Since the outbreak of the epidemic, most car companies have been contributing generously, with some donating money directly and some donating cars. But in the most urgent stage of the epidemic prevention and control, masks, disinfectant and other protective materials is the most urgent shortage of supplies. In this special period, many car companies have "turned" to do the production of masks for the epidemic prevention and control work to provide a strong material security. In fact, similar cross-border operations in the car companies are not uncommon, today we will take stock of those who engage in "sideline" car companies big brothers.
●Shanghai Automobile General Motors Corporation (SAIC-GM) Wuling
February 6, SAIC-GM Wuling jointly with suppliers, through the alteration of the production line of the way to switch to the production of masks. According to the construction plan of the project, both the alteration of the clean room and the construction of the production line will be put into use by the end of February, **** set up 14 mask production lines, of which 4 are N95 mask production lines, 10 are general medical protection mask production lines, the daily production capacity is expected to reach more than 1.7 million.
And from the idea of switching to the production of masks to the first batch of masks off the line, just three days, February 9, the first batch of masks off the line, February 13, the first batch of 1 million protective masks production is complete, the mask production box on the sentence "what the people need, Wuling what to build" slogan more so that the whole network of tears and The whole network tears and touched.
And in the long history of the development of Wuling Motors, has been involved in many other industries. Wuling's earliest predecessor was an arsenal, then called Liuzhou Power Machinery Factory, in the 1950s and 1960s, the successful production of 051-type "Friendship" brand chainsaw, followed by the trial production of tractors, so that Liuzhou Power Machinery Factory became one of the country's eight major tractor factories. At the end of the seventies, in order to meet the market demand at that time, Liuzhou Tractor Factory began to produce multi-functional sewing machines and automatic shuttle looms. In the eighties, Liuzhou Tractor Factory was renamed as "Liuzhou Miniature Automobile Factory", and officially switched to the production of miniature automobiles.
●? Guangzhou Automobile Group
Guangzhou Automobile Group also responded to the call for mask production with practical actions, also on February 6, Guangzhou Automobile Group party secretary and chairman Zeng Qinghong, personally led a team straight to Dongguan mask production equipment manufacturers to conduct research. The next day, GAC Components Technology Center sent a technical team to Dongguan to study the technology and production process related to mask equipment. In just a few days, the engineers of BAIC Components Technology Center have successfully assembled the first mask production equipment, and on February 11th, they completed the on-site installation and debugging of the equipment.
It is expected that the installation of 12 sets of equipment will be completed on February 22, and the number will increase to 30 sets by the end of February. If all of these equipments are put into production, it is expected that GAC will be able to realize the production of 1 million masks per day by the end of this month.
●? BYD
February 8, BYD officially announced the aid production of masks and disinfectant, and gave this heavy responsibility to the ninth division of the electronics business group. You know, for BYD, cross-border manufacturing masks is not a difficult thing.
It is reported that BYD's ninth division was established in 2006, mainly engaged in cell phones, tablet PCs and automotive electronic components and other products OEM and R & D manufacturing, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Huawei and other brand-name cell phone manufacturers are the main service customers. More critically, the ninth division also has a medical device system certification, and long-term agency production of medical equipment products.
Meanwhile, BYD subsidiaries Shanwei BYD Industry Co. Ltd. and BYD Precision Manufacturing Co. Ltd. have made changes to the scope of business, with the addition of the research and development, production and sales of disinfectant products, medical devices, and industrial protective equipment.
According to BYD's planning, drawings will be designed in 3 days, equipment in 1 week, and products in 10 days, and mass production of masks and disinfectant liquids will start around Feb. 17, with production capacity of up to 5 million masks/day and 50,000 bottles of disinfectant liquids/day expected by the end of February.
●? Tesla
Rather than thinking of Tesla as an electric car maker, it's more of a tech company. In addition to building and selling cars, the energy business is Tesla's main business, including the Solar?Roof solar roof for personal/home users, the Powerwall for energy storage, and solar panels and the corresponding Powerpack for commercial use to store energy. Among them, Solar Roof is a solar power generation device installed on the top of the house, utilizing solar photovoltaic technology to generate electricity in the urban and rural building sectors to achieve energy saving and emission reduction goals. However, so far, Tesla's solar energy business is only sold in a few areas such as the United States mainland, but in the long run, Tesla's energy business has a very broad development prospects.
Tesla CEO Musk has recently said that Tesla is stepping up its installation of solar roofing business in the U.S. at the same time, it is also preparing to expand the business to the European and Chinese markets later this year. In addition, as a star car company in the new energy field, Tesla has also sold many peripheral products on its official website, such as surfboards, hats, shirts and other favorite items for young people.
