Red flag fluttering
"The eldest son of the Republic" FAW Entrepreneurship Tales
Changchun, Jilin Province, is a world-renowned "automobile city". The headquarters of China First Automobile Group Co., Ltd., known as the "eldest son of the Republic", is located here. National brands such as Hongqi and Jiefang and joint venture brands such as Audi and Volkswagen have set up factories here. Every day, a steady stream of cars from Changchun to the world.
Located on Dongfeng Street, Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone, "Gate 1 of the First Automobile Factory" is where FAW laid the foundation stone 70 years ago. On July 15, 1953, the groundbreaking ceremony of the exciting First Automobile Factory was held here, opening the first step in the development of the automobile industry in New China.
70 years of ups and downs, 70 years of hard work, 70 years of self-reliance and self-improvement. FAW’s 70-year history of serving the country and strengthening the automobile industry is also a historical epitome of the new China’s automobile industry from scratch and from weak to strong. It inspires people to anchor the goal of "independently controlling key core technologies, establishing a national automobile brand, and building a world-class enterprise" and walk out of the road of a new era of automobile power.
Concentrate on building FAW, and talents will go north to gather in Changchun
In the early days of the founding of New China, economic construction and national defense construction required a large number of automobiles. This made it a question of the times "when the Chinese people can drive their own cars". The Party Central Committee has a long-term vision and judged the situation, and put the construction of a modern automobile factory on the high agenda.
In 1950, during Chairperson Mao Zedong’s visit to the Soviet Union, the two sides agreed that the Soviet Union would assist China in building the first heavy truck plant. In April of the same year, the Ministry of Heavy Industry established an automobile industry preparatory group and began intensive preparations. On the basis of extensive investigation and repeated comparisons, the Central Financial and Economic Commission approved the construction of the first automobile manufacturing plant in Changchun City, Jilin Province.
In 1953, Chairperson Mao issued the "Instructions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Striving to Build Changchun Automobile Factory in Three Years", instructing all relevant departments to give maximum support to the construction of Changchun Automobile Factory and strive to complete it in three years. The construction of the automobile factory was also included in the first five-year plan as the first batch of key projects in our country. The young republic has cultivated FAW, the "eldest son of the republic", by giving full play to the advantage of concentrating its efforts to do great things.
Under the call and direct command of the Party Central Committee, the Organization Department of the Central Committee dispatched more than 150 bureau-level cadres to FAW, and the Northeast Bureau also dispatched 529 government cadres to work at FAW. A large number of high-tech workers from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and other places went to Changchun. Only private enterprises and public-private joint ventures in Shanghai supported FAW with nearly 1,000 technical workers. In addition, graduates and returned students from Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and other universities also went north to report to FAW.
Even elementary school students have joined the ranks of supporting FAW. Jiangning Primary School in Jiangsu Province wrote: We used our spare time to collect scrap copper, scrap iron, rags, rotten cotton, glass and waste paper outside, and sold these things to the cooperative. We got more than 50,300 yuan (old money), which was transferred to you by the China Youth Daily. We think that although the money is small, it can be regarded as adding a brick and tile to the construction of the socialist building.
At the busiest time of FAW construction, two or three hundred wagons full of various materials and equipment were sent to the construction site every day. Changchun City took the initiative to serve the front and invested a lot of manpower and material resources to support the construction of FAW. The First Party Congress of Changchun City determined the support policy of "taking the initiative, handling it first, only allowing it to be done well, not allowed to be damaged". 95% of municipal construction costs in 1954 and 84% in 1955 were used for FAW, and more than 30,000 people, such as government cadres, participated in the construction of FAW. Volunteer labor.
The automobile industry is very professional, and it is not enough to rely on brute force alone. In the fiery construction site, "no shame to ask, no school" has become the norm. Since 1954, FAW has launched a "white hat" learning movement, and has specially set up an amateur training class for leading cadres, equipped with many teachers, including Soviet experts, and more than 100 leading cadres above the department level have participated in the study.
Through the study, the students not only initially mastered the basic knowledge of automobile manufacturing, but also learned to operate machine tools, do fitter work, and many female students learned to drive cars. This batch of cadres at the division level and above, transferred from various fronts of the party, government and army, gradually removed the "white hat", thereby improving the overall quality of FAW managers.
