Finishing / Ba Jiuling (WeChat public account: Wu Xiaobo channel)
Standing in the square in front of Gree's gate, an employee passed by the minibus, and I heard him exclaim in Cantonese: "Everyone."
There were only three teams of people on the scene, while we had six teams and 12 buses.
At first, more than 800 people signed up, then more than 600 people were sure to come, and finally due to epidemic prevention and control, only more than 400 people made the trip as they wished.
So many people want to come, first, to see Gree's "core technology", and second, to see Ms. Dong Mingzhu.
At the manufacturing summit we held last year, Xiaoba found that although the news about her on the Internet was either live broadcast or accosted by Internet celebrities, always with a bit of gossip and ill-intentions, in the entrepreneurial community, Miss Dong's reputation is almost unmatched. When she appeared, many people spontaneously initiated a standing ovation.
This time is the same, before the guest sharing session, Teacher Wu took into account everyone's mood and specially arranged for the female students to sit in the middle area of the front row of the venue, so that after Miss Dong arrived, everyone would take a big group photo on stage together, and also block the interruption of taking a group photo alone for her.
As a result, as soon as she entered the venue, the order immediately got out of control, and Teacher Wu was overwhelmed by the surging crowd.
The day before, Teacher Wu wrote "I want to see Dong Mingzhu at this time", which said:
People in the corporate world are looking all over the world for something called "confidence."
Where the confidence was, I had no direction, so I thought, let's go and see some people who are still working hard, maybe they have.
It turns out that Ms. Dong Mingzhu really gave us confidence.
She said: "Don't give up on our future goals because of the difficulties of the road."
She said: You can't rely on others, you must rely on yourself.
She said: Don't hold back.
It's all the truth we've been listening to, but what comes out of her mouth is full of power and uplifting.
Because she is Dong Mingzhu, she is a 68-year-old "big woman" who is still fighting on the front line of the industry, busy from morning to night, and does not compromise with herself or yield to the times.
When sorting out her speech, the minibus realized that it is difficult to convey our feelings on the ground in words. There was applause several times in the room, and she kept suppressing the applause with her own voice. Time is limited, it comes and goes, and she doesn't want to spend her time receiving compliments, preferring to say more.
At the later review meeting, many students said that they were encouraged by Dong Mingzhu. Some people say: Learn from Sister Dong and work at least until the age of 69.
It's really hard not to be impressed by her, especially after watching Gree under her leadership.
In recent years, the minibus has visited more than 30 factories, including five or six of the world's top 500. Every time I enter the factory, I always pay attention to the brands of those large equipment, whether they are more domestic or imported, so as to roughly estimate the level of manufacturing technology.
In Gree's factory, Gree's own CNC machine tools are seen producing Gree's own molds, similar to this kind of thing, the minibus has not seen it elsewhere.
At this time, you know that "mastering the core technology" is not an empty phrase, and Dong Mingzhu uses this sentence as an advertising slogan because she is really proud of it.
The person in charge of the mold factory said that in 2011, Gree bought a set of scrapped molds from a Japanese manufacturer at a cost of 1.8 million. It took four years to build it yourself, and it took another four to five years to reach the world's leading craftsmanship level.
There is also a five-axis machine tool, bought for more than 18 million, equipped with a positioning device, which can be remotely locked up for movement or maintenance. So Gree developed its own five-axis machine tool, which has been put into use, and the work table is still relatively small, but the first step is to make it from scratch, and the second step is to be refined and stronger.
On a display stand, there is an open impeller smaller than the palm of a hand, and the person in charge said that the market purchase price is 15,000, and the cost of self-production is several thousand yuan. You say huge R&D investment, is it worth it or not?
At the end of the factory explanation, a group of people surrounded the person in charge to add WeChat, some people hoped to purchase Gree's molds, and others hoped that Gree would help them complete the factory automation transformation. It is important to gain confidence from Ms. Dong, but it is equally important to learn from Gree and improve the strength of your own factory.
The minibus has compiled the essence of Dong Mingzhu and Teacher Wu's speeches, as well as their conversations, in order to pass on confidence and experience to you.
Dong Mingzhu Chairman and President of Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliance Co., Ltd
The central government talks about "keeping the right and innovating", and Gree has also adhered to the right path and taken the road of independent innovation in the past ten years.
What is the right path for Chinese manufacturing? I think the first is to have talents, the second is to have technology, the third is to have the ability to innovate, and the fourth is to have the spirit of daring to challenge ourselves.
In fact, in 2005, we have just begun to enter the field of core components such as compressors and motors. When I joined Gree Electric as chairman in 2012, we only had a R&D team of 5,000 people.
