Reborn in 1982: I Became the Richest Man by Repairing Cars

Chapter 154 Bringing in outside help to lower the difficulty level

Jiang Hui's idea to develop laser cutting machines wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment decision.

In the future, the automotive industry will use hot-stamped parts extensively.

This process involves heating the steel plate to over 900 degrees Celsius in a furnace, then shaping it in a mold and quenching it.

Then, laser cutting equipment is used to perform processes such as hole cutting and edge trimming to produce parts that meet the requirements.

Parts produced using this process can achieve a tensile strength of up to 1500 MPa.

Those outside the industry may not have a good grasp of this intensity.

However, currently, none of the stamped body parts on cars like the BJ212 and CA10C have a tensile strength exceeding 40.

OMPA.

Even after ten years, very few exceed 590 MPa.

It's simply impossible to stamp a 1500MPa steel plate using traditional molds.

It's too hard.

The rebound was severe; the produced parts could not meet the quality requirements at all, and the molds and equipment could not withstand it either.

However, it can be easily done using hot stamping.

After all, it's formed by heating steel plates, so it can be processed into almost any shape.

Currently, this craft is only just beginning to be practiced in Europe.

Next year, Saab of Sweden will begin mass production of hot-stamped boron steel components for the first time in its Saab 9000 model, used in safety parts such as door anti-collision beams and A/B pillars, marking the start of its application in the automotive industry.

If we could develop it ahead of time, we could definitely get a lot of orders in China's automotive industry.

It could even enable overseas exports.

Of course, hot stamping parts are not so easy to make.

Even if Jiang Hui managed to get the heating furnace and laser cutting machine sorted out himself, the supply of raw materials for hot stamping was still a problem.

However, as long as other problems can be solved, Jiang Hui believes that these problems can be overcome.

He figured he could just offer his technology directly to Shougang and work with them; he didn't believe no one at Shougang would be interested.

If you can't even handle the material supply without any technical expertise, then just find another factory.

There will always be someone who knows what's good.

By making early arrangements now, we can definitely gain a competitive advantage in the future hot stamping production line sector.

Who knows, maybe by then, the entire production line can be handled by our own internal equipment factory.

That would have a very different meaning.

If you're attracted to someone, then you are.

In addition to expanding gear production capacity at Beituo and fulfilling orders for heating furnaces at Beichi, Jiang Hui focused his main efforts on the development of laser cutting equipment.

And you know what? It's true that everything is difficult at the beginning.

Jiang Hui was having a headache because he was missing this and that.

"Director Liang, I heard you have a closer collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Technology?"

Going it alone is definitely not going to work, so Jiang Hui plans to get some universities to help.

Tsinghua University, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and other universities are clearly good partners.

But as a self-employed individual, you still need to be valued by others.

After much thought, Jiang Hui decided on BAIC.

"Yes, we have quite a few collaborative projects with them."

"What's wrong? Do you want to talk to a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology?"

Liang Hongyu and Jiang Hui had a fairly good relationship.

Even after the new generation BJ212 is released, the two will still maintain contact.

"I heard that their school's optical engineering program is one of the best in the country."

"During this period, I established an equipment factory, preparing to focus on developing various types of equipment."

"Laser cutting equipment and laser welding equipment are among the main research directions I'm considering."

When Jiang Hui said this, Liang Hongyu was taken aback.

"Shouldn't your main job be repairing cars?"

"Why are you starting to work on the equipment?"

In Liang Hongyu's memory, Jiang Hui's car repair skills were the best in the entire capital.

They also have a very deep understanding of the various parts of a car.

Logically, they should leverage their strengths in this area.

I didn't expect them to change their minds so quickly.

"Automobile repair, auto parts, and equipment are the three main industries of our factory at this stage."

"Car repair will definitely continue, and we will also expand and grow the business."

"But car repair is not a high-barrier-to-entry business, and sooner or later more car repair shops will appear and compete with us for business."

"Once the technology of those state-owned auto repair shops improves, our business will definitely be affected."

"I have to plan ahead."

Jiang Hui gave a brief explanation.

This reason was obviously a bit far-fetched, but Liang Hongyu didn't investigate it further.

"To be honest, I don't have a very deep understanding of laser cutting equipment, but I have heard of it."

"I even went to visit a laser cutting machine installed at FAW a few years ago."

"It will be very difficult to develop this."

"Even if you collaborate with professors from the Beijing Institute of Technology, it's not necessarily that easy to pull it off."

Liang Hongyu considered Jiang Hui a friend, which is why he was trying so hard to persuade him.

"Yes, I understand. It's difficult, but the chances are also great."

"My mind is full of wild ideas, and I often go to the library to borrow all kinds of books. Now I happen to have some ideas."