Find the factory manager in front of the factory manager, selfless dedication and dare to take responsibility
In April 1952, Guo Li, who was then the director of the preparatory group for the automobile industry of the Central Ministry of Heavy Industry, was appointed as the director of the Changchun Automobile Factory (later officially named the First Automobile Factory).
FAW started from the wilderness, and everything was new. In the early days of his business, there was "no manpower, no position, and no experience" here. Guo Li was eager for talents, and he "recruited a lot of people" and made hard efforts.
While everyone was preparing to build an automobile factory under the leadership of Guo Li, he had the idea of "letting Xian".
Why is this? Guo Li once told his old comrades that he wanted to hire a person familiar with the situation in the Northeast as the factory director and himself as a deputy. "The central government has decided that the automobile factory will be completed and put into production in three years. If a comrade who is familiar with the situation in the Northeast, with older qualifications, stronger abilities and higher positions, can be the factory director, it will be more conducive to mobilizing forces from all over the world to support the FAW construction."
In order to "let go" the factory manager, Guo Li went to Beijing and Shenyang many times to ask the Party Central Committee and the Northeast Bureau to transfer the factory director. In early 1953, Guo Li finally hoped to replace him with Rao Bin, and he was "demoted" to the first deputy factory manager and chief engineer.
Unity is strength. Rao Bin focused on basic construction, while Guo Li focused on production preparation. Rao Bin made a bold and resolute move, Guo Li was down-to-earth, serious and meticulous, and the two cooperated tacitly to successfully complete the task of building and putting into production in three years. The story of "looking for the factory manager in front of the factory manager" has also become a widely circulated story in the history of entrepreneurship in the automobile industry in New China.
Trains run fast, all rely on the headband. The role of role models is endless. The story of Rao Bin and Guo Li working together in unity has inspired a large number of cadres from all over the world. It is the team that is united, the leaders are selfless and dedicated, and with the efforts of party members, cadres and all workers, and the support of all parts of the country, entrepreneurs are fighting for the world. In just three years, a large modern automobile factory has risen from the ground.
Building a factory in the wasteland is always more difficult
In the winter of 1953, it was FAW’s first winter construction period. Living in a ventilated construction shed, FAW builders worked in snowy weather above their heads, stepping on permafrost, climbing more than 30 meters to tie steel bars and pour concrete. Some hands were frozen and cracked, wrapped with tape to continue drying.
At that time, many designers lived in simple houses with no floors, the ground was damp, and the boxes would get moldy on the ground. It was fine in summer, but we had to make a fire in winter. "Although life was hard, we all focused on work," recalls Liu Jingchuan, the former chief designer of the First Automobile Factory.
Beginning in the second half of 1954, tall factories were erected one after another, and civil construction work was gradually transferred from outdoors to indoors. In order to carry out larger-scale winter construction in a closed factory building of more than 200,000 square meters, Soviet expert Kirev proposed using locomotives for heating.
Is it safe to use locomotives for heating? Can it work? After repeated studies, the builders found it feasible. Therefore, the Ministry of Railways specially transferred 8 steam locomotives from all over the country for FAW construction.
In order to cooperate with the "heating" of the locomotive, the pipeline system was redesigned at the construction site, and the steam locomotive was modified, and the hot steam was continuously transported to the construction site. Fu Yuwu, the honorary chairperson of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, said that the locomotive was turned into a large heater, and the workers sprayed steam on the ground while covering it with a straw curtain. The factory manager and his employees worked around the clock to build a FAW on the black land.
Ride the east wind to show the red flag, passion burns the heart to the party
On July 14, 1956, the first batch of 12 Jiefang brand cars rolled off the assembly line to thunderous applause. FAW Central Avenue became a sea of joy, and many people touched the domestic cars engraved with Chinese characters, with great pride and joy.
