A new day is coming, and today is a good day for Han Hao, because the China Automotive Research Institute has finally succeeded in gnawing a hard bone recently.

Thanks to the Chinese government's continuous and strong investment in education, a new generation of engineers has entered the labor market in a steady stream, and Chung Hwa Group has been able to fully enjoy the dividends of talent explosion.

Since the beginning of the first two years, with the construction and commissioning of Volvo China's automation factory as the dividing line, the number of employees recruited by Zhonghua Group has focused on engineers, and the number of front-line production personnel has been greatly reduced, reflecting the company's transformation from manufacturing to R&D system.

The Jiangzhou smart factory, which produces the Volvo XC60 and S60, has undergone three construction and transformations, and the annual output has reached 480,000 units. Compared with traditional automobile production plants, there are more than 1,500 intelligent robots in the four major process workshops of stamping, body, painting and assembly, and the automation rate of the production line has reached 95%, making the logistics intelligent and the production line highly flexible.

Most notably, the number of employees in the entire plant is just over 4,000, a 50% reduction compared to a traditional factory with a capacity of 480,000 vehicles, and the phenomenon of machines replacing front-line workers is happening in the automotive industry. Behind the reduction of front-line workers is a large-scale increase in automotive R&D personnel, and there is a strong demand for talents in the field of invention and creation.

The number of employees of the China Automotive Research Institute has exceeded 60,000, and if Volvo and Land Rover related personnel are included, the number of global R&D employees will exceed 80,000, which can be said to be the largest among global automobile manufacturers.

The cost of hiring an engineer abroad can recruit 5 people of the same level in China, which is the Chinese engineer dividend.

On the one hand, the traditional fuel vehicle field is checking and filling the gaps and striving to keep up with the trend of the times, and on the other hand, it is necessary to increase investment in the field of new energy vehicles without previous experience, which requires the support of a large number of talents.

Based on the statistics of 280,000 employees of all brands of the entire Zhonghua Group, the R&D team of 80,000 people has accounted for 28.5% of the total number of employees, which is much higher than the average of about 15% of traditional mainstream car companies. Han Hao is not satisfied with this, and he plans to increase the number of R&D personnel in the automotive research institute to 100,000 in the next three years to build the world's first automotive talent team.

Of course, under the popularization of intelligent factories, the increase in R&D personnel corresponds to the relative reduction of the scale of front-line production employees, resulting in the overall number of people in the entire Zhonghua Group will remain around 300,000.

According to Han Hao's prediction, in the next 10 years, Zhonghua Group will transform from "Made in China" to "Created in China", and the proportion of R&D personnel will reach 45%, becoming a real Industry 4.0 high-tech enterprise.

Walking into the door of the Automotive Research Institute, Han Hao found that he was a little unfamiliar, he had not visited in person for a long time, mainly because diversified investment took up a lot of his time.

The spacecraft building, which was originally designed to carry 10,000 people, was no longer sufficient to meet the demand, but fortunately, the Jiangzhou municipal government organized the demolition nearby and gave Zhonghua Group a large vacant land to build a new research institute building to house the increasing number of R&D personnel.

High-level R&D talents from all over the world, domestic and foreign countries gather here, truly building Jiangzhou into a talent highland in China's automobile industry.

The hard bone that the research institute has overcome is that the 8AT transmission can finally be put into small-scale trial production, which means that it can really be installed on production cars.

When it comes to the development process of 8AT, it is really difficult to put into words.

Since the official acquisition of DSI in 2008, the project research and development of 8AT has begun to be prepared, and giving people money all the way can be said to be the company's internal ace research and development project.

Originally, according to Han Hao's expectations, it should have been effective at the end of 2011, when he also announced that he would become the third company in the world to mass-produce 8AT before Hanmi and other automobile manufacturers.

Unexpectedly, the R&D of 8AT encountered many unexpected difficulties, although there was a foundation of 6AT as the foundation, but the R&D team of 8AT still made slow progress.

This is the case with technology research and development, sometimes at 99% of the progress, the remaining 1% of the journey can take most of the time.

Fortunately, the foreign R&D team led by Wiggins and the local Chinese engineers actively cooperated, creatively invented several key patents, and finally solved various problems and completed the project schedule.

The darkest moment for the whole team was 13 months ago, when South Korea's Hyundai's Paiwotai publicly announced its 8AT mass production plan, reaching the world's third glory ahead of Chunghwa Group, second only to the old transmission companies Aisin and ZF.

This was a big blow to the original high-spirited 8AT R&D team of Zhonghua Group, and they did not expect that they would eventually lose to the Koreans.

"It doesn't matter if there is a setback, after all, they developed it 20 years before us!"

The low morale even alarmed Han Hao, who personally cheered up the R&D team, and gave them a week off in one go, and chartered a resort with a pleasant scenery for them to carry out team building activities to recover.

