Put down Dong Mingzhu Wang Ziru's stalk, and read Zhu Jianghong again
This article is the 10th original article in the "Wendao Entrepreneur" column.
Author | Shoot the wolf
On May 25, 2012, Zhu Jianghong retired, and Dong Mingzhu became the new speaker of Gree Electric.
But what really made "Miss Dong" famous was the 1 billion gamble between her and Lei Jun one year later. Under the continuous speculation of the media, this gambling contract has not ended, and Dong Mingzhu has won the market voice.
Since then, Gree, controlled by Dong Mingzhu, has continued to stir up public opinion: cross-border manufacturing of mobile phones and chips, "falling in love and killing each other" with the intern "successor" Meng Yutong, and then to the boiling "Wang Ziru" incident...
Dong Mingzhu, who is good at creating traffic topics, has attracted more attention to Gree. But how Gree has become and Dong Mingzhu's things are not the focus of this article. The author just thought of Gree's "predecessor", Zhu Jianghong, who single-handedly made Gree bigger and stronger, and was regarded as the "father of Gree".
In 2017, Zhu Jianghong, who retired from Gree's chairman for 5 years, released a new book "My 24 Years at the Helm of Gree". This book has deepened my knowledge and understanding of him as a media practitioner. With the growth of experience and the increase in contact with entrepreneurs, the author can always hear the legendary story about Zhu Jianghong. They talked with a lot of emotion, revealing their awe and love for this entrepreneur from the bottom of their hearts.
So I made this article, which has nothing to do with anything else, just to reread it.
Ingenuity and craftsmanship: Zhu Jianghong's Huashan Road
Those who know Zhu Jianghong well know that he is focusing on technology in Gree. But the technology here is relatively broad, it includes technology, quality, innovation and other factors, more like a kind of "ingenuity craft".
In the 24 years he has been at the helm of Gree, Zhu Jianghong has been in charge of two departments, one is the supervision department and the other is the quality supervision team, both of which are closely related to the process. In his daily work, Zhu Jianghong does not sit in the office drinking tea, reading documents, or waiting for others to report work, but likes to shuttle through the front-line production workshop. If the office doesn't find him, "he must have gone down again."
Of course, Zhu Jianghong's fate with technology is by no means limited to Gree, let alone starting from Gree.
In 1970, Zhu Jianghong, who graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of South China University of Technology, was assigned to work in a mining machinery factory in Baise, Guangxi. Two years later, the director of the factory committee felt that he had brains and understood technology, so he promoted him to the workshop quality inspector, and he came into contact with the term "product quality" for the first time.
After another two years, Zhu Jianghong was promoted to a technician in the bearing workshop. During this time, he successfully manufactured the "centrifugal automatic tensioning fixture", which replaced the repeated manual work of employees thousands of times a day. Zhu Jianghong's creation was also published in the publications of the Ministry of Machinery of the People's Republic of China and was promoted and studied.
In that era of lack of technology, Zhu Jianghong, who was willing to go deep into the front-line workshop to learn from the master, quickly stood out.
In 1982, Zhu Jianghong was almost unanimously elected as the factory director. In the letter of appointment, Zhu Jianghong was clearly defined as a "county-level cadre." But he is an atypical cadre, and whenever he has time, he runs to the workshop, mingles with workers and technicians, and studies how to improve technology, technology, and product quality. This habit continued throughout Gree's career.
In May 1988, Zhu Jianghong was arranged to serve as the general manager of Guanxiong Plastic Factory under Zhuhai Industrial Development Corporation, which was also the predecessor of Gree Electric Appliances. At that time, what was in front of Zhu Jianghong was a mess: not to mention the long-term losses, Guanxiong also offended the big customer "Jinhai", who withdrew a full set of production molds in a fit of anger, and the plastic factory of Nuoda had no work to do...
Zhu Jianghong had to find Mr. Jinhai to apologize and beg the other party to "give us another chance, just this once." Impressed, he finally agreed to try again, but he also pointed out that "this part is in a hurry and must be built as soon as possible."
At the end of the next day, Gimhae's mold was sent to Guanxiong. Zhu Jianghong organized workers to work overtime to test the mold, and finally printed out the parts at 8 o'clock in the evening, he hurriedly rode a bicycle and spent an hour rushing to Jinhai to inspect the goods...