"I remember Ma Guofan, a 52-year-old driver at the time, marching with a convoy of 12 cars to celebrate. As soon as the car left the factory, it was surrounded by people on the inner and outer floors. Everyone was fighting and shouting for a ride. The carriage was full of people, and there were people standing on the pedals. There were people sitting on the front bumper and the fender of the car. They all straightened their chests and wanted to be more exuberant. Colorful paper flowers flew all over the sky, and many people didn’t have paper flowers in their hands, so they threw sorghum, rice and grain onto the car." Xinhua News Agency reporters who reported that the Jiefang brand car was off the assembly line described the scene at that time. Still very excited.
After the Jiefang brand car came out, it quickly became the main force of urban and rural transportation and highway transportation in China, which left a deep memory for several generations. Subsequently, FAW developed the first Dongfeng brand car and the first Hongqi brand high-end car in New China in 1958.
Looking back at the summer of 65 years ago, inspired by the slogan of "Ride the East Wind, Show the Red Flag, Build a High-end Car to See Chairperson Mao", the FAW factory broke the routine and adopted the method of "catching the temple fair" to recruit talents in the factory area. The red flag car placed in the courtyard was designed and manufactured for more than 2,000 parts of Chrysler, which was a prototype car, and was robbed by everyone in less than a few hours.
After 33 days of hard work, the Hongqi brand high-end car was successfully launched, and Chinese cultural elements such as "sky round place", "Chinese fan grille", "palace tail light" were integrated into it, and it was equipped with FAW’s self-designed V8 engine, with a maximum power of 200 horsepower and a top speed of 185 kilometers per hour. So far, the Hongqi car has driven to the land of China and has become China’s own high-end national car brand.
At the beginning of 1959, the Hongqi sedan entered a tense mass production preparation stage, and the product quality became a prominent contradiction. At the fifth-level cadre meeting attended by 2,000 people in the whole factory, everyone’s speeches merged into a determination: a batch of qualified Hongqi cars must be produced to participate in the tenth anniversary of the National Day. In response to the production difficulties and quality problems that have been discovered, 323 key attack commandos were organized, including 32 key commandos of the whole factory.
At that time, many of the problems FAW encountered were technical problems that no one had ever encountered in China, such as the hydraulic tappet of the engine. The products that were initially trial-produced had a lifespan of only two minutes in the high-speed operation of the engine. To break through the problems, the hydraulic tappet commando led by Li Gang gathered more than 150 professionals in design, technology, processing and trial production.
While studying relevant literature and analyzing foreign samples, they proposed a plan for testing. The commandos tried dozens of different materials, and finally selected alloy cast iron. After 42 tests on the quenching process, they finally determined the quenching time and temperature.
Under the mobilization of the whole factory, many key research projects have played an important role in improving the quality of Hongqi cars. In September 1959, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the National Day, the first batch of 30 Hongqi brand high-end cars and 2 inspection vehicles produced after quality research were sent to Beijing.
End the 30-year system, and take the lead in joint ventures and cooperation
The change of Jiefang’s seventh-generation vehicles and the leap of more than 8 million vehicles have witnessed the history of China’s automobile industry from scratch and from weak to strong. On June 26, 2023, the Jiefang Seventh Generation Truck Parade was held. From Jiefang’s first-generation product CA10 to its second-generation product CA141, and then to the latest seventh-generation product Jiefang J7, Jiefang welcomed the 70th anniversary of FAW’s establishment with a "family-style" parade.
In the FAW Liberation Factory area, there is a verdant pine forest. In the center of the pine forest stands a 5-meter-high and 2.5-meter-wide marble monument. Above the monument is a one-ton medal, which records the exciting history of FAW’s transformation.
From the first Jiefang brand car to the early 1980s, Jiefang brand cars have not been reinvented, sales continue to decline, and FAW faces the test of life and death.
Since the end of 1980, with the help of the east wind of reform and opening up, FAW has relied closely on all cadres and employees to raise funds for transformation to end the 30-year system of Jiefang Trucks. On January 1, 1987, Jiefang’s second-generation CA141 car was officially put into production, and China National Automobile Industry Corporation awarded FAW a one-ton medal. FAW "does not stop production, does not reduce production, and vertically transforms", creating a miracle in the history of China’s automobile development.
