"Pete, why do I feel that hot stamping has suddenly become popular in China?"
"The first hot stamping production line put into operation this year may be able to reach full production by the end of next year. We need to start considering the investment issue of the second production line."
As the general manager of Benteler's China branch, Feng Bo is actually an authentic German.
However, as a doctor, his German surname sounded very similar to "Feng", so after arriving in China, he gave himself the name "Feng Bo".
Even his business card has this name printed on it.
On the contrary, Pete is actually called Qian Hui, and he is an out-and-out native of Shanghai.
But after joining Benteler, he gave himself a foreign name.
Even his company email is there.
"Feng Bo, I really have to thank Great Wall Motors for this. The crash test they conducted instantly turned the unknown hot stamping technology into a popular technology in the automotive industry."
"We have been looking for various customers to promote the use of hot stamping technology, but except for Volkswagen, most of them are not very interested."
"Even the models of Mercedes-Benz and BMW in China have no plans to use hot stamping so soon."
"Now that Great Wall Motors is doing this, not only Modu Volkswagen and Spring City Volkswagen have accelerated the use of hot stamping parts, but BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Modu GM, and DPCA have also begun to speed up the application review of hot stamping parts technology."
"I think we can really start planning for the second production line."
“Otherwise, when receiving orders, customers ask us whether our production capacity can meet the requirements, and I don’t know how to answer.”
Although Qian Hui and Feng Bo were directly superiors and subordinates before, they were addressed by their first names.
In this regard, in European and American companies, the apparent hierarchy is indeed not that obvious.
Unlike Japanese companies and Korean companies, where the positions are one level higher, the level of communication between each other is very obvious.
"The situation is indeed a bit dramatic, but taking this opportunity, the company is preparing to hold a hot stamping technology exhibition at various customers."
"If you can get enough orders, we will officially start planning the second production line."
"In the past two days, I have heard news that our old rival Gestamp in Europe has also arranged for personnel to inspect China. It seems that it is also planning to build a factory here to produce hot stamping parts."
"This is not a good thing for us."
"Once Gestamp is confirmed to come in, Magna's Cosma will probably accelerate its entry into China."
"After all, if the hot stamping technology here is applied in advance, they will definitely be aware of it."
Founded in 1876, Benteler is one of the world's leading suppliers of auto parts and produces supporting products for almost all European and American automakers in the world.
Their products include front suspension and rear suspension modules; chassis systems; anti-collision structural parts; and engine exhaust and control systems.
At the same time, Benteler holds many patents for thermoforming stamping technology and is the first company in the world to successfully apply thermoforming technology to automobile bodies.
But they are not without rivals in the international market.
Gestamp, both from Europe, and Cosma, owned by Magna, are its old rivals.
Benteler makes chassis parts, as do Gestamp and Cosma.
BENTELER produces hot-stamped parts, as do Gestamp and Cosma.
Even before the Yangcheng Huaqiang Factory entered the field of hot stamping, Benteler, Gestamp and Cosma were the only three mass-produced hot stamping suppliers in the world.
So many times, Benteler's people regard Gestamp and Cosma as their competitors.
As for those companies in China, they didn't take it seriously.
Even Huaqiang Factory has already used 12-point hot stamping parts in Great Wall Motors' H6, and has attracted the attention of many OEMs.
"When we came to China to invest in the hot stamping forming line, Volkswagen had already promised part of the order."
"Although Mercedes-Benz and BMW only contacted them this year, we also supplied them with hot stamping parts in Germany."
"As long as the headquarters and the Huaxia branch work together, I don't think it will be a big problem to get their orders."
Qian Hui can be said to be full of confidence at this time.
In the field of hot stamping molding, Benteler has no rivals in the Chinese market.
"You sort out the requirements for hot stamping parts from each OEM. We will also find a time to hold a conference call with people from the headquarters to see how many orders we can get."
Feng Bo was also in a very good mood.
The future of the company is bright.
…
Guo Shuyin is very busy.
During this time, waves of OEMs came to visit the factory.
The hot stamping factory next to Great Wall Motors is dedicated to supplying parts to Great Wall Motors, so it is not very convenient for customers to visit.
The most important thing is that the headquarters is in Yangcheng, and it is inconvenient for Guo Shuyin to travel to Baozhou often.
Fortunately, the new factory built by Huaqiang Factory for Xingchen Automobile has basically completed the equipment introduction of the hot stamping production line and has begun to enter the equipment debugging stage.
