Chery factory time

At present, Chery, the fastest-growing independent development enterprise in China, is often called a dark horse in media reports, because this enterprise that produces its own brand cars seems to have suddenly emerged from the ground and started explosive growth as soon as it was born.

Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. originated from the automobile project in mop.com, Wuhu City, Anhui Province. Mop.com, a local city in Wuhu, has long wanted to do automobile projects. 1992- 1993 during the period of overheating, a village-run factory in Wuhu knocked hundreds of cars a year, which was the output value of more than one billion. This phenomenon attracted the attention of the leaders in mop.com, an economically backward place, and they came up with the idea of driving a car. The original plan was to cooperate with FAW, but I found that the other party didn't put themselves in the eye at all, and finally decided to do it myself. Looking back at history, the biggest driving force for Wuhu automobile project to evolve into an independent development enterprise comes from ignorance (it is difficult to simply dry the car), but the ignorant are fearless. Today's Chery leaders are no longer ignorant, but the fearless spirit has penetrated into the organizational genes of this enterprise and continues to carry forward.

The leaders of Wuhu, Anhui Province, who wanted to go to the automobile project, learned that an engine production line of Ford in England was to be sold during the inspection of European automobile industry in May 438+0995+10, so they seized the opportunity to start the project. Due to the restriction of national policy on the car project, it can only be carried out in secret, so the internal code name of this project is "95 1 Project" (that is, the number one project in Anhui during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period), and the public code name is "Anhui Auto Parts Industry Company (Preparatory Office)", which has been kept low-key. It can be seen from this mysterious code name that Anhui Province must have secretly given support to this project.

In an economically backward area like Wuhu, it is not easy to find people who can make cars. 1995, when the Wuhu delegation visited FAW, they found Yin, a fellow villager. Yin 1983 graduated from Hefei University of Technology, majoring in automobile engineering, and then worked in FAW 12.5 years. He used to be the workshop director of FAW-Volkswagen, and was elected as "Top Ten Outstanding Youth" of FAW, which made him famous in FAW. After discovering the talents in this area, Wuhu stubbornly insisted on inviting Yin back to Wuhu to preside over the automobile project. Moved by each other's sincerity, I finally accepted Yin's invitation. When Yin went to Wuhu to form a team, there were eight people in the whole project, which was later listed as "Eight donkey kong" by Chery history. More than 50 people gathered in 1997 as the core team after the "August donkey kong". Among them, Minister Lu of the Car Body Department and Da Gao, the project manager of the son of the Orient, were Yin's classmates at the Polytechnic University and were cheated by Yin. Minister Lu was originally in Anhui An Kai Bus Company, and Yin was the first to find him. The two of them broke their fingers and figured out who among the students was still doing technical work, so they remembered Da Gao, who had worked in Shijiazhuang Automobile Factory. They still remember that Yin stood in an open field full of weeds and excitedly told them where the engine factory, the center and the assembly factory were ... although these were pies drawn out of thin air. As Da Gao said, Chery's biggest attraction is that it can drive its own car. What impressed him was not the pie Yin painted on the wasteland, but the Chery prototype he was led into the shed to see. At that time, he only felt that his eyes were shining and the meaning of life was just that, so he joined this team with only 50 people at that time. Gao Xiao, the project manager of QQ, graduated from 1997 Hefei University of Technology majoring in automobile. He was attracted by Yin at the job fair and was persuaded to join Chery. Taking advantage of his relationship in FAW, Yin also invited some people from FAW to help. It is said that FAW still has 100 people working in Chery.

196 "95 1 Project" purchased the engine product technology and a production line of the British Ford Company for $25 million. At first, the British sent more than 20 people to help with the installation, but these people were lazy and drank at night. Yin simply asked the British to return home early, and at the same time detained $4 million in payment for goods on the grounds that they did not complete the task according to the agreement. Get rid of the British and do it yourself. When the production line is completely installed, the withholding of $4 million has not been spent.

Since then, the resume provided by Chery is: Chery Automobile Company broke ground on more than 800,000 square meters of land in Wuhu Economic Development Zone in March 1997; Anhui Auto Parts Industry Company with a registered capital of 65.438+75.2 million yuan jointly invested by five companies affiliated to mop.com, Anhui Province and mop.com, Wuhu City was formally established at the same time. In June 5438+10 of the same year, the engine workshop (building area of 75600 square meters) was completed and put into use; After 13 and a half months of installation and debugging, the first engine was successfully off-line in May 1999, and the ignition was successful once. 1September 1999 CAC478/480 engine passed the product appraisal at one time.

