Why did he turn to 3D printed cars? And how is he helping XEV realize its dream?
Author? |? Jiang? ||Jiang Peng
Edited by? |?Jane
Produced by? |? Help Ning Studio (gbngzs)
More than 1,000 square meters of office space has just been renovated a quarter of the white walls without too much decoration, staggered a few meeting rooms outside the open office area.
Clean lines and bright style have always been Ludi's favorite style. Standing in a crowd, you can easily recognize him - dressed in European style, a white shirt with a navy blue jacket and suit, no bow tie and an "X" brooch on his chest. He still wears his hair neatly slicked back and has an infectious smile.
On Nov. 11, 2019, the sun shone brightly in Shanghai, where the Shanghai R&D center of XEV, a European-led 3D-printed automotive company with a global footprint, was announced in Building 58 of Zone E of Baoshan District's Wisdom Bay Science and Technology Park.
As the founder and CEO of XEV, Ludi shuttled among the guests, chatting with them, shaking their hands and taking pictures. Among the guests were leaders of Shanghai Baoshan District Government, as well as the Science and Technology Counselor of the Italian Embassy and Consulate General in Shanghai, the President of the Shanghai Branch of Banca Uni?o de S?o Paulo S.p.A., and many of his old friends in the automotive design industry.
This is XEV's third largest R&D center in the world after Turin, Italy and Hong Kong, China, and will be responsible for the forward-looking development of 3D-printed cars.
From an automotive designer to an automotive design company manager to an entrepreneur, Ludi has taken a big career turn.
In mid-2018, he left a Chinese-branded Italian design company for which he had worked for 12 years to move into the booming 3D-printed cars. In his view, the industry has no real leader yet, and XEV is the closest candidate for that position - XEV wants to be No. 1 globally in five years.
His dream seems distant and grandiose, but not out of reach. "Firstly, to become the head company in the automotive-grade additive manufacturing industry, and secondly, to become the champion of miniature new energy urban mobility in the whole vehicle class." ?The night before the 3D printing car company XEV Shanghai R & D center landed, in a temporary conference room in Shanghai, Ludi told the help Ning studio who went to interview, "5 years later, (XEV) to do 100 billion yuan level, become a leader in the field of 3D printing cars."
Why did he turn to 3D printing cars? And how did he help XEV realize its dream?
01.
Remember Ludi?
XEV has made a name for itself in Europe.
In 2019, during an exchange of high-level visits between Italy and China, XEV's Turin headquarters was recommended for the list of visits by vice-state leaders, and Ludi was the narrator.
Remember Ludi?
He had a flair for design, his graduation model is in the collection of the Coventry Museum in the UK, and after graduation he worked for ARUP in the U.K. At the age of 26 he was asked by a Chinese brand to set up an Italian design center for them. Since then, he has been at the helm of a design company of over 270 people, 90% of whom come from over 20 countries, and his work has won many awards.
"He designed the best-selling car ever." To this day, his story is still being told within the Chinese brand. Over the past two years, he has virtually disappeared from the public eye -- his name most recently appearing on the guest list for an automotive design award.
"I'm a tosser." Ludi admits that he has "tossed" himself into an unfamiliar field - 3D car printing - in an attempt to lead people into uncharted territory.
3D printing in the automotive field can be roughly traced back to around 2005, because it can significantly reduce the time and cost, while realizing the fine production, it is the earliest as a means of research and development to create rapid prototyping parts, Mercedes-Benz, BMW Group have been used to print parts of this technology.
According to Ludi's calculations, 3D printing into the automotive field, many samples need six months to mold, the cost of several million dollars, but through 3D printing can be reduced to three to four weeks, the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the advantages are obvious.
Also for this reason, there was a period of time 3D printing cars had been hype, seen as one of the advanced technologies to disrupt the automotive industry. In particular, in 2014, the U.S. Rock Automotive (Local? Motors) used 3D printing technology to acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene plastic (ABS) and carbon fiber mixture as the material to build the world's first 3D printed vehicle - Strati, attracted the world's attention.
But the problem is that the car does not have the mass production capacity, which also reflects the reality of the plight of the 3D printing car - one, the high cost of 3D printing equipment, you must rely on the scale to reduce the cost of equipment purchases; and second, the size of the small parts are more suitable for 3D printing, the use of the scenario of the limitations of the larger.
More difficult is to change the concept, accustomed to the traditional production mode of automobile OEMs is difficult to accept 3D printing in a short period of time. So despite the 3D printing car hot, but did not really subvert the automotive industry.
A report titled "Global 3D Printing Automotive Market Analysis and Development Trends - Industry Forecast to 2025" predicts that the application of 3D printing equipment will grow by 10% as of 2025, and most of them will be used in the manufacture of car and truck parts.
