Two major events in 2002 made him and Shaanxi Automobile successful. Unexpectedly, he fell into legal disputes after his retirement.

A while ago, Shaanxi Automobile Holdings and Yuchai signed a strategic cooperation agreement. One of the two parties attending the ceremony was Yuchai. Shares, on the other side, are the leaders of Shaanxi Automobile Holdings and Shaanxi Automobile Commercial Vehicles. There is a profound meaning behind this inconspicuous news.

First, Yuchai is China’s largest independent engine manufacturer; second, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck is one of the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturers in China. In terms of sales alone, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck sold 167,000 vehicles in 2018 , ranking fourth behind Jiefang, Dongfeng and SINOTRUK.

But the controlling shareholder of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck is Weichai. So, Weichai’s holding company will engage in strategic cooperation with Yuchai? At this point, many people may feel a little dizzy, and the relationship is very confusing. What is the relationship between Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, Shaanxi Automobile Holdings and Shaanxi Automobile Commercial Vehicles?

○? Picture丨The relationship between Shaanxi Automobile and Weichai

Shaanxi Automobile Holdings (Group) holds 49% of the shares of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, and the other 51% is owned by Weichai firewood. Shaanxi Automobile Commercial Vehicles was just renamed from Shaanxi Automobile Baohua in 2018. The full name of Shaanxi Automobile Baohua is: Shaanxi Automobile Baoji Huashan Engineering Vehicle Co., Ltd.

So the previous matter can be expressed this way: The leaders of Shaanxi Automobile Group and the leaders of Baoji City came forward to sign an agreement with Yuchai in order to support the completely independent Shaanxi Automobile Commercial Vehicle Company under Shaanxi Automobile Group.

Although this does not seem to have anything to do with Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, the leaders of Shaanxi Automobile Group clearly proposed to "create a new Shaanxi Automobile" and build Shaanxi Automobile commercial vehicles into the next Shaanxi Automobile Group. After that, it seemed like it wasn't that simple anymore.

Shaanxi Automobile Holdings (Group) has a huge family business, including: Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, Fast Transmission, Hande Axle, Xi'an Cummins, Shaanxi Automobile Tongjia, Shaanxi Automobile Oshu It is a special-purpose enterprise, but one Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck's assets account for more than 80% of the group's assets. However, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck is controlled by Weichai. This is like your son inheriting most of your family business but changing someone else's surname.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable for Shaanxi Automobile to be eager to get rid of Weichai's control.

In Brother Jia’s view, Shaanxi Automobile has its current position in the domestic truck market only because of Zhang Yupu’s promotion.

Who is Zhang Yupu?

○? Picture丨Zhang Yupu

An industry leader who has been involved in the automotive industry his whole life and brought JAC back to life.

In 1999, he was awarded first-class merit by the Communist Party of China and the National Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense; in 2001, he was rated as "Expert with Outstanding Contributions in Shaanxi Province" by the provincial government; in 2002, he was rated as "Shaanxi Province Expert" Provincial Model Worker"; In 2004, he was named "China's Most Watched Entrepreneur"; "Top Ten Economic Figures in Shaanxi in 2004"; "National Model Worker"; "National Outstanding Entrepreneur in the Machinery Industry"; "China's Most Reformed Entrepreneur" "Influential Emerging Figures"; "Top Ten Most Influential and Integrity Figures in Shaanxi Economy". ?Member of the 9th CPPCC of Shaanxi Province, expert with outstanding contributions in Shaanxi Province, enjoying special allowances from the State Council, representative of the 13th and 4th Xi'an People's Congress, member of the Standing Committee of the 14th Xi'an People's Congress, the most influential regional driving force of China's automobile industry figure, was elected as the fifth national outstanding entrepreneurial entrepreneur.