Zhu Jianghong moved Jin Hai, and Guanxiong was finally saved. In 1989, Guanxiong turned losses into profits, making a net profit of 770,000 yuan, and soon after a profit of more than several million.
This was no small miracle at the time. But until this time, Guanxiong had not yet partnered with air conditioners, and at that time it could only produce mold parts with a low level of technology, and had a complete line of electric fans.
In order to name the electric fan, Chen Jianmin, who was the head of business at the time, found GLEE (which later evolved into GREE), homonym Gree, from an English dictionary. Zhu Jianghong and others felt that the name was "extraordinarily powerful" and "manly", so the "Gree" brand was born.
Another reason why Zhu Jianghong did not start the air conditioner was that there was already a Haili air conditioning factory under the head office at that time. But unlike Guanxiong's prosperity, the latter is slumping and dying.
At the beginning of 1991, Zhu Jianghong was appointed as the general manager of Haili Air Conditioning Factory. On November 18 of the same year, Guanxiong and Haili officially merged and changed their name to Zhuhai Gree Electric Appliance Co., Ltd., and Gree Electric Appliance was finally born!
In a sense, it can be said that it was Guanxiong who "annexed" Haley.
But Zhu Jianghong fully demonstrated his respect for "technology". He used his free time in the evening to invite Haili technicians to give lessons to the backbone of Guanxiong's (at this time, Gree) business. Led by Zhu Jianghong, each of them had a small plastic bench, lined up in the corridor of the workshop to take notes, and seriously became primary school students.
In addition to Zhu Jianghong, there are also Chen Jianmin, Guo Wenfeng, Zhuang Pei, and Chen Chengwei who moved small benches, each of which is a well-known figure in Gree and even the industry in the future.
In 1992, Zhu Jianghong led Gree employees to implement the three-shift policy, and built 120,000 air conditioners on a 20,000-capacity production line, earning the first pot of gold. However, Zhu Jianghong did not rush to divide the money, but invested a total of 400 million yuan in technological transformation together with the proceeds of fundraising. By the end of 1994, Gree had an annual production capacity of 1 million air conditioners, and entered the Italian market with excellent quality.
In the cold winter of that year, Zhu Jianghong, who was full of spring breeze, came to Italy for research. But the expected praise did not appear, and Zhu Jianghong ushered in a scolding: "Your air conditioner sounds like a tractor." "It turned out to be a small misunderstanding," a slender sponge that didn't stick well and hit the blades that were spinning at high speed, making a screeching sound. ”
This little thing inspired Zhu Jianghong's ambition to make high-quality products. He presided over the customization of the "General Manager's Twelve Prohibitions", which implemented zero tolerance for "small problems" that have a greater impact on quality but are easier to ignore.
For example, in view of the defects that are easy to occur in air conditioning welding, Zhu Jianghong organized a skill competition of "100,000 solder joints without leakage". For another example, because the forklift is not skilled in operation and often forks bad things, he organized a forklift competition, and eventually many Gree employees can use forklifts to open beer bottle caps.
There is also a typical case. Due to a problem with the material of one of the supplier's chip capacitors, Gree did not find it in the random inspection, resulting in a batch of air conditioners always crashing. In this regard, Zhu Jianghong organized a screening branch of 300 people, which was time-consuming, labor-intensive and resource-consuming, and used the most stupid method to inspect the goods one by one.
In that era when the price of air conditioners was often tens of thousands of dollars and the supply exceeded demand, Zhu Jianghong's laborious and thankless method attracted a lot of ridicule and puzzlement. But it is this kind of boutique route that makes Gree air conditioner more and more distinctive: the first batch of quality certification through Europe, America, Japan and other countries, the first place in the national quality evaluation in 1996, and then elected as China's world brand...
Technology Saves Businesses: Observation, Inspiration and Experimentation
Not only does Zhu Jianghong not only focus on quality, but also ensure the priority of technology in terms of system and strategy.
In the early days of Gree, sales were the best. When ordinary employees only have tens of thousands of annual salaries, Gree's sales can even earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, so many technicians are itching.
"A lot of top tech guys come to me all day long, hoping to be a glorious sales talent. Zhu Jianghong was deeply touched, and he asked himself, "If everyone wants to engage in sales, who will engage in scientific research?"