Afterwards, FAW took the initiative to keep up with the times, joining hands with world auto giants such as Volkswagen, Toyota, and Audi. Domestic Audi, Jetta, Bora and other models became household names in China, making important contributions to the country’s resistance to imported cars and consumption of large amounts of foreign exchange. At the same time, cooperation with multinational companies has brought a lot of technology and advanced management experience.
Lin Ganwei, former general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Co., Ltd., recalls that in 1987, Volkswagen came to FAW to seek cooperation opportunities. At that time, FAW had already purchased the Chrysler 488 engine production line, and Dr. Hahn, the former chairperson of Volkswagen Group, promised to install Chrysler engines into the Audi 100 model, and it was a success.
With the efforts of all parties, on May 17, 1988, FAW and Audi signed a "technology transfer license contract for the production of Audi in FAW", which kicked off Audi’s entry into the Chinese market. The next 30 years were the period of China’s reform and opening up, and Audi also benefited a lot. By now, China has become Audi’s largest single market in the world. Audi has many domestic models in China, and sales have continued to lead the Chinese luxury car market for more than 30 years.
Sino-German cooperation goes beyond commercial cooperation and also opens a window for Germans to understand China more comprehensively. When FAW-Volkswagen established a party organization in 1993, the Germans did not understand this. Later they found that the best workers in the workshop were always Communist Party members. When the company organizes volunteer raids for party members in the future, German personnel will also automatically join.
At a "Tell the Story of the Communists Around You," a German expert, Manfred Brock, described his love for the Chinese Communist Party, which he called "the most advanced and representative party in the world," and whose members he could tell at a glance. He wrote three letters to the FAW Party Organization expressing his admiration for the Chinese Communist Party.
Li Zhihong, director of the general manager’s office of FAW-Volkswagen, said that for some time, some people have questioned the "market for technology", but the joint venture represented by FAW-Volkswagen has cultivated a large number of leading talents in the automobile industry for the country and laid a solid foundation for the realization of the automobile power. This is the biggest achievement of the joint venture cooperation.
"Red Flag" takes responsibility on its shoulders and strives for reform
Faced with the great changes in the global automobile industry, FAW holds high the "red flag", rides the wind and waves, and is at the forefront of exploring high-quality development and creating a world-class enterprise.
Since the establishment of the Hongqi brand in 1958, the road to marketization has not been smooth sailing, and it has even faced market criticism. Since 2017, FAW has reorganized its organization with a market orientation, forming a more professional, fine and flat structure and operation model. The group headquarters is directly responsible for the operation of the Hongqi brand. At the same time, FAW has launched the new Hongqi brand strategy, created four major product series L, S, H and Q, and built a large number of Hongqi experience centers across the country to expand the influence of the Hongqi brand.
September 18, 2017, is the day that all FAW people remember. On that day, FAW launched the "four abilities" reform, that is, "cadres can go up and down, employees can come in and out, salaries can be high and low, and institutions can increase and reduce energy". The whole group competed for recruitment, and senior managers competed for positions.
"At that time, FAW and Dongfeng had a cadre training course at Tsinghua University. As soon as we reported for duty, we were notified that the FAW Group had all stood up. The’iron rice bowl ‘was gone all of a sudden, and only Dongfeng’s people were left in the training class the next day. All FAW’s people returned to Changchun to participate in the reform," said Liu Jun, director of the FAW Reform Office.
He believes that the reform has touched everyone a lot, and their enthusiasm for entrepreneurship has been thoroughly stimulated.
In September 2020, FAW implemented a more systematic reform of the new three-year term of office for senior managers, setting goals first and then taking up positions, and encouraging challenges to high goals. The matching of senior managers was completed within a week, and the average age of cadres was reduced by 1.4 years. According to the plan, these reform measures will continue during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period to continuously stimulate employees’ enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.
Hu Hanjie has served as assistant general manager of FAW joint stock company and chairperson of FAW Jiefang Company for 5 years. In these 5 years, "Jiefang" sold 440,000 vehicles in 2021, creating the global "five consecutive" performance of "Jiefang" medium and heavy truck sales. In the new three-year term reform in 2020, according to "performance review + target undertaking + ability evaluation", the excellent will be hired first, and the latter will compete for jobs. Hu Hanjie was directly hired because of his excellent performance. There are more than a dozen leading cadres like him who have been hired without competition.
