Author Wang Rui
Editors Hao and Zhang Yan
At the end of February, Cao, the founder of Fuyao Glass, donated another 40 million yuan to fight the epidemic, only 22 days after he donated 654.38 billion yuan and 246.5438 million pieces of epidemic prevention materials.
For decades, Cao was a Buddhist. He spent a lot of money on charity, but he was not born with a golden spoon in his mouth. /kloc-at the age of 0/4, he was forced to drop out of school because of his poor family. In order to make a living, he spared cattle, sold tobacco, planted tremella ..... and then entered the glass industry for 37 years.
Today, Fuyao Glass, founded by Cao, has a total revenue of more than 20 billion yuan in 20 18 years, accounting for 63% of the market share of automobile glass in China-one in every two cars in China uses Fuyao Glass. Cao himself got a nickname: the glass king.
Not long ago, he became the focus of public opinion again because of a documentary.
On February 10, the 92nd Academy Awards awarded the best long documentary award to Factory in America, a documentary produced by the Obamas, which tells the story of Fuyao Glass's factory in the United States.
"I know the director used his own method and criticized me a lot, but I still thank you." After learning the news of winning the prize, Cao immediately congratulated the directors Julia Letchett and Steven Bergner.
In the shot, Cao Wangde was praised for solving the employment problem of local workers, and also became the target of public criticism because of his iron fist policy. At the end of the film, Cao Wangde faced the solemn Buddha statue and couldn't help but look at himself: "Am I a meritorious person or a guilty person?"
Behind the American factory are the ups and downs of Cao He Fuyao Group, which is also the epitome of the overseas development of China's manufacturing industry.
Wipe the rust off Dayton.
/kloc-From the end of 0/9 to the beginning of the 20th century, the Great Lakes in the northeast of the United States benefited from convenient water transportation and rich minerals, and industries such as steel, glass and chemical industry rose one after another. Cities such as Dayton, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee have become the industrial centers of the United States, and the American automobile giant General Motors is the economic pillar of Dayton.
After the world economic crisis in 2008, a large number of enterprises were overwhelmed, and General Motors also declared bankruptcy, and its production plant in Dayton was closed. Overnight, more than 2,000 American middle-class families fell into the bottom of society.
"There was a time when I had nothing." A female employee named Jill said that she not only lost her job, but also lost her house, so she had to live in the basement of her sister's house. The only thing of value in the room is an old TV set. Faced with the rusty machine, the workers fell into despair.
Until the "timely rain" of Fuyao Glass came.
On 20 15, Cao purchased the abandoned general factory and transformed it into an automobile glass factory. He gave the green light to local unemployed workers, followed by local tax increase, population growth and community stability. ......
Behind "saving" American workers is Cao's business experience.
20 13, Fuyao glass accounts for 63% of the domestic market, and its development has encountered bottlenecks. It is urgent to open up new markets, and the United States, as a big automobile producer, has entered Fuyao's sight.
The fragility of glass products determines that the distance between the production place and the assembly place should not be too far, which can be seen from the layout of Fuyao China factory. At present, Fuyao has formed four automobile glass production bases in Shanghai, Chongqing, Changchun and Fuqing headquarters, and its products cover the whole country.
Distribution/source of car companies around Fuyao factory in Dayton, Ohio? Google map
If we want to expand our market share in the United States, it is imperative to build a factory in the United States. There are many automobile factories around the factory in Fuyaotun, Ohio, which is a good factory address in geographical location. Recently, the US government pushed hard to restore a manufacturing power, and Fuyao received a subsidy of more than 40 million US dollars, equivalent to the cost of its general factory renovation.
The story was originally beautiful: the glory entered the United States, and Dayton regained its glory.
However, high labor costs, low worker efficiency and cultural conflicts between China and the United States, especially the outrageous intervention of trade unions, hindered the development of Fuyao in the United States. In 20 16, Fuyao American Company lost 4 16 10000 USD (about 280 million RMB). Faced with huge losses, Cao made a mistake.
"survival" tug of war
"Everything is cheap, but labor is expensive." Cao said bluntly.
The energy price in the United States is very low, the price of natural gas is less than one fifth of that in China, the electricity price is only half of that in China, and the lower oil price makes the transportation cost less than half of that in China.
