Rebirth 76: Industrial Internet Empire

Meeting room of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry.

The site of the preliminary review meeting for the second phase project plan of Donghai Iron and Steel Plant.

The general contracting plans of five companies, SMS, Danieli, Kobe Steel, Nippon Steel Industrial Controls, and Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research, were circulated in the hands of every leader attending the meeting.

"Have you finished reading the general contracting plan in your hand? Let's talk about it separately!" Project leader Luan Shujie said, shaking the bid document in his hand.

The only sound heard at the scene was the sound of flipping bid documents. Everyone had their own choice in mind, but no one was willing to be the first to say it.

Luan Shujie waited for a long time, but no one took the initiative to express his opinion, so he started to take the initiative: "Lao Meng, your Construction and Planning Department has the most say, you can say it first..."

Meng Chang had to bite the bullet and stood up first and said: "These companies, except for Zhiyuan Metallurgy, are the world's leading metallurgical equipment manufacturers. They have very rich experience in the design and production of large-scale rolling mill automated production lines. SMS and Danieli's quotations exceed US$40 billion, which is difficult for us to afford. The only ones left are Kobe Steel and Nippon Steel Industrial Controls. My opinion is to choose the one with the highest cost performance among these two companies!"

This is the brilliance of Meng Chang. He first excluded Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research, the largest competitor of Nippon Steel Industrial Control, in the name of immature technology, and then compared prices with European and American equipment companies...

"But the quotations of Kobe Steel and Nippon Steel Industrial Control are not low, and the difference between them and Danieli is less than US$3 million..."

"Old Tang, you're talking lightly! US$3 million is enough for us to build another medium-sized steel plant!" Meng Chang retorted.

Luan Shujie interrupted their busy debate, looked at Liao Tingxuan and said, "Old Liao, you participated in the entire commercial dispute case of the Donghai Steel Plant Phase II Project. What do you think?"

Liao Tingxuan stood up, sighed and said: "Vice Minister Luan, when the negotiation team went to Tokyo for negotiations, our demand was that the second-phase project contract should be canceled or postponed without exemption. The reason should be clear to everyone. We have no money, and we can't die without money. Heroic man! But the Japanese refused to agree, either to perform the payment in accordance with the contract, or to compensate for breach of contract..."

Most of the committee members who participated in the preliminary review of the rolling mill production line design plan knew this history, and everyone looked at Liao Tingxuan with solemn faces.

Liao Tingxuan continued: "If you continue to perform the contract, you need to pay 50 billion US dollars in accordance with the contract. If you cancel the contract, Japan Steel Corporation will also open its mouth. Comrades, you are claiming more than 10 billion US dollars! This is someone carving out the flesh from your heart. That year , our total foreign exchange reserves are less than [-] billion U.S. dollars! There is no way, if our technology is not up to par, we can't blame others for blocking our necks, but now the opportunity is placed in front of us, do we still pretend to turn a blind eye?"

Looking at the silent crowd, Liao Tingxuan opened the design plan in his hand and said sadly: "With a quotation of 48 billion yuan, the entire second phase of the project, including the most difficult 1750 rolling mill automated production line, is completely autonomous and every supporting equipment They are all completed in collaboration with domestic equipment companies...but we still have to sit here and discuss which company's final assembly plan to choose?"

"Director Liao is right! The final assembly design plan submitted by Zhiyuan Metallurgical R&D Center, based on the listed exchange rate of 1:1.9757, has a total cost of less than 25 billion US dollars. More importantly, it can take this opportunity to make the first heavy machine and the second heavy machine It’s a chance to get valuable training opportunities!” A middle-aged man wearing glasses stood up and echoed.

"The Donghai Steel Plant is a key project of the National 75 Plan. Whether it can be produced smoothly and on schedule is related to the advancement of many major projects and affects the whole body! The final assembly design plan of Zhiyuan International is indeed very popular, but we cannot treat the Donghai Steel Plant like this Take out the big projects for them to practice, why not start with smaller projects first!" Meng Chang retorted "righteously"!

“I remember that when Northern Machinery Factory undertook the final assembly design task of Thailand’s 20-ton large petrochemical equipment, it also encountered numerous doubts. The Machinery Department overcame all objections and spent four years to complete the 20-ton large petrochemical equipment. Independent production!" Liao Tingxuan argued.

Meng Chang retorted disapprovingly: "Old Liao, you are just changing the concept! How can 20 tons of petrochemical equipment and [-] tons of complete metallurgical automated production lines be the same? If it is major metallurgical equipment, it can be so easy to complete independent production. , why do we wait until now? Domestic steel continues to be in short supply, and even many key projects are in short supply. We cannot afford to wait! We need to take a longer-term view. Once the Donghai Steel Plant is completed and put into operation, it will only take a few years to recover all the invest."

"You may not be familiar with the Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research and Development Center. Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research is a metallurgical equipment research institution established by Zhiyuan Group in conjunction with the General Iron and Steel Institute and the Metallurgical Automation Research Institute. Our Ministry of Metallurgical Industry is also one of the shareholders, with dozens of researchers , including many foreign metallurgical equipment experts recruited from Voestalpine and SMS, it took two years to complete all the design tasks of the final assembly production line. To put it simply, Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research is like our own metallurgical department. Raised children, this is why Zhiyuan Yeyan hands over all supporting equipment to domestic companies for production and installation. To put it more clearly, Zhiyuan Yeyan shoulders the political task of localizing major equipment, which was mentioned in high-level meetings. It's too conclusive..." In order to end this meaningless debate as soon as possible, Liao Tingxuan did not hesitate to use the reason of "political mission".

This is Liao Tingxuan's promise to Yang Mo. As long as Zhiyuan Metallurgy can complete the final assembly design of the second phase of the Donghai Steel Plant, Liao Tingxuan will definitely convince the leaders of the Ministry of Metallurgy to hand over this large and strategic project to Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research. This is not an exchange of interests, this is his mission, Liao Tingxuan!

Meng Chang knew that the situation was over, so he no longer persisted. He had been immersed in officialdom for many years, and knew that advancement and retreat was one of the reasons why he could remain standing.

The quotation of about [-]% by foreign equipment giants and the attraction of localization of major equipment are enough to defeat all competitors. If Meng Chang can stand up and fight for a while, he is already worthy of the public relations of Japan Steel Engineering Holding Company...

Haotian Import and Export Trading Company.

Kitahara Kurasuke rushed into Meng Hao's office anxiously. Without waiting for Meng Hao to speak, he asked with a pale face: "Mr. Meng, has the second phase of the Donghai Steel Plant project been confirmed to be handed over to Zhiyuan Metallurgical Research Institute?"

Meng Hao spread his hands and said helplessly: "Yes, Mr. Beihara! Zhiyuan Yeyan's design plan has great advantages. We have tried our best, unless..."

"Unless what?" Kitahara Kurasuke asked with the last glimmer of hope.

"Unless some major scandal suddenly breaks out in Zhiyuan himself..." Meng Hao said sadly.

"Breaking a scandal by yourself?" Kitahara Kurasuke said to himself thoughtfully.