Chapter 374 A big breakthrough in the after-sales market
Mercedes-Benz cars are beginning to gain momentum in the Chinese car market and even the global car market, and employees across the BMW Group are full of energy.
As a core parts company, Nanshan Technology was not to be outdone, and soon achieved a historic breakthrough.
"Director, PepBoys of America has placed an order for after-sales parts for us with more than 30,000 bellows in three models. The first batch of parts will officially start shipping and delivery next week."
"We made a special business trip to visit the United States before and provided them with samples, which achieved very good test results."
"As long as the market feedback is good, the other party said that the orders will not be less than 30,000 per month in the future."
Chen Chenxing came to Jiang Hui's office in a happy mood early in the morning.
The bellows and fixed calipers are special parts arranged by Jiang Hui for Nanshan Technology to attack the American after-sales market.
In particular, the design of the bellows was completely ahead of this era by at least ten years. While performance was greatly improved, weight and cost were greatly reduced.
Especially suitable for use on various vehicles with modified exhaust systems.
The modified car market basically has no presence in China.
Even if it is a few decades later, there will not be a big difference.
But in mature auto markets such as the United States, the situation is completely different.
Whether now or in future generations, this is an existence that many companies cannot ignore.
As long as it is done well, the modified car market can be relied upon to allow parts manufacturers to live a comfortable life.
“Has the patent for bellows been registered internationally?”
Jiang Hui expected that American after-sales chain companies would take a fancy to Nanshan Technology's bellows.
After all, the performance is there, and a professional organization will know it after a little testing.
The test of corrugated pipes is relatively not that complicated, and the results are obtained relatively quickly.
"Patents in major countries have been registered, and BMW Technology has spent a lot of money on this."
"This is also the first time I know that registering so many international patents is actually very expensive. No wonder some domestic companies have begun to understand the usefulness of patents, but few will register them internationally."
Chen Chenxing complained with emotion.
He just couldn't understand why those patent agencies charged so much.
Is it possible that these institutions do not rely on funding from relevant departments for their expenditures, but instead generate their own revenue?
"This patented bellows technology will definitely allow Nanshan Technology to live comfortably for twenty years. If any company dares to infringe the patent, we should not be afraid of a lawsuit."
"Then when General Motors cooperated with us, it also stated that it would give priority to inspecting Nanshan Technology."
"You can arrange for people to push it as soon as possible and try to get the corrugated pipe to be included in General Motors' mass production equipment."
Time waits for no one, Jiang Hui can’t wait to make Nanshan Technology bigger and stronger.
Nowadays, the situation of bellows in the American after-sales market has begun to open up. It is not impossible for General Motors to take this opportunity to consider using it.
"In the first week after the Mercedes-Benz sedan cooperation contract was officially signed with General Motors, someone from the sales department already brought bellows samples to visit the General Motors Procurement Center and Design Center."
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"The other party is also interested in using our corrugated pipe technology, but it is a bit slow to do it. In addition, it needs to be considered for use in new models, so it will take some time."
When Jiang Hui was discussing cooperation with General Motors, he specifically mentioned the affairs of Nanshan Technology, so Chen Chenxing naturally paid great attention to it.
In the workplace, many times the things that leaders value are the most important things, and everything else has to be put aside.
If you don't understand the rules of survival in the workplace, even if you have good personal abilities, you may not be able to get good rewards.
There is such a thing as reward for what you put in, and sometimes it’s just a bowl of chicken soup.
"We do not have a branch in the United States. If parts are supplied to General Motors, there are various trade procedures that need to be dealt with."
"You can consider communicating with someone who is well-informed in the GM procurement field and see if he can recommend a trading company, or even establish a new trading company that specializes in importing corrugated pipes from Nanshan Technology."
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When a company delays the introduction of new suppliers, nine times out of ten, the relationship is not in place.
Look at those new suppliers that the company boss personally arranged to introduce. Which department would dare to delay?
The people at the General Motors Purchasing Center have no special connection with Nanshan Technology in the past, so they will naturally not be particularly disrespectful to you.
But if you are doing business with your own people, the situation is different.
If Nanshan Technology wants to make big money from General Motors, it will naturally have to give up some things.
Jiang Hui could see this very clearly.
Anyway, the cost of Nanshan Technology’s corrugated pipes is much lower than that of its competitors, leaving a large enough profit margin for everyone to move around.
When Nanshan Technology makes a fortune, it will be completely acceptable for people in the General Motors Procurement Center and even some other key departments to also make a fortune.
The biggest problem is that the price of parts originally planned to sell for $10 each is raised to $15.
Anyway, as long as the business is successful, the wool comes from the sheep.
"Well, I will personally fly to the United States later and have a good communication with the other party."
Jiang Hui had already spoken so plainly, so Chen Chenxing naturally knew what he should do.
……
"Brick, when will the batch of corrugated pipes imported from China arrive?"
"I have received feedback from several sales stores. They are all waiting for this new type of bellows to modify exhaust systems for consumers."
"It would be a pity if a large modification order was lost because of a small part."
As the general manager of PepBoys, Roberts certainly doesn't have time to pay attention to the ordering situation of a small part.
But this time the bellows is special.
On the one hand, this is the first time that their company has purchased parts from China, and they are the kind of parts that are very cost-effective and have a high level of technology.
If it gets off to a good start, Roberts plans to expand the practice to make the company's financial results even better.
"The goods have been shipped from China. It is estimated that it will arrive at our port in another half a month. At that time, customs clearance and other procedures will be completed, and then they can be sent to our distribution center and distributed to various stores."
