Chapter 709: His money, his technology, will cost him his life (Third update, please subscribe)
Although Chicago is known as the "Steel City", Li Yian can say that he has nothing to do with the U.S. steel industry. Interest... because the technology is too backward.
In fact, despite the fact that the United States is now known as the world's largest steel power, the technological level of the American steel industry, represented by Chicago, is still at the level of the 1930s.
Of course, this level refers to the steel production technology - a large number of old equipment has restricted the development of the US steel industry. It is precisely because of its large scale that the capitalists are slow to respond to technological upgrades, no Slow, but because upgrading technical equipment requires money!
As long as those equipment can still be used and can make profits, it is impossible for them to upgrade the equipment.
In fact, it was precisely because of the greed of those capitalists that the U.S. steel industry was directly destroyed—competitors from abroad did not give them the time and opportunity to slowly upgrade. In the end, the steel companies that were once prominent were eliminated by the market, and one by one they went bankrupt.
But in steel technology, the United States is still the best in the world. More than ten years later, the U.S. Steel Company, which was crumbling under the impact of Japanese steel, still possessed the world's first-class steel technology.
Although he is not interested in the steel industry, there are many universities in Chicago. There are international students from Nanyang in those universities, and of course there are also some international students from Tangshan. Of course, Li Yian also wants to meet them and invite them. Nanyang work.
They even took the initiative to provide them with living expenses and other subsidies. After all, Nanyang's thirst for talents has never been satisfied.
It doesn’t matter whether they are willing to come or not. The most important thing is to send out the invitation first. No matter how many there are, there will always be people who are willing to come to Nanyang.
In this way, after completing his inspection in Chicago, Li Yi'an went to Detroit, which is the automobile city in the United States. It has the technology of automobile automated production lines that Nanyang is most interested in. After the baptism of World War II, the American automobile industry The technical level has reached a new level, especially the automated production line, which ranks Blue Star first. After the war, whether Germany or Japan developed the automobile industry, the introduction of their automated production lines was the core, whether it was Volkswagen or Toyota. Their automated production lines were all imported from Detroit.
It can be said that the two major competitors of American automobiles, Germany and Japan, were basically trained by Americans, and they were hands-on.
In this regard, Nanyang has almost been taught by the United States step by step. Three Nanyang automobile companies have introduced automated production lines from the United States. However, when visiting Detroit, Li Yian's focus was on heavy-duty trailers - as containers slowly become more popular, the demand for heavy-duty trailers will only grow. At present, Nanyang's heavy-duty trailer technology is at a medium level, and it is normal to introduce technology.
However, the specific technical details will be discussed between the company and American manufacturers. Li Yian is focused on the general direction. Of course, the more important point is that it costs money. This is the most important thing. After all, after receiving so much US aid, it must be spent.
The way of spending... includes but is not limited to placing orders in the United States and becoming the darling of the American industry. Only in this way can the relationship between the two be maintained within a certain period of time.
Of course, future trade wars will still happen. After all, some things are inevitable. It may be possible to delay it for one day.
What is the largest order in the United States?
That is, a 35,000-ton die forging hydraulic press was ordered from Mesta Company in Pittsburg for Nanyang Aluminum Company. In addition, a set of 5334 mm thick plates was ordered for Donghai Steel. rolling mill. This contract is a joint manufacturing contract, which is actually a kind of technical output.
In this era, when it comes to heavy-duty complete sets of machinery and equipment, it still depends on the United States. In another world, both Wien United Company and Mesta Company are the main exporters of equipment technology. They provide Japanese Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries, Germany's SMS, Britain's David Lowe, and France's Sesim have transferred manufacturing technology.
To a certain extent, these American companies have directly led the development of mechanical equipment technology in the entire Western world. Of course, what they don’t know now is that just a few decades later, they will be beaten by the competitors they have cultivated, and even eventually go bankrupt.
But now, American mechanical equipment technology has always been the focus of Nanyang's industrial development. In one round, a full US$300 million was spent, which is almost equivalent to spending more than half of the American aid.