At the same time, it can be seen that the R&D capabilities of Koreans should not be underestimated, and they have paranoid pursuits in subdivided fields. You must know that at the end of the 70s, Korean cars began to rise and attach importance to research and development, 20 years earlier than Zhonghua Group.

Having said that, Zhonghua Group's 8AT took 5 years of research and development and invested more than 11 billion yuan, which is a very large expenditure.

Fortunately, the investment has finally ushered in the output, and the successful research and development of 8AT can at least ensure that Zhonghua Group can maintain one of the first-class groups in terms of technical level.

While Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus all use 8-speed automatic transmissions in high-end models, Range Rover and Volvo XC90 with 6-speed automatic transmissions are a head of the way.

Now, the birth of 8AT will solve the embarrassment of the relatively backward technology of Zhonghua Group's high-end models in one fell swoop.

"In the R&D process, we fully considered the follow-up needs and practical applications, and creatively broke through the thinking to complete the design and development of the 8AT with an integrated and modular solution.

Not only can it be integrated with the start system, but also with the central differential and transfer case modules of the all-wheel drive system directly on the chassis, as well as hybrid powertrains, from simple start-stop systems to full hybrid systems. ”

The former deputy chief designer of DSI and the current head of the 8AT team of China Group, Wiggins, an international friend, personally explained to his boss Han Hao.

"The product in front of us is longitudinally front-wheel drive, but we can easily transform it into a new longitudinal rear-wheel drive product based on the modular concept. In addition, on the basis of ensuring the original mechanical core, we can also make changes to design a transverse 8AT product, and the relevant research and development is already underway, and new samples will be available soon. ”

Drawing inferences from one case to another shows that although the progress of this research and development is slow, the results are great, which is equivalent to doing both vertical and horizontal research and development.

Wiggins' eyebrows flutter when he talks about his new product, sweeping away the frustration he felt 13 months ago.

"You see, at that time, I told you to study more philosophy! In addition to technology, we need to have a more objective ability to perceive the world. ”

Han Hao was also very happy after hearing this, and he couldn't help but joke with his international friend Wiggins.

At his level, it is necessary to control everything from a macro perspective, and philosophy can provide a stabilizer of the worldview. It is no wonder that when Grandpa Mao visited China and met with Nixon during the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, he only talked about philosophy with the other party and did not talk about specific state affairs.

"Maybe that's why you're the boss and I can only work for you!"

Wiggins, who is not smiling, rarely reveals a witty side.

The investment of 11 billion yuan, calculated at a production cost of 20,000 yuan, only needs 550,000 cars equipped with 8AT to return to the cost, and the rest is to sell one more to earn one.

The first users will definitely be Land Rover and Volvo brands, after all, they represent the face of the Chung Hwa Group.

Range Rover, Aurora and Discoverer, Volvo XC90, V90 and S90, which should be able to cover the cost of at least 250,000 units. For the rest, the popular fried chicken SUV "Tang" and XC60 can cover the remaining 300,000 units.

In short, based on the scale of Chunghwa Group's current car sales, the investment cost of 8AT should be recovered soon.

Think about it, after the popularization of 8AT, 6AT was replaced and decentralized, and how powerful the combat effectiveness of a rural king like Huaxia Hongguang should be equipped with 6AT.

"When I learned that you were here today, I specially prepared a little surprise for you!"

Wiggins led Han Hao to the side, where a large object was covered with a red cloth.

"Look, our first prototype of a 10AT!"

Unexpectedly, the entire foreign friends still have a hidden hand, and even Han Hao didn't know that the prototype of the 10AT had been born.

"I'm very happy, it's a big surprise and I love it. ”

Although when he saw the outline just now, Han Hao guessed in his heart that it was related to 10AT, but he was still very happy to see the real thing come true.

"Isn't it going to take another five years this time?"

Han's richest man has not forgotten the scene dominated by the 8AT prototype back then, but the progress that he thought was smooth sailing was full of twists and turns.

"Don't worry, I only need 3 years this time, because I have a group of very smart and capable men!"

After the team run-in, Wiggins has become very handy, and he likes the current team and the company atmosphere.

At the same time, he is also very glad that he did not choose Ford but defected to the China Group, which has been proved by time to be an extremely correct choice.

Now it is rumored in the industry that Ford's 8AT is difficult to deliver, and they plan to share the cost with General Motors to jointly develop the 9AT, and they don't know when it will be implemented.

If I had stayed at Ford, I might have to find a job again, and I wouldn't have the sense of accomplishment I have now achieved in developing the 8AT and the 10AT.

Wiggins is grateful to the richest man in Asia in front of him, who has always been able to turn the bad into the magic and subvert the original order of the global automotive industry.