This business was negotiated personally by Brick as the purchasing director, so he naturally knew the specific situation.
"It's too slow, we can't keep consumers waiting."
"You just ask China to airlift a batch of parts first, and then satisfy the needs of waiting consumers." If you use air transportation, the transportation fee will definitely be high.
But compared with the overall profit brought by modified vehicles, this transportation fee is nothing.
After all, the corrugated pipe is not a particularly large part. As long as the product is transported in one or two square packaging boxes, it can meet the urgent needs of PepBoys.
Some other needs can be met slowly after the parts shipped by sea arrive.
"It's okay. The bellows produced by that company in China is really special. When combined with some of our exhaust system modification plans, it can have unexpected effects."
"Even if we can make the modification larger, it will not cause adverse effects such as vibration."
The boss had already spoken, so Brick naturally had no objections.
PepBoys is not the only after-sales chain store in the United States. Now that they have seized on a product with explosive attributes, it would be a shame if they do not market it well.
By then, when other chain stores have reacted, PepBoys's advantage will not be obvious.
With the various actions of PepBoys, the American after-sales market naturally formed a reaction quickly.
Among some modified car groups, the bellows introduced by PepBoys has become a hot-selling part.
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As long as the exhaust pipe is moved during modification, we will basically consider replacing the bellows at the same time.
Seeing this momentum taking shape, PepBoys also quickly increased orders for corrugated pipes.
Faced with this situation, the original bellows manufacturer naturally responded immediately.
"Freeman, we must let the people in the R&D center develop lightweight, high-performance bellows as soon as possible, otherwise the aftermarket will not use our bellows."
"The sales of some aftermarket parts of our exhaust system will also be affected."
"The most troublesome thing is that I am worried that this matter will affect our acquisition of new project orders from OEMs such as General Motors."
Tenneco is the largest exhaust system manufacturer in the United States.
As a supplier to General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Automobiles, they also supply parts such as exhaust pipes and bellows to aftermarket chains such as PepBoys.
At the beginning, PepBoys purchased corrugated pipes from China, and there was no special reaction from Tenneco.
But when people at the General Motors Purchasing Center were also asking whether Tenneco could produce that kind of lightweight, high-performance bellows, Chris began to feel something was wrong.
After some investigation, he immediately came to CEO Freeman's office to report the situation.
"The exhaust gas comes out of the engine exhaust manifold and passes through the catalyst housing, row A, center muffler and rear muffler package. There are so many parts, and the bellows is just an insignificant component. Is the impact really that big?"< br>
Freeman thought Chris was making a fuss.
For Tenneco, even if it loses the corrugated pipe order, the impact will be very limited.
Besides, there are not many manufacturers that can compete with Tenneco in the American parts market.
Faurecia, the global exhaust system giant known to many people in later generations, has not yet become independent from Peugeot.
There are several exhaust system manufacturers in Japan, but they have just entered the American market. They mainly supply Toyota, Honda and Nissan factories in the United States, and have not yet begun to supply American car companies such as General Motors. system.
It can be said that Tenneco has been relatively comfortable in the past few years.
The only uncomfortable thing is that the sales of several OEMs such as General Motors are declining, which has led to a decline in Tenneco's turnover.
But people actually make a lot of money.
Many times, the OEM may not make any money, but most parts suppliers are making money.
"The technical department purchased a batch of lightweight bellows from the market for testing. After using this kind of bellows, our exhaust system parts can be designed to be simpler."
"Especially the material thickness of the parts on row A can be appropriately reduced. This can not only achieve lightweight but also reduce costs."
"The noise reduction performance of the entire vehicle can also be improved simultaneously, with the noise reduced by more than 3 decibels under the same conditions."
"If all exhaust pipe manufacturers don't care about these impacts, then the impact on our orders from OEMs will be relatively small. But once other competitors start using them, the impact will be greater."
Chris put the situation more bluntly.
Even though Tenneco is having a good time now, it doesn't really mean that it doesn't have any competitors.
Exhaust system parts are not parts with particularly high technological monopoly.
"The bellows is used as a lower part of the exhaust pipe in most OEMs. It takes a lot of time to design and produce a new lightweight bellows ourselves, and the final production cost may also be relatively high. .”
"You can communicate with the people in the purchasing department first to see if you can cooperate directly with the manufacturers in China, purchase corrugated pipes from them, install them on row A, and then send them to the OEM."
"In this way, the impact on us can be controlled to the minimum range."
Freeman quickly came up with a solution of his own.
In his opinion, the value of the bellows part is relatively low compared to the entire exhaust system.
Since cheap parts can be purchased, there is no need to produce them yourself.
"This is also a good idea. I heard from the General Motors Procurement Center that the new lightweight corrugated pipes have been patented around the world."
"I'm afraid it's not that easy if we want to avoid this patent."
"It is also a good way to cooperate directly with the other party."
For Kliman, it is enough as long as the products sold by Tenneco can be equipped with lightweight bellows at any time to meet the needs of the OEM.
It doesn't matter whether the part is produced by the company itself or purchased from outside.
"If General Motors is very interested in actively promoting the adoption of lightweight corrugated pipes, we will put forward a VA/VE proposal, and switching in the middle of mass production is also possible."
"Just this part of the price reduction effect can be used to offset their annual price reduction requirements, achieving a win-win situation."
When Freeman said this, Chris felt that his whole mind had been opened up.
This path is completely feasible.
When the time comes, we will kill two birds with one stone and everyone will benefit.
(End of chapter)