But the labor cost in the United States is much higher than that in China. It is reported that the salary of white-collar workers in the United States is three times that of China, and that of blue-collar workers is eight times that of China. "On the whole, it is better to import a piece of glass from China than to make a piece of glass in the United States." Cao said to him:
The hourly wage of American workers in Fuyao is only 13, which is less than half that of GM, but the cost performance is very low. Most American workers are not good at making glass. Although they are taught by China workers, they are still "thick-fingered, slow-moving and inefficient". They can't do heavy work, don't do "unsafe" jobs, leave at an appointed time and never work overtime. This is very "American".
Cao wanted to introduce the China factory system into the United States, so he arranged for several American executives from American factories to visit China. To their surprise, the shift time of China workers is 65,438+02 hours, and there is no rest day. Be bound by strict discipline and shout slogans before changing shifts; There are no goggles, just a pair of ordinary gloves to deal with waste glass. "It's crazy for these China workers to sit there and do this all day." An American executive is unbelievable.
But when this group of American executives tried to introduce the shift change system into Fuyao American factory, they were greeted by the lazy team of American workers. At the same time, the workers began to resent the boss's finger-pointing, complaining about Fuyao's "harsh" salary-although Fuyao had helped them get rid of unemployment.
Fuyao workers/sources? Fuyao group
"In the past, if my children wanted to buy a new pair of sports shoes, I would buy them directly." A former GM worker said, "It can't be like this now."
Amid the workers' complaints, the shadow of the trade union began to approach.
As early as 20 16 10, at Fuyao's golden autumn celebration in the United States, local councillor Sherrod Brown bluntly said: "Ohio has a rich history of cooperation between trade unions and company management, and I support trade unions to enter Fuyao Company."
Cao's response is: "There are trade unions here, which will affect our labor efficiency." He made it clear that the union came in and I closed the door.
Behind Cao's tough attitude is the black history of the American Automobile Union. General Motors died at the hands of trade unions. When it encountered financial difficulties, it asked its workers to lower their wages, but it failed under the strong opposition of the trade union and eventually went bankrupt.
The tug-of-war between Fuyao and the trade union began.
Trade unions encourage workers to "form gangs" and publicize the benefits of introducing trade unions into factories. Every day, a large number of American workers risk being fired and call on everyone to join the trade union. On the other hand, Fuyao took a tough attitude, dissolved the trade unions among the workers one by one, paid a lot of money to hire a special lobbying organization, and used various means to make the workers say no to the trade unions.
In the final voting battle, the opposition defeated the unionists with 60% of the votes, and the famous American Auto Union was rejected in Fuyao. After all the dust settled, an American worker spoke his mind: "I need a trade union, but now there is a company that gives me a good job and a high salary, so I can come to work every day." I don't need anyone to interrupt. "
After the trade union incident, American workers gradually improved their proficiency by learning the production experience of China workers. In addition, orders from Honda, Volkswagen, Chrysler and other automobile manufacturers are pouring in, and the factory capacity is also rising, gradually turning losses into profits and finally getting on the right track. ?
Going to sea or fleeing?
American workers who complain repeatedly will never think that their big boss, Cao, is only a junior high school student. After Cao bought a glass factory in Gaoshan Town, Fuqing City, he risked his life to set up Fuyao and devoted himself to the automobile glass industry.
The development of Fuyao Group is the epitome of the development of many auto parts manufacturers in China.
In the 1980s, under the guidance of the reform and opening-up policy, China introduced capital and technology, reformed industry management and enterprise management mechanism, and the automobile industry entered a stage of all-round development, and the demand for automobile parts increased greatly, thus creating a large number of automobile parts manufacturers in China.
Relying on the advantage of low labor cost, China auto parts industry entered the fast lane, and its market scale exceeded 4 trillion in 20 18, making it the "production base" of global auto parts. During the epidemic, many foreign car companies such as Hyundai, Nissan and Renault stopped production because the parts manufacturers in China stopped supplying.
If being big is the first step, then going to sea is the second step.
On the one hand, going to sea is beneficial for China parts manufacturers to integrate domestic and foreign technologies and markets, reduce costs by using overseas factories, seize market resources and enhance brand image; On the other hand, going to sea is also conducive to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. The two sides seek ways to make a living during the running-in process, so that foreign countries can learn more about the automobile industry in China and China.
In recent years, not only Fuyao, but also more and more China parts manufacturers choose to go to sea. According to the data of changjiang securities Research Institute, in 20 18, the overseas income of China auto parts listed companies reached 2126.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of19%; The proportion of overseas income in total operating income rose from 9.4% to 29%.
