After the regular working meeting of the Spark team, Zhang Guanfeng returned to the Shanghai Research Institute, and at this moment, his mood was completely different from a few days ago.

I'm rich!

Previously, the R&D + manufacturing budget of the entire project was less than 100 million, and now, the R&D budget allocated in the first phase alone has reached 80 million.

This feeling of getting rich overnight is really cool

Of course, the money was not given to him.

But as long as you are engaged in scientific research, who doesn't have a big dream of "buying whatever you want and testing what you want"?

Now, his dream has come true ahead of schedule.

When I think of my colleagues who have to be in a dilemma and save money to buy a new hot isostatic press furnace, Zhang Guanfeng's sense of superiority is simply full.

Ha? What Tianjin Waterway Bureau? Where did you get so many poor relatives? What Boss Liu?

Xiao Liu!

Of course, this is also a joke, in fact, if this project wants to go smoothly, it still depends on the talent and policy support of the Tianjin Waterway Bureau

Zhang Guanfeng sat in his office in high spirits, and at this time, the drawings in front of him had changed.

Originally, it was a drawing that was close to completion, but now, there is only one drawing that has designed the general framework and the details are basically blank.

But it made him more satisfied.

Skywhale!

Compared with the Tiens, the new design has nearly doubled the size of the hull, reaching 198 meters in length, and the width of the ship has not been enlarged in the same proportion, but expanded to 42 meters, which is more "fat" than the Tiens.

This design is designed to add a more powerful reamer shaft and a more flexible winch pipe.

If the Tiens is a dredging ship that can be used to build islands, the Sky Whale is an out-and-out island-building ship.

It is only at sea that it can play its best role.

Zhang Guanfeng took a deep breath, he took a blank piece of paper again, and began to make a rough calculation of the overall budget of the project.

The dense numbers kept falling, but he didn't have the same anxiety as before.

In the end, the total cost of design + manufacturing of the entire ship is about 1.7 billion yuan.

This number cannot be said to be large, it can only be said to be. Astronomical.

After all, when the Netherlands wanted to sell us a sand dredging ship, the price was only 300 million yuan.

But for the current Zhang Guanfeng. Money.

It's cool to hold your golden thighs.

Just leak a little broth from other items, and it's enough to drink for yourself.

Moreover, the Spark team does not have the atmosphere of the old school of agencies, they don't care about spending money, as long as they complete the project perfectly and achieve the best results.

It is very much in line with the perfectionism that I pursue.

Therefore, on the whole, the current Sky Whale project can be said to be in the right place and with the right people.

In that case, let's just take it a step further.

Thinking of this, Zhang Guanfeng picked up the phone and called his assistant Xiao Wang.

"Xiao Wang, can you help me contact the German VOSTALMG company."

"Yes, they have a lot of experience in building large cutter suction dredgers, and we can consider working with them."

"In terms of quotation, let's see what they have to say, of course, if it's too expensive, don't consider it."

"Yes, we have money now, but it's not a big deal, if you sit on the ground and start the price, then they won't make this money."

VOSTALMG HEADQUARTERS, GERMANY.

Miller looked at the two documents in his hand in a dilemma, and his eyes revealed a sense of helplessness but deep relief.

Happily, both of these documents are invitations to cooperate, or request for quotations, and are from high-quality customers.

One of them, the Huaxia Tianjin Waterway Bureau, is an official organization with strong financial strength and good reputation.

The other is a shipyard of the Vietnamese military.

Needless to say, no matter what field these two customers are in, as long as they extend an olive branch, there will definitely be a large number of companies rushing forward to do business with them, and now, they have actually found themselves at the same time.

This fully proves that the strength of VOSTALMG has been widely recognized, and the future development will be much easier.

But at the same time, what made him helpless was that the target of cooperation proposed by the two sides actually crashed.

All are large cutter suction dredgers.

