2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 763 Uncle Tao's Dream

Tao Qinian was in a good mood. He had taken the initiative to come to Tan Jincheng's house on the second day of the Lunar New Year. Originally, Tan Jincheng had planned to go to the county to meet him again in a few days.

When counties and prefectures are secure, the whole country is at peace. As someone who directly faces the grassroots level, he doesn't feel that visiting people's homes is anything shameful.

He had always been quite humble in front of Tan Jincheng, and even from the very beginning, he never had any condescending thoughts. In other words, he had always regarded Tan Jincheng as his 'connection'.

If you have a calm mindset, everything will fall into place naturally.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he should be promoted and given an important position in the next term, which is next year. At that time, he will be 51 years old, and based on the four-year term, he still has a chance for promotion.

In the stillness of the night, he was still somewhat smug, pleased with his own judgment.

The strongest relationships are those that started from humble beginnings. Just look at the relationship between Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng, and you'll know that this young man is someone who cherishes old friendships.

"Happy New Year, Uncle Tao! You look radiant."

Tao Qinian drove himself over, and drove straight into the garage of the Tan family. Tan Jincheng and Zhang Xupeng were waiting for him there. As soon as they met, Tan Jincheng started teasing Tao Qinian.

He knew some of the ins and outs of this place in his previous life, but obviously he knew more than he did in this life. Tao Qinian had no background and his education was not high, and he was working in such a poor county.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, his current position represents the pinnacle of his career, let alone any chance of promotion or advancement.

"You little rascal, you're making fun of your uncle now."

Tao Qinian greeted Zhang Xupeng with a smile and a few words, everything was understood without being said.

"Hehe, Uncle, you're really not being polite. You even came with your hands bare."

"Do you think I'm as clueless as you? There are two cans of tea in the trunk. They were given to me by a friend from Yuexi. They're pretty good."

"Haha, I didn't mean I was being ignorant. You wouldn't dare accept anything I offered you."

"Yes, that's true. The design of your garage, which goes directly upstairs without having to go through the living room, is quite good."

"Right, I also think this design is pretty good."

Tao Qinian drove over alone, clearly not wanting to make too much noise and interfere with our serious conversation. Tan Jincheng knew this, so he directly directed him to drive into the garage.

A passageway separates the garage from the main house, providing access to the first-floor living room or directly to the second floor, thus offering better privacy.

There were quite a few people at home this afternoon; neighbors and relatives from all around came to visit Old Tan's great-grandson.

People in rural areas generally get married relatively early, but it's quite rare for someone like Tan Jincheng to have a child who's over a year old at only 26.

“Xiao Tan, you don’t really manage the business here at Flash anymore. It’s all being managed by Xiao Zhang. I’ve seen him more times than you have this year.”

With one year left in his term, and wanting to do his best in his final year, and having spent most of his life in Wangjiang, Tao Qinian wanted to add another chapter to his last year in office.

He came to see Tan Jincheng today to sound out what plans Shanchi Technology had in store and whether they could shift some of their production capacity to Wangjiang Industrial Park. As for Weilai Auto, he had no such plans.

"Uncle Tao, given our relationship, let's just speak frankly. Xiao Zhang is here too."

Tan Jincheng chuckled. He had once seen a joke that you might never see someone in your life earning a basic salary of 6000 yuan within the system in a small county. Although he did some business in his previous life, he still didn't have that opportunity.

I never expected that the other party would actually come to my house.

"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony with you. I'd like to talk to you about Flashpoint Technology's production capacity. Could you allocate some of your production capacity to Flashpoint this year?"

He analyzed Tan Jincheng's career structure and found that starting in 2009, Tan Jincheng shifted his focus to Weilai Automobile.

FlashTech's business has gradually shifted to Zhang Xupeng's hands, but there is no doubt about Tan Jincheng's control over FlashTech. Not to mention shareholding, the entire FlashTech Group is now entirely Tan Jincheng's direct subordinate.

In addition, the representatives of the shareholders also support him.

"How exactly is it tilted?"

After exchanging a glance with Zhang Xupeng, Tan Jincheng spoke up, and he could roughly guess why Tao Qinian had been so eager to come to his door on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Power is like poison. When hope rises and there is a great chance of touching it, no one can remain calm. In the pyramid structure of power, reaching the deputy director level is a huge hurdle.

A small step might be something you could never take in your entire life; in ancient times, there were quite a few county magistrates who served for their entire lives.

At the last minute, Tao Qinian wanted to add an extra layer of insurance or some extra luck to his life, which Tan Jincheng could completely understand.

But what good would this do me?

On his way home for the Chinese New Year, Tan Jincheng researched a lot of information. Like the automotive industry, the stagnation of production and sales in 2011 undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for major companies.

