Chapter 532 What Is This For?

The ballpoint pen steel ball grinding machine is a special machine tool. The global sales volume per year is only forty or fifty units, and the users are limited to ballpoint pen tip manufacturers. Precisely because of the small sales volume, the market can only support one company, Miran. If there is one more manufacturer, everyone will be fooled.

As China becomes the world's factory, the manufacturing of many goods has been monopolized by Chinese companies, and ballpoint pens are one of them. More than 90% of the world's ballpoint pen tips are produced in China, which in turn leads to the fact that Miran's products are mainly sold to China.

If the whole of China is regarded as a buyer, the steel ball machine tool market is a typical one-to-one market, with only one seller and only one buyer.

In the Chinese newspapers sent by Duranti, reporters claimed that all the steel ball machine tools used in China come from overseas. Once overseas sales of such machine tools to China are banned, China's ballpoint pen companies will be "stuck." Such a conclusion may seem reasonable to ordinary Chinese people, but it seems completely ridiculous to Puller and Duranty.

Why am I stuck in your neck when I'm full?

Let me ask, if Miran's machine tools are not sold to Chinese companies, who else can they be sold to?

Stuck in the neck of the Chinese people? Before the Chinese were stuck, Miran Company itself would starve to death first. Do I need to do such a thing that harms others but does not benefit myself?

"It is impossible that the Chinese people do not understand this truth. This kind of choke point must be a trick played by them." Puller asserted. Once something is too unreasonable, there must be a conspiracy behind it. Everyone can imagine this.

"But why do they want to play this trick?" Duranty asked in surprise.

Puller thought for a while and said: "Perhaps they want to use this method to trick us into lowering prices? There are several customers of ours in the Chunze city mentioned in the newspaper. They once ordered large quantities as an excuse. They asked us to give them a preferential price, but we refused. I think this is a new negotiation tactic they came up with."

"It's possible." Duranti nodded and said, "They are threatening us in this way. If we don't agree to their price reduction request, they will develop similar machine tools themselves to replace our products."

"So, Duranty, do you think they're really going to do that?" Puller asked.

Duranti shook his head and said: "I don't think so? Even if the quality of the machine tools they develop themselves is similar to ours, the price will not be much cheaper. If a machine tool is 50,000 euros cheaper, they will invest 7 million in advance Euros, at least 140 machine tools need to be sold to recover the investment.

"Chunze City purchases less than 10 machine tools from us every year, which means that their investment return period will be more than 14 years, which does not take into account the interest of 7 million euros. If interest expenses are taken into account, they may You can never recoup that investment, so it's a completely irrational decision."

"Yes, this is completely a scam. Any elementary school student can see it." Puller said firmly, "Duranti, the Chinese company that sent you these newspapers must also be involved in this scam. You Just wait and see, within a week, they will definitely contact you to discuss the price reduction."

"So, how do we answer them?"

"I firmly refuse. If they want to develop their own machine tools, just go ahead and develop them. I don't believe they would behave so irrationally."

Puller said confidently.

Puller's prediction was quickly confirmed. Just three days later, Duranti brought two Chinese people to Puller, saying that they flew over from China to negotiate with Miran Company.

"My name is Li Tiantian, and I am the senior business manager of the overseas business department of the sales company under China Linhe Machine Tool Group. This is my assistant Liu Jianghai. We were appointed by Mr. Tang Zifeng, the general manager of our Linhe Machine Tool Group, to come to Miran Company To discuss cooperation matters.”

A woman in the lead introduced herself to Puller in fluent English.

Puller's English is good. When he heard the woman's words, he also replied in English: "Ms. Li, you are very welcome. I have heard of Linji Group and know that you are a company worthy of respect. I also know that Botai Company is now It’s your subsidiary. Since you acquired Premier Tech, its business has more than doubled, which is simply a miracle.”

"Thank you Mr. Puller for the compliment." Li Tiantian smiled and nodded, accepting Puller's kindness, and then said: "Our General Manager Tang has also said many times that Miran Company is an outstanding company. In our Before departure, Mr. Tang specifically asked us to express his respect to Mr. Puller on his behalf."

"Thank you Mr. Tang, thank you Ms. Li." Puller responded. He knew in his heart that the so-called words about Mr. Tang wanting to express respect to him were probably just what Li Tiantian said casually. He wouldn't confront Tang Zifeng anyway, would he?

