The journey starts from the Titanic

Investing in a car factory in Los Angeles is also a challenging choice.

If the goal is not to develop into a giant like General Motors and Ford, Situ Nan estimated that the initial results should be seen at two or three million dollars.

As for the sales, Situ Nan has no worries. When he passed through in his previous life, Los Angeles was the automobile center of the United States. The second largest auto show in the United States was also held in Los Angeles. Every year, the Los Angeles Auto Show attracted the attention of countless people. Did not produce a car.

This is the largest auto market in the United States in the future, and Situ Nan may not be able to see that day.Before the rise of high-tech in Los Angeles and Hollywood, the farmers spread across California's vast land became the main consumers of Los Angeles' car sales in the next ten or two decades.

Luxury cars are not needed in the west yet (luxury is not available there). Farmers and people need high-quality and cheap cars. Therefore, if Situ Nan invests in a car factory in the Los Angeles area, it is estimated that as long as the production of cheap cars is Still make a difference.

The assembly line production of cars is indeed a very remarkable invention. It can increase labor productivity and reduce costs. Even if the profit of a T-type single car is low, Ford still develops rapidly with its output several times more than its rival.This is why Ford has the confidence to sell the Model T for two to three hundred dollars.

It is said that Henry Ford was inspired by the slaughterhouse in Chicago?Inspired by this, Situ Nan later actually visited the slaughterhouse in Chicago.

Since Situ Nan invested heavily in the construction of a steel company in the Fangta area south of Los Angeles, a number of mechanical processing plants have now emerged in several southern California counties such as San Bernardi and Montana near Fangta. Machinery manufacturing bases that have never been seen before began to gradually take shape in Southern California.

Every time Situ Nan went back, he would watch the prototype of this machinery manufacturing base become more and more obvious, where more and more rumbling machines sounded.

Among them, the fastest growing is agricultural machinery. The harvesters, planters, lawn mowers, etc. produced by the agricultural machinery factory are welcomed by farmers everywhere.

Seeing that Situ Nan was profitable, he also began to invest in mining machinery factories and tractor factories. However, Los Angeles did not have a very good industrial base, so the technical equipment related to these heavy industries needed to be imported from Chicago in the east. Blood back.

In addition to petroleum, other industries in California are also developing rapidly.Not only Situ Nan, but more and more local rich men in the west (presumably those who made their fortunes by digging for gold) also set their sights on industry.

They caught up with a good time. Just after the outbreak of the war in Europe, Situ Nan’s factories received a large number of orders. They turned around and outsourced some of the orders to companies that were closely related to them, thus driving the manufacturing industry in California. development of.

California's booming industry and commerce has added a lot of points to Situ Nan's car industry.In fact, cars are not as easy as he imagined.

Regardless of technical issues, an automobile factory needs too many related companies. If all of them have to be borne by themselves, it does not mean that he has no financial burden, but if he makes this impulsive decision, then No need to do other things.

Therefore, in the first two to three years, although Situ Nan had the intention to develop automobiles, he was unable to concentrate on the layout due to various reasons.

In the past few years, Western oil has expanded greatly, like a chicken laying golden eggs, and more like a gold sucker. After a round of the book, all the money earned is invested in expanded reproduction, like a dissatisfied desire. Resent woman!

In order to serve "her" and satisfy "her"'s demand for funds, Situ Nan had to postpone the investment in other industries. Every time he thought of one good investment plan after another but could not immediately realize it, Situ Nan wanted Mao to catch him. The same, it's as painful as seeing a beauty guarding but not being able to go."

The steel plant Situ Nan did not invest too much, except for the oil company, it was the steel plant that fertilized Situ Nan's energy.Because this involves Situ Nan's future industrial layout in Los Angeles.

Without the iron and steel industry, and without a well-developed machinery manufacturing industry, even if Situ Nan suddenly thought of a very profitable product, he could not produce it.

As for going to other places to invest, Situ Nan's strength is not enough to reach into someone else's territory.Under Situ Nan's fattening, the California Iron and Steel Company has faintly become a steel giant.

In the past two years, the scale of the California Iron and Steel Company in Fangta Town has been expanding, which has consumed a lot of capital of Situ Nan. Even if the price of steel has risen at present, the entire company is still operating at a loss.

Situ Nan breathed a sigh of relief until the last phase of the construction project in 1917 next year was completed. With the participation of the United States, the steel company was able to live a happy life.

The stocks of steel, munitions, oil and other large companies that Situ Nan bought in the early stages of the war that were closely related to the war rose a lot after two years. This made Situ Nan's heart a little more at ease.

However, it has not yet risen to the highest point, at least until the United States announces its participation in the war before selling and cashing out. Before that, let's wait patiently.

After returning to Los Angeles, Situ Nan bought an automobile factory. The original owner had a bad management. Although the cars produced were of good quality, they were expensive and sold poorly. They were squeezed into bankruptcy by Ford’s Model T cars. He also owed a large amount of debt to the bank, so Situ Nan took it over without much effort, and it cost less than $500,000, including the repayment of the bank's debt.

After getting the money, the owner of the original car factory ran to study his favorite car, leaving Situ Nan a mess.How to clean up this mess Situ Nan has to care about.

Situ Nan didn't plan to manage the car factory by himself. For a while, he could not find a suitable candidate, so he could only carry out financial cleanup, and the company was temporarily operated by the original management.

