With something to do, the minds of the two of them easily got rid of the ambiguous atmosphere and devoted themselves to their work. Milton spent a lot of time in the capital, except for the occasional outing to see the famous attractions in the capital. Almost all day long, he stayed in the room, burying his head in the materials that Fang Mingyuan brought him. Fang Mingyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this person is worthy of being the former senior manager of the United Pacific Railroad Company of the United States, as a professional manager. He is much more dedicated than the leaders of state-owned enterprises who spend all their time drinking and harming enterprises."

For Fang Mingyuan's visit, Milton was overjoyed. "Dear Fang, are you finally done with your exam? I thought I wouldn't see you before I left

"Mr. Milton, we are here to deliver your ticket and see you off. Listen to Sister Lian. You are planning to go to Qinxi Province for a field trip. Fang Mingyuan said with a smile.

"yes, yes. After these days, I have analyzed and studied the information you have provided. I think there are many similarities between your country's money system and the Union Pacific Railroad's situation in the '80s. This gives me a little more confidence in solving the profitability problem of that branch. Of course, all of this requires me to conduct a field investigation before I can give you an accurate report. I have to warn you, though. To solve this problem. First, you must have sufficient funds, and second, you must be mentally prepared to carry out drastic reforms. When it comes to railroads, Milton is even more brow-raising.

"Mr. Milton, I believe that there will be money, and there will be power." Fang Mingyuan was moved by his mood and became brisk.

"That's good, that's good! To tell the truth, I am a little envious of these peers in your country, although it is said that in the whole shijie, the railway can be said to have entered the sunset industry, and declined in the war with aviation and highways for the market, this is an indisputable fact, although the Union Pacific Railroad Company has turned around in recent years, it seems that the whole company has regained its vitality, but in the long run, if the railway transportation jishu does not undergo major changes, or the travel choices of the whole society do not change, The decay of the railways is a trend. Well, maybe high-speed rail will be the future of rail development. "But in your country, it can be said that the development of railways has just begun, and there are only more than 50,000 kilometers of operating mileage in nearly 10 million square kilometers of land, which is very incompatible with your population and land area, and in terms of your country's population, vigorously develop the private car industry." The demand for oil and energy will far exceed that of the United States; I'm afraid that the resources on this shijie can't withstand such a huge consumption in your country.

So I personally think, although said in the future. The trucking industry will develop vigorously, but your country's railway system will still be an indispensable part of the transportation system. And it's promising."

Fang Mingyuan nodded his head, what Milton said, he naturally knew that it was all good words, and the future development of the Huaxia Railway in his previous life had confirmed his opinion.

"After these days of research, I feel that even if your country's railways do not involve property rights, there is still room for reform, although it is unlikely to make a lot of profits, but there is still a lot of room for profit. handed it to Fang Mingyuan, "Here are some of my thoughts, Fang, you can take a look." ”

Fang Mingyuan looked at these materials carefully and carefully, although his spoken language was good, it was still difficult to understand a very professional material in American language. Fortunately, there is Milton on the side, and he can give detailed explanations and answers to those things he doesn't understand.

In Milton's view, today's Chinese railway system is like an army of uniform, rigid rules, bureaucratic members, bloated and cumbersome institutions, and lifeless employees. Everybody "stays in a small box." "Everything has to be" done in accordance with the rules, and the open exchange of opinions between superiors and subordinates is "cursed" and strictly forbidden by unspoken rules, and informal functional integration equals zero. Just like the Union Pacific Railroad in the early eighties.

"If you're talking about marketing jihua or strategic jihua, everyone's attention is on who is willing to come forward and follow the normal application process, not the specific content of this jihua!" Milton said with deep emotion, "Fang, can you believe it?" A freight manager was responsible for more than $20 million in business, but he didn't even have the authority to spend $2,000 without written approval from headquarters. And to get the approval from above. It took two months to wait! Such efficiency. For today's fast-paced production and life, how can you adapt to it? ”

Fang Mingyuan grinned, although he didn't say anything. But he deeply agrees with Milton's view. China's state-owned enterprises do have the shortcomings that Milton said, and Huaxia's railway system has developed these shortcomings to the extreme. The entire railway system, in China, is like a small country within a country, after entering the railway system, food, clothing, housing, all aspects, it can be said that all aspects are completely solved within the railway system, even the police station, the procuratorate, the court, the railway system has its own independent set.

"For example, in the previous Union Pacific, if a customer could not find the goods he was shipping in the truck, it could be that he was looking for the wrong carriage, or it could be that the truck was unloaded at the wrong place, so the customer would go to his sales representative, and then the sales representative would ask the regional freight manager in Xiangshang, and the regional freight manager would ask the regional freight manager. The regional manager then referred the issue to the general manager of the operations department. The chasm between the two is wider than the Grand Canyon in the United States. Then, the general manager of the operation department went to Xiangxia to find the supervisor of the freight, and the supervisor went to the accompanying personnel to find out what went wrong. And then. This cumbersome mechanism then works in reverse, feeding the results back to the customer. Milton nodded. In this way, the things that the customer needs to solve urgently need to climb up the operational level in the system in a tortuous way. Move down to the business and marketing levels. At first glance, the phone calls were full of bureaucratic habits, and these things were cleared, and no one cared if the customer was already in a hurry. They only care about how to shirk their responsibilities so as not to get into trouble. And your country's railway system also has such drawbacks.

