In the late 1990s, the Jiangnan suburban industrial park was filled with dust. Chen Jianjun put down the wrench and dived into the fledgling Xinghuo Auto Parts Factory. Starting from a rusty second-hand stamping machine tool, he and factory director Zhou Weiguo struggled to survive in the red sea of low-end OEMs. They adhered to the bottom line of auto parts craftsmen and struggled to support themselves amid price reductions by OEM Party A and vicious involution among their peers.
When the Hongtu vehicle base rose from the ground and the wave of the automobile era surged forward, the auto parts industry ushered in opportunities and began a brutal reshuffle. The bifurcation of the two generations quietly appeared: Chen Jianjun hoped that his children would stay away from the noisy workshop, but his son Chen Feng insisted on entering the factory.
Old craftsmen rely on feel and experience and believe that quality is king; the younger generation is familiar with CNC programming and digital technology, and looks forward to the new track of new energy vehicles. The cold wave of the financial crisis hit, orders shrank, capital chains were tight, and countless factories closed down one after another. Xinghuo Auto Parts stands on the edge of life and death, and everyone is faced with a choice: should they follow the trend and cut corners in order to gain a breather, or should they buck the trend and invest in research and development and rush to the yet-to-be-formed blue ocean of new energy?
The machine tools roared endlessly, and iron filings flew into the sky. A history of changes in China's automobile industry spanning more than 20 years, the inheritance and collision of a father and son craftsmen, and the perseverance, struggle and breakthrough of a group of ordinary factory workers in the tide of the times. Steel forges wheels, time tempers people's hearts, and under the rolling tide of cars, every manufacturing practitioner is embarking on his own long journey.
Purpose: Record the times