So if customers want to come and visit, they won’t have nothing to see.
"Bu Guo, before visiting the factory, I would like to ask you what is the difference between your production line and the one invested by Benteler in Shanghai?"
Li Jianfeng from Modu Volkswagen came to the Yangcheng Huaqiang Factory with Hassan and Bu Defan today.
They have already quoted a price to Huaqiang Factory, and the same parts are twenty or thirty yuan lower than what Benteler quoted.
This is still the case when parts are transported from Yangcheng to Shanghai, and the transportation fee for each part is a few dollars higher than that of Benteler.
Although China's parts manufacturers have always had advantages in terms of cost.
But if this was the case for new technology parts such as hot stamping, he was a little curious.
"Gong Li, I have not directly visited Benteler's production line on site."
"However, based on the information we have obtained from previous investigations and some of your introductions, Mr. Li, we can generally know the differences in the equipment between the two parties."
“First of all, Benteler’s hot stamping production line and heating furnace are produced by Benteler itself and imported from Germany, while ours is domestic equipment produced by Nanshan Equipment.”
"Secondly, the most critical hot stamping machine, Benteler imported it from AP&T in Europe, and we also produced domestic presses produced by Nanshan Equipment."
"Then there is the hot stamping mold. As far as I know, although Benteler plans to make it in China in the future, at this stage it is still made and imported from Germany."
"Ours was purchased from Nanshan Mold, and everything from the main materials to processing of the mold has been localized."
"The last thing is the laser cutting equipment. Benteler purchased the TRUMPF laser cutting machine, which was also imported from Germany."
"A hot stamping forming line is equipped with four TRUMPF laser cutting machines. It is said that the purchase cost of this piece of equipment alone exceeds 20 million."
"And our laser cutting equipment is also produced by Nanshan Equipment."
“In addition, we are also studying with Nanshan Mold to see if we can cut the edges directly in the mold in places where the tolerance requirements are not so high.”
"This can greatly reduce the amount of laser processing, improve production efficiency, reduce costs, and also reduce investment in laser cutting equipment."
Although Guo Shufu is in sales, he is also very familiar with his own hot stamping production line.
This production line is said to be very complicated, but if you just understand the basic principles, it is actually not difficult.
It’s not like I’m asking you to design this production line.
"I'll interrupt. Just now you said that your company is researching edge trimming in molds. Can you give a detailed introduction to this situation?"
Although Dr. Hassan's Chinese has a slight accent, communication was no problem at all.
As a quality engineer, he clearly understands why hot stamping parts require laser cutting.
As advertised, the tensile strength of hot stamped parts can reach 1500Mpa.
What is the concept?
In 2005, the maximum tensile strength of most OEM car body parts did not reach 590Mpa.
Even if there are, only a few key parts are in use.
On top of the 590Mpa steel plate, there are generally 780Mpa, 980Mpa and 1180Mpa ultra-high-strength steel.
Even 1180Mpa is still in the laboratory state and has not entered mass production.
Even for 980Mpa automotive sheets, no domestic steel mill has achieved large-scale mass production.
You can imagine how high the intensity of 1500Mpa is.
If the parts produced in this way need to be punched, trimmed, etc., it cannot be done directly using a stamping machine and mold.
At this time, the laser cutting process comes in handy.
No matter how strong you are, it won't be a problem in front of the laser.
However, although the laser processing technology is good, the cost is also high.
Take a B-pillar reinforcement plate as an example. There are a dozen or even dozens of mounting holes, positioning holes, process holes, and weight reduction holes that need to be processed.
Then the surrounding parts need to be laser trimmed to meet the tolerance requirements specified in the drawings.
After all, anyone who has done stamping knows that parts coming out of the drawing process will definitely need to be trimmed.
Otherwise, the parts will definitely not meet the drawing requirements.
"Dr. Hassan, the situation is probably like this."
"We can participate in the early drawing design of the OEM. For some places where there are no welding mating surface requirements, the tolerances can be appropriately relaxed, and the edges can be cut directly when the mold is formed."
"For some weight reduction holes and process holes, the relaxation of tolerances will not affect the performance of the parts. You can also add a punch to the mold and punch them out directly."
"Of course, we need to analyze and discuss the specific details based on specific drawings."
"But our Huaqiang factory has conducted in-depth research in this regard together with Nanshan Mold."