3D printing design is more suitable for parts manufacturing?Ludy, who started 3D printing in 2005, did not agree, and decided to find another way.
In his view, any advanced technology has peaks and valleys, and then up again after that is the maturity period. "3D printing is right in the middle of the second pull-up cycle."
There are two reasons for this. The first is that 3D printing technology is maturing, and the automotive and other plastic parts production industries are beginning to move from R&D to small-volume production, and from small-volume production to high-volume production, to advance 3D printing into the automotive sector.
To provide evidence of this, the BMW Group has established the world's largest additive manufacturing center, with more than 2 million mass-produced parts made by 3D printing each year. Volkswagen in Germany has more than 1,000 car parts made by 3D printing.
Second, consumer demand is complex and changing, and the original production methods are facing great challenges.
Ludi found that the era of technological explosion, it is difficult to anticipate the user's way of use, lifestyle, they are colorful product demands, the need for customization. "The original production method is not suitable for the future market and product demands, and the new production method needs to be based on the digital economy, from the user to the production to realize the industry 4.0 level of product demands, facing a change in the core logic of production."
3D printing is exactly this key. Different from the traditional model, with the help of data-driven 3D printing can be de-molded production, to achieve production platform, that is, to maintain the standard equipment, standard software, standard control, standard processes remain unchanged, through the input of data followed by the platform to produce parts, will be the complex production links to simplify, is a digitally-driven production methods.
"Only do the data, the middle of the heaviest and longest cycle cut, 3D printing production link is only 1/10 of the traditional production link," said Ludi.
Because of the de-tooling production, 3D printing cars can reduce the proportion of the largest tooling costs. "For example, the original because of the heavy initial investment, do 50,000 ~ 100,000 cars before profit, and 3D printing to remove the middle link, do 5,000 cars may reach profitability."
Doesn't that sound ideal? Ludi kills the 3D printed car field with the XEV.
02.
Nice start
Ludy was 40 when he founded XEV, and he felt the timing was a little late, but right. "There are no young entrepreneurs in the production industry, and there can't be." He laughed to help Ning studio, unlike the Internet, this kind of high-tech type of entrepreneurship needs to be accumulated, 35 to 45 years old is a very good stage, the accumulation of experience, the accumulation of contacts, the accumulation of resources are all there.
This may have something to do with the fact that XEV had a good start.
In July 2019, XEV received a visit from an important customer, the BMW Group, who had already visited Hewlett-Packard.
"The head of the BMW Group Additive Center visited XEV twice. the first time, after seeing it, booked a batch of inspection parts; the second time, gave us a batch of test parts project." Ludi revealed that after that talk about cooperation, the scale of ten million euros level.
This is not the first batch of customers.In March 2019, XEV signed a 4 million euro project with a South Korean automobile company, and it is worth mentioning that the customers all came to us.
This not only demonstrates the 3D printed car space, but also brings Ludi confidence and direction. "Both businesses have nothing to do with building cars." Ludi said, can attract customers because the core business to do car-grade, large size, industrial-grade 3D printing total solution, "which is almost the first in the industry."
Car building is another core business, and XEV's first order was for 5,000 units from the Italian postal service - clearly a big number in Europe, where the EV market isn't huge.
Interestingly, the partnership stemmed from a complaint by the local government's transport minister - Turin is a small city with, first, no small electrified cars, and, second, no models suitable for the old, narrow streets of the area.
"Can you build electric cars better suited to small streets?" The other side of the negotiation asked. "Can." Ludi and the team replied immediately. After that, a postman from the Italian postal service spent three days with the XEV team with a box and backpack, making claims on the spot. In the end, XEV manufactured a physical model to the satisfaction of the other party, and successfully won the first order.
XEV's second order came from the ARVAL rental company. This is the largest car rental company in Europe, and they needed something different from XEV.
Ludi's team used ARVAL's logo as the design theme, and through 3D printing technology, customized the design to give the driver a "God experience". In the end, the leasing company gave up other famous brands and chose XEV.
"We only make pure electric vehicles with a range of 150 kilometers to 200 kilometers, which is not costly and suitable for urban travel." Ludi showed a picture of a small, delicate electric car with the "XEV" logo, similar to the SAIC-GM-Wuling Baojun E200.
Despite this, in the past year since he started his business, Ludi has always been able to feel the pressure of the pressure, and needs to adapt to the new rhythm.
"Entrepreneurship is not a job, but a state of life, day and night." On the one hand, Ludi admits, his time has long been split into hourly increments. On the other hand, he has to learn unfamiliar finances, take on more responsibility for deciding on the company's survival and development, and sometimes is forced to choose non-optimal options out of desperation.
