Cao Dewang, 75, is still striding.
The Heren Foundation, founded by him, signed an agreement with the Fuzhou Municipal Government to invest 10 billion yuan to build Fuyao University of Science and Technology. Cao Dewang told Wu Xiaoli that this was the new career he had chosen after retiring from Fuyao, and it was also the "best thing."
Some people called him "the king of glass" and "the first good in China", and he refuted these titles one by one. He doesn't like to be defined.
"Now call me 'King', what will I be called after?' The Emperor's ? ”
"Q&A Shenzhou" interview this week
Fuyao Glass Industry Group Co., Ltd
Founder Chairman Cao Dewang
1
"I'm happy when I see glass"
Fuqing City, which is surrounded by mountains and waters, has had the reputation of "coastal Zoulu, literature famous state" since ancient times. This is Cao Dewang's hometown. His relationship with glass also began.
In June 1984, Cao Dewang, who was still a buyer at the special-shaped glass factory in Gaoshan Town, Fuqing, went on a tour of WuyiShan, and when he returned, he bought a crutch for his mother, and when he sat in the co-pilot, the driver hurriedly reminded him: "You be careful, don't touch the car glass, this piece is more than 6,000 pieces."
Cao Dewang listened, frightened, a piece of car glass more than 6,000 pieces, scare who?
After returning home, after research, he found that what the driver said was not false, and the biggest reason was that there was no decent automotive glass manufacturer in China, and there was no related technology for manufacturing automotive glass.
Since then, the desire to "make a piece of his own glass for Chinese" has been buried deep in Cao Dewang's heart, and he decided to enter the field of automotive glass, and since then began to insist on more than thirty years.
Today, Fuyao Group, led by Cao Dewang, has factories and business institutions in 11 countries and regions such as the United States, Germany and Japan, and the glass produced is sold to 70 countries around the world, accounting for a quarter of the global market share. Even under the impact of the new crown epidemic, Fuyao's production plants are still thriving.
Fuyao headquarters float glass factory
Cao Dewang: This is a new production line that we have invented ourselves, which can be said to represent China's float technology. In 2021, the price of float glass has gone crazy. We have our own production, but prices on the outside market have risen dramatically.
Wu Xiaoli: The epidemic has occurred, in fact, the global economy is sluggish, and the demand for automotive glass will also decrease. How does Fuyao face it?
Cao Dewang: In 2019, the total global automobile production was 94 million units, and in 2020 it fell to 77 million vehicles, and our company judged that it would be 70 million in 2021 and even lower in 2022. That should be affected by Fu Yao, I am not affected, because some of my peers have fallen, I said to him, you go well, I will do it for you.
Wu Xiaoli: Its market share has reached Fuyao again.
Cao Dewang: Yes, production has come down, but supply has also come down. As long as your system is strong enough, then you can carry it.
Wu Xiaoli: In fact, Fuyao is facing an international world, and the world situation is very important to you. How will the world's economy change in the coming period?
Cao Dewang: I think the epidemic is just the trigger. Because all countries have problems, the price of U.S. goods has increased by 30%, which is absolutely true. But it is a sin of its own doing, and it has increased the tax on China's past products by 30%.
Wu Xiaoli: Is there also a big problem with their labor?
Cao Dewang: Yes, there is such a problem in Europe now, young people in Europe are no longer working, and supply chain ruptures are also there.
I can have today, is very listening to the words of friends, a friend in Japan told me, Cao Sheng, you must remember, slow down is not okay, do what you can. I listened. We are very standardized, and now Fuyao has no debt. On the books, the bank deposits are 15 billion yuan, and the loans are only 80 or 9 billion yuan, not me, there are a number of such enterprises in China.
You have to do your business well, don't do everything, don't be strong.
Under the global market competition, Fuyao can occupy such a market share and stand firm on the heel of "automotive glass brother", which is inseparable from Cao Dewang's insistence on innovation and long-standing crisis awareness.
"Doing business is like playing basketball, there is no strong opponent, it is difficult to improve their own level", in the Glass Engineering Research Institute under Fuyao Group, Cao Dewang proudly led Wu Xiaoli to visit the atmosphere of Fuyao production panorama canopy, solar power generation skylight and other high-tech products, as well as the logo of cooperative car companies covering the entire wall.
Fuyao Group Headquarters Glass Engineering Research Institute
Visit the atmosphere of panoramic canopy glass
Visit solar power glass
Cao Dewang said, "I will be very happy to see glass now." This small piece of glass is integrated into Cao Dewang's life's work. He took a seemingly ordinary industry to the extreme, digging a deep moat with heavy assets and patented technology.
2
"If you don't change your name, you can't change your surname"
For 34 years, Fuyao and Cao Dewang have basically been equated. The legendary history that seems today is actually not smooth sailing.