With Guo Shufu's introduction, Hassan's confidence in Huaqiang Factory increased a lot.
This is not a factory that only processes drawings.
As the quality director of Modu Volkswagen, he has visited many local suppliers in China over the years.
Many of these manufacturers can only produce parts based on the drawings of Modu Volkswagen.
As for improving the process or cost based on the drawings, they don't know how.
Even these companies have no R&D personnel at all, and only a few technical personnel do some basic technical work.
"Guo, I also have a question that I'm curious about."
"As far as I know, the hot stamping equipment at Huaqiang Factory was only newly invested in the past year, and the amortization of various equipment and factory buildings is relatively high."
"Why can your price be lower than other manufacturers?"
Bu Defan didn't mind letting Guo Shufu know that their prices were lower than Benteler's.
There is no need to hide this matter at all.
"In fact, the answer to this question can be found based on the comparison of production line differences just mentioned by Li Gong."
"First of all, in terms of equipment investment, I estimate that Benteler's production line, not counting factory investment, will exceed 100 million."
"But we only need about half as much as they do."
"Secondly, their hot stamping molds need to be imported from Germany, but ours can be made domestically."
"In this aspect alone, we can make a set of two molds for the B-pillar reinforcement of the Passat model several million yuan cheaper than Benteler."
"Furthermore, in terms of raw materials, we use hot stamped steel plates developed and produced jointly by Nanshan Group and Baosteel, while Benteler imports them from ArcelorMittal."
"When these differences are accumulated, for a part like the Passat B-pillar reinforcement plate, we have a cost advantage of at least 20 yuan."
"And we still have room to further review cost improvements."
The quotations have already been submitted to Magic City Public, but Guo Shufu is not afraid to share this comparative information.
When he quoted the price to Modu Volkswagen, he had already set the processing fee relatively high.
Factory equipment is normally amortized over 10 years, so he quoted directly based on 5-year amortization.
After all, he also knows very well that Benteler and them are the only ones in China that can produce hot stamping parts.
In this case, it makes little sense to blindly fight a price war.
As long as the advantage over Benteler is maintained by about ten points, it is enough.
To achieve this, it is actually enough to reflect the advantages from the mold.
According to the reference information given by the people at Nanshan Mold, Benteler imported a set of hot stamping molds from Germany, which cost more than 10 million yuan, which was simply ridiculously expensive.
The hot stamping molds sold by Nanshan Mold to Huaqiang Factory, with one B-pillar and two out of one, cost about five to six million.
Guo Shufu reported to Modu Volkswagen that on the basis of this price, he also added 15% management fee and 10% maintenance fee.
It can be said that if the hot stamping parts of Huaqiang Factory can successfully enter the Shanghai Volkswagen Group, the profit margin can reach more than 20%.
This is despite setting aside a portion of the budget for price reduction negotiations.
After all, OEMs often ask suppliers to review price reductions before a new model is put into production.
"Hassan, I basically understand what I want to know. How about we go to the scene and have a look?"
Bu Defan was quite satisfied with Guo Shufu's answer.
After all, there is no logical problem with this answer.
So soon, everyone entered the on-site confirmation process.
The technical staff of Huaqiang Factory, who have already achieved production results, can naturally answer questions in this regard easily.
In the end, Bu Defan and his party came and left happily.
Soon, the Yangcheng Huaqiang Factory also officially received an order for hot stamping parts from Modu Volkswagen.
Of course, this is something to talk about later.
…
"Mr. Cao, our Xingchen car has not been exposed on the Internet for a while. Can we consider disclosing the information on the use of hot stamping parts?"
During this time, Yao Yongxiang has been busy with the development of Xingchen Automobile.
The first version of the drawings has been drawn, and the supplier's trial molds are also in production.
Soon, the first prototype will be produced.
As long as there are no major problems in the production and assembly of the prototype and some basic tests can be passed, the supplier can be formally notified to open a permanent mold and prepare for large-scale mass production.
"Your suggestion is a good one. Hot stamping technology has become very popular during this period, and many consumers who don't pay attention to this aspect of knowledge are discussing this topic in a decent way."
"The Great Wall Motors H6 uses 12-point hot stamping parts, and it has already achieved such excellent results in the crash test."
"As for our Xingchen 1, 22 parts use hot stamping technology, so the safety performance is even more guaranteed."
Cao Yang agreed to Yao Yongxiang's proposal without any hesitation.