In order to balance the relationship between sales and technology, Zhu Jianghong began to reduce the commission ratio of sales in 1994, and greatly tilted manpower, material and financial resources to the field of scientific research. This move has attracted many sales "defections" in the short term.
In 2002, (Chongqing) Ford Motor wanted to buy more than 100 sets of one-to-four air conditioners, and Gree won the bid by mistake. But an embarrassing scene happened, Gree did not have this product at that time, and the technology was in the hands of the Japanese. In the end, Gree could only buy samples from Japanese companies at a high price, reassemble them, and deliver them hastily.
"As the boss of air conditioning, you can't do without this (one-to-four) technology. Zhu Jianghong came to Mitsubishi in Japan with a backbone of science and technology, hoping to achieve technology transfer, but was categorically rejected by the other party. During the conversation, Mitsubishi was even more puzzled by Gree's "whimsical" ideas.
What happened one after another gave Zhu Jianghong a great shock. He didn't feel good in his heart, and after returning to China, he began to integrate resources, and gave the technical department a dead task, and he had to develop more than one drag, "I will bear it if I mess it up, and the credit for it will be yours."
All in one battle. Half a year later, Gree created a one-to-four, and a year later, it developed a one-to-eight, filling the gap in the domestic air-conditioning industry.
Since then, Zhu Jianghong has improved Gree's scientific research organization system. From a single technical department, to the development of air conditioning technology department, commercial air conditioning technology department, technical standards department, air conditioning technology department, scientific research management department and other departments, he also set up three research institutes: each technical department focuses on daily short-term technical problems, and the research institute focuses on long-term and strategic technical research.
However, the technological innovation in Zhu Jianghong's eyes is not the high-tech technical indicators of high-tech enterprises. In his view, humanized design, high-tech materials, exquisite production technology, etc., are all core technologies.
How to build core technologies through innovation, Zhu Jianghong has his own six-character methodology: observation, inspiration and experimentation. It doesn't seem like a clever idea, but it works.
In 2005, Zhu Jianghong encountered a thorny problem during his investigation in Luoyang, and a dealer proposed, "There are certain problems in the heating of Gree air conditioners, which are not very stable." Zhu Jianghong followed the merchant to do a lot of on-site research, but he still couldn't accurately judge the reason.
Zhu Jianghong, who was good at observation, finally discovered the problem: the heating effect of air conditioners is related to the installation environment, and the heating effect is often good in sunny and dry places, and the heating effect is not good in humid and shady places near water. He further analyzed that this is related to the "defrosting" of the air conditioner, which blows cold air when the air conditioner is heating, and the low temperature in winter makes it easy to frost on the radiator of the outdoor unit, reducing the heating effect.
At that time, the world's air conditioners were designed with a timed defrosting mode, which was a hidden danger to the vast continent with different climates. Zhu Jianghong informed the technicians of his observations and inspirations, and later Gree innovated the automatic cream mode and won the international patent gold medal.
What does scientific and technological innovation mean to Gree? Zhu Jianghong once famously said, "Science and technology save enterprises." The reason why it is used to save rather than prosper is that technology and Gree are dependent on life and death.
Extraordinary business wisdom: ruthless, hardworking, smart
Zhu Jianghong has always shone with the spirit of craftsmanship.
If that were the case, Zhu Jianghong would be a brilliant engineer at best, not an admired entrepreneur. But Zhu Jianghong has a ruthless spirit that has the courage to expand the territory, the hard work of never admitting defeat, and the cleverness at critical moments.
In 1985, under the leadership of Zhu Jianghong, the performance of Baise Mining Machinery Factory improved by leaps and bounds. It not only maintained an annual growth rate of 50%, but also was rated as a famous brand product in Guangxi, and Zhu Xuefan, then vice chairman of the National People's Congress, wrote the praise of "a branch of flowers".
Despite this, Zhu Jianghong has a sober understanding. At that time, Baise Mining Machinery Factory was still a genuine border enterprise: the sales volume was not as large as that of its peers, and the brand was not as famous as the enterprises in Beijing and Shanghai...
In a word, Zhu Jianghong feels that Baise Mining Machinery Factory has no place to really "blow". If you have to find one, it is that the company covered all provinces except Tibet at that time. But without Tibet, this is not enough.