Smooth sailing

○? Picture丨The first "Yan'an" SX250 produced by Shaanxi Automobile

Zhang Yupu, who graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 1965, passed his own After continuous hard work, he joined the Beijing Automobile Factory in 1968. Due to his high work efficiency and excellent results, he was transferred to the Shaanxi Automobile Manufacturing Plant a year later. He is diligent and eager to learn, but he did not stop his progress after coming to Shaanxi Automobile. In 1976, he served as the Chief of the Equipment Section of Shaanxi Automobile and in 1984, he served as the Chief Economist of Shaanxi Automobile. Zhang Yupu relied on his own abilities to flourish in Shaanxi Automobile. It doesn’t make my brother sigh that this is someone else’s child.

In 1990, our country was in the process of transforming from a planned economy to a market economy. During this process, Shaanxi Automobile encountered unprecedented difficulties, became insolvent and was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was also criticized by the People's Daily and national leaders.

How to solve losses?

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Delong X3000

Zhang Yupu first adjusted the product structure. Due to historical reasons, SINOTRUK, Sichuan Automobile and Shaanxi Automobile all produced Steyr, and at the same time Produce your own old products.

Steyr has a unified purchasing and marketing system. After Shaanxi Automobile is produced, it is handed over to China Heavy Duty Truck, and the old products are sold by themselves. After Zhang Yupu became the leader, he was tasked with winning many Steyr products. As long as they could be produced and handed over to SINOTRUK, sales would be achieved.

On the other hand, Shaanxi Automobile must do it. In the past, Shaanxi Automobile could not complete the task even if it produced several hundred vehicles per year. At this time, Zhang Yupu asked the cadres to set an example: if the task could not be completed, the cadre's salary would first be deducted and the salary should be linked to performance, so as to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm.

Starting with cadres, this is the beginning of the humanized management that Zhang Yupu has formed over the years, and later gradually condensed into the corporate culture of "win the world with virtue". The word "integrity" has long been included in the corporate spirit of Shaanxi Automobile. From solving specific matters of employees to major goals, principles and policies of the company, Zhang Yupu can be said to keep his word. Shaanxi Automobile's factory-level leaders were also punished by Zhang Yupu. This kind of approach that treats the situation rather than the person is, to a certain extent, an important reason for Shaanxi Automobile's success.

After people gathered together, Shaanxi Automobile's efficiency was greatly improved, and its output reached 1,000 vehicles in 1991. Prior to this, Shaanxi Automobile had not accomplished so much in more than 20 years. In just two years, Shaanxi Automobile turned losses into profits in one fell swoop.

Insisting on employees not being laid off

○?Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Aolong has ceased production

But after 1994, it was basically at a standstill. Affected by the general environment, the entire automobile industry is in a very sluggish state, and bankruptcies and layoffs of companies all occur at this stage.

In the Shaanxi Automobile Reform in 1997, Zhang Yupu insisted that employees would not be laid off. Cheng Andong, then governor of Shaanxi Province, was very concerned about Shaanxi Automobile. Cheng Andong once said to Zhang Yupu: Lao Zhang, can you withstand this? You should lay off at least 2,000 people. If you don't lay off (employees), it will be difficult for your company to survive.

But in third-tier enterprises, what should employees do if they are laid off? This was something that worried Zhang Yupu at the time. Later, Zhang Yupu decided to let some employees retire. The so-called internal retirement means that these employees are allowed to leave their posts, but their monthly basic salary will still be paid. Zhang Yupu's wife was a professor-level senior engineer at the time, but in order to support Zhang Yupu's decision, she took the lead in retreating. All 1,500 employees between the ages of 45 and 50 have chosen to retire. Therefore, Shaanxi Automobile neither went bankrupt nor laid off its employees during the most difficult period.

Split plan

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Delong M3000

In July and August 2000, the State Economic and Trade Commission officially issued the document. The whole vehicle industry is divided into three companies. In principle, companies from which province will return to that province: the core and main departments of SINOTRUK will retain the title of SINOTRUK and be placed under the management of Shandong Province. Jinan Heavy Duty Truck was renamed China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. Chongqing Heavy Duty Truck and Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck were decentralized to Chongqing and Shaanxi respectively and established Chongqing Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. and Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck Group Co., Ltd. respectively.