This report may cover up two facts. First, the investors of this project may not be able to pay that much money at that time. Because the national industrial policy at that time required that the newly-built automobile enterprises must belong to large groups, this new enterprise emerging from Wuhu, Anhui Province had enough motivation to make itself bigger so as not to be despised by large groups. In addition, industrial policies also limit the investment threshold of automobile projects, and investments below 65.438+0.5 billion yuan are not allowed at all. Second, Chery people introduced the company's history and always said: at the beginning of the project, they just wanted to produce automobile engines, but when they got on the engines, they had to find a market and naturally entered the whole vehicle manufacturing. In fact, from all angles, it is enough to judge that the goal of "95 1 Project" is to build a complete vehicle from the beginning, and the engine project is to build a complete vehicle. So at that time, while implementing the engine project, the whole vehicle project has also started.

In fact, Chery's first car was planned in 1995. This model (Fengyun) is an imitation of Jetta chassis. Yin worked in FAW-Volkswagen Jetta and knew the chassis technology of Jetta like the back of his hand. The car body was also designed on the basis of imitation, and then a mold manufacturer in Taiwan Province Province, Fuzhen Company, was invited to develop the mold. Chery invited an old engineer retired from FAW to Taiwan Province Province to supervise the mold development process. When the first unpainted body-in-white was molded, the old engineer who went out to build a China car again burst into tears on the spot.

1in March, 1998, before the prototype car came out, the construction project of the automobile factory (including four production lines of stamping, welding, spraying and final assembly) of Anhui Auto Parts Industry Company had already started (it can be seen that "95 1 project" was planned for a long time). 199965438+February, the first car of Anhui Auto Parts Industry Company rolled off the assembly line. In 2000, Anhui Auto Parts Co., Ltd. produced more than 2,000 cars. In order to make this unlicensed automobile production enterprise survive, with the help of mop.com in Anhui and Wuhu, Chery Automobile was designated as a taxi in Wuhu and obtained a license.

The cars produced by Chery, whether they meet the safety standards or not, are illegal because they are not listed in the national catalogue, and have been requested by the relevant state departments to stop production. After many efforts, under the coordination of the State Economic and Trade Commission, Chery negotiated to join SAIC. This is an unequal negotiation, because the card in SAIC's hand is Chery's life and death card: if you don't join SAIC, you won't have an account. Finally, Chery agreed to transfer the assets of 350.4 million yuan (accounting for 20% of the registered capital) to SAIC for free, but Chery put forward the principle of "four noes" to SAIC, that is, no investment, no participation in management, no risk and no dividend. In fact, there are many "no" in turn. For example, Chery and SAIC's sales network cannot be used; Chery can't learn from SAIC's management experience ... Obviously, SAIC didn't take Chery seriously at that time.

200 1 1, Anhui Auto Parts Co., Ltd. was officially renamed SAIC Chery. Chery Automobile has also been listed in the last published catalogue of vehicle production management before the cancellation of the National Machinery Bureau, and has obtained the long-awaited "7-prefix" catalogue. Since then, all models of Chery automobile have been marked with the logo of "SAIC Chery" in the upper left corner of the rear, which makes many car buyers mistakenly think that this is a car produced in Shanghai. The word "SAIC Chery" has given this new enterprise a good market image, which is also the biggest benefit Chery gained from joining SAIC.

Chery's "Fengyun" can really be said to be "shocking the listing". This is an elegant car with a 1.6-liter engine, which belongs to the same level as Santana, Jetta and Fukang, but the price is lower 1/3, and it received enthusiastic response as soon as it went on the market. In 200 1 year, Chery Automobile sold 28,000 vehicles, with sales reaching more than 2 billion yuan. In 2002, Chery sold 50,000 cars, with sales exceeding 4 billion yuan.

As Fengyun suddenly opened the market, Chery quickly embarked on the track of mass production. Chery can do this because it uses the supporting system developed for the localization of imported models in China. There are rumors in the media that Chery "copied" the public's spare parts supply system, which angered the public. This statement is not accurate. In fact, the reason why Volkswagen grabbed the handle was because there were parts printed with Volkswagen logo on the early Chery cars. This is not Chery's intentional infringement of the intellectual property rights of the public. It can only be said that in the initial stage, the supporting system management is not perfect.