"If we can successfully develop laser cutting equipment, BAIC Group can actually use it too."

Upon hearing Jiang Hui's words, Liang Hongyu immediately replied, "If you can really develop suitable laser cutting equipment, our factory will definitely buy it."

"However, this is a bottomless pit."

"To be honest, I've made some money from my factories, and it's not good to just keep it in the bank, so I might as well spend it."

After Jiang Hui said that, Liang Hongyu fell silent.

This is a rather sensitive topic.

If we consider it from this perspective, then it seems reasonable for Jiang Hui to engage in some expensive research.

In particular, collaborating with universities provides an additional layer of protection.

"Okay, I'll get in touch with them for you. If you're willing to fund the collaboration, the professors at the Beijing Institute of Technology's Optoelectronic Engineering department will definitely be very happy."

Liang Hongyu didn't ask any further questions and started making a call.

At that time, although there were many cooperative projects between enterprises and universities, they were all projects of state-owned enterprises.

There are practically no projects from private enterprises.

Jiang Hui, a "generous spender," was naturally very welcome at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

Soon, Liang Hongyu made contact and asked Jiang Hui to go directly to Wu Zhiqiang, the head of the optoelectronic engineering department and an optics expert, to discuss the matter.

With BAIC acting as a go-between, Jiang Hui's next steps became much easier.

What Jiang Hui really needed was for the Beijing Institute of Technology to help him order some optical materials from various research institutes or factories across the country.

Otherwise, Jiang Hui wouldn't have been able to handle it at all.

As for the laser cutting machine and laser welding machine, Jiang Hui can handle them himself.

The upgraded system now includes processing technology information for various components and parameter information for various equipment.

Hot-stamped parts are no exception.

We took the mature laser cutting machine design and asked the professors at Beijing Institute of Technology to help implement it.

This is Jiang Hui's idea.

In the end, the honor will belong to the professor, while the profits will go to his own factory.

Everyone got what they wanted.

Soon, Jiang Hui visited Professor Wu Zhiqiang to discuss cooperation matters.

Ultimately, Jiang Hui promised to provide no less than 200,000 yuan in R&D funding annually, with Wudaoying Equipment Factory and the Department of Optoelectronic Engineering of Beijing Institute of Technology collaborating on the development of laser cutting equipment.

We aim to bring out our first mass-producible product within the next two years.

When Jiang Hui took out his "self-designed laser cutting machine," Wu Zhiqiang was absolutely stunned.

As an optoelectronics expert, he naturally had experience researching laser cutting machines.

Unfortunately, foreign countries impose restrictions on China in many theoretical research areas, resulting in China's technology lagging far behind that of advanced international companies in these fields.

Now we have ready-made equipment solutions, and even parameters for some key materials.

The next step is to find suitable research institutes and factories to produce it.

The difficulty of the task was immediately reduced by a lot.

"Director Jiang, if there are no problems with the information for this set of equipment, then it won't take two years at all. We can produce the equipment sample next year."

Wu Zhiqiang is now full of confidence.

This may be the most outstanding project I have handled in recent years.

His enthusiasm was certainly very high.

Although Jiang Hui provided the plan directly, its implementation was carried out by the professors and students of their department.

When the time comes to calculate his achievements, he won't feel guilty.

"That would be ideal. Once the finished products are available, various models of laser cutting equipment can be continuously produced, leading to industrialized applications."

"This project will become a typical example of industry-academia-research collaboration in China, and a significant achievement following the reforms."

Jiang Hui and Wu Zhiqiang had a very pleasant conversation.

With this cooperation, he was able to free himself from the Wudaoying Equipment Factory.

In the past six months, I've made quite a bit of money from refurbishing used gearboxes and scrapping cars.

It would be a real shame not to spend them.

But he didn't want the money to just go to waste.

I still want to make some contribution to my future automotive empire.

Both the parts and components industry and the equipment industry have been developed.

If we want to start producing cars in the future, it will be a natural progression.

He himself understood this very well.

"Master, our used parts refurbishment business is now quite well-known."

"Could we consider using these businesses to assemble one or two cars ourselves and sell them?"

In the past few months, seeing the factories growing and expanding, Fan Weimin also hoped to achieve something.

Otherwise, he would always feel that his status would decline.

"The cars we assemble ourselves definitely lack complete documentation and cannot be sold normally."

Jiang Hui's first thought was "birth permit".

This is something that has been troubling many car companies.

When local state-owned enterprises like Chery were first established, they had to be affiliated with SAIC due to issues with their "birth certificate".

"It's okay, just explain it to the buyer. Many people don't care at all."

"As long as it can be opened, that's fine."

Upon hearing Fan Weimin's words, Jiang Hui fell into deep thought.