After saying these useless words, Puller asked Li Tiantian and Liu Jianghai to sit down on the sofa, and he sat back behind his big desk. Duranti played the role of a waiter, pouring a glass of water for Li Tiantian and Liu Jianghai each, and then sat down next to them.

"Ms. Li, you just said that you are here to discuss cooperation matters with us. I don't know in which aspect you plan to cooperate with us and how you will cooperate." Puller did not beat around the bush and asked the question straightforwardly.

"Mr. Puller, China's Chunze Municipal Government and our Linji Group jointly held a press conference some time ago, announcing that they would cooperate to develop special machine tools for steel balls. I wonder if Mr. Puller has heard of this news." Li Tiantian asked .

Puller sank for a moment, then nodded and said, "I heard this from our company's partners in China."

"I wonder what Miran Company thinks of this matter." Li Tiantian continued to ask.

Puller smiled slightly and said: "We are very happy that other peers are paying attention to this field. Personally, I am very much looking forward to seeing your company's research and development results as soon as possible."

"This is also my wish." Duranti added superfluously, wanting to strengthen the fork-mounting effect created by Puller.

Because they had determined in advance that the Chinese were definitely committing fraud, Puller and Duranty did not have any psychological pressure on the negotiation at hand. Instead, they had a bit of a theater mentality. They wanted to see how the two Chinese would pretend to threaten them, and all they had to do was smile like a gentleman and watch each other perform.

What an interesting thing.

Li Tiantian's smile was as sweet as her name. She looked at Puller and said, "So, Mr. Puller doesn't believe that we will really get involved in this field?"

"No, no, no, I didn't mean that at all." Puller shrugged and said, but the expression on his face said: Yes, I just don't believe it, please continue your performance.

Li Tiantian made a gesture to Liu Jianghai. Liu Jianghai opened the briefcase he was carrying, took out a stack of information from it, stood up and walked to Puller's desk, put the stack of information in front of Puller, and then said He sat back down without saying a word.

Puller was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously pulled up the information to see what kind of medicine the other party was selling. He had only read a few pages, and his expression became a little ugly. Then, he flipped through the information quickly, scanning the main contents of the information line by line. The more he looked at it, the darker his face became.

"Mr. Puller, is this..." Of course Duranty noticed the strange look on his boss's face and asked worriedly.

Puller closed the document and pushed it forward. Duranty understood what Puller meant, and quickly stepped forward to get the information, and looked through it in the same way. After reading a few pages, his expression changed. He raised his head and looked at Li Tiantian and asked, "Ms. Li, what does this mean?"

"This is a technology patent declared by our company. We, Mr. Tang, felt that your company might be interested in these patents, so we specifically asked us to bring them over and ask Mr. Puller and Mr. Duranti to review them," Li Tiantian said.

"Do you really want to make a special machine tool for steel balls?" Duranty asked in shock, his face no longer had the calm expression just now.

It turned out that the information Liu Jianghai showed to Puller was patent application information related to special machine tools for ballpoint pen tips. Miran Company naturally has its own technical patents, and the special machine tools it produces for steel balls are developed and designed based on these patents.

If Linji Group wants to develop steel ball machine tools, it must either apply to Miran Company to use their patents, or it can only develop another set of patents on its own. There is not only one design method for steel ball machine tools. By changing the design idea, you can bypass Miran's patent.

Of course, as a company that has been engaged in the R&D and manufacturing of steel ball machine tools for many years, Miran's technical route should be optimal. If we avoid its technical route and develop another one, the cost and efficiency of the machine tool may be worse, and some unknown technical problems will have to be solved, and the research and development costs will also be considerable.

Precisely because Puller knew these situations, he concluded that Linji Group and Chunze City were just making a gesture and could not really develop steel ball machine tools. The so-called threat of a chokehold is completely fictitious. It is impossible for government officials and senior executives of Linji Group to understand this truth, and there is no reason to do such a thankless thing.

But what he thought was impossible happened. The information Liu Jianghai showed him clearly proved that Linji Group was indeed developing a new steel ball machine tool. Puller knows technology, and when you look at the contents of these patents, you know that they must have been developed for steel ball machine tools. Perhaps these technologies can also derive other uses, but the most direct use is to process the small steel balls on the head of ballpoint pens.

What is this picture for?

Puller asked manically inwardly.