The period of rapid market growth is over, or rather, it has entered a period of reshuffling.

This year's market share is more dispersed than last year's, but it's more like the darkness before dawn, just like how stocks will be pushed up tentatively before being sold off.

This process is painful for any company.

“We noticed that the two-wheeled vehicle market saw little growth in 2011, but the production capacity of Wangjiang Industrial Park increased. Currently, a lot of the capacity is idle, which is a waste.”

Wangjiang Industrial Park was fully completed at the end of 2010. 11 was the first full year for the release of production capacity, but the production capacity did not meet the expectations of Tao Qinian and the county.

When times are tough, having enough to eat is enough, but now that times are good, who wouldn't want to live even better?

Tan Jincheng did not interrupt Tao Qinian's narration.

"Of course, there's nothing we can do if we can only sell so many electric vehicles. What I mean is, could other models be more similar to those from Wangjiang?"

"Of course, if there is any conflict with your business philosophy, we will not force you to."

Tao Qinian has his own demands, but these are somewhat related to business operations. He currently has no benefits to offer Tan Jincheng, so he must find a balance.

Tan Jincheng smiled but didn't say anything, and poured Tao Qinian another cup of tea.

In fact, he was also thinking that the relationship between enterprises and local governments is actually very delicate. It is simply impossible to say that there will be no interference at all and that everything will be implemented according to Tan Jincheng's ideas.

Let alone the local government, even if he could have absolute power in the company, if he said that FlashTech was going to make cars, neither FlashTech nor the management would agree.

Two-wheeled electric vehicles are FlashTech's main business, but FlashTech's business is not limited to just two-wheeled electric vehicles.

Our business scope is very broad, including electric tricycles, electric four-wheelers (excluding cars), sightseeing vehicles, recreational vehicles, and spare parts including batteries and charging systems.

In addition, FlashTech doesn't just target the end-user market; it also has major clients.

For example, the delivery vehicles purchased by SF Express are custom-developed by FlashDrive Technology for SF Express. Most of the delivery vehicles of all sizes running on the streets are provided by FlashDrive.

FlashEx has about a dozen clients, large and small, like SF Express. These B2B clients who directly connect with FlashEx have very stable orders every year, providing FlashEx with hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue.

This type of business, combined with the component business, accounts for about 25% of Flash's revenue, and there is still considerable room for development.

In short, Flash has a presence in all electric modes of transportation, except for electric vehicles.

Tao Qinian wanted to win over B-end clients like SF Express, hoping that Flashcom could bring this business to the county. With a stable business volume of several hundred million yuan every year, not to mention Wangjiang, even Beicang might not be able to stay calm.

The goal was to secure this business, which would be Tao Qinian's last achievement for Wangjiang.

"Everyone loves high-tech, high-profit industries, but who knows that in our impoverished counties, food is the most important thing? Mr. Tan, although you haven't lived in the countryside much, I believe you must have some memories of your childhood."

Seeing that Tan Jincheng remained silent, Tao Qinian had no choice but to resort to emotional appeals.

What he said is absolutely true. You can only think about other things when you're full. Everyone says that the manufacturing industry is backward, but it is precisely this so-called backward industry that is so important to a poor county.

He knew all too well how important Shan Chi and Shen Zhou, which Tan Jincheng had introduced to the county, were to the county. Without the jobs created by these two companies, Wangjiang would just be a purely agricultural county that produced some rice.

Yicheng has a unique geographical location, but if we're talking about the worst geographical advantage, it has to be Wangjiang. The city has a petrochemical plant and some other industries, so people are doing pretty well.

Although some counties further north are also poor, they rely on the mountains for their livelihood. The Dabie Mountains can provide them with some tourism resources and commercial crops such as tea, which can be considered a supplement.

Wangjiang has nothing, and it has to deal with floods from time to time.

"Actually, our Comrade Li Yun was also thinking of coming to visit his elders today, but after thinking about it, we decided that if we both came, it would be too noisy and affect President Tan's New Year celebration."

Before anyone knew it, even Tao Qinian's way of addressing him had changed.

It's said that the current manager is more important than the current one. He knew he was about to leave his post, and there wasn't much he could offer Tan Jincheng. Besides, given Tan Jincheng's current status, even if he rose another rank, without any powerful connections, Tan Jincheng really wouldn't need to pay him much attention.

Let alone the county or city level, even when Tan Jincheng goes to the provincial level for public investment activities, he has to be received by a high-ranking official. It is said that the province is currently in talks with him about a cooperation project on new energy vehicles.

In addition, he also had some ulterior motives and didn't want to anger Tan Jincheng. He was basically certain that he would be promoted and given important responsibilities, but the price of this promotion was that he had a good relationship with both Shanchi and Shenzhou.