In the past 10 years from 2012 to now, the R&D team has reached 16,000 people, and the number of patented technologies has exceeded 100,000.
Today, Gree can proudly say that it has the right to speak in the world, and we have realized the upgrade of the "zero carbon source" technology of optical storage and air storage from the first generation to the third generation in ten years, and this technology is currently the first in the world.
In the past ten years, we have insisted on taking the road of independent innovation and firmly established our conviction and will never waver, so I would like to tell you a word, do not back down when you encounter difficulties, and you must rely on yourself.
You have come to Gree today to see and know Gree's control of quality, which is my biggest gain, because it is full of our dreams.
Many of the entrepreneurs here today come from the manufacturing industry, and you must have the spirit of not being afraid of suffering losses and pursuing perfection, and do not cut corners where consumers cannot see.
I firmly tell my employees that just because consumers can't see it, you can't be opportunistic. These things are easy to say, but in the process of going through, you can stick to it and not waver, which is indeed a kind of self-revolution.
So I said that quality is related to two lives, one is the life of the consumer, and the other is the life of the enterprise itself. When you respect other people's lives, you respect your lives.
I have another saying, when you stand on the top of a mountain, there is still a starry sky above your head.
Why is Gree air conditioner characterized by quietness? Why should even the noisiest wall-breakers be quiet? Why is it the same first-class energy efficiency, but we can save 30% more energy than others?
Because a manufacturing enterprise, if it cannot achieve the ultimate product, does not do research and development guided by consumer demand, it will not be long-lasting. Only technology developed in the direction of consumer needs has real value and significance.
Behind this is our persistence and persistence, can not because the enterprise is bigger, you are high, you must have a respect. The greatest respect for consumers is to come up with the best products.
Wu Xiaobo is a financial writer and the initiator of "Into the Benchmark Factory"
What is the doorway of the company? The first is called product, the second is called technology, and the third is called entrepreneurship, and I think it depends on these three things.
In the 1980s, China's manufacturing industry was mainly transformed by three lines, one was the food line, including beverages and health care products; One is the clothing line, including textile, printing and dyeing; The third line is home wires, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines.
At that time, the development strategy of these light industries was "three to one supplement", that is, the introduction of foreign equipment, technology, talents, and then localization, while slowly completing import substitution through the development of private enterprises.
From 1978 to 1998, it took a full 20 years for the home appliance industry to replace the market. By 1996, statistics from the Ministry of Internal Trade showed that the market share of China's home appliances in the top 100 shopping malls in the country exceeded 50% for the first time, which was a landmark event at that time. But what did we rely on back then? It relies on price wars and scale advantages.
Gree began to make air conditioners in the 1980s, and before 2000, its core production components were basically imported from abroad, or motors and compressors were taken over and assembled in China.
It turns out that we have nothing, we can only continue to localize by exchanging technology with the market, and now you will find that in the home appliance industry, even in the beverage industry, our localization substitution rate is basically 98% to 99%, which is almost the final 1% to 2%. Today there is a word called "stuck neck", why not jam the feet, do not jam the head, specifically jam the neck? Because the card is the 1 to 2 percent that we don't have.
In fact, any product, especially terminal consumer goods, is called design from the outside, and when it is opened, it is the parts, and then look closer inside, it will reach the motor, capacitor, and enameled wire. So what are these things produced on? Relying on the mold, and the production of molds requires a lot of equipment, only we have the ability to make the equipment to produce molds, it can be regarded as the end.
Today, I estimate that there will be no more than 30 home appliance enterprises with a scale of more than 20 billion yuan in China; I estimate that there will be no more than 10 companies that can achieve the mold layer; And there should be no more than 5 companies that can achieve mold production equipment. This part is the companies at the top of the pyramid in China, and they are particularly remarkable.
Gree is mainly to "hit inward" and insist on hitting until the bottom. Some companies can achieve a scale of 100 billion yuan a year, but many of them are export-oriented enterprises, they follow consumer trends, and the inside is actually empty. If you want to follow the path of Gree, you have to be determined for more than 20 years, because this road is too difficult.
Why does the entire manufacturing or business world admire Dong Mingzhu? I think that's why.
Dong Mingzhu has many paranoid parts, such as she does not use the "Airborne Forces", she does not make much investment, almost everything is born by herself, or acquired when the team is still very young, and then developed by herself. Gree has so many R & D personnel, but most of them are cultivated by herself, and she does not need foreign personnel, so she has her own obsession, which forms the style of enterprise growth.
In fact, any enterprise has a projection of entrepreneurial character, we first see the product, then see the technology, and finally see the person. It is the spirit of each entrepreneur and a certain paranoia that he has formed in cognition that determines the character of the enterprise.
