Chapter 109: Wolfsburg (500 Monthly Pass Plus Update)
The city of Wolfsburg is a new city, which was only established when Zhou Nan came to Europe in 38, and it is only eight years from its current history.
Located in the heart of northern Germany, it is not only on the railway lines between Berlin and Hanover, but also on the Ahr River and the Central Canal, which connects the German waterways, forming a three-dimensional transport hub.
In 37, Hetler personally determined the location of the Volkswagen factory, including the architectural style of the city. A year later, a whole new city was erected in the northern wilderness.
Eight years later, the city has 20,000 residents, most of whom are employees of the Volkswagen plant.
Because it is a new city, most of the workers do not have families, and there is a serious imbalance between men and women. In Germany, there are more than half as many women as men, but there are more men than women here.
The Volkswagen factory, which perfectly served as a tool of the Nazis during the war, would of course suffer a serious liquidation by the Allies after the end of the war.
After the occupation by the British occupation forces last year, the British gave the city the name Wolfsburg, discarding the long, smelly and Germanized name of the "Motor City".
But the Germans didn't like the name and preferred to call it Wolfsburg, because Wolff means wolf in German.
The occupation forces control any region mainly by division and isolation, but this policy does not apply in Wolfsburg.
Because the city is a factory, the factory has a complete management system, and the people are in contact with each other.
So here too, the British suffered a stronger revolt than in other regions. For a whole year from 45 years to the present, the organized revolt here has been a headache for the British because of the factory shutdown and the lack of food and clothing.
These skilled workers can be regarded as a valuable asset to any force, and they cannot be dispersed to different cities or regions like ordinary people.
Otherwise, when the factory resumes work, it will not be so easy to find another group of skilled technicians with tacit understanding.
Major General Ivanhurst, who was in charge of the region, was not a nationalist, and he was in fact very sympathetic to the current oppression of the Germans.
According to the British unified arrangement, most of the advanced equipment of the Volkswagen factory should be shipped back to the UK. But now Britain has received strong support from the United States, and countless brand new production lines have been half-sold by the Americans to the British.
At this time, the countless equipment and production lines in Germany seem to be a bit chicken.
The French wanted these devices, but the British firmly refused.
Britain did not need these devices now, and by dismantling them, the Germans saw no hope for the future, and the revolt was getting worse.
So Ivanhurst had been lobbying the General Command and the Congress, hoping that Britain would change its established policy, change from the original plunder to a more civilized one, and leave a way for the Germans to live.
Relying on economic control and receiving a steady stream of compensation from Germany is more appropriate for the current situation than for the immediate killing of chickens and eggs.
In fact, the British government has long been aware of this drawback, and at present, countless machinery and equipment are piled up in the port of Hamburg. But the British don't really need the equipment, and even shipping it back to the UK doesn't feel cost-effective.
Some of this equipment was given to Canada, Australia and even India by the British, but many of them are still in the open air of Hamburg.
Ivan Hirst made a complete plan to the junta about the strengths and weaknesses of the Volkswagen factory, control and development, and was recognized by many.
They are also willing to use the Volkswagen factory as a pilot to try new ways of control.
In such an environment, Yannick was willing to give most of his family property to help the British solve this mess, so they hit it off.
Of course, for this goal, Yannick also bribed these British authorities, and Lawsons played a very important role in this.
This British donor has the rigor of the British and the cunning of the French, as well as the maxim of mercenary life, and he does not care about his face and reputation at all for the sake of profit.
It is also people like him who are getting better and better in the British-occupied areas, and the network of relationships is getting bigger and bigger.
Yannick has been working with him for more than a year, from the beginning of the small factory, small business, to today's Volkswagen factory, they are getting closer and closer.
Although Lawsons is a bit ruthless in asking for money, he does have the ability. Through his mediation, Yannick was finally recognized by most of the powerful people in the British-occupied area, and under his leadership, he was allowed to restart the production line of the Volkswagen factory.
The Volkswagen plant was originally built under Hetler's orders, almost entirely with state investment, with only the Lower Saxony state government owning 20 percent of the shares.