China enterprises often face many difficulties when going to sea, the most obvious of which is cultural differences. Fuyao American factory union incident is not an isolated case. Almost all China enterprises that set up factories in the United States will face the same problem. Apart from trade unions, China enterprises should also consider issues such as labor rights protection, production safety, laws and environmental protection when opening factories in the United States. Cao Wangde once warned: "Small enterprises with insufficient capital and brands do not have the conditions, so don't invest blindly."
However, "Fuyao" had to go to sea, behind which was the helplessness of China's manufacturing industry: China gradually showed the trend of industrialization.
Cao Wangde blamed the depression in Dayton, Ohio on the hollowing out of American manufacturing. Although the United States has been trying to restore its status as a manufacturing power since the Obama administration pushed for the "manufacturing return" in 2009, decades-long manufacturing emigration has led to intergenerational talent, so that Fuyao American factories can't recruit young people, and they "prefer to live in Wall Street and Silicon Valley".
Cao believes that real estate, internet finance and some service industries have attracted young people to find jobs, which has led to an increase in labor costs in manufacturing, and "the advantages of China's manufacturing industry have become less prominent".
Equally heavy is the tax burden. He admits that China's comprehensive tax is 35% higher than that of the United States. After the integration of the "five insurances and one gold" project for workers of the two countries, the cost of building a factory in the United States is basically the same as that in China. In addition, the price of industrial land in China is as high as hundreds of thousands to millions per mu, and the high investment cost makes enterprises flinch.
As a result, "Fuyao people" chose to set up factories in the sea, which was also called "escape" by some people.
"Who does the service industry serve when the industrial economy is not formed and industrial workers are absent?" Cao questioned that he believed that only when the manufacturing industry was developed could the service industry flourish. "Manufacturing industry is always the key to improve international competitiveness."
Science and technology "save" manufacturing industry?
"Because they (American workers) are too slow, I changed a machine to polish them, and I will cancel these four people next time." In the film, listening to the report of Chinese executives in Fuyao American factory, Cao nodded silently.
"Difficult" American workers are being replaced by cold artificial intelligence and automation technology.
In 20 15, the State Council promulgated the strategy of "Made in China 2025". Cao released the smart factory strategy of "Let Industry 4.0 Settle in Fuyao" at the first time, which opened the road of transformation and upgrading of the group. In 20 16, Fuyao Glass was selected as the first batch of intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration units by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and became the representative of China Manufacturing 2025.
"Transformation needs to comprehensively apply digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and industrial Internet of Things to improve products, services and quality, and improve manufacturing efficiency and product intelligence." Xia Lebing, vice president and CIO of Fuyao Glass, introduced.
Fuyao's intelligent manufacturing level is more reflected in American factories. It is reported that Fuyao's American factory was equipped with 400 industrial robots at the beginning of its production, more than any factory in China. With the help of IBM's private cloud platform, Fuyao stored the management and process flow of China factory in the cloud, and realized the rapid deployment of the production line of American factory. In the future, the improvement of automation level will release more production capacity of Fuyao American factory.
Fuyao, which has invested a lot of R&D funds, has successively developed high-tech glass products such as heated glass with silk, dimmable privacy glass and solar glass. 2065438+On September 3rd, 2009, Fuyao Suzhou Research Institute was formally established, and it will hold a "heavy position" in many fields such as automobile antenna, optoelectronics and thin film, intelligent manufacturing and industrial robot system. "In today's environment of rapid development of science and technology, traditional manufacturing industry is increasingly inseparable from the support of advanced technology." Cao said at the launching ceremony of Suzhou Research Institute.
20 19 10 3 1, Fuyao Glass's financial report in the first three quarters showed that its revenue was156.3 billion yuan, up by 3.4% year-on-year, but its net profit decreased by 28% year-on-year.
End of movement
Driven by science and technology, the global value chain is being reconstructed and the pattern of international division of labor has been adjusted. China's manufacturing industry is mastering another right to speak: from low-end repetitive manufacturing to high-end intelligent manufacturing. Sweatshops in China are being replaced by American factories with higher automation and fewer workers.
But the modern factory made Cao full of disappointment.
As he approached the American factory, 74-year-old Cao looked a little confused. He knows that, just as Fuyao artists can't go back to the comfortable general era, he will never go back to China where cicadas croak and frogs croak.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.