The event that Chery really had a shocking impact on the automobile market in China was the launch of three new models in one breath in 2003, namely QQ, Oriental Son and Yun Qi. On June 5438+1October 65438+July, 2004, Beijing Asian Games Village Automobile Market announced the top ten best-selling models in Beijing market in 2003 (859 models sold in Asian market in that year were ranked according to sales volume, so the winners were all selected by consumers' "currency voting"), and Geely, US, Japan and Chery QQ were both selected. According to the next day's "Jinghua Times" report, "Chery QQ is the most outstanding among the top ten best-selling models. It was only released in Beijing for 4 months from September last year to the end of the year, but it was able to squeeze into the top ten, and the results were very eye-catching. "

The son of the orient, also listed in June, also won applause. On June 5438+ 10, 2004, after the voting statistics of more than 50,000 readers and netizens, the son of the orient was named "My Top Ten Favorite Family Cars in 2003" in Beijing Morning Post.

In fact, when Fengyun was just in mass production, Chery began to plan new models. A new enterprise made its first model in 2000 and launched three new models in less than three years: Why can Chery's technical ability improve so quickly? It turned out that the three new cars launched by Chery in 2003 were all technically developed by an elite unit of the Second Automobile Company.

At the end of 2000, more than a dozen R&D engineers from the Second Automobile Technology Center planned to leave. The direct fuse is the cancellation technology center of the second automobile plan, which is determined to take the road of joint venture. But these people were suffering from nowhere to go, because it was difficult to find a car company that wanted to develop independently in China. Later, when Chery found out, he invited them to join him. In July of 200 1 year, the advance party arrived in Wuhu, Anhui; In August, 1 1- 12 people who planned to leave all arrived in Wuhu. After these people settled down, they found more than a dozen colleagues from the former Second Automobile Technology Center, all of whom were scattered abroad. As a result, an automobile development team of more than 20 people was formed. It is called a "team" because these technicians are not only a group of elite soldiers, but also the backbone of automobile research and development in the Second Automobile Technology Center, and they have worked together for a long time, so they not only have their own strengths, but also have the tacit understanding and cooperation necessary for a team. Regardless of the individual level, such a team needs years of cooperation to forge. In fact, many of them have been trained in France and are the backbone of the Second Automobile Technology Center in the field of automobile development.

Why did these elite troops leave the Second Automobile Company? According to a person in charge of this team (1993 graduated from the Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University), the most fundamental reason is "the indifference of state-owned enterprises to technicians". He cited the following reasons: (1) The leaders of state-owned enterprises who are eager for quick success only pay attention to foreign technology and don't think their technicians are valuable, so the enthusiasm of technicians has not been brought into play. (2) State-owned enterprises do not respect the opinions of technicians. Automobile is a product with very complicated technology, and technicians must be respected in the development stage; However, state-owned enterprises are the will of the chief executive, and leadership decisions often do not consider technical feasibility. (3) Corruption in state-owned enterprises is widespread. Drawings need to be improved round by round, but suppliers always look for leaders to approve the notes, so that unqualified parts can get away with it; Technicians can only do worse and worse on defective parts. (4) There are always a group of idle people who don't work in state-owned enterprises, and they will only be cynical and make the working people feel frustrated. The final result of these factors is that everyone loses confidence in independent development. Therefore, the reason why I work hard is the enterprising working atmosphere year after year. As the only director of the R&D team of the Second Automobile Company who was less than 30 years old (28 years old), he said excitedly, "I can see my 40 s and 50 s when I am 30 years old."

Soon after the team was formed, it accepted the task of designing new models for Chery. Then they worked hard for more than 8 months and designed the son of the East and QQ. The reason why the development speed is so fast is that these technicians hold their breath, so everyone has no holidays, and every day they work except sleeping and eating. A designer once set a record of not sleeping for 48 hours in a row. After completing the design tasks of Son of the Orient and QQ, the team improved on the basis of Fengyun and designed Yun Qi. They also designed the first SUV T- 1 1 and another A-series car that Chery will launch in 2004.

In April 2003, all members of the team had dinner to celebrate the success of the new model design and trial production. When we were full of food and wine, someone asked us a question: If we are still in the Second Automobile, or this group of people, can we make two cars? In the end, everyone agreed that it could not be done! After they left, the independent development ability of the original car of No.2 Automobile basically ceased to exist. So, is the second automobile distressed by their departure? Did you stop them from leaving? This fact proves that design engineers are worthless as long as they don't develop independently, whether they are foreign companies or Chinese enterprises.

