Lin Johnson followed Qiu Ke and others to the SAIC factory in Beiputuo and watched the Santana production line. He found that the workers were producing cars entirely with process equipment from the early 1970s. The proportion of this production line relies on labor. There were many German technicians in the factory providing on-site guidance to the employees.

In fact, the Germans are still very responsible. In order to assemble qualified cars, the German side sent a total of 200 technicians to train SAIC's employees.

Jiang Ting'an was responsible for receiving his inspections over the past few days and asked with a smile: "Mr. Lin, what is the level of equipment provided by the German side to SAIC?"

Lin Qiangsheng said with emotion: "This is our technology five years ago. Many car companies abroad have eliminated this level of equipment."

"Oh, is that true?" Jiang Tingan was a little surprised. The young man was not polite at all. These equipment were only brought back by SAIC after working hard.

Fang Hong said a little resentful: "This production line was directly dismantled and transported from the original German factory, at least it will not fall behind too much!"

Lin Johnson looked at him and said, "It's not necessarily true. I heard some news. Because of South Africa's policy issues, the Germans closed the South African factory and transported the equipment there to China. The Germans' overseas factories were originally lagging behind the local ones!"

"We don't know about this, but this production line was indeed eliminated by the Germans." Qiu Ke said, and he held his glasses and asked Lin Johnson: "Mr. Lin, what is your production equipment? Is it close to the international level?"

Lin Johnson nodded complacently: "The equipment owned by several of our automobile companies is definitely above the world average, and is even close to mainstream Japanese and German companies!"

He said to Qiu Ke and others: "From 1950 to 1961, Toyota Motor's second president, Tuo Misato, proposed an important theory called equipment first!

According to my understanding, equipment occupies the first important position in industrial production. Since the establishment of our automobile factory, we have always tried our best to obtain advanced international automobile manufacturing equipment. Over the years, we have continuously improved the equipment and kept up with the latest international trends. We have purchased the latest foreign achievements in technology that we cannot achieve for the time being. For example, we are currently using the third generation of products. It can adjust eight directions, position more accurately, and move faster. In automobile production, we have also adopted automation the most, reducing the number of labor, reducing the defect rate, and increasing the quality of the car!"

Qiu Ke and Fang Hong understood what Lin Johnson said, but they both felt that such investment must be very large, and Jiang Ting'an asked in a reasonable manner: "Robots can increase product quality, isn't artificial?"

Lin Johnson explained to him: "In large-scale industrial production, workers are real screws. Repeat a product a day, and thousands of repeated labors, people will inevitably slack off. And machines will not be like this. Its actions are positioned by computers every time, which reduces mistakes and is not prone to errors. This is a great improvement in this way. The quality is indeed much better than manual labor. This is what Japanese car companies do!"

"Oh, the Japanese do the same!" Jiang Tingan nodded when he heard the Japanese do the same: "So this is how you develop, and automated production improves product quality. This is the first time I have heard such a statement!"

He smiled and shook his head: "Although he knows this advantage, this model is not suitable for China's national conditions at the moment. So many of us can't use it. It's too far to use robots instead of artificial intelligence!"

"The investment is also very huge!" Fang Hong said with some envy.

Several people continued to visit, and then they left the factory gate and took a car to a large wasteland bordering SAIC and Jiading County.

Qiu Ke pointed to this vast land and said to Lin Johnson: "At present, our factory is discussing with Jiading to allocate this land to SAIC as a new factory area. The plan has been reported to the city. Mr. Lin, how about building a factory here?"

Lin Qiangsheng thought the location was also good: "The place here is big enough, and there is Baoshan next to Jiading, where there is Baosteel, so you can invest in and build a new automobile factory here!"

"Mr. Lin, what model are you planning to get on?" Qiu Ke asked with interest.

Lin Johnson said: "A mid-to-low-end sedan, just like the Jetta, your Santana focuses on high- and mid-end sedans, so that the product grades can widen the distance and reduce competition!"

Qiu Ke was very interested in low- and mid-range models and asked: "What car is it?"

Lin Johnson said: "I haven't designed this yet. Maybe it will take about half a year to decide it."