It's normal to think about it, some time ago they had some conflicts on the sea because of the island problem, and now they are holding back their efforts to save face, and reclamation of the island is the best "offensive means" without using hot weapons.

So, it's not surprising that they're eyeing dredgers at the same time.

But the problem is, if they want to build, VOSTALMG may not have the ability to meet them at the same time!

Although VOSTALMG is a professional dredging solution provider, in fact, the scale of its own company is not too large, and the project parallelism ability is not strong.

In addition, in the past two years, the company has received a lot of orders from Europe and South America, and its design capacity and manufacturing capacity are close to saturation.

No, it should be said that it is not easy, but it is basically impossible.

Because both projects have time limit requirements, Huaxia requires less than 18 months, while Vietnam requires less than 12 months.

IN THIS CASE, EVEN IF VOSTALMG WANTED TO ACCEPT THE ORDER, IT WOULD BE FORCED TO CHOOSE ONE OR THE OTHER.

Thinking of this, Miller let out a long sigh.

It's a sweet annoyance.

He raised his head, looked at the commercial director sitting across from him, and asked:

"August, you know the situation, I want to ask your opinion."

"From your point of view, is there a better way for us to protect two customers at the same time?"

Hearing his question, August shook his head and replied:

"I don't think so."

"Actually, it's not a question of design capability and capacity, it's a question of standing in line."

"We all know these conflicts, and we all know what they are asking for dredgers at the same time, and in this case, it is practically undesirable if we still look at the problem only in purely commercial terms."

"Of course, you don't see an exclusivity request on an RFQ, because they don't put it on paper."

"But believe me, if we take an order from any of them, the other will immediately give up working with us."

"So, there's no room for shortcuts."

"All we can do is comprehensively evaluate the benefits of cooperation with both parties and make the choice that maximizes the benefits."

Hearing August's words, Miller nodded approvingly.

He had also considered this issue, but before August said it, he still had some unrealistic illusions in his heart, hoping that he could rely on his own mediation to make both parties consume here.

Isn't that what people in the United States do?

The whole world sells arms, fighter jets to the attackers, and anti-aircraft missiles to the defenders

Well, VOSTALMG is not the United States, and it is true that it is also not capable of this.

Thinking of this, he opened his mouth and said:

"I see."

"Now, our problem is clear."

"Do you choose Vietnam or China?"

Seeing that August wanted to speak, he directly raised his hand to interrupt the other party, and then continued:

"I'll start with my thoughts."

"First of all, I personally prefer to cooperate with Huaxia, for the simple reason that they have a better reputation and a broader market."

"We don't have to worry about getting money back, and if we can open up the market with this project, then we are likely to get a steady stream of orders in the future."

"You know, China's territorial waters are much larger than Vietnam's, and their island-building needs are also much greater."

"Taking a step back, even if we don't consider the matter of 'island building', in terms of river dredging, the vast inland and rich water system will bring infinite possibilities to our business."

"And Vietnam. They're much smaller. ”

"On the other hand, their official institutions are highly corrupt, and the collection of payments is likely to become a big problem."

With that, he looked at August quietly, waiting for his answer.

Auguste, on the other hand, was silent for a few seconds before he spoke:

"I don't agree with that."

"In my opinion, Huaxia's so-called 'vast market' is actually just an illusion."

"Yes, they do have market potential, but such potential is not left to us."

"The reason is simple, they will pursue complete autonomy in all fields."

"It can be seen from their huge breakthroughs in the aviation field in the past two years - they not only have ideas, but also have frightening execution and R&D capabilities."

"In this case, our first cooperation with them will most likely be the last."

"Making money will definitely make money, but if in the process they learn our technique. Then we have to have one more strong competitor. ”

"Even, after this time, they will gradually start to march into a larger market and gradually eliminate us."

"On the other hand, Vietnamese -—— don't need me to talk about it, right? We all know what they look like. ”

"If you cooperate with them, you don't have to worry about any long-term risks, even if it is difficult to get back, you can still get it back."