However, the money spent is still very worthwhile. After all, these technologies are extremely advanced technologies, and what interests Li Yian the most is the 35,000-ton die forging hydraulic press.
“This is for big airplanes!” Li Yian said with emotion while looking at the information on the 35,000-ton die forging hydraulic press provided by Mesta Company on the way to Seattle.
“Nanyang still owes too much in technical equipment...”
In fact, there are only a few large-scale die forging hydraulic presses in the world. Before the war, Germany manufactured a 70MN die forging hydraulic press in 1934 due to the need to manufacture fighter jets. From 1938 to 1944, it successively manufactured a 300MN die forging hydraulic press1 Taiwan and 3 150MN die forging hydraulic presses.
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union dismantled these 10,000-ton die forging hydraulic presses from Germany respectively. The United States dismantled one 150MN die forging hydraulic press, and the Soviet Union dismantled one 150MN and 300MN die forging hydraulic presses. tower. There is also one that was dismantled by chance by the task force in Germany.
The 15,000-ton die forging hydraulic press plays an extremely important role in the process of manufacturing the C95 passenger aircraft. When building the "707", large aluminum alloy forgings are needed, which need to be completed in 3 It is pressed on a hydraulic press of more than 10,000 tons, so it is necessary to purchase or build a 350MN die forging hydraulic press.
However, due to the weak manufacturing foundation of Nanyang's large equipment, we finally decided to outsource it. The large-scale mechanical equipment that needs to be purchased during the same period is not just a 350MN die forging hydraulic press. Just the "707" project requires the purchase of multiple sets of large-scale equipment. In addition to high material requirements, the skin aluminum alloy required for aircraft manufacturing has high specifications. The size also has corresponding design requirements. The aircraft of the "707" project are large in size and require thick plates with a width of 2.2 meters for the wing skin. However, China can only provide 1.5-meter-wide ones. If a 1.5-meter-wide skin is used, there will be too many seams on the machine, which will not only affect the appearance, but also increase the amount of docking plates and rivets, which will seriously increase the weight of the empty machine. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce large-scale aluminum plate pressing and stretching equipment.
In short, industrial matters are extremely complicated. Anything can be built if you don't want to, even in Nanyang where German, French and Italian aviation experts gather. There is no technical problem, but there is also a need for breakthroughs in equipment.
However, the only good thing is that Nanyang is not only a member of the Western camp, but also a key ally, so there is no restriction on the introduction of technical equipment. Otherwise, if nothing else, it would just develop a 350MN die forging hydraulic press. There would be no two or three years. All your efforts are in vain.
Now, directly using the US aid bonus, a large number of large complete sets of equipment have been ordered, which will not only accelerate the development of aerospace and machinery industries, but also take the opportunity to cultivate Nanyang's own mechanical technology groups. After all, These projects all involve cooperative research and development and technical personnel training.
Nanyang’s procurement is not just equipment, but also involves corresponding technical output. With these technical equipment, not only can Nanyang’s large aircraft come out two years ahead of schedule, but it can also make Nanyang’s mechanical equipment The manufacturing industry has jumped at least one level! Some industries will even grow by leaps and bounds.
“I really have to thank the Yankees!”
While feeling emotional, Li Yian put together the materials in his hands, looked at the white clouds outside the window, and thought of what he had gained from this trip to the United States.
"Actually, isn't this kind of technology export the fundamental reason why developed countries in Western countries are developed?"
Technology export among Western companies seems to have cultivated competitors, but in fact it has It promoted the technological level of the entire Western world. In the development of many equipment in later generations, those equipment seemed to be the products of one country and one company, but the subsystems contained the cutting-edge technology of the entire Western world.
And this is one of the reasons why Europe and the United States have finally mastered the world's cutting-edge technology.
Thinking of this, Li Yian said to himself.
“It seems that even for the sake of future technological integration, the identity of this Western camp must not be lost...”
(End of this chapter)