Aisin is a giant in the auto parts industry.

They supply not only transmissions and other parts to Toyota, but also parts to many OEMs.

Therefore, their sales department has a direct connection with the procurement of many OEMs.

Saburo Sato not only arranged for Zhang Hao to go to Yangcheng to inquire about the news, but also asked other colleagues in the sales department to do everything they could to find out

"Minister, from what we know so far, Nanshan Technology Co., Ltd. does have some research on the gearbox."

"Some time ago, they also had some cooperation projects with Huaqing University and Lingnan University of Science and Technology in terms of control systems."

"They also recruited a professor from Beijing Institute of Technology who specializes in gearboxes to work on this project."

"It's just that normally, their gearbox shouldn't come out that quickly."

Zhang Hao's work ability is still very strong, and he soon learned some information through various public and private channels.

After all, the circle of the automotive industry is actually not large, and everyone can find some intersection through various ways such as former customers, their own classmates, and colleagues' classmates.

In addition, Nanshan did not keep this information confidential, and there was no way to keep it completely confidential.

So Zhang Hao quickly formed a preliminary report.

"Since Ford dares to give Changan Ford's transmission order to Nanshan, and Changan Ford's first model Fiesta will be mass-produced in January 2003, the time in between is very tight."

"Nanshan's gearbox must already have some products to convince Ford."

"We need to work harder and figure it out again."

"The best thing is to get some samples of them and send them to the headquarters to study them."

Saburo Sato felt that the situation was not so simple.

The switch of auto parts is a very cautious thing, even if Ford is not as good as Toyota and Honda in this regard, it will not be too bad.

So Sato felt that Nanshan must have some news on the gearbox that he didn't know.

"Nanshan is a leading manufacturer of bearings, bolts and nuts in China, not only supplying domestic customers, but also exporting to customers such as Ford Motor, General Motors and Volkswagen."

"They may have taken advantage of this advantage, and then imitated which 6AT gearbox on the market to get orders from Ford at a low cost."

"After all, Ford Motor has a lot of cost pressure this year, which is something that the industry knows."

Zhang Hao's analysis, Saburo Sato felt that it made sense.

"If that's the case, then for Nanshan, the weakest thing is the design of TCU."

"Have you heard anything about this?"

To deal with Nanshan, it is natural to find the weak points of the other party.

If Nanshan's product quality or schedule cannot meet Changan Ford's needs, the order will naturally return to Aisin.

This would not expose the information that Toms had revealed to Sato.

"It's really there, didn't you just say that Nanshan and Huaqing University have cooperation in gearboxing?"

"According to my survey, their main cooperation is the design of the TCU of the gearbox."

"Huaqing University has done a good job in this regard, and it is likely that Nanshan's plan is to get TCU through this cooperation project."

As soon as Zhang Hao said this, Saburo Sato immediately came up with an idea.

"Do you think that if we Aisin cooperated with Huaqing University on the TCU project, would the other party be interested?"

"Definitely! Aisin is an internationally renowned parts company and a foreign company, which can provide a certain amount of foreign exchange as research funds. ”

"What are they Nanshan? It's just a small local business. ”

"Not our opponent at all."

"We can even ask them to stop cooperating with Nanshan's TCU by cooperating with each other."

"At that time, there will be no qualified TCU to use in Nanshan, and the schedule of the gearbox project will definitely be affected."

Zhang Hao knows too much about the situation in China.

Whether it is in the investment and construction of factories or various project cooperation, foreign capital has a very big advantage compared with domestic private enterprises.

Most people are also more willing to follow foreign-funded companies, and their names are more lofty.

"So, is this really an idea?"

Saburo Sato's heart was moved.

Aisin already has some R&D expenses for cooperation with scientific research institutions in Huaxia, which were previously more given to institutions that can influence industry policies.

It can be said that this is a kind of public relations fee for Aisin in the name of research expenses.

They don't really expect to improve Aisin's R&D technology through these collaborations.