Soon after, Zhu Jianghong found an opportunity that was not a chance. When the Baise Mining Machinery Factory received an order letter from the Lhasa Cement Factory through the Beijing Office, Zhu Jianghong realized that this might be a tentative act. He flew non-stop to the Beijing office of Beijing Lhasa Cement Factory, and finally won the contract unexpectedly under the surprised eyes of the other party.
But the execution of the contract is extremely tricky. At that time, the normal route was to be transported to Golmud by train, and then to Lhasa via the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, but as the Spring Festival approached, all the wagons were full, and the road was impassable. In the face of the urgent needs of customers, Zhu Jianghong only organized a convoy from Yunnan to Lhasa, which was a journey full of hardships: narrow roads, high cold, avalanches, mudslides...
After 49 days, the convoy returned to Bose without a hitch. On the bright side, this business is "a big loss", but Zhu Jianghong has also made enough money: Baise Mining Machinery Factory has achieved the first place in the country, and its product sales are the first to cover the whole country (except Taiwan).
This case reveals Zhu Jianghong's ruthlessness and cleverness in running the enterprise, and at the same time, it also flashes the pioneering spirit of a border enterprise that can be played without a license.
Guanxiong's initial involvement in air conditioning began by making plastic molds for air conditioners, and a set of plastic parts had a profit of 100 yuan at that time. In order to make the best mold, Zhu Jianghong made a special trip to Hong Kong and spent 7,000 Hong Kong dollars to buy a prototype of the latest streamlined air conditioner, ready to do a big job.
But unexpectedly, halfway to bite the gold, Haili Air Conditioning Factory sued the head office on the grounds that Guanxiong produced air conditioning molds and competed with its own business. Although Zhu Jianghong explained that "Guanxiong only does mold injection molding, not air conditioning", it was still stopped. Guanxiong is facing the danger of having no air-conditioned plastic parts to do.
This coincided with the visit of Gu Huangxiu, a Chinese businessman who knew a lot about the air conditioning industry. Previously, because Guanxiong had produced small injection molded parts for him, he had a good impression of Zhu Jianghong. Zhu Jianghong put forward a request to order some (air-conditioning injection molded parts), and after getting a positive answer from the other party, Zhu Jianghong said cheekily, "We are short of funds now, can we pay part of the deposit?"
Unexpectedly, Gu Huangxiu didn't say a word, took out $10,000 from his handbag and handed it to Zhu Jianghong. Afterwards, Zhu Jianghong recalled that he was not in a hurry to ask for money at that time, but wanted to pull the Gu Huang Show to "go into the water".
With this order, Zhu Jianghong found the leader of the head office again, and bluntly said that domestic customers would not do it, and he wanted to be a foreign customer, "and the other party has already made an advance payment." In this way, Zhu Jianghong found a roundabout route and continued to do business related to air-conditioning plastic parts, and after earning a lot of income, he laid the foundation for truly entering the air-conditioning industry.
Many cases reveal Zhu Jianghong's cleverness. Initially, many air-conditioning brands used cold-rolled steel plates to produce air-conditioning outdoor units, the advantage was low cost, and the disadvantage was that after three or five years, the air-conditioning foreigners were dilapidated and crumbling.
Zhu Jianghong noticed that iron drums made of galvanized steel sheets in rural areas do not rust for many years, but the cost is 10% higher than that of cold-rolled steel plates.
Zhu Jianghong thought about it on the other hand, isn't it also a cost to spend so much money on advertising? If every household has a clean and bright outdoor unit, isn't it a greater advertising value? So, since 1994, Gree has successively replaced it with galvanized sheet or electric zinc sheet.....
Zhu Jianghong's business wisdom is also reflected in the unyielding of some key principles and issues.
In 2003, for various reasons, Lingda Compressor Factory, a subsidiary of Gree Group, originally planned to sell to Dongfang Company at a price of 50 million. Zhu Jianghong resolutely opposed it when he heard this, first, the price was too low, which was a kind of asset loss, and second, Lingda mastered the production of compressors, the core components of air conditioning, which Gree urgently needed. In public and private, Zhu Jianghong can't let Ling Da's fat on his mouth run away.
He found the mayor, seriously fed back the real situation, and finally stopped Lingda's transfer a day in advance. A year later, Lingda was assigned to Gree Electric Appliances. Coupled with the acquisition and merger of the controller factory, motor factory, and capacitor factory, Gree Electric finally firmly controlled the core components of air conditioning in its own hands.
