional organizations predict that the global lithium battery market size may grow more than tenfold in the next ten years.

Even without much, as long as BYD can steadily capture 10% of the global market share, it can generate a fixed income of two to three billion US dollars every year, and the GDP it drives is immeasurable.

This is just the economic benefit; the political benefits are even greater. It should be noted that lithium battery technology is a top-tier international technology, and many developed countries have not yet developed it.

Therefore, not only the battery factory in Guangzhou, but also the battery factories throughout Guangdong Province, have basically received the task of supporting BYD.

However, the province also took into account the actual situation of each factory and did not adopt mandatory measures, but rather relied on voluntary participation.

After a moment of silence in the meeting room, Li Minghua spoke, his eyes resolute: "I think at this time, we can't just consider the gains and losses. No matter what we do, someone always has to make sacrifices."

I believe that national interests should take precedence over the interests of factories and individuals. Helping BYD is not only contributing to the development of the entire battery industry, but also to the technological progress of the entire country.

"So I've decided that our factory will fully support BYD and we can't let the Americans underestimate the strength of Chinese companies."

Like the Guangzhou battery factory, other related factories in Guangdong, such as the South China Electronic Components Factory and the Yuexiu Machinery Processing Factory, have also actively responded to the province's call and allocated their own advantageous resources to fully support BYD.

The production workshop at BYD was bustling with activity.

Technicians from various factories in Guangzhou and BYD employees quickly overcame their initial awkwardness and integrated into a powerful joint task force.

The workers have their own clearly defined production tasks, and the technicians also have their own research and development responsibilities.

Li Shi had previously learned from Wang Chuanfu that BYD still lags behind Japanese lithium battery manufacturers in lithium battery technology.

Therefore, we wanted to take this opportunity to bring together the technical talents from various factories to exchange ideas and discuss whether we could achieve a technological breakthrough and completely close the gap between BYD's lithium battery technology and Japanese manufacturers.

Wang Chuanfu was in his office at the moment, looking out the window at the busy scene in the factory, his eyes filled with determination.

The move to bravely confront Cook back then was the right one; BYD has now ushered in the opportunity for a true take-off.

To his surprise, the gains he made this time were far greater than he had initially imagined.

After the arrival of technicians from various factories, they brought different technical ideas and experiences, and many problems that BYD had previously been unable to solve in battery technology have now been solved.

Many solutions to the problems have actually been developed, but they have been buried in the databases of other factories. Without this technical exchange, these technologies would have remained buried for who knows how long.

Wang Chuanfu now feels as if he commands a vast army, and he is deeply grateful for the support given by the country.

>