As the team leader said frankly: "We will always thank Chery. Because Chery gave us a chance to prove ourselves when the leader of our former unit thought we couldn't do it. Others don't know whether all the drawings are good or bad, and even we can't fully guarantee them. At this juncture, Chery dares to invest hundreds of millions of yuan to put product design into practice. " An independent R&D enterprise gave a group of China technicians the opportunity to prove their value, and these technicians designed "shocking listing" products for this enterprise. Obviously, independent development enterprises and local R&D engineers are related by blood, and they are mutually causal.

It should be pointed out that this team did not join Chery in organization, but set up Jiajing Technology Co., Ltd. together with Chery, specializing in automobile design (Chery holds 2/3 of the shares, and the rest are held by the personnel of the Second Automobile Company). The reason is not Chery, but the people of the Second Automobile are worried about meeting the second "Second Automobile", so they choose to remain relatively independent. By the end of 2003, the number of technicians in Jiajing Company had increased to 60, and most of them were college graduates. Although Jiajing Company's main task at present is to develop products for Chery, theoretically, it may develop into a professional design company.

One of the challenges faced by Chery is to develop its own development team. In fact, Chery has started to set up an automobile research institute, with an initial investment of 250 million yuan and a final planned investment of 65.438+00-65.438+05 billion yuan. The institute has a team of 500 people and hopes to grow to 65,438+0,000 people in the near future. According to the company's plan, the number of research institutes will reach 3,000 by 2006, and the final scale will reach 5,000. Although the institute is located in Wuhu, it plans to set up branches in Beijing and Shanghai in the future, and eventually set up branches abroad. The current dean is Dr. Min Xu who came back from the United States (he was a senior engineer and engine expert of GM and Ford). At present, Chery's vice president of human resources holds more than 200 job applications from China students studying in the United States. Why did they choose Chery instead of a joint venture? It is precisely because these senior talents can only find their place in the enterprises that develop products.

In order to learn product development technology, Chery is also taking the road of international cooperation and development, and it is very strong. Chery has commissioned Italian and German design companies to develop new models, and clearly put forward joint development. To this end, Chery sent dozens of its own technicians to participate in the development work. In Chery's strategic concept, international cooperation is the second stage of developing independent development capability (taking the development of four existing models as the first stage); The third stage is to design smaller and lower-grade products by yourself, and then climb up to design higher-end products; Finally, we should fully realize independent development in the fourth stage. The whole transition period will take 3-5 years.

Because of the importance of mastering the engine, Chery launched a plan that shocked China's automobile industry: during 2002-2003, it entrusted Austrian AVL company to design 18 0.8-4.2-liter engines, all of which met Euro IV emission standards; Accordingly, Chery Automobile Research Institute established a technical team of engine parts with as many as 200 people before June 65438+February 2003. These engines are being tested on Chery's 10 world-class engine test bench, and will be gradually used on Chery's models from 2004. At the same time, Chery also established a joint venture with Fuzhen Company in Taiwan Province Province, and gradually mastered the mold manufacturing technology. Chery's engine plan and mold plan are the preliminary preparations for its rapid growth. It can be expected that in 3-5 years, Chery's models will increase greatly and its technical level will be greatly improved.

In 2003, Chery continued to make great strides, selling 90,367 cars throughout the year, with sales of at least 8 billion yuan. Chery is actually a state-owned enterprise invested by mop.com, and will not face the pressure of return in the short term. In addition, it is said that mop.com, Anhui Province, also helped China Agricultural Bank, China Everbright Bank and China Industrial and Commercial Bank to sign huge credit guarantee loans with Chery. As far as the profit model is concerned, Chery's models cut into the market are higher than Hafei and Geely, and its profitability should be significantly higher than Hafei and Geely. Under such relatively favorable conditions, Chery's fate depends more on the progress of product research and development, production management and marketing.

Although Chery should be regarded as a grass-roots enterprise, its leadership comes from a large state-owned enterprise, and its production management is standardized from the beginning, which makes the enterprise quickly form clear short-,medium-and long-term goals, and has formed enterprise system arrangements to ensure the realization of these goals.

The total number of employees of Chery 200 1 and 10 is more than 2,700, compared with more than 4,000 at the end of 2002. By the end of 2003, it had increased to more than 9,000 people, with an average age of 23, and there were no retirees. It is a great challenge for Chery to turn this young workforce into a well-trained workforce (it can be seen that the workers on Chery's assembly line are not as well-trained as those on FAW-Volkswagen's assembly line now), but there are no traditional drawbacks of state-owned enterprises that hinder Chery's efforts.