The FAW reform has changed many people’s old-fashioned thinking and concepts, built a customer-centric management structure, and established a market-oriented incentive mechanism that does not raise lazy, idle, and mediocre people. This has effectively inspired cadres and employees to charge forward, face difficulties, and pioneer and innovate. It has ignited the hope and dream of all FAW people to revive the Hongqi brand.
In recent years, under the impetus of the national tide, with the advantages of atmospheric styling, forward-looking technology and high-quality after-sales services, many new cars of the Hongqi brand have experienced an unsold phenomenon. Today’s Hongqi brand has more and more family products, higher and higher value, and more down-to-earth market expansion.
Zhang Ming, president of FAW Hongqi Design Institute, said that the Hongqi brand car follows the national trend and is closely integrated with traditional cultural symbols such as the Forbidden City and modern scientific and technological symbols such as China Aerospace, incorporating Chinese elements into the car, making the car not only a means of transportation, but also a work of art.
"Red Flag" makes dreams come true, engine manufacturing takes the lead
At the age of 34, he is a numerical control technician and a great craftsman in China’s automobile manufacturing field. Over the years, the situation of carrying the heavy responsibility of "red flag" development in FAW has also provided a stage for him to display his talents.
He is Yang Yongxiu, a senior technician in the numerical control team of the Research and Development Institute of China First Automobile Group Co., Ltd.
16 years ago, Yang Yongxiu chose Changchun Automotive Industry College to become a numerical control student.
After going to school, he gradually fell in love with the numerical control major and maintained the first place in the class during school. After graduation, he became a worker in the former FAW Technology Center as he wished.
The sea is wide and the fish leaps, and the sky is high and the birds fly. Yang Yongxiu secretly made up his mind that he could not be satisfied with the status quo and would contribute to the golden signboard of FAW.
After being an ordinary processing worker for half a year, he transferred to the numerical control position he loved. FAW has a large number of excellent technical workers and many of them are craftsmen in big countries.
For more than 5 years, he slept and ate to ask his seniors for difficult problems, and many people knew everything about him. He also bought a lot of courseware and taught himself the latest theories. Soon, Yang Yongxiu stood out and became a technical expert.
With this strength, Yang Yongxiu can not only skillfully operate imported numerical control systems such as Heidelhan, but also possess a variety of software programming, multiple CNC equipment operation and complex tool design and restructuring skills, which allows him to show his talents in high-end engine manufacturing, precision parts development and other fields.
At the beginning of 2018, after the release of the new Hongqi brand strategy, Yang Yongxiu mainly undertook the numerical control processing of the core precision parts such as the high-end engine, gearbox and chassis independently developed by the Hongqi brand, solved a large number of neck jams, and completed more than 30 major trial production tasks.
He also relied on the mentoring workshop and the model worker innovation studio to carry out a number of trial production technology research such as rapid trial production and integrated manufacturing, and cultivated a group of high-skilled talents. Most of his team members have mastered numerical control technology and realized the transformation of digital intelligence.
In recent years, FAW’s accelerated reforms have given Mr. Yang more room to display his talents. "There are still many young people like me at FAW. As big as everyone dreams, as strong as technology and as capable as they are, the stage will be as big as it is," he said.
At the same time, the state and local governments have continuously increased their support for talents, especially automobile manufacturing talents, so that Yang Yongxiu can enjoy the benefits brought by many policies such as children’s schooling, and solve his worries.
Yang Yongxiu is particularly happy to see more and more Hongqi cars on the street equipped with key components such as self-developed engines. He said: "It is the mission of FAW people to promote the national car brand. I am willing to take root in the northeast, take root in FAW, and work with my colleagues to solve more technical problems of neck sticking."
Central-local cooperation sets a benchmark and strives for the first place in the new and brave
On January 8 this year, China FAW Hongqi brand new energy vehicle global strategy conference was held in Guangzhou. That night, China FAW announced the new logo, design language, technology platform, etc. of the Hongqi new energy brand, and released three upcoming new energy vehicle models.