In addition, there are many examples of turning the tide at such a critical moment, such as creating rebate subsidies for businesses in 1996 and becoming the new overlord of the air conditioning industry in one fell swoop; building self-operated stores and creating Gree sales models;
The picture comes from "Zhu Jianghong's Autobiography: My 24 Years at the Helm of Gree"
Small amount and big mind: only for a "real" word
"The promise of a thousand people is not as good as the promise of a man. ”
In production practice, Zhu Jianghong does not like the exaggeration of Nuonuo, and only loves the mantra of Nuo. In the final analysis, this is the "truth and truth" that he has been chasing all his life.
Under his guidance, Zhu Jianghong will often be a little "small", and there is no room for sand in his eyes.
When he was at the helm of the Baise Mining Machinery Factory, Zhu Jianghong fired an employee who had been a miner for many days without a reason. Although he later learned that the employee's uncle was the deputy secretary of the prefectural party committee, Zhu Jianghong was not moved. Under the 12 "bans", Zhu Jianghong did not hesitate to fire several old Gree employees who were "first-time offenders" in order to set an example.
But at the same time, Zhu Jianghong is full of deep care for employees, revealing a big mind and boldness.
There has always been a story in the Gree workshop, saying that when Zhu Jianghong goes to work, his car will be full of employees and send them to the workshop. But Zhu Jianghong only modestly said that just in time for several heavy rains, some employees wearing factory uniforms did not catch the bus, so they beckoned them to get on the bus
When Gree Electric Appliances was first established, there was a year when Gree Electric Appliances and the group held an order meeting, and the organization and reception of the meeting were handled by the group. However, due to the fact that the group is not familiar with the customer situation of electrical appliances, it has made a mess, which has attracted many customer complaints.
An employee of the electrical appliance business department complained, "How good it used to be, but now it is opened with the group, and it makes a mess." Unexpectedly, this word reached the leaders of the group, and the leaders named Zhu Jianghong to open this employee.
At first, Zhu Jianghong didn't pay much attention to it, but a week later, Zhu Jianghong was asked about it again. Zhu Jianghong ran to the office to talk to the leadership theory, and said excitedly, "If you can't even tolerate a word from others, who dares to put forward opinions?"
These words were heard by colleagues, and they admonished Zhu Jianghong, "Is it worth it to disobey the boss for the sake of an employee, and you are not afraid of being fired?"
But in the end, Zhu Jianghong still kept the employee under pressure, and later became the head of the business department.
This trivial matter that dares to speak out also shows Zhu Jianghong's eclecticism in employing people.
In 1994, Dong Mingzhu was already the deputy director of the business department, but the department still lacked a full minister. In the secret ballot (minister) of the business department, Dong Mingzhu was the second, considering that she was already a leader in the business field at that time, Zhu Jianghong preliminarily decided to recommend Dong Mingzhu as the head of the business department.
However, during the discussion at the office meeting, there were differences between Jiaotong University, and many people thought that Dong Mingzhu had an upright personality and spoke harshly, which was not good for unity. Zhu Jianghong tried to disagree with the public, and the conclusion he gave was that "no one is perfect, and we must use her strengths." In 2001, Zhu Jianghong became the chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, and he nominated Dong Mingzhu as the general manager.
These bits and pieces eventually condense into the most lasting cultural accumulation of the enterprise. In Zhu Jianghong's words, Gree is a "real" culture, which can be condensed into 8 words: less empty words, more practical things.
In May 2012, Zhu Jianghong officially stepped down as chairman of Gree Electric Appliances and Gree Group. According to the plan, Zhu Jianghong was invited to continue to serve as the honorary chairman of Gree Electric Appliances and the group. However, Zhu Jianghong resolutely refused on the grounds that "he is a person who loves to point fingers and is anxious when he sees something inappropriate, which will affect the work of the new leadership group."
From these words, we can still feel Zhu Jianghong's realistic spirit and his deep love for Gree.
Now Mr. Zhu Jianghong has been retired for more than 10 years, but his business philosophy and ingenuity are still worth reading and learning. Especially at this moment when public opinion is noisy and coercing the public to think.
Therefore, I will read Mr. Zhu Jianghong again. For thought, for thought.
Resources:
"Zhu Jianghong's Autobiography: My 24 Years at the Helm of Gree"