Among the three heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers, Shaanxi Automobile has the weakest foundation. In 1999, Shaanxi Automobile's annual output was more than 2,000 vehicles, Sichuan Automobile's was 3,500 vehicles, and Jiqi Automobile's was 7,000 vehicles. Roughly speaking, Sichuan Automobile is twice that of Shaanxi Automobile, and Jiqi Automobile is four times that of Shaanxi Automobile, which is about the same level. Therefore, many people concluded at that time that Shaanxi Automobile would definitely not survive - it was already very difficult, and if we split up, there would be only death.

Introduction of Hunan Torch

○? Picture丨Safety test of Shaanxi Automobile Trucks

Looking at the overall situation, the automobile industry has recovered to a new level since 2000 growth period. Zhang Yupu proposed that Shaanxi Automobile should adopt a differentiation strategy: everyone produces Steyr, and Shaanxi Automobile should produce Steyr with the best quality. To this end, Shaanxi Automobile raised funds for technological transformation and spent 8 million yuan to purchase Steyr molds to organize production. The heavy trucks produced by Shaanxi Automobile are indeed the best.

Zhang Yupu was courageous enough. He went to Mr. Geng of Shenyang Machine Tool Factory and said directly to him: Mr. Geng, can you support me? I will buy your 30 million yuan of equipment first, but I don’t have it now. Money, if you can trust me, I will return it to you in the future.

This move is very risky. Unexpectedly, Mr. Geng actually agreed. Of course, there is a premise here. The machine tool factory was not having a good time at that time, so ordering so much equipment from him at once was a big deal.

But this is just a stop-gap measure and will not solve the company’s big problems after all.

Therefore, there was a joint venture with Hunan Torch. In order to save Shaanxi Automobile. Zhang Yupu knows very well that Xianghuo Torch has no technology, and what it is good at is capital operation. Shaanxi Automobile began to contact Hunan Torch in 2001, and signed a joint venture agreement in 2002, asking for 250 million from Hunan Torch.

Leading Man with the left hand, acquiring land with the right hand

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Auto Deyu

In 2002, Zhang Yupu planned two major events. The first is to introduce F2000 technology from MAN.

Because as early as 1994, Shaanxi Automobile had cooperated with MAN Company and introduced bus chassis technology, which is now Oshute Company.

With this cooperation basis, the cooperation between Shaanxi Automobile and MAN in the field of heavy trucks has become much easier.

Shaanxi Automobile also needs a food product. After all, F2000 technology is much more advanced than Steyr.

On the one hand, Shaanxi Automobile itself is small in scale, and the introduction of complete vehicles requires approval from relevant national departments. At that time, the state had very strict management of the introduction of complete vehicles, and purchasing them separately can avoid this level of operational difficulty; on the other hand, The introduction of complete vehicles involves engines, and domestic engine supporting equipment is relatively mature, including Weichai and Hangfa. More importantly, Shaanxi Automobile is different from FAW and Second Automobile Works. Shaanxi Automobile is not a tycoon. With only such a small amount of capital, it will definitely not be able to buy complete vehicle technology, and it can only be calculated carefully.

○?Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Delong F3000

Therefore, Zhang Yupu proposed at that time: only introduce technology, not the brand, so that Shaanxi Automobile can maintain an independent brand. Man also agreed. My brother thought that maybe Man thought that Shaanxi Automobile was not good at the time. If the brand was given away, it would not necessarily be a good thing for them. This is the technical source of Shaanxi Automobile's Delong series of heavy trucks.

Another major event is planning the construction of the northern suburbs base. Why build a new base? Compared with other domestic and foreign automobile companies, Shaanxi Automobile's Eastern Suburb Base and Mailixigou are not called automobile factories, but just a few scattered large workshops, and their production capacity cannot keep up at all.