On the eve of the Shanghai International Auto Show, FAW released the Hongqi "flag" high-end electric intelligent super architecture FMEs, and successively launched three major platforms: electric, intelligent and hybrid.
The country needs it, and FAW wants it. In the era of "structured car building" and "software-defined car", FAW has released "three major platforms with one architecture" in half a year, and it is rare in the industry to fully promote "All in" new energy. Behind this, there is not only the firm determination of the enterprise to transform, but also the central and local cooperation to "new".
Since the birth of the first car, the development of FAW in China has been closely related to the development of Changchun City and even Jilin Province. In order to support the development of FAW, the local government has not only increased the infrastructure transformation in the area where FAW is located in recent years, creating a good production and living environment, but also actively promoted the reform and development of FAW, and promoted the faster landing of new products.
At present, Jilin Province has started to support FAW to focus on key core technologies, strengthen cooperation with universities and key enterprises, and strive to activate the innovation chain, reshape the industrial chain, cultivate the brand chain, and actively seize the commanding heights of industrial development. The main leaders of Jilin Province have come to FAW on-site dozens of times to solve the problems of enterprises.
Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone is the headquarters of FAW Group and the only national-level development zone named after the automobile industry in the country. It is actively creating a high-quality business environment, and often "door-to-door service" solves various problems for enterprises and relieves their worries.
"What the enterprise needs, we will do, ensure that we are on call, and find ways to satisfy the enterprise" – this has become a guide for many cadres.
Tower cranes stand in the Changchun Automobile Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the construction scenes of automobile industry projects can be seen everywhere. On June 30, Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle Supporting Industrial Park and Audi PPE Supporting Project started construction in Changchun City, Jilin Province, with a total investment of over 44.40 billion yuan. After the project is completed and put into operation, it will effectively promote the automobile industry cluster in Jilin Province to "climb the ladder" and provide solid support for accelerating the revitalization of old industrial bases and the development of new energy automobile industry.
In recent years, Jilin Province has accelerated the pace of transformation and upgrading of the automobile industry. The Audi FAW new energy vehicle project with an investment of 35 billion yuan and the FAW Freddy project with an investment of 13.50 billion yuan are being accelerated. According to the latest plan of the Jilin Provincial Government, the scale of the automobile industry in the province will reach one trillion yuan by 2025. The accelerated development of Jilin’s automobile industry continues to attract multinational companies such as Volkswagen Group, Audi, and Continental Automobile to invest and start business.
Wang Chuanfu, chairperson and president of BYD’s joint stock company, said that BYD will strengthen cooperation with FAW to accelerate the local transformation of green technologies and contribute to making national automobile brands bigger and stronger.
FAW is also working hard to accelerate its overseas market layout and gather global resources to serve the development of enterprises. Recently, FAW and Israeli partners held the launch ceremony of the Red Flag flagship model E-HS9 in Tel Aviv, Israel, marking the official launch of the Red Flag brand car in the Israeli market. At present, FAW’s overseas business has covered more than 50 countries and regions along the "Belt and Road Initiative", and has also set up research and development centers in Munich, Germany and other places.
In September 2021, Hongqi’s strategic pure electric smart SUV, the E-HS9, was officially exported to Norway, becoming an important milestone for China’s high-end national automobile brands to export to the European market in batches. After launching the end point delivery in 2022, Hongqi E-HS9, with its excellent product performance and appearance design, not only brought the ultimate driving experience to local users, but also gained a large number of fans. It achieved a delivery of over 1,000 units in 6 months, and achieved the top three results in Norway’s large and medium-sized luxury SUV segment.
The relevant person in charge of FAW said that FAW will deeply implement the "Belt and Road Initiative" initiative and "going out" strategy, grasp the basic rules of building a world-class enterprise, make good use of two domestic and international markets and two resources, and accelerate the expansion of overseas high-end automobile markets. Continuously improve the layout of the global automobile industry chain, strive to build an integrated overseas business operation system, continuously provide global consumers with the ultimate products and services, and strive to polish the Chinese business card of the world automobile stage. (Reporter, Zhang Jian)
