Chapter 26 Case 2 Flying Eagle's "Gap" Journey

When some domestic enterprises waged price wars abroad and set off a wave of price cuts in overseas markets, Zhejiang Fuyang, an unremarkable boat-building company, has quietly "included" their products in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, " It has entered 14 developed countries and regions around the world, and their prices are also rising, and the price of high-end rowing boats even ranks first in the world. In the past 18 years, Flying Eagle has grown steadily with the support of fearless spirit and German rowing masters, and completed the transformation from a small workshop to the world's largest professional rowing manufacturing company.

In 2004, Flying Eagle produced and sold 2,500 rowing boats, ranking first in the world.Calculated according to the orders received this year, the output in 2005 will reach 3,000 pieces, accounting for 30% of the global market (10,000 pieces).Most of their "Invincible" brand rowing boats are sold abroad, and 4% of their total production is supplied to the domestic market. Flying Eagle's "Niche" (Niche niche) road seems to be going very smoothly, which is enviable.The favor of Mr. Klaus, the "Living Lei Feng" in Germany, is accidental, but it is inevitable that Flying Eagle will study tirelessly in the extremely narrow market of rowing.

Xiong Zhangyou is a bloody man who has set his sights on the target and never looks back. In 1985, the 38-year-old Xiong Zhangyou resigned from public office at this not too young age, and scraped together 20,000 yuan to start looking for a new starting point in life. At that time, there were a dozen or so boatyards in Fuyang, and the profits were quite considerable. It was precisely because of this that Xiong Zhangyou focused on racing boats. "This gap is very small. The annual demand for all competition and training boats in the country is no more than 200, but I just want to survive in this narrow gap." Xiong Zhangyou said.

He rented an unused auditorium in Lushan Village, his hometown, and shut himself up with a few masters "dug" from Shanghai to study the quality, materials and even styles of foreign rowing boats, trying to imitate one. In March 1986, their first "twin single oar without a coxswain" wooden rowing boat was born after "repeated failures and repeated battles".In April of the same year, the "National Excellent Athletes Championship" entered the finals in West Lake. A total of six rowing boats entered the final stage, five of which were imported, and the other was the "double oar without coxswain" just built by Xiong Zhangyou. Wooden rowing boat.Xiong Zhangyou, who came to watch the race, was even more nervous than the participating athletes. He silently prayed for his rowing boat.No one thought that it was Xiong Zhangyou's fledgling domestic boat that won the gold medal in the "National Outstanding Athlete Championship".

The success of this "accident" made Xiong Zhangyou very happy, and he registered the rowing trademark as "Invincible". In 1989, when he was building a new rowing boat manufacturing factory, the two-story factory building collapsed just before completion due to the construction team cutting corners. This factory building was prepared for more than 60 rowing boats ordered for the Beijing Asian Games . "At that time, I seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar, and my heart was so cold." Xiong Zhangyou said, "I bravely sent a telegram to the Asian Games Preparatory Committee, explaining my difficulties, and asked the Preparatory Committee to find another way. The committee quickly called back, with clear and firm words, "It's difficult to understand, but the ordered rowing boats must be delivered on time with quality and quantity, and there must be no less.".

At that time, there were only more than 20 days before the delivery of Yayong's boats. Xiong Zhangyou knew that if he couldn't hand over the rowing boats this time, he would have eaten all the rice.However, it is not easy to take out this batch of rowing boats. His family fortune was used up in this collapse of the house.He gritted his teeth, sold his house, and borrowed money here and there to get together the production funds. Finally, in just 20 days, 61 rowing boats were produced with good quality and quantity.Guaranteed the normal progress of the Asian Games. " In 1990, he went abroad to learn about foreign boat-building technology.The rowing in the United States, Germany and other countries let him know that his wooden boat has fallen behind a lot.After he came back, he resolutely invested and invited experts from the Ministry of Aeronautics and Space to develop a mid-temperature solidified carbon fiber "honeycomb" racing boat.

In July 1991, the "Honeycomb" racing boat was finally successfully trial-produced.Although this invincible honeycomb boat has taken a big step forward on the original basis, compared with the world's first-class boatbuilding companies, the gap is still huge.Even if there are some foreign orders, foreigners only value the low price, not the quality, and they only regard the invincible boat as a training boat for athletes.In the following years, the technology and production of "Invincible" boats have been stagnant. The seam is found, but how to insert the needle deeper?

How can Xiong Zhangyou's wish to build a world-class rowing boat be realized? The next story was fixed in September 1994, when the World Rowing Championships was held in the United States, a German—Klaus accidentally discovered the invincible boat from China.It was this "accident" that brought about a qualitative leap in "Invincible". "We started three rowing factories at the same time, and now the output of the other two is only a fraction of ours. When Klaus first came to China, they also invited them. Klaus also treated them equally and was happy to help them. But in the later contacts, Klaus gave up trying because of their short-sightedness and half-heartedness." Xiong Zhangyou said that Klaus finally chose Flying Eagle!Here he found a common goal - to build a world-class racing boat.