●? Honda
Honda is known as a technology geek, and its full name in Japan is Honda Giken Kogyo, and the word "Giken" is very meaningful to Honda. As we all know, Honda once in the automobile and motorcycle field can be said to be the leader, but it is not satisfied with the automobile and motorcycle industry, Honda has developed and launched an airplane, water pumps, lawn mowers, brush cutters, small boat engines, Honda walking aid, UNI-CUB balance car, robots and so on.
To build airplanes, for example, Honda began research on small aircraft and aircraft engines as early as 1986. It wasn't until 2015 that Honda's first mass-produced airplane, the HondaJet?HA-420, finally received Federal Aviation Administration type certification and began customer deliveries. It is reported that this HondaJet?HA-420 has only five seats in the cockpit and is powered by the GM Honda co-developed turbofan HF120 engine, with a maximum thrust of 2,095 lbs, a climb rate of 20.2m/s, a cruising speed of 778km/h, and a maximum lift of 13,100 meters, which is a strong advantage in its class. In addition, the HondaJet has a maximum range of 1,223 nautical miles (approximately 2,265 kilometers) under NBAA?IFR backup fuel conditions.
●? Volkswagen
Volkswagen has a strong presence and consumer recognition in the country, and is known as an industry leader in both building and selling cars. And just this past 2019, the VW brand delivered 6,278,300 new cars worldwide***. However, the largest car manufacturer in Europe, in its headquarters in Germany, but there is a "not business" department - Volkswagen meat processing plant, dedicated to the production of sausages, can be said to be very surprising.
It is understood that the Volkswagen sausage production, as early as 2015 sales of more than 7 million, higher than the car sales. The reason why it will step into the meat industry, because the last century, the Volkswagen headquarters location of the lack of supplies, in order to solve the problem of Volkswagen's internal staff to eat, decided to do their own food, began to run a meat processing plant, and even set up a farm, from which the sausage has also become a part of Volkswagen's corporate culture. However, Volkswagen sausage is only available exclusively for Volkswagen factory canteens and individual stores and supermarkets.
●Toyota
Toyota is one of the most successful companies in the automotive industry, but it didn't start out as a car maker, relying instead on its ancestral sewing-machine factories, and was also a famous family-owned textile company at the time before switching to the automotive industry. To this day, we can still see sewing machines made by Toyota, such as this Toyota OEKAKI?50 embroidery sewing machine, the aristocrat of sewing machines.
It is also worth mentioning that Toyota has shown great interest in agriculture, and since 2012, Toyota has been establishing new greenhouses in northeastern Japan in joint ventures with local farmers to grow bell peppers, while launching the "Toyosaku Program". The Toyosaku program was launched at the same time. Specifically, the program applies Toyota's automotive manufacturing philosophy to the agricultural sector, improving production efficiency through IT management tools (PDCA) and providing a total solution for indoor cultivation. It provides total solutions for indoor cultivation, improving the efficiency, stabilization and added value of agricultural production. Not only that, Toyota has also ventured into yachting, robotics, biotechnology and other fields.
●? Mazda
When it comes to Mazda as a brand, the first thing that comes to the mind of many is definitely the rotor engine - after all, Mazda is the only automobile company in the world that develops and produces rotor engines. Mazda's side business also has something to do with rotors, with the launch of an egg cooker called the EX-7.
The egg cooker is made of nickel-plated aluminum alloy and hand-carved into shape. Most importantly, the egg cooker's shape incorporates elements of Mazda's rotor engine design, making it not only attractive but also quite practical. With a diameter of 15.5 centimeters and a height of 9 centimeters, Mazda's egg cooker can cook up to 6 eggs at a time, isn't it great for the whole family?
●? Peugeot
Compared with Mazda, French Peugeot has more achievements and fame in kitchen utensils. Peugeot started producing coffee grinders in 1840, followed by pepper grinders by 1874, and it wasn't until 1890 that Peugeot ventured into automobile production. And after nearly two centuries, the Peugeot line of grinders is now a major international household name, and Peugeot coffee and pepper grinders are loved by chefs and diners alike.
Besides pepper mills and coffee grinders, Peugeot has also produced motorcycles, bicycles, metal umbrella frames, hacksaws, drinkware, clothing, and other cross-border items, so it seems that automobiles seem to be Peugeot's "side business".
●? Write in the end
In fact, the car enterprise cross-border to do "side business" in the industry as a whole is still very common, after all, standing in the point of view of the enterprise, a single revenue business is not conducive to the development and growth of enterprises. In the current "a cover is hard to find" predicament, Guangzhou Automobile, Wuling, BYD and other car companies to take the initiative to "switch to" the production of masks behavior is indeed worthy of praise, and I hope that more conditional car companies can participate in the production of epidemic prevention materials.
This article was written by the author of the car home, does not represent the views of the car home position.