2004 entered a critical period for land expropriation, which resulted in two major events: First, the State Council strictly controlled land, and began to conduct a survey of land expropriation nationwide in the fourth quarter of 2003, reaching its climax in the first half of 2004. .

Long-term stocks crashed.

The Delong crisis broke out. In order to build the northern suburbs base, it is clear how much Guoxiang Torch and Shaanxi Automobile will contribute respectively. After the Delong crisis, Hunan Torch directly suspended investment due to financial problems.

Afterwards, the Delong incident became more and more serious. Banks took action after hearing the news. Seven banks dealing with Shaanxi Automobile came to urge Zhang Yupu to repay the loan. But Zhang Yupu managed to retain the loans from these banks through his sincere words.

The then president of the Shaanxi Branch of the Bank of Communications came to Zhang Yupu and said: Lao Zhang, I know your company well. If I withdraw 100 million funds, I may destroy you. But if I don’t smoke, I may lose my hat.

Zhang Yupu said: Well, if you trust me, Zhang Yupu, don’t take any money from me, and I won’t let you fall into disgrace. Let’s go for a walk together, and you support me. If the time comes when this 100 million really affects you, I can let my employees not pay wages for 3 months, and I will return the money to you first.

The president of Everbright Bank Shaanxi Branch said: Lao Zhang, can you do this? You pay me back first, and I will lend it to you right away. In order to convince Zhang Yupu, he completed the loan procedures in advance and even showed Zhang Yupu the loan notice.

It can be said that at that time, Shaanxi Automobile established not only a working relationship with these banks, but also mutual trust. They overcame the difficulties successfully and Shaanxi Automobile did not cause any trouble to the banks from beginning to end.

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Xuandeyi 3

Once these two things were completed, Shaanxi Automobile developed rapidly: in 2005, Shaanxi Automobile’s annual output was 15,000 vehicles. , doubled for two consecutive years in 2007, reaching 30,000 and 60,000 vehicles respectively. I am talking about large numbers. In 2006, the output of Shaanxi Automobile exceeded that of Sichuan Automobile. In 2007, it was twice that of Sichuan Automobile.

Curtain call

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Delong X5000

On May 27, 2008, the Shaanxi Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission decided that Zhang Yupu would no longer serve as Shaanxi Automobile Chairman and director positions.

Since Zhang Yupu became the factory director, a series of drastic reforms have taken place. In just 18 years, Shaanxi Automobile, a third-tier automobile enterprise that was in serious crisis with less than 100 million yuan of national investment at the time, has developed into a top 500 Chinese enterprise with an output value of over 10 billion yuan. group. The solid foundation Zhang Yupu laid for Shaanxi Automobile did not deviate with Zhang Yupu's retirement, which was also reflected in the subsequent development of Shaanxi Automobile.

After the perfect curtain call, Zhang Yupu, who was once praised by major media, failed to maintain his image as an outstanding entrepreneur.

○? Picture丨Shaanxi Automobile Delong X6000

My brother learned that in 2013, Zhang Yupu was involved in an ordinary litigation dispute. Following various investigations, reporters revealed that in 2006, when Zhang Yupu was still in office, Zhang Yupu's son and daughter-in-law established Beijing Huaode, a company that sells Shaanxi heavy-duty vehicles and accessories. As the first-level dealer of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, Beijing Huaode also established a joint venture with a subsidiary of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck. As the leader of a state-owned enterprise, Zhang Yupu almost lost his life in this matter. Card friends who want to know more about the detailed events can search for it by themselves. I won’t go into too much detail here.

Putting aside this matter, under the leadership of Zhang Yupu, Shaanxi Automobile went from being on the verge of bankruptcy to becoming a Fortune 500 company. There is no doubt about Zhang Yupu's ability. He still insists on building a new base despite overcapacity. My brother has to admire his courage.

Zhang Yupu’s previous operations provided Fang Hongwei with sufficient ammunition, and Fang Hongwei lived up to expectations and continued Shaanxi Automobile’s upward path, taking this old heavy truck company onto a new path of service-oriented manufacturing.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.