Jiang Tingan felt that the young man Lin Johnson was a bit arrogant. If you don’t have a specific model, you dare to promise that SAIC will produce low- and mid-range cars. Moreover, Lin Johnson has no limits. What if the car factory cannot be built, what a big deal. How can you be so careless!

Qiu Ke was the opposite. He said happily: "I heard that Mr. Lin is an outstanding car designer. The most popular models in the domestic market, such as Jetta, Accord, Passatta, etc., are designed by you. If you can design a model for our old SAIC factory, we can try production."

Lin Johnson shook hands with Qiu Ke and smiled: "It's a matter of course. I'll design the car model in half a year. You'll be satisfied with it when the time comes."

The two sides agreed that Lin Johnson-Johnson would invest in an automobile assembly line and several parts factories, while Qiu Ke was responsible for discussing with Jiading County on expanding the factory construction area. Both sides initially decided to each occupy 50% of the new factory's shares.

"I didn't expect that Lin Johnson was so easy to talk to, he was much easier to deal with than Germans!" Qiu Ke returned to SAIC, and General Manager Fang Hong immediately rushed over to inquire about the situation. When he learned that Lin Johnson had agreed to invest 50 million US dollars to build a factory and automobile production line in Jiading, he said so.

Qiu Ke nodded: "We will cooperate with Dongxing Group in many aspects in the future to strive to open a breakthrough in them and improve the quality of our parts. This is also a feasible development path!"

Fang Hong laughed and said, "Western is not bright, but East is bright. The Germans didn't expect that we found a good opponent for them."

Qiu Ke agreed and said: "Yes, don't tell them the news now, we will catch the Germans off guard."

Lin Qiangsheng and Jiang Ting'an took a car back to the city. Secretary Jia said to him: "Mr. Lin, it's almost noon now. The city has arranged a hotel room for you. We might as well have a simple meal. I will accompany you to visit each district in the afternoon to see which places are suitable for construction and renovation."

Lin Qiangsheng said to Jiang Tingan: "You are so polite. I have a place to live, so I don't have to move around."

Jiang Ting'an said, "Then let's have a simple meal. This time, we have to invite you to do the best of the landlords."

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and nodded and said, "Okay, we might as well go to Chenghuang Temple. I heard that the crab roe buns there are good."

Jiang Ting'an looked at the time and said, "Then we have to go quickly. The best Nanxiang soup buns in Chenghuang Temple have to be queued up."

"Master Li, go to the City God Temple in Huangpu!" He said to the driver, and the driver agreed and the car headed straight south.

Wandering in the city of Lao Shang and Hai, from north to south, Lin Qiangsheng has the time to enjoy the city.

It should be said that the Shanghai Sea in the mid-1980s was still very old. Apart from the only a few avenues, there were broken old alleys and narrow and messy lanes everywhere, which was very different from the new Shanghai Sea decades later!

Passing through the Shikumen area, Lin Qiangsheng looked at these unique grottoes, and his memory was like an open gate, which made him remember many things at once. These objects in the old Shanghai will be transformed into unique scenery in the future. They are quite famous special attractions in Shanghai.

Shikumen is a unique residential house in Shanghai. It once accounted for 60% of the houses of Shanghai residents at its peak. In the early 1990s, most of the houses here were demolished, but after re-planning and design, the new combination of Chinese and Western styles with rich Shanghai characteristics has re-formed another major cultural treasure of Shanghai.

Shikumen, Shang. The new world of sea!

Lin Qiangsheng suddenly seemed to have discovered a new world and stared at these old buildings. He suddenly remembered that the Xintiandi project built after the renovation of Shikumen was a very prosperous tourist destination. He also visited in his previous life. He actually remembered that this is a very good real estate project. Moreover, Xintiandi has hotels, residential projects, and sightseeing corridors. The number of tourists visited in a year is astronomical, and of course it is also very profitable!

He became interested and immediately said to Jiang Ting'an and the driver: "Let's find a hotel nearby. Now there is a line of old-fashioned soup dumplings in Chenghuang Temple. We will find a restaurant here to eat something casually, and I'll treat you."

Jiang Tingan said in surprise: "How can that work? There is no good hotel in this area, so it's better to go to Chenghuang Temple!"

Lin Qiangsheng smiled and waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, I won't go to Chenghuang Temple. There are many people there, so we'll just go around here. I really like these cave archways on the street."
Chapter completed!