Dialogue sessions
Wu Xiaobo: It used to be "good air conditioning, made by Gree", and now it is "good electrical appliances, made by Gree", will you offend more and more people in this way?
Dong Mingzhu: No way. You can only grow in competition, and you don't refuse competition. Now many people understand competition as "fighting each other" - malicious slander, fabrication of rumors, that is not called competition.
Competition is a must, how can progress be made without competition? If the whole world made air conditioning for me alone, would I still improve? Progress is forced out by opponents.
Wu Xiaobo: Every time I come to Gree, you will tell me about the products in that showroom. I find that when you talk about products, you emphasize two points, the first is the consumer experience, and the second point is that you can help me save money, both of which are very impressive.
Dong Mingzhu: You can't brag, you have to do it, you can impress people. I feel like using numbers. The original air conditioner used in the Great Hall of the People was imported, and replacing it with our air conditioner can save 32% of the electricity bill. How many scenes like the Great Hall of the People, right? This year's Qatar World Cup venues, the air conditioning used is also Gree.
Wu Xiaobo: It's not easy for us to applaud Sister Dong. You said, to become the next "Dong Mingzhu", what three things must be done?
Dong Mingzhu: The first thing is to be honest. No matter what others say, I am right, I am not deceiving people, you must insist, integrity is very important. Second, keep learning. Many people understand learning as imitation. We talk so much today, I hope you can use it for yourself, in order to have a greater improvement. The third is to persevere, and it is very difficult to persevere.
Wu Xiaobo: What if I really can't hold on? Have you ever had a time when you couldn't hold on?
Dong Mingzhu: When I broke my waist bone before, the doctor said that I would lie at home for three months. But at that time, I had just come back to be a minister, and the company was very difficult, was the company important at this time, or was it important to myself? So then the company sent a car to pick me up every day, and I sat in the office with a bandage and persevered. It was not easy to increase the performance sevenfold that year.
Wu Xiaobo: It's definitely hard to do business. Every time I ask you if you're okay, you say it's fine. It's definitely not easy, right?
Dong Mingzhu: No. Everyone is bound to encounter difficulties in the process of moving forward. Difficulties are varied, depending on what kind of mentality you use to face difficulties. If the difficulty is a challenge for me, I don't think it's a difficulty, and the more I fight, the more energetic I get.
Wu Xiaobo: Are there times when you can't fight, when you admit defeat and admit defeat?
Dong Mingzhu: I don't think it's called admitting defeat. In fact, others may really be right, you have to be able to face it correctly. People grow up with happy and unhappy. It's not that I haven't cried, and I have cried, but I generally don't cry.
Wu Xiaobo: Why do you cry?
Dong Mingzhu: I have been wronged. But when I finish crying, I will continue to fight until I win it.
Wu Xiaobo: Who else dares to give you grievances?
Dong Mingzhu: Of course. You take people's vested interests, of course others want to mess with you, that is a fight. You will encounter many such situations in the future, which brings me to another sentence that you just didn't say: you must remember to "keep righteousness".
Wu Xiaobo: Mr. Dong said that she deals with customers in a few points. The first is called win-win, you make money, I make money. There is another one called gratitude. What is the third one?
Dong Mingzhu: The third is principle. It doesn't matter if you have a good relationship with me or not, if we work together, we will follow the rules. It's not that you have a good relationship with me, just make it special, that's not okay.
Wu Xiaobo: Is there any ambiguity between stressing feelings and stressing principles?
Dong Mingzhu: Stress feelings outside of work, stress principles above work, and there should be no ambiguity.
Wu Xiaobo: You have been able to come to this day for a long time, because you have adhered to your principles and bottom line. The last question, everyone really does not have confidence, what should I do if I want to have confidence?
Dong Mingzhu: I think you must have confidence, but confidence is not shouted, you have to diagnose your company, judge what kind of state you are facing now, and adjust yourself. Like us, from "good electrical appliances, made by Gree" has arrived at the back to manufacture "good electrical appliances, made by Gree" equipment. If you have these things, will others come to you? You'll survive.
Wu Xiaobo: Everyone who came today is engaged in manufacturing, and everyone has persevered for thirty or forty years, and they are all Dong Mingzhu.
Dong Mingzhu: They will be the better Dong Mingzhu.
Wu Xiaobo: You are already very good, we applaud Mr. Dong, thank you.
Next, we will go with Mr. Wu to see many of the most advanced factories in China and even the world, Haier, Zeekr Automobile, Lenovo, Anta, Bosideng, etc., to experience the intelligent wave of manufacturing first-hand, and you are also welcome to take a walk.