Rebirth in 1989: Building a Chinese Technological Empire

"Mr. Frank, I'm here mainly for my airline. My China Star Airlines is China's civil aviation company. This time we want to purchase 200 short- and medium-range passenger aircraft. Your Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and McDonnell Douglas DC10 are all our targets..."

In the conference room, Xu Huasheng spoke first. When Xu Huasheng finished speaking, Frank was so excited.

"Mr. Xu, our Boeing company is..."

Frank began to brag about Boeing's history, and at the same time showed off his feelings, talking about the story between Boeing and China, etc.

In short, there is only one purpose, that is, to get this order, and never let this order be snatched away by Airbus or McDonnell Douglas.

Now Boeing, Airbus, and McDonnell Douglas are all in the same situation, playing the game of who can't hold on first. And the order in Xu Huasheng's hand may be the most important weight for the competition among the three major companies. Whoever can get this order can hold on longer, or even directly take over China's huge market and become a super giant in civil aircraft.

"Mr. Frank, we also have several requirements for this order."

After Frank finished speaking, Xu Huasheng said with a smile.

"Mr. Xu, you said that we at Boeing will definitely try our best to meet your requirements..."

Frank nodded and looked at Xu Huasheng. Xu Huasheng looked at Frank with a smile on his face.

"First of all, this order must be assembled in China. We will set up an assembly company. You provide the technology and we provide the labor. For each aircraft, you will pay a certain amount of OEM fee to our company..."

When Xu Huasheng said the first condition, Frank immediately exploded.

"Mr. Xu, this is impossible. You Chinese do not have such capabilities at all. Aircraft assembly is a very high-tech project. There can be no mistakes..."

Frank said directly, his face was not very good. Aircraft manufacturing is an industry that can provide many high-paying jobs.

Boeing's employees have very high salaries, which is also what Boeing was once proud of. Now Xu Huasheng requires this order to be assembled in China, which is equivalent to giving the salary to the Chinese. How can this work?

"Mr. Frank, if you Boeing can't even meet the first condition, I think there is no need for us to continue the discussion. The reason why we buy this batch of aircraft is not only that we need aircraft, but also that we want to promote employment in China and improve our relevant skills. If Boeing can't meet our needs, we can only talk to Airbus, McDonnell Douglas or other companies. If all companies can't meet this condition, then we will stop purchasing this batch of aircraft. After all, these aircraft are not too urgent for us now." Xu Huasheng said seriously, and Frank immediately wilted as soon as he said this. Boeing doesn't have the capital to be arrogant now. Xu Huasheng is the customer, and Xu Huasheng is God. Moreover, the aircraft Xu Huasheng bought is not a military aircraft, and it is not even Boeing's most advanced civil aircraft. It is just a medium- and short-range passenger aircraft like 737. There are many competitors for this product. At least the product competitiveness of Airbus's A320 is not weaker than that of 737, and with Airbus's nature, Airbus is likely to agree to the conditions that Boeing does not agree to. After all, the competition between Airbus and Boeing is very fierce now. Even if Airbus doesn't agree, McDonnell Douglas will agree. Now McDonnell Douglas has already cooperated with China. The cancellation of the China Yun-10 project is to make room for McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas' products have already been assembled in China. It's just that the cooperation between McDonnell Douglas and China in the past two years has not been very smooth.

If Xu Huasheng throws this order to McDonnell Douglas, McDonnell Douglas will definitely show all his sincerity to meet Xu Huasheng's needs. An order for 200 aircraft is not a small amount. What's wrong with letting the Chinese do OEM production? You can still make a lot of profit with one aircraft.

Frank sighed, looked at Xu Huasheng's serious expression, and finally compromised in his heart.

"Mr. Xu, you can do OEM assembly for China, but the employees must be sent from the United States. And the wages of these employees cannot be lower than their standards in the United States. At the same time, they need to have travel subsidies and vacations..."

Frank spoke again, and this made Xu Huasheng laugh again. Frank is still putting on airs. What is Boeing like now? He is still putting on airs. Does he really think his products are not in short supply?

"Mr. Frank, this is impossible. We have the final say over the OEM company. Boeing can only send some technical instructors to guide our workers. Once our workers have mastered the technology, they must leave. And the number of people and salary standards must beThe purpose of establishing a foundry company is to reduce the purchase cost of each aircraft, not to increase the production cost. Mr. Frank, customers are God. If you don't even understand this now, then there is not much hope for our cooperation..."

Xu Huasheng's words made Frank want to beat him up. In the past, he would not even look at Xu Huasheng. What kind of place is China? A poor place. Can it build a big plane? Now China Civil Aviation Company still uses a lot of propeller planes.

In the past, China had to pay several times more for Boeing products, and it also depended on Boeing's mood. But now, the situation is different. China has become God, and Boeing has become a poor worm begging for orders. Boeing used to have orders lined up, but now Boeing has no orders. The situation has changed.

"Mr. Xu, continue to talk about your conditions..."

Frank said helplessly. He can only continue to listen to see what conditions Xu Huasheng and others have, and finally hold a meeting to discuss.

"The second thing is that you Boeing need to provide us with the technical standards and parameters of the parts of the models we purchase and the corresponding quotations. All these parts can be provided by our Huaxia company, and we must use the parts produced by our Huaxia at the same price. But don't worry about the price. The parts produced by China will definitely have a price advantage under the same quality, which will reduce the cost of your aircraft production..."

Xu Huasheng proposed the second condition.

"That's no problem..."

Frank agreed to this condition without any hesitation. Because he knew China's ability and technical capabilities to build aircraft, he didn't think China could provide too many parts for aircraft. After all, aircraft is a high-tech industry, and the technical requirements of many parts are very high.

With China's technical capabilities, it is estimated that they can only provide some insignificant parts. They can't even make tires for aircraft, which can't affect the overall situation.