After being promoted, shouldn't you at least achieve something?

Tan Jincheng also owns a company called Leichi New Energy. He has tried the products produced by this company. Strictly speaking, these products conflict with traffic regulations, but the market prospects are quite promising.

There's no way around it, it's just too popular with the elderly. You can often see these old men's cars driving recklessly through the streets of the county.

Having worked within the system for many years, he may not understand business, but that doesn't mean he lacks vision. This kind of enterprise is currently located in Beicang, but given Weilai's development speed and industrial relocation, it will inevitably move out of Beicang to make room for Weilai in the future.

Once the scale of the industry expands, large cities like Ningbo and even Beicang become less concerned about the production capacity of pure manufacturing, and some even have to relocate due to pressure from traffic regulations.

As for the future of Beicang, it won't make a difference if it loses another Leichi, and Tan Jincheng probably won't care about moving this company out.

This can be seen from the fact that he hardly promotes the company. If you are not observant, you might think that it is a company that is just trying to ride on Tan Jincheng's name.

That's right, Tao Qinian's ultimate goal is still to take over Leichi's industrial transfer, but we'll talk about that later.

Tan Jincheng in Beicang District doesn't care, but Yicheng City does. Currently, Yicheng City has almost no decent private enterprises.

A company that can create a large number of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue a year is a well-known name in the city.

"Oh, Uncle Li is coming too? Goodness, it's a good thing he didn't come, otherwise you two would have really been carrying me around."

Tan Jincheng was taken aback. Tao Qinian had mentioned Li Yun as the second boss, and under normal circumstances, he should be the one to succeed Tao Qinian.

Hey, there's a lot of information in that sentence.

Tao Qinian smiled and said, "That's why I drove here myself; I didn't even bring a driver."

The arrival of leaders from both major bodies was indeed quite a commotion, and it certainly put people in a difficult position.

Tan Jincheng went home for the Chinese New Year, which was a private trip, so it was actually a bit inappropriate for him to come over.

If they really wanted to talk about work, they would have to wait until after the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, but he was genuinely afraid that Tan Jincheng would leave before then.

I haven't been back for several years, and it's really too difficult to see him in my hometown.

Talking to executives at Flashpoint Technology, or even Zhang Xupeng, wouldn't have the same effect. The most crucial point is that Shenzhou was introduced by Tan Jincheng. Shenzhou might not listen to his opinions, but he would definitely consider them.

As the two most core companies in Beicang District, they naturally have some business connections, so how could they not communicate privately on a regular basis?

“I understand what Uncle Tao is saying. I was just talking to Xiao Zhang about Flash Technology. As for the industrial park’s production capacity, Uncle Tao, don’t worry.”

"Yes, I was just talking to Xiao Tan about this. Our Flash will increase its efforts in developing overseas markets this year, and production capacity will definitely increase. Besides, this year may not be the same as last year. Maybe things will turn out better."

Zhang Xupeng chimed in, and his words did remind Tan Jincheng of something.

Wang Xin seems to have started a food delivery business this year, right? Haha, I'll find a chance to ask him about it. Once the food delivery business takes off, electric vehicle sales will increase significantly.

"Oh? Can you tell me about it?"

Tao Qinian asked with some curiosity, since these two had started their business in exports, and he had no doubt about Flash's export capabilities.

According to FlashTech's financial report for the previous year, FlashTech's export business accounted for 2% of its total revenue, but even this 2% is currently the largest export volume for electric vehicles.

"There's nothing we can't say. This year, we plan to increase our efforts in developing the North American market, and at the same time, we will develop more models suitable for overseas markets. We will not waste the production capacity of Wangjiang Industrial Park."

Currently, FlashTech has four production bases, with two major production bases in Tianjin and Xiangcheng having a total capacity of 200 million vehicles, mainly producing low-end models.

The main Beicang production base is responsible for high-end models, while mid-size models are located in Wangjiang Industrial Park.

The most profitable production is located at headquarters, while the rest are located in cities with relatively low labor costs. In fact, even if Tao Qinian hadn't mentioned it, he would have placed this part of the production capacity in the county anyway. Nowadays, transportation capacity is getting stronger and stronger, and it is quite convenient to travel from Yicheng to Beicang Port, so the transportation cost will not increase much.

However, he actually planned to move over after 2013.

As the saying goes, a current manager is worse than a current one. Uncle Tao is leaving soon, so sending him off is not as good as sending him off to Uncle Li. Adding flowers to brocade is not as good as providing charcoal in the snow.

But now that they have reached an agreement, there is no problem.