Sometimes, how to "leak secrets" during the development process of new models is also a good marketing tool.
Have you ever seen that before major models from various OEMs are launched, there will always be some "leaked" camouflage photos popping up.
Although a small number of them were actually leaked and exposed by internal employees or partners.
But in fact, most of them are the OEM's own marketing methods.
They "leaked" the secret on purpose.
"That's right, with such a large number of hot stamping parts being used, not to mention China, even if you look around the world, you can't find a few manufacturers."
"Even the BMW 730 is far from reaching this level. Maybe we can imitate Great Wall Motors and gain fame by standing on the shoulders of the BMW 730."
Rao Yongxiang is very confident in the product strength of Xingchen 1.
But he is not very confident about the price of Xingchen 1.
Because according to what Cao Yang has said so far, this car is really aimed at high-end luxury cars.
The price will definitely not be cheap.
"Although this approach can win short-term benefits, it is a bit demoralizing. I don't plan to do it unless it is absolutely necessary."
“Sometimes blowing out other people’s lights doesn’t make you any brighter.”
"By tearing each other down, we are also building walls for ourselves."
"Throw dirty water on others, and you will be covered in mud."
Although Great Wall Motors was involved in Honda, it was Cao Yang who suggested it to Wang Ying privately.
But it doesn't mean that he will learn it himself.
If Xingchen Automobile wants to go far, it must use upright means as much as possible.
Otherwise, it may become a stain in the development process.
After all, you are the one who wants to build luxury cars.
…
"Xingchen Motors' new car uses 22-point hot stamping parts, which is too radical."
"Minister, our next-generation Accord model does not use any hot stamping parts."
"Will you be criticized by others then?"
At Yangcheng Honda, when Lu Xiangyang and Li Huarong were eating together in the cafeteria, they couldn't help but chat about the news they saw this morning.
As the head of the stamping department, he is responsible for both cold stamped parts and hot stamped parts.
Therefore, he pays more attention to hot stamping-related topics on the Internet than the average person.
In particular, the CRV of sister company Zephyr Honda was taken out to beat the corpse and became the stepping stone for the Great Wall H6 model.
This made him even more worried.
"I met with Honda China's senior management on this issue a few days ago and discussed this topic with them."
"Currently, all Japanese car companies are not preparing to use hot stamping for their models currently under development."
"Of course, this does not mean that Toyota and Honda will not improve the strength of the body."
"With the tightening of collision-related regulations, the use of high-strength steel plates will definitely increase."
"However, both Toyota and Honda are promoting and extensively using 980 and 590 high-strength steel plates to meet collision requirements."
"Theoretically, there is no problem with this solution, but the weight reduction effect is not as good as hot stamping."
"But in terms of cost, there are definitely advantages."
Li Huarong definitely has more information channels than Lu Xiangyang.
The Chinese automobile market is booming now, and they are naturally worried about whether Yangcheng Honda can keep up with the pace of development.
"I communicated with people from Yangcheng Aipak yesterday. Their parent company has also conducted some early research related to hot stamping. The cost will indeed rise a lot."
"However, I think this matter cannot be discussed purely from a cost perspective when publicizing it to the outside world, otherwise consumers will not accept it at all."
"According to my understanding, Japanese suppliers are the strongest in the world in terms of technology accumulation for cold stamping of high-strength steel plates."
"They have now mastered the stamping technology of various high-strength steel plates from 590 to 980. They also have a lot of experience data on the rebound of steel plates during the stamping process. They can fully consider these factors when designing molds. , so that the produced parts meet the accuracy requirements of the drawings.”
"But some European and American stamping suppliers are not that good at stamping high-strength steel plates."
"That's why they chose a different method like hot stamping to solve the problem of increased stamping difficulty after the strength of the steel plate is increased."
"If everyone can accept this point of view, then the debate on hot stamping on the Internet will develop in a direction that is beneficial to us."
When Lu Xiangyang said this, Li Huarong couldn't help but his eyes lit up.
This idea is very good.
We did not use hot stamping, not because my configuration is low and I am reluctant to spend money, but because I have deep technical accumulation in cold stamping and can meet the strength requirements using traditional methods.
The reason why manufacturers such as European and American manufacturers and Great Wall Motors are very active in promoting hot stamping technology is because their technology is not good at traditional cold stamping.
This logic is easier to understand than other explanations.
(End of chapter)
