Chapter 572 – Cargo Vans
After the hotpot meal, both of them were satisfied. Feng Yu had not touched his glass of baijiu. He mainly drank tea. That glass of Baijiu was left untouched from the start till the end of the meal!
Kirilenko had finished two bottles of Ergoutou by himself. He could not even walk straight when leaving the restaurant. Feng Yu still had to get two waiters to carry Kirilenko into the car.
On the way back to the hotel, the drunk Kirilenko was still telling Feng Yu he wanted to eat this hotpot again! He kept saying that Feng Yu was his best friend for bringing him to eat such delicious food!
Best friend? Ok. I shall let you drink more the next time!
At the hotel, Feng Yu and a bellboy helped Kirilenko into his room and gave the bellboy a 100 RMB tips. The bellboy was surprised. He had received tips from foreign guests, and very few Chinese would provide tips. Even if they gave tips, it would not be so much. He thanked Feng Yu and told himself he must work harder in the future!
“Feng, I have some documents in my bag. I need to rest a while. You read those documents first.”
Before Feng Yu could reach Kirilenko’s bag, he was already snoring like thunder.
Wow…. Kirilenko had fallen asleep once his head touched the pillow.
Feng Yu found Kirilenko’s bag and saw the documents. It was the mining company’s last year annual report. Feng Yu scanned through the report. Last year’s revenue was less than 30 million USD and had spent over 20 million on new equipment. With the workers’ salaries, the net profits were only 36,000 USD. If Feng Yu told others, no one would believe him.
But Feng Yu was very satisfied. Kirilenko had followed his instructions and mined the minimum. He had used most of the revenue to buy more equipment and increase the safety of the mines.
The prices of minerals now were not high. There were only a few countries that were exporting high volume of minerals. Russia was one of them.
In another two years, these few countries will join hands and lower their exports. That will be the time when the prices of minerals skyrockets. When that happens, all of Feng Yu’s mines will have new equipment and can increase the speed of mining.
After finish reading the mineral company’s report, Feng Yu saw an analysis of Russia’s automobile industry. Base on this analysis, Kirilenko was doing to increase the importation of automobile this year. The number of automobiles will be doubled last year.
After the Russian government and military bought Songjiang Motors vehicles, their people also get to know this brand of vehicles. Kirilenko had people to help him plan the marketing of Songjiang Vehicles. In Russia, Songjiang Vehicles was now an imported branded vehicle!
Songjiang Motors had developed much better than Feng Yu’s expectations because of Kirilenko. Just last year alone, the number of Songjiang Off roads imported into Russia was more than any other brand of vehicles. Seems like this year, this figure will increase further.
As the automobile branch factories around China started productions, profits begin to stream in from this business. Maybe in less than 5 years, Feng Yu could recover all his investments and starts to make profits. By that time, Songjiang Motors should be China’s top automobile brand. It will overtake Audi and the rest of those Japanese cars.
But the biggest issue faced by Feng Yu, or Bing City Machinery Company was Songjiang’s Qiankun, a cargo van. This Songjiang Qiankun model of cargo van had started production and based on Feng Yu’s requirement. The vans were big. But other than Wind and Rain Logistics who ordered 100 vehicles, there were no other big orders. The orders were only in single digits, and it was the distributors that ordered.
Feng Yu had thought of a big client. The postal services. Li Mingde has gone to speak to them. He had experience of dealing with these government officials and should not disappoint Feng Yu.
As for what discount or rebates Li Mingde gave to those officials, Feng Yu does not care. These were the basic rules of sales in this era. No matter how good your vehicles were, or how urgent they needed cargo vans, the higher-ups do not buy your cars if they do not receive any benefits.
Those officials could find lots of reasons to not buy your vehicles.
Cargo van was very popular in Feng Yu’s previous life. Especially after the electronic industry boom. A lot of logistics companies appeared and grew rapidly. Thus, the demand for cargo vans also increased.
Although there were not many electronic factories and no online shopping, there was a shortage of train carriage, and the prices of airfreight were high. There should still be a demand for cargo vans for short distance deliveries.
For example, the fur in the Northeast regions needs to be sent to the garment factories in the south. From the southern areas, factories need to send their products back to the north. Products like electronics, garments, etc., still need cargo vans to transport.
Feng Yu had also called Li Zekai. Their Tai Hua supermarkets need fresh fruits and vegetables from the farms. They also need to use these huge cargo vans.
1 supermarket needs at least 2 vans. 20 supermarkets require at least 40 vans, and it was the biggest model.
Li Zekai also knew that Feng Yu and Fu Guangzheng had shares in Songjiang motors. He will definitely purchase the supermarket’s cargo vans from Songjiang motors. Also, Songjiang Motors vehicles were better in quality than other brands.
As the General Manager, Li Zekai was in charge of the procurement. He immediately asked his men to write a report and place the order with Bing city Machinery Company. His requirements were 50 cargo vans in 3 months, and every van must be painted with Tai Hua Supermarket’s logo and name.
Wind and Rain Logistics and Tai Hua Supermarket had bought all the cargo vans in the Machinery Company’s warehouse. The production of these big cargo vans was much slower than regular saloon cars and was much more expensive. The profits were also much higher. But as the clients were Wind and Rain Logistics and Tai Hua Supermarket, lots of discounts were given, and the profits were not high.
Li Mingde helped Feng Yu think of an excuse to give special rates to these 2 companies. These 2 companies had made bulk purchases and were influential. This was considered an advertisement for Songjiang Motor’s Qiankun model. So, they should give them discounted rates.
The branch factories knew that these vans were selling much lower than their standard rates, but there was still profit. They could not argue since their General Manager was the one who set these rates. Furthermore, Feng Yu was involved in those 2 companies. Without Feng Yu, these cargo vans might still be sitting in the warehouse!
The employees in the Machinery Company really respect Feng Yu. Although they were converted from being a state-owned enterprise’s employees to a private enterprise’s employees, their salaries had increased a lot. The managers and leaders also had an increase in their benefits.
The company employee hospital’s equipment was all imported from Germany and had specialists providing consultation. The employees were assigned with lodging when the company was still state-owned. But those houses cannot be compared to the apartments they were living now. Although they had to pay a portion of the apartment, they were the ones who own the apartment.
Their apartments were spacious and come with centralizing heating. It was also a high-rise building, equipped with lifts.
Also, the employees had the chance to go on TV and will receive all sorts of gifts during festive periods. If they had to put in extra hours, they would have overtime pay. Their one-off day per week was also converted to 1.5 days off.
Who was the one that gave them these benefits? It’s Feng Yu! The Machinery Company had progressed from manufacturing Agricultural machinery to motorcycles and from motorcycles to saloon cars. Bing City Machinery Company became well known, and the employees were proud to let others know that they were working for the company. This was why no one would say anything even if the company gave all those cargo vans to Feng Yu’s companies for free!
All the employees in Bing City Machinery Company no longer listen to the City Government. They only listen to Feng Yu.
Feng Yu’s plans to change the employees’ mindset was very successful, and this was a surprise to him too. He thought it will take some time before the employees acknowledge his changes to the Machinery Company.
The workers were united and hardworking. Feng Yu felt that if he wants, he could even convert the company into a religion!
After looking through all the documents and listening to the Kirilenko’s thunderous snoring, Feng Yu decided to book another room to rest until Kirilenko wakes up in the evening.