Although it is a state-owned enterprise, Chery's system is brand-new. From the general manager to every ordinary worker, all employees of Chery implement the contract system, and entrepreneurs can only sign a five-year contract with the enterprise. The company has no logistics system, and the cadres and employees solve their own housing. The enterprise decision-making system is highly centralized, and the order is prohibited.

In Chery, we can feel that this is a desperate enterprise, especially the top managers, who have no holidays at all. Yin is lying in the hospital with intravenous drip and directing production, which is a well-known story of Chery. In the boastful words of Chery people, "Chery has a group of desperate leaders, a group of dedicated experts and a group of employees who are willing to learn". It is precisely because we can "build our own car" that this enterprise is full of the spirit of struggle.

Although Chery is still a new enterprise, it is at a high level in management and technical equipment. In May 2002, Chery became the first successful side impact test in China. In September, Chery became the first vehicle manufacturer in China to pass the international standard of ISO/TS 16949. 10 June, after nearly a year of careful preparation, the ERP project was officially launched. Chery has one of the five most advanced coating lines in the world, with an investment of 700 million yuan introduced from the most famous professional manufacturer in Germany, DURR. It is said that there are only five such production lines in the world, three of which are distributed in Europe: Volkswagen two, BMW1; Two of them are located in Asia: Shanghai Volkswagen 1, and the second one is located in Chery.

Chery's example also clearly explains why independent development is not behind closed doors, but more effective use of international resources.

First, compared with those joint ventures, Chery can be regarded as a global procurement, because it doesn't have to look at the face of any foreign party. As far as engines are concerned, Fengyun uses its own engine, QQ uses China Dongan engine, Dongfang Son uses Mitsubishi engine, and Yun Qi uses BMW Chrysler engine. However, Chery has the right to confirm the design of all its vehicles, so no matter what parts it purchases, everything from Fengyun to QQ, Son of the Orient and Yun Qi is China cars.

Second, Chery employs more than 20 foreign technicians and managers (including Germans, Japanese and Koreans). Chery assembly plant has a production line called Sitian Town No.2 production line (the assembly line of the son of the East). The total length of this line is Mitsubishi's former Japanese manager, and now he has become a member of Chery and has been invited to help Chery improve its on-site management.

Third, Chery is more international than any other China automobile enterprise (including joint ventures). In the first year of official listing, Chery exported the first batch of cars to Syria on 200 1 10. By the end of February 2003, 65438+, Chery Automobile had exported 14 batches, totaling more than 1000 vehicles, including Fengyun, Yun Qi, Oriental Son and QQ. Although the total number is small, it accounts for 90% of the total number of exported cars in China that year. According to Xinhuanet's report on June 5438+ 10/9, 2004, Jin Yibo, general manager of Chery Sales Company, revealed that in 2004, Chery planned to export 10000 vehicles, and by June 65438+ 10/8. In addition to the traditional Middle East, Chery Automobile will be exported to Central and South America in batches for the first time.

What's more, Chery actually set a record for the first export automobile assembly plant in China. From July, 20001year, after nine field visits by the other party, Chery Company and SKT Company of Iran established cooperative relations at the end of 20001year. SKT is the main parts manufacturer of two Iranian automobile manufacturers, and has gradually developed into the vehicle industry in recent years. After more than one year's examination and approval, the project obtained the production and sales license from mop.com, Iran at the end of 2002, and it is also the first vehicle project approved to be built in mop.com, Iran in recent 20 years. Since then, Chery signed a contract with SKT Company in February 2003, in which Chery provided technology transfer and factory design, and established an automobile assembly plant for SKT Company in Mashhad Province in northeast Iran, including four processes: stamping, welding, painting and final assembly. The design capacity of the first phase of the project is 30,000 vehicles. On June 26, 2003,165438+1October 26, 2003, Chery and SKT company formally signed the purchase agreement of equipment and CKD parts in Wuhu. According to the agreement, it is estimated that by June 2004, Chery will export CKD parts to Iran in batches for assembly, mainly producing Chery A 1 1 model (Fengyun series) and subsequent improved models. It is worth mentioning that the assembly plant exported by Chery is mainly made in China. Following the successful implementation of the cooperative factory building project in Iran, Chery will also cooperate to build factories in Venezuela and Pakistan through CKD.