People's real R&D is placed in Dongying, how can it be placed in Huaxia?

"Absolutely!"

"We don't even need a much higher research fund than Nanshan to snatch the Nanshan cooperation project from Huaqing University."

"As long as we provide foreign exchange and add our reputation, we can definitely do it."

Zhang Hao gave his opinion very affirmatively.

The importance of foreign exchange by various institutions in China was very exaggerated in the eighties and nineties.

Even in 2001, this situation has eased somewhat, and everyone still prefers foreign exchange.

After all, China has not yet joined the WTO, and the amount of foreign exchange in China is still relatively small.

"Okay, then we will immediately arrange someone to contact us and make the cooperation between Huaqing University and Nanshan yellow."

"When the time comes, we will see if there is no qualified TCU available in Nanshan, and whether it can smoothly respond to Ford's orders."

Saburo Sato, who was originally a little depressed, suddenly became much better.

It's really nice to be able to solve this problem so easily.

……

Aisin's movements are fast.

When Ford confirmed that the cooperation with Nanshan had not yet fully spread in the industry, their efforts had borne fruit.

"Mr. Cao, Huaqing University contacted us, and the project between our two parties has ended because the funds have been fully used."

Ji Hua was in a very bad mood and came over to report to Cao Yang.

As a former university professor, he knows too well the situation of industry-university-research cooperation projects.

Before reporting to Cao Yang, he also called Huaqing University.

But the situation is not encouraging.

Of course, in a circle, it is not difficult to inquire about information, and he can figure out the situation behind Huaqing University's approach.

"Running out so quickly?"

"Didn't you say that it would be okay to stick to it until next year?"

"Besides, even if the expenses are over, shouldn't they take the initiative to communicate with us, can they increase the funds?"

For the first time, Cao Yang felt that Huaqing University was so unreliable.

This shouldn't happen.

"I heard that they used the funds to urgently purchase a relatively expensive test equipment, so they quickly ran out of funds."

"But it's not really the reason, there's a story behind it."

The cooperative research project of Huaqing University was originally entrusted to Ji Hua to be in charge of Cao Yang.

Now that it has become like this, Ji Hua naturally wants to explain the situation he heard clearly.

Otherwise, it will become a back-to-back account.

"Huh?"

"Got a story?"

"What's the story?"

Cao Yang really couldn't figure out why it became like this.

This doesn't match my own perception.

"Aisin has contacted Huaqing University, and in the next three years, it will set up a $500,000 to cooperate with them in TCU."

"And also invited the project team to visit Dongying."

"But their demand is to stop cooperating with us, and not to cooperate with Nanshan in TCU in the future."

"Mr. Cao, I think this thing is a bit weird, it's obvious that Aisin is specifically targeting us."

"Otherwise, their TCU technology is much more advanced than Huaqing University, and there is no need to toss such a cooperation project."

Combined with the news he heard, Ji Hua also had his own judgment.

When Cao Yang heard this, he immediately realized that Aisin was indeed targeting Nanshan.

"It seems that Aisin has already known about the fact that we have received an order for a 6AT from Ford Motor."

"These international giants are really not fuel-efficient lamps."

"However, the TCU we use has nothing to do with the project cooperated by Huaqing University."

"It doesn't have much impact on our 6AT in a short period of time, but Aisin disgusts us like this, and obviously wants to suppress us."

Although when he entered the gearbox field, Cao Yang knew that there would be conflicts with giants such as Aisin and ZF in the future.

But he really didn't expect this conflict to come so quickly.

"That ......"

"How are we going to fight back?"

Ji Hua is also a little entangled now.

Do you swallow your anger or find a way to do something?

"Snatching some of Aisin's orders from Ford is already a counterattack in itself."

"The next thing we have to do is grab more orders from them."

"It's them who are anxious at that time, not Nanshan."

"As for Huaqing University, if they want to cooperate with Aisin, they will cooperate."