But he gave an order to send someone to learn about Ford's production and management.In the automotive industry, Ford has always been a benchmark company, especially Ford's assembly line production, which is a major invention of modern industry.It must be right to learn from Ford.

The only thing that changed a little was that Situ Nan established an internal combustion engine company called Cummins Power. Well, Cummins's name Situ Nan liked it very much, so I borrowed it.

Cummins Power’s first technical engineer was Xu Zhouyang, and there were three divisions underneath, namely gasoline engine division, diesel engine division, and aircraft engine division.

However, after all the initial creations, after successively transferring many technicians from the original automobile company, there is still a lack of manpower. For example, the aircraft engine division only exists on files.

Situ Nan’s development template for Cummins Power was General Dynamics of the Fortune 500 in the past, so from the beginning, Cummins Power was not linked to the auto factory, but independent.

In the future, Cummins Power should be a large-scale comprehensive enterprise that provides power and construction for transportation industries such as aircraft, ships, and locomotives.

Ideals are bright, but reality is pale.The current Cummins Power Company is very rudimentary in all aspects. It is more of a research institute and has not produced any new products.

However, Xu Zhouyang, who was in charge of the important task, was constantly recruiting after receiving the long-awaited funds. First, relying on his own relationship with the University of California, Berkeley reached a cooperative relationship, a group of outstanding mechanical engineers were drawn to Cummins Power Research. So.

At the same time, Xu Zhouyang also led people to the eastern cities of Chicago and Detroit to dig people. At present, the northeast has the best heavy industry foundation, the most advanced technology, and the most developed production. The steel center, automobile center, and shipbuilding center are all in the northeast industrial zone.

Detroit, where there are GM, Ford, and Chrysler in the future, Situ Nan glanced at Dongfang, and his thoughts suddenly drifted to the busy flow shop of the Ford automobile factory.

Also, it is best that the power equipment of aircraft around the world should also be produced by Cummins Power.

This is an ambition. When Situ Nan thinks of the three GM brothers, General Electric, General Dynamics, and General Motors, he can't help but itchy. He wants to make a Cummins brand that can rival GM.

Chapter 40 First Experience in Hollywood (Part I) Strive for three changes today!

Back in Los Angeles, Situ Nan and his party came back with two more women, one is Song Meiling who came as a guest and the other is He Xiangu who seems to be a maid for herself.

"Wow! Stone, your house is so big and beautiful!" Song Meiling couldn't help but exclaimed.Although she was born in a wealthy family, she has had no worries about food and clothing since she was a child, and although life is not luxurious, to most Chinese, she is simply a superior princess.Even so, it was the first time she saw a rich house like Situ Nan.

"Thank you, I hope you have a happy stay. You are welcome. Just treat it as your own home." Situ Nan said enthusiastically, courtesy of a typical Chinese family owner.

Compared with Song Meiling's recovery after being surprised, He Xiangu seemed a bit cramped.

"Stone, are you back?" Little Tom in the living room leaped over as soon as he saw Situ Nan. Although he was already in school and he was very heavy, Situ Nan also struggled to hold him.

However, this habit Little Tom has not changed. After two years of getting along, Little Tom has completely accepted Situ Nan, and he is still a little tired of Situ Nan. Who told Situ Nan to treat him well!

Although Situ Nan is usually a little busy and doesn't spend much time with Tom, but every time he comes back, he brings a lot of gifts to Tom.You are a mother if you have milk.Compared with the stern Mary, little Tom still prefers the easy-going Situ Nan.

"Tom, come down quickly, Stonney rushed back, tired, let him take a break, okay?" Mary followed and greeted him.

"Oh! Okay!" Little Tom counseled Mary a little, and got down from Situ Nan, looking innocently at Situ Nan with expectation.

Why doesn't Situ Nan know what this little guy is thinking?"Here!" Situ Nan took out a hand drum, shook it lightly, and remembered it "dum-dum-dun".This time he brought back a lot of toys bought from Chinatown for Little Tom, and upon coming back, he ordered the servant to put those toys in Little Tom’s room.

Little Tom who got the new thing smiled contentedly, and returned to Mary with a little triumph.

When Mary watched Situ Nan brought the two women back, her heart became sensitive. Her position in this family was a bit embarrassing, but she was a mature woman and knew what to say on occasion.

At the same time, Song Meiling and He Xiangu were also secretly looking at the foreign women who appeared in Situ Nan's house, and seeing their words just now knew that Mary and Situ Nan were very close.

The thoughts in Mary's heart Situ Nan knew roughly that this mistress was still her only woman at present.

"This is Mary, my cousin. My cousin used to be an excellent first mate on the Titanic, but died in a shipwreck. Just now that was my nephew." In order not to cause Mary's sadness, Situ Nan introduced Song Meiling and He Xiangu in Chinese.Although Song Meiling could not speak Chinese well, she could still understand Situ Nan.

"This is Miss Song Meiling. Her father is a Chinese missionary and businessman. Song grew up in the United States and is still studying at Wellesley College. The other is my friend, Xiangu He, what do you call her? That's it. He has no relatives anymore, homeless! She may live here in the future."

Situ Nan then introduced Song Meiling and He Xiangu to Mary in English.

After listening to Situ Nan's words, Mary was relieved. To be honest, she was worried that these two women were Situ Nan's girlfriends!But now doesn't mean that she won't be in the future. In any case, she is still a shameless mistress.

The generous and generous Song Meiling soon became one with Mary. This woman was born to socialize with people, and they were both Puritans and shared the same topics.