"He is a respectable elder." Xiong Zhangyou said, "He didn't ask for any remuneration, saying that it was his responsibility to support us. He came to Hangzhou from Germany on the eighth day of the first lunar month in 1995. He came to our workshop directly after getting off the plane. He unceremoniously pointed out many of our production mistakes, and asked us to stand on a global level from now on, and use new ideas and new technologies to build the world's top rowing boats." Klaus Fürth, born in Berlin, Germany, was born as a rowing athlete, the world's top rowing boat design and manufacturing master, and was the chairman of the Equipment Committee of the International Rowing Federation at that time.This old man who devoted his whole life to international rowing has always had a wish, which is to support one or two world-class boatyards in developing countries, so as to promote the development of rowing in developing countries.

At the U.S. World Rowing Championships, it wasn't so much that he saw an "invincible" boat as that he saw a way to realize his wish.Through the matchmaking of Doyle Nelson, chairman of the competition committee of the International Rowing Federation, Xiong Zhangyou, who was eager to seek a master, and Klaus, who was enthusiastic about rowing in developing countries, shook hands for the first time. Xiong Zhangyou resolutely and tacitly cooperated with Klaus's work, "We have to figure out what he needs without sleeping all night, and it will definitely appear on his desk the next day. Our sincerity and hard work have also given him A lot of confidence."

The "Invincible" boat has made a qualitative leap in materials, technology and appearance in one year.Because of Krause's great reputation in the industry, the "Invincible" boat has also begun to attract international attention.Some foreign rowing teams began to use invincible boats in some competitions. In October 1996, in the "1996 National Rowing Championships" held in Yueyang, Hunan Province and the Sino-French-German Rowing Invitational Competition, there were 16 gold medals in total, but 10 were won by Invincible Rowing, while using the world The rowing players of the famous German brand "Ampak" (transliteration) only took 4 yuan.Mr. Mund, the coach of the French rowing team and an Olympic champion, said with appreciation after watching the "Invincible" rowing boat: "The Invincible rowing boat can definitely participate in international competitions." No matter how busy he is, Klaus will come to Fuyang once a year.Every time he comes, he will bring the latest information of the world rowing market, the latest technology, the latest craft and style.For three consecutive years, Flying Eagle's invincible boat has been reborn and matured day by day. In the World Rowing Championship held in Cologne, Germany in 1998, the Ukrainian national rowing team, which used invincible boats, won the women's four-person boat championship.The rowing boats made in China won gold medals in international competitions, which shocked some internationally renowned rowing boat manufacturing companies in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. "They are going to team up to kick us out." Xiong Zhangyou talked about this and lit a cigarette, "They underestimate the Chinese. After this competition, we invited seven famous boat-building experts through Klaus. Experts in materials, design, power, etc. have invested more funds to transform our equipment and improve the quality of rowing boats. At the same time, we have vigorously expanded the international market. Some rowing teams with great potential will increase the popularity of Invincible Boat, and improve the reputation of Invincible Boat through their better results in the competition. We have also gradually accumulated agents in more than 20 countries, and continue to improve our service network." For swimmers, there's no better adrenaline rush than a shark appearing in your wake.The oppression of foreign opponents forced Xiong Zhangyou not to relax in the slightest, tensing up every nerve to race against them. The flying eagle under heavy pressure "flies" faster.Invincible Rowing has almost progressed together with the world famous brands.As the quality of Invincible Rowing is getting better and better, and more and more sports teams are used, it is common for Invincible Rowing to win gold medals in international competitions.According to incomplete statistics, by the end of last year, Invincible Rowing had won more than 300 gold medals in international competitions.The simplicity of Xiong Zhangyou, the prestige of Claus, and the good cost performance of Invincible Boats have made Feiying a good reputation in the industry. Now Invincible Boats have been sold to more than 40 countries and regions in the world. On May 9, 2003, after two months of competition and three rounds of bidding, Flying Eagle, with its good cost-effective advantage, beat five of the world's best companies from Germany, the United States, and Italy, and became the only one in the Athens Olympic Games this year. Rowing suppliers. "Without Klaus' full contribution to our Flying Eagles, it would take 20 years or more for Chinese rowing to enter the Olympics," said Xiong Zhangyou. Xiong Zhangyou knows well that if you sail against the current, you will retreat if you don’t advance.In fact, long before the bidding, under the advice of Klaus and other experts, Flying Eagle has "secretly" cooperated with relevant research institutions at home and abroad to develop a new generation of rowing materials - prepreg, which is well-known in many foreign countries. When rowing companies gave up due to high investment costs and time-consuming and labor-intensive difficulties, they rose to the challenge instead. At the beginning of this year, the rowing boat made of this new material was launched on the market, and its lighter, faster, and more crashworthy performance immediately caused the global rowing industry to explode.Eagle goes from a swimmer being chased by a shark to a shark chasing the swimmer. "We have seized the control of the highest end. This new type of racing court will fully replace the existing mid-to-high-end rowing boats." "We are aiming at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. At that time, our invincible boat should really have no opponent." Xiong Zhangyou, who has always been serious, smiled, proud and confident, quite like "when Yitian comes out, who will fight for the front" smell.