"The market for newly developed businesses is uncertain, so Uncle Tao doesn't need to worry. Also, what Xiao Zhang just said about the market not necessarily being the same as last year is also true."

Tan Jincheng looked at Zhang Xupeng with some appreciation. This kid's abilities have improved a lot; he definitely wasn't just making things up.

"Haha, Xiao Tan is testing me."

Zhang Xupeng pursed his lips: "I wonder how well Uncle Tao understands the internet. And you should know what Xiao Tan has been up to in the investment market this past year, right?"

Tao Qinian nodded.

"The internet is a rapidly developing industry. Much of our clothing is sold online. Also, what I just said about the uncertain market situation this year is also based on internet factors."

"I heard Xiao Tan mention it before. The CEO of the company that used to compete with Kaixin.com has started a new website and I heard that he is preparing to start a food delivery business. If it succeeds, it will boost the sales of electric vehicles."

"So although the market wasn't ideal in 2011, our expectations for the future are still very good. But for specifics, you'll have to ask Xiao Tan. My understanding of the internet mainly comes from him."

Tan Jincheng smiled and said, "We won't talk about market analysis today. In short, even if the B-end business doesn't move over, Uncle Tao doesn't need to worry about the industrial park's production capacity or employment issues."

"Rest assured, I can guarantee that at least until 2019, our Wangjiang Industrial Park will only gradually expand its recruitment, and there will be no large-scale layoffs."

Being number one in the industry requires the confidence to be number one. As long as we take it one step at a time, unlike Dizi who took big steps and ended up with a mess, and strictly implement the annual recruitment plan, it is impossible to have large-scale layoffs.

They hired 1000 people, only to find that they couldn't meet this year's sales target and only needed 100. So, they had to lay off staff.

When formulating growth strategies at the beginning of each year, none of Tan Jincheng's physical enterprises set overly ambitious goals. This may seem conservative to some, but Tan Jincheng prefers to take things one step at a time.

Overtaking is exciting, but it's also easy to crash. The foundation of the Flash series was already unstable, and if it doesn't take a steady and solid approach after development, it will really be easy to crash.

FlashTech's sales in 2011 only increased by 7.36% compared to 2010, which was the smallest growth rate since the company's inception. However, due to the relatively low expectations, there was no large amount of unsold inventory.

"Haha, I'm relieved to hear that, and your Uncle Li is relieved too."

This sentence completely reassured Tao Qinian. Given Tan Jincheng's current status, it was normal for him to boast a little, but there was no need for him to lie.

It's normal for companies to optimize their workforce, as long as there aren't large-scale layoffs, there's no problem.

"From a business owner's perspective, the county's industrial chain is becoming more and more mature, and our production capacity is sufficient. It is inevitable that some production capacity will be transferred here gradually, which is a good thing for enterprises."

"From Xiao Zhang's and my perspective, we are both from Yicheng and have lived here for 18 years. It is our duty to contribute to our hometown."

Zhang Xupeng nodded repeatedly, but in his heart he was complaining that this kid was really good at getting information out of people.

He still needs to learn this; he should ask his father-in-law for advice when he has time.

Tao Qinian's offer to stay for dinner was just a joke. After receiving a satisfactory reply, he didn't linger. He chatted for a few more minutes and then quietly went back. He still needed to talk to Li Yun.

If necessary, the two of them will have to make a trip to Beicang.

He spearheaded the introduction of Flash and Shenzhou, and he didn't want any problems to arise after his departure. He had always known that Tan Jincheng was particularly concerned about the business environment.

Although Tan Jincheng never explicitly stated anything, he could sense that the young man was very cautious.

Often, he would rather give up some expansion and investment than take risks in unfamiliar places. Yongzhou is a good example. When he acquired Changfeng, he was very interested in investing in Yongzhou.

Later, the matter was dropped, and the acquired assets were sold off at a low price to the original Changfeng Motor.

Tao Qinian understood that he did not belong to Tan Jincheng's social circle. Despite the young man's eloquent words, he had never planned to invest in his hometown if it had not been for Tao Qinian's perseverance.

He did not doubt Tan Jincheng's claim of contributing to his hometown. Over the years, Shanchi had provided a lot of donations to the county, and the fact that the county's schools were being built better and better, with teaching facilities that were more advanced than those in the city, was the best proof of this.

But this has nothing to do with the career he cares about.

"He's an interesting young man, haha, it's a good connection we've made."

On his way home, Tao Qinian couldn't help but smile. He had taken the biggest piece of the pie from the introduction of Flash Motors and Shenzhou. Now it was up to Li Yun. He hoped that Li Yun could seize the opportunity.

Food delivery? That already exists, doesn't it? Can it really significantly increase electric vehicle sales?

(End of this chapter)