Not without resistance. When the idea of starting a business first came up, there were few supporters among friends and family. This is one of the father's most serious objections, "It is not easy to get to today, but want to come out to start a business, is not the brain into the water?" Father questioned. Friends also expressed incomprehension, asked him if he was fed up? So good conditions why just give up?
During the entrepreneurial period, the death of his father made Ludi more emotional about life.In April 2019, Ludi, who was on a business trip in China, received the news of his father's death two hours before boarding the plane. "My father is gone, but I couldn't give him a last ride." This became Ludi's permanent regret.
Why start a business? Ludi asked himself. First, he loves change, he loves to toss and turn, he loves new technology that brings technology and efficiency improvement, which makes him excited in the face of the new world; second, he sees the consumer pain points, and he bumps into a partner who may be able to solve these pain points, which is one of the core driving forces of his entrepreneurial endeavors.
If there's a third reason, it's the seemingly distant ideal of a strong automotive nation.
Outside all the time, Ludi has been thinking about why China's auto industry is lagging behind. "I hope Chinese brands can have a place in the world. Chinese people are not stupid and are very diligent, but have been competing in the rules of the game created by others decades before you, so it has been difficult to beat the competition at the level of technology, resources and production." He said that changing the track to compete with new rules is a means to win the most, the rest is whether you are willing to give up your current life all?in to do this.
03.
Global No. 1 in 5 years
Ludi wants to make XEV the industry leader.
Automotive-grade, large-size, industrial-grade 3D printing total solution and vehicle business are the two core businesses of XEV, but it is also a threshold that is difficult to be touched by many peers.
The uniqueness is a part of XEV to be proud of. This may have something to do with the background of XEV.In November 2018, XEV was led by Europe, and the investors included production, technology and capital parties.
The core R&D team that really makes Ludi proud of the overall closed loop. It consists of three parts: the first team understands the car and clearly grasps the whole process of automobile from R&D to manufacturing to sales.
The second team is the 3D printing technology team, which has partnered with Bigrep, a world-renowned 3D printing company in Germany, to provide XEV with a large-format industrial-grade printer.
The third team is the automation team, which designs automated processes and handles the automation of printers, post-processing, intermediate software, and control.
"There's almost nothing (similar team combinations) in the world, and we're the first. The logic is simple: specialized 3D printing equipment companies don't understand the automotive industry, and the automotive industry is used to mature technologies and doesn't want to try new ones, so it's very difficult for both industries to create a comprehensive solution like ours." Ludi analyzed.
But uniqueness, likewise, means the need to go into the unknown to pioneer and break into the unknown alone, and its difficulty is self-evident.
In the context of the mass consumer concept has not yet accepted 3D printing, the latter both the technical maturity of the difficulties, but also the difficulties of the development period, how to reduce the cost of 3D printing through the quantitative level, so as to touch the industry to explode growth?
"Mold and tooling industry global annual investment of 2 trillion yuan, our goal is to become a leader in the global 3D manufacturing automotive level, 5 years after the conservative goal of accounting for 5%, to achieve a hundred billion yuan level." Ludi did not hide his global dream.
Entrepreneurship has taught Ludi a lot. He believes that first of all, you have to learn so that you can see the opportunities; secondly, you have to have courage and boldness; thirdly, you have to talk about "harmony" and find complementary partners; and fourthly, you have to have the passion to do things with the vision of solving problems.
Ludi often draws energy from different entrepreneurs. For example, Li Bin, the founder and CEO of Azalea, whose vision, drive and approach to business have opened his eyes to opportunities and inspired him.
The optimistic Ludi doesn't think he set an unattainable goal for XEV. "At the time, I thought there was a 30 to 40 percent chance of success, and now it's probably 60 to 70 percent." Success, he says, requires a lot of pivot points, the so-called pivot points being financing, production partners, staffing, continuity of the sales team, etc., which have to be punched through one by one, "and if they're all punched through, it's a success."
In the depths of the capital winter, he wants to run faster because he needs more bullets to support him, which is why he is quickly breaking into the Chinese market.
In his view, China is an important part of the global strategy that cannot be missed. First, because the vehicle supply, new energy supply system is the world's most complete and cost-effective, especially a variety of model products, with a strong industrial dividend; secondly, because China's entrepreneurial atmosphere and entrepreneurial environment is strong; thirdly, because the largest market and the largest customers of the model products and equipment products should be in China.
"In the future, we will have customers mainly on three continents, namely Asia, America and Europe." Ludy said XEV is ready for that.
In his spare time, he occasionally follows his daughter's Jitterbug number, wondering how she managed to get 800 fans following her, and that's his most relaxed moment.
This article comes from the author of the automobile home car family number, does not represent the views of the automobile home position.