Then only the founders, the Porscher family, have less than 5 percent of the shares, and the rest is all state shares.
The name Porsche was the same when it was used in the family name, but when it was used in the brand, it was the famous Porsche.
However, because of Porcher's ability in the automotive industry, both the French and the Americans want this talent. At the end of the war, Polscher was secretly sent to the United States, and only later did the Americans send him back to Europe in the face of French opposition.
The French also wanted Porscher to serve them, and imprisoned Porscher and his son-in-law Anton PiΓ«ch, only at the request of the British, to release Porcher's son Polscher the Younger.
The British, although they had driven the Polscher family out of Volkswagen's management, are still asking the younger Polscher to serve the factory. The price was for the British to protect Porsche AG Stuttgart and Porsche Austria in crisis.
These two companies are the largest family business of the Polscher family outside of the public, and they are also the foundation of the family, and they were stuck by the neck of the British, and the little Polscher and other family members could only obey.
Seventy-five percent of the Volkswagen plant is currently state-owned, and for a car factory with more than 10,000 employees and huge fixed assets, Yannick's 4 million Swiss franc investment is unlikely to fully control these shares.
However, because of Lawsons's mediation, Yannick's action was strongly supported not only by the Bank of England, but also by the Americans.
Yannick acquired these shares at a very small cost, and will also receive loans from British and American banks, as well as raw material support from all sides.
But he will also be responsible for costly long-term reparations and will be responsible for pacifying and maintaining regional stability in Wolfsburg.
Although Yannick was under pressure, he had no experience in managing a large company before that, and even Bayer Pharmaceuticals was nothing compared to Volkswagen.
But Yannick didn't worry too much, he remembered Jonas's words very clearly, as long as the company's technological development is controlled and there is no fault in technology, Volkswagen will have the ability to come back to life just by relying on the current Beetle car.
What's more, the technology licensed production proposed by Jonas, this new profit channel, is something that all entrepreneurs now do not see.
Today's enterprise management is still relatively backward and closed, almost all factories are independent factory production, which is also related to the nature of the enterprise, because in this era, even large enterprises, there are not many advantages in their hands.
Technology licensing is a double-edged sword, and when your technology spreads, it may affect your own stability.
But Zhou Nan didn't have any worries about this, he had seen a lot in later lives, and it was not so easy to improve his skills.
In a backward area, even if you give him a full set of techniques, it may take a long time for them to master it. And it will also be subject to the constraints of raw materials, supporting systems, process processing, including management.
In this process, the original enterprise can have more technological leadership.
More importantly, by participating in the construction of other factories, they can spread their influence more and occupy the market.
And the biggest advantage that Volkswagen has is that it has a large number of skilled workers and engineers, and it has one of the best products in the world, which is the Beetle.
This world's largest selling car is Volkswagen's current fist product, and it is also a powerful weapon for Volkswagen to go to the world.
At least until the 70s, there was no car that could compare to the Beetle's sales.
Hearing these words of Jonas, even though he was about to face great difficulties, Yannick was full of confidence in his future.
Although he is not good at technology research and development, and he is not good at factory management, he still has some confidence in the management of people.
The Hoffman family was able to follow the small business firm in the Far East and develop to such a large scale because it was not the old Hoffmann, but on him.
In the Far East, he was able to deal with warlords and Japanese fools, and was appreciated by General Falkenhausen mainly because of his social skills.
Now with the prophet of Jonas and his stewardship, he believes that the Hoffman family will only grow better.
The fields outside the window are picturesque, but large fields are just green grass. The Germans now have no seeds, no food rations, and no fields to barren.
Lawsons, who had slept for a while, woke up, looked at his watch, and asked, "Yannick, where are you now?" β
"Just past Braunschweig, we'll be in Wolfsburg soon."
Lawsons rubbed his face twice with his hand, and said with a smile: "I see that you seem to be a little nervous, don't worry, with the care of Major General Ivan Hirst, you can take over Volkswagen smoothly." β
Yannick's eyes were drawn from the children who were digging wild vegetables in the field, and he smiled and said, "I'm not worried about this, I'm only worried about how to develop the public in the future, you know, I owe a lot of money now!" β
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