Miller's brow furrowed slightly, and he knew that what August said was indeed the truth.

Strategically speaking, cooperation with Huaxia will indeed cause long-term uncontrollable competition risks, and on the whole, the loss of technology outflow is greater than the short-term gains.

But here's the thing

If China is rejected and Vietnam is chosen, does it really not have to consider the potential "negative impact"?

You must know that maritime disputes are actually disputes over national fortunes.

Being forced to get involved in such a dispute, even a small act, could be recorded in the book.

And once on the list

Miller looked at August and said:

"But we don't seem to have a lot of options."

"No matter how you look at it, Vietnam will not be able to compete with Huaxia in the short term, and if we want to reject them, we must have a strong reason"

"It's not that complicated."

August said bluntly.

"When dealing with such a large customer, as long as you stick to one principle, you can protect yourself."

"That is, in business."

"What we have to do is to eliminate all off-market factors and keep only one criterion: the one with the highest price wins."

"Under this standard, we will not leave any truth behind and will not offend any party."

"Instead, the focus of the conflict will return to between the two of them"

Miller's eyes lit up, he patted August on the shoulder appreciatively, and said:

"Okay, that's it!"

Two days later, Shanghai Jiaotong University.

ZHANG GUANFENG RECEIVED A REPLY FROM VOSTALMG, BUT IT FAR EXCEEDED HIS EXPECTATIONS.

The quotation is as high as 120 million yuan!

And this is still the first phase of the quotation, if you consider the subsequent design improvement, as well as the manufacturing cost of some key modules, the price charged by VOSTALMG will reach a staggering 200 million.

That's not how the lion's mouth opens, right?

The whole ship is sold, and it is only 300 million.

You are not responsible for the main production and manufacturing, so you dare to ask for 200 million?

Are you kidding!

Zhang Guanfeng angrily threw the reply letter aside, and said to Chen Guo in front of him:

"VOSTALMG is really a bit of a deception, such a price, do you think we really can't do it ourselves?"

"I just took a fancy to their experience and wanted to bring us some inspiration on processes and standardization, but I didn't expect them to be so shameless."

"I won't consider cooperating with this company in the future, and this time I didn't think about it."

However, what he didn't expect was that Chen Guo on the other side was not only not angry, but a little smile appeared on his face.

Compared with Zhang Guanfeng, he has more information at hand, and he has long known the news that the Vietnamese side is in contact with VOSTALMG.

So, what exactly VOSTALMG wants to do, he knows very well in his heart.

It's just that I am not able to complete the time-limited project requirements of two customers at the same time, so I use this way to show my "impartial" attitude.

Raise the price, or you accept the offer, then we will do your business desperately.

Either you don't accept it, then logically, we'll do business in Vietnam.

If you are unwilling to pay, you can't blame a company that pursues commercial interests from any angle.

It's a good calculation, but they missed one point:

If Huaxia wants to build a dredger, it is really not necessary for them.

Thinking of this, Chen Guo opened his mouth and said:

"Don't be so angry, there's nothing wrong with what they're doing."

"And it's not just a bad offer for us."

"Since they gave us such an offer, it must be the same for Vietnam."

"There's a lot we can do with that."

"For example, we don't need them anyway, so we might as well just push the boat down the river and raise the price a little more."

"Listen to me, start a round of negotiations with them."

"We don't have to work together, and we don't have to spend money."

"But we have to find a way to get that neighbor to spend a little more"

So, a few days later, Nguyen Hoa Khai in Hanoi received the latest news from VOSTALMG.

FACING THE REPRESENTATIVES OF VOSTALMG, HE SAID WITH A SERIOUS EXPRESSION:

"I don't care how many rounds of negotiations you have had with Huaxia, and I don't care what price they have paid, but this cooperation seat must be left to us!"

"Didn't they give 240 million? US 2.5! ”