In 1994, Fuyao, which had just been listed on China's A-shares, fell into the first capital chain crisis, when Saint-Gobain, a veteran European glass company, acquired 42% of the shares of Fuyao Glass for $15 million.
Cao Dewang: In 1995, I had a joint venture with Saint-Gobain in France, which was the controlling shareholder, and according to the contract, I could use its trademark and sell it internationally, but I didn't use it.
At that time, with its trademark, the price would be doubled. The following people reflected this matter with me, I said no, can not be short-sighted, we should create our Fuyao brand, in the future, our Fuyao brand, in the international community should be compared with it.
Wu Xiaoli: So they actually want to cover you, and even say they want to eat you and use their brands to hit the market in the mainland.
Cao Dewang: There is no mistake, it turns out that my decision was right. Where is the source of my decisions? Our ancestors told us not to change our names, not to change our surnames. You do one thing all your life and be responsible for it. Therefore, my summary is that when we do business, we cannot take advantage of the way of changing names and surnames.
In 2001, Fuyao Group successively received complaints from the United States and Canada, accusing Fuyao of illegal dumping. At that time, most Chinese enterprises that encountered anti-dumping lawsuits would directly give up responding to lawsuits because they were unfamiliar with international rules and the small volume of exports, while Cao Dewang and Fuyao Group did not give up, for which they paid sky-high legal fees, time costs, and so on.
Wu Xiaoli: Do you feel that you are also carrying some responsibilities, if you lose, it is like Chinese lose?
Cao Dewang: That won't be, if you do something wrong, you have to take responsibility. I was able to have that time, I firmly believed in the truth, that you would treat this matter fairly, because I did not do anything wrong. At that time, he thought that I was sure to lose, because Chinese there was no possibility of intelligent computer management. In fact, since I started in 1999, all the companies switched to oracle systems, and my information data was so much that they couldn't believe it. When they came to see the working group, they asked him what you were looking at? See what, order something to show you. He was dumbfounded, then of course I won the battle against you.
Wu Xiaoli: So you have the best preparation, but you don't have to win, you just want to have justice.
Cao Dewang: I must win, but I have enough energy to win you. Because you can't come up with evidence that I dumped.
A year later, in August 2002, Cao Dewang and Fuyao Group won the first anti-dumping case since China's accession to the WTO.
In Fuyao's international territory, the Dayton factory in Ohio is the most well-known one, and in February 2020, "American Factory", which won the 92nd Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, tells the story of Fuyao Group's establishment in the United States.
Wu Xiaoli: At that time, you also mentioned that you should objectively accept his criticism.
Cao Dewang: You see he has a shot, the workers go to pick up broken glass, in Fuqing he photographed.
Cao Dewang: Worker, hands without cutting gloves and goggles to pick up. He said that I despised labor very much. Actually, our industrial waste is outsourced to a garbage company, which is not our company. But in my factory, he photographed it, and we were not directly responsible, but also indirectly responsible.
Now, he has a lot of respect for us and feels that we have done a good job of improving. Logically, we should mention to him, for example, that things like picking up broken glass should not be put in the film. I said it's not a propaganda film, it's a documentary, criticizing you, is empowered and right. Because I told him, promised, I dare to do, you can shoot, shoot can be broadcast, don't distort me. Speak counts, let him broadcast, we do not object.
3
"Taking the lead in doing these 'bad things' and regretting it when I think about it"
In 1976, Cao Dewang began to make glass, and in 1987, Cao Dewang founded Fuyao Group, and a generation of spirited people grew up with the reform and opening up. The rapid development of science and technology has brought about the improvement of productivity and the prosperity of the economy. Cao Dewang witnessed these changes with his own eyes and personally helped the changes to occur.
But Cao Dewang told Wu Xiaoli that he had reflected on entrepreneurship more than once.
Wu Xiaoli: You said that in the backward era, you feel very relaxed?
Cao Dewang: There is no mistake, because I took him [the American Factory film crew] to see my hometown and recalled my childhood memories, which were real feelings. Birds chirping cicadas, and frogs "chirping", the climate is also very pleasant. Now I see that these places are gone, and people have built factories and shops. So when I think of these "bad things", I took the lead in doing them, because I was the first to start a business. So I thought, whether I have contributed to society or too social, and when I think about it, I don't know if it is regret or what, I don't know whether I will be scolded by others or praised in the future.
The rapid development of science and technology has brought about an increase in productivity and an increase in income, but human beings should pay attention, because the resources buried in the ground are limited, and I think we are now overdrawing the future and eating the things of future generations. Therefore this matter must be brought to the attention of all human and academic elites.
Choreographer: Meng Han Meiyuan Zhang Heng
Editor: Zhang Yujie Meng Han