Fang Mingyuan nodded, this point, Carrefour supermarket also suffered from it. Because the purchase of goods from all directions, and in order to save costs, the supermarket purchase population has always been straight to the production business, in order to reduce the middle layer of recording, and with the Carrefour supermarket more and more stores, the purchase volume is naturally rising, so the railway is still the main way for them to purchase goods. In the meantime, there have been many similar incidents. It's just that because of Su Aijun's relationship, those heads and brains in the Fengyuan Railway Bureau know each other, so even if something goes wrong, it can be quickly corrected.

But this kind of good treatment is not available to everyone, and many people complain about the freight of the railway system. Not to mention the delays, they are often delivered to the wrong place. When you go to the freight station to pick up the goods, you have to go up and down, accompanied by a smiling face, otherwise there will be more trouble.

This is also one of the important reasons for the rapid development of the trucking industry in Weishenme. In fact. The main problem with railways versus trucks is not speed. Rail transport may be slower than trucks, but it has a significant cost advantage, but unfortunately it is because of the arrogance and unreliability of the railway system personnel that they lose their advantage. Trucking operators pick up and deliver goods from customers, rather than picking up and delivering goods at their own pleasures, which alone makes many people choose trucks over railways.

"In the past, Union Pacific Railroad used to change its service to customers in order to save money and see if customers could tolerate it. The idea is to see how many limitations we can get rid of. For example, in the case of on-time delivery, the report sent by the company below will say that the on-time delivery rate will be as high as 90 to 90 percent, but the actual situation is not the case at all. They actually calculated it by using the actual time relative to the standard transportation time, and Milton saw that Fang Mingyuan was a little confused, and explained. "Fang, don't you think there's nothing wrong with that? Hehe, they calculated from the moment the goods were shipped, if the road should have been transported in twenty-four hours, but they took twenty-three hours to arrive, which in their opinion is on-time delivery. However, the previous three-day delay in the terminal was not counted. That is, it is three days after the schedule that the customer expects, and the goods arrive on time after a long transport! ”

"Huh?" Fang Mingyuan opened his mouth in surprise, is this okay? If this can be regarded as on-time delivery, then the of a letter done by Huaxia Post running all over the country is nothing.

"A lot of times, companies think about how to operate the railways more efficiently, but they ignore the needs of their customers. Over time, customers lose confidence in the railways, and those goods that are time-sensitive will turn to the road transport industry, leaving the railways with bulky, bulky and unprofitable goods. Then the company will complain that the profits of rail transportation are declining every year, forming an endless cycle. Talking about these past events, Milton's face showed a look of helplessness, "Fortunately, the company's board of directors realized that if this continued, the company would only come to an end, so it decided to reform." Although the results of the reform have not yet been fully felt, the Union Pacific Railroad has stopped its decline and has begun to shift in the direction of haode. In today's Union Pacific Railroad. There is such a sentence, I think it is also very suitable for your country. "Information is getting bigger and bigger in our services, it's not enough to just ship products, customers need information: where their products are packed or disassembled, when they will arrive where, prices and customs information. We are an information-driven industry

Fang Mingyuan couldn't help but applaud, Milton really deserved his reputation, although he didn't know what his management ability was, but for now, Fang Mingyuan thought that his vision had far surpassed those railway experts in China at present, and he had realized the importance of information in the future society.

"Mr. Milton, you go down this time. There are a few key issues, I hope you can ordinary railway employees, to the management, there are too many middle layers, that is, too many managers, too many officials! I hope you can give me a feasibility report with the eyes of a professional, and how many employees are needed for that line to be able to operate normally. My request is to prioritize the elimination of those civilian personnel. compression management bodies; Second, the current railway system does not make perfect use of all its resources, at least I think that the railway system can do better than road transportation, and I plan to set up a logistics and transportation company in the railway system. So as to complete the door-to-door transportation mode

"Logistics and transportation companies can be used to absorb those redundant personnel, right?" Milton said with a smile, "The Union Pacific Railroad does the same, it has a subsidiary, and it's one of the largest trucking companies in the United States. Fang Mingyuan was stunned for a moment, this was really something he didn't know.

"Third, please as a professional, investigate the current passenger traffic situation of the branch line to see what room for improvement, of course, under the premise of conforming to the national conditions of China, Fang Mingyuan does not want Milton to transfer all the treatment on the American train to Huaxia, in that case, today's passenger fares will only make the railway lose even more.

Milton listened carefully to Fang Mingyuan's words. In his heart, he couldn't help but think of what Cameron said to him before: "Don't despise him because of his age, as long as you talk to him, you will find that in that still childish body, there is a mature soul." Perhaps his verbal expression is not so accurate. The wording is not so professional, and many times it sounds like a layman pointing fingers at you, but as long as you listen carefully and think carefully. You'll find that his eyes may have set his sights on the next century. ”