"In the future, our cooperation projects will be in cooperation with other schools such as Lingnan University of Technology as much as possible."

"Forget about Huaqing University."

Although this incident did not have much impact on Nanshan, it was disgusting.

Spending money to buy disgusting, Cao Yang didn't want to do this.

……

Saburo Sato considers himself a good employee who is very responsible and thinks about the company.

Therefore, I realized that the entry of Nanshan Technology Co., Ltd. into the field of gearboxes would have a great impact on Aisin, and after sorting out some information, I immediately arranged for a report to the headquarters.

However, the situation reported this time was very different from what Sato had envisioned.

"Sato, you specially asked so many people to listen to your report today, and that's what you're talking about?"

After listening to Sato's report, Okumura, head of the sales headquarters of Aisin Headquarters, had a disdainful expression on his face.

In his opinion, Sato is completely unengaged and cannot find the point of the problem.

What are the reports?

"Yes, at present, Nanshan 6AT has received orders from Changan Ford, which directly seizes our market and will become Aisin's biggest competitor in time."

"I even suspect that they directly copied our transmission technology and achieved malicious price competition through low labor costs, so they won Ford's order."

The manufacturing cost of Huaxia is lower than that of Dongying, which is clear to everyone.

However, Sato's views this time were not recognized by the staff at Aisin's headquarters.

"It's not been a year or two for the Chinese people to want to engage in automatic transmissions, and for so many years, have they come up with it?"

"Which of their car companies such as Great Wall Motor, Geely Automobile, Chery Automobile and Changan Automobile has come up with a decent automatic transmission?"

"Not to mention the advanced 6AT, even the 4AT they can't get it."

"The gearbox doesn't just have a shell that can be made casually."

"At the level of these parts companies in Huaxia, it is impossible to produce 6AT that meets the requirements."

"You don't want to listen to the wind or the rain."

"Anything inconsequential and trivial is a waste of everyone's time to report there."

"Our biggest competitors in Aisin are JATCO and ZF, and you should pay more attention to the performance of these manufacturers in the Chinese market, which is your task."

Sato, who originally wanted to be valued and performed, not only did he not achieve his goal, but he was sprayed in the face.

Aisin employees in Dongying do not think that any manufacturer in China has the strength to threaten them.

And it is still in Aisin now more proficient, more advanced 6AT.

It's just a joke.

If you say MT gearbox, Huaxia has come out, there is still a little possibility.

After all, the difficulty of the MT gearbox is several levels lower than that of the AT, and it effectively avoids the weaker control links of Huaxia manufacturers.

"Minister Ben, before the appearance of Nanshan Technology Co., Ltd., what you said about this situation was completely correct."

"But this manufacturer in Huaxia is more evil, and their current bearings have been used in many car companies, and even SKF and NTN have been under pressure."

"In this case, although the actual level of the 6AT they make may not be very good, they may still be able to gain a certain market by relying on low prices."

"I think it needs to be taken seriously."

Saburo Sato thought about explaining a little more.

"The Chinese people couldn't make excellent automatic transmissions in the past, and they can't make excellent 6ATs now, and it is impossible to make any progress in automatic transmissions in the future."

"Sato, you have to have faith in our Aisin, otherwise how can you convince customers that Aisin's gearbox is the best in the world?"

"If you can't distinguish the key points like this, then I think the position of the head of the sales department of Huaxia Branch is no longer suitable for you."

Okumura looked at Sato very unceremoniously.

This subordinate was not very popular with him in the first place.

Otherwise, he would not have been arranged to go to the Huaxia branch.

You must know that in 2001, unless you go to the American branch, or go to work in other places, you are considered to be assigned to the frontier and belong to people who are not valued by the headquarters.

There is a natural disadvantage in terms of promotion.

For example, in 2023, Huaxia has become the world's largest market.

Being stationed in Huaxia is often a manifestation of attention.

(End of chapter)