Chapter 81: Rushing Towards the Crisis (2)

United Motorcycles was unlucky to say the least. Just as it was mass-producing sidecar motorcycles, the President launched large-scale combat operations in North Africa. Those motorcycles that were well used on domestic standard roads encountered various problems in the desert. , various things such as engine overheating, transmission chain mismatch, sand accumulation, etc. all appeared. This is of course the result of insufficient testing, and it is also an inevitable manifestation of the manufacturer’s lack of experience in desert use. The problem is that the improvement speed is too slow. , the repairs and maintenance support are also somewhat behind. In the whole five months, more than 1,200 motorcycles were lying around due to various reasons. If Contini had not been rich and ordered to continue building new cars, they would go to North Africa as soon as they left the factory. They even went so far as to cut off the supply to the army and police. The oil guards almost tore through all the motorcycles they brought over, which was really fatal.

By the time the improvement measures came to an end, the tense situation in North Africa had eased. This was better. During this process, the United Engineering, United Construction, and Petroleum Guards all complained to the headquarters about the poor quality of the motorcycles, which seriously affected their work. They The reason is that at least the armored vehicles and tanks invested by United Defense in North Africa are not so fragile and prone to failure. Even the newly built trucks of United Automotive have withstood the test, and the failure rate is still within a tolerable range. Only United Motorcycles are intolerable!

If there is no comparison, there will be no harm. If you don’t want to eat this, you have to eat it!

Contini gave a special speech at the meeting, emphasizing quality: "...excellent quality is the lifeline of the company. This is not in a commercial sense, but in a political sense and in terms of the value of life... North Africa In a place like this, if the equipment breaks down, it will cause serious problems and kill people! If everyone says that United Group's products are of good quality and have a good reputation, it will be easier for us to launch new products in the future and open up the market. Therefore, Anyone who dares to damage the sign of quality is tantamount to damaging the company's brand and discrediting other brother companies. Therefore, it must be rectified and improved... The same is true for other companies. After I come back from the United States, I will carry out a major quality inspection. During this period, an internal self-inspection will be conducted to identify and correct all problematic deficiencies! ”

Of course, Contini also knows that placing all the blame on United Motorcycles is too much to blame, but that's the way it is. You can express sympathy and understanding in general, but no one will sympathize with you when something goes wrong in North Africa. Considering that he The main battlefield designated for Italy is in North Africa, so the tropical climate and desert terrain must be paid attention to. Now it seems that there is no way to seriously remind them, so they can only use the United Motorcycle incident to make use of the topic.

In early February, Francisco, General Manager of United Bank, accompanied Contini on the road to the United States to prepare for the road show and final bell ringing for the soon-to-be-listed United Bank. As compensation, Contini brought Ada with him after seeking permission. Now that Vivian and Little Betty are girlfriends, they can no longer mess around.

On the surface, Vivian and Francisco live together. In fact, at night, as soon as Contini and Francisco finish discussing business, the two stick together. Vivian, who has gained weight after giving birth, has He returned to normal and became more charming. Strong longing and desire dominated the two of them, and the president was determined to make up for it, so that sometimes Contini's meal a day was not enough.

Francisco sometimes feels sad. He doesn't know if this is fair to his daughter and whether he will regret it in the future. But one thing he knows very well is that he cannot change or break this state, let alone Francisco and Vivian. , not even Contini himself can do it, otherwise the world will be in chaos.

Of course, nourishment is nourishment, and Contini dare not ignore it when it comes to business. He and Francisco need to consider how to plan the next stage of the situation. He has a deeper understanding of some issues than Leo.

But after listening to Contini's judgment, Francisco still had great doubts: "You mean, you judge that U.S. stocks will enter a period of soaring in the past two years? But in my opinion, they have already risen a lot, and the next step is very There may be a pullback trend.”

Contini shook his head: "The U.S. economy is currently improving, and the market environment of low interest rates is also maintained, so short-term setbacks will not interrupt the upward trend of the capital market. It may take another three years for saturation and the stock market to peak. "

"So you're going to buy a lot of stock?"

"No, I can't buy in large quantities... I have already bought a lot of stocks, and now they are all mortgaged in major banks."

"How come I never knew about it? I have never seen it on the United Group's statements." Francisco was shocked. "What channel and account did you hold it through?"

"I held it before the United Group was established..." Contini smiled. "I made millions of dollars through speculation at that time, and then bought some stocks, such as American Radio and American General..."

Third, the inner compartment was adjusted and hollowed out to deploy a large space to accommodate ground troops. Contini required that it could accommodate a mechanized force of about 300 people, have the ability to fight on the beach, and also required that it could carry medium-sized landing craft;

Fourth, the power cabin and boiler should be improved. The original steam turbine can only output 32,000 horsepower at full load, which can reach a speed of about 23 knots. He requested that it be increased to more than 45,000 horsepower, which can run 27-28 knots. Come on speed.

If there are time travelers at the scene, they can see what this thing is. It is clearly an amphibious assault landing ship, but it is called a transport boat. However, it is quite appropriate to say that it is a transport boat for landing troops. Who stipulates that transport boats can only be tens or hundreds of tons? Therefore, the full name of Dante in the future is the United Petroleum Offshore Integrated Supply Transport Boat, which is a perfect match for floating offshore airports.

Using Dante to modify it does not meet the definition of a perfect amphibious assault ship. At least the side armor belts that originally belonged to the battleship are all wasted. However, Dante is so big and the hull is not bad. It would be too wasteful to completely dismantle it, so Contini came up with this improvement method. Of course, the necessary anti-aircraft firepower will still be complete after the main gun is removed.

After hearing the performance introduction, the designers quickly grasped the key points: the flight deck renovation and the side bridge layout are not difficult points, but how to reasonably arrange the cabins below. It is necessary to improve and upgrade the power cabin without breaking the hull scale, and to ensure that 300 people and corresponding equipment can be accommodated. These 300 are not pure infantry, but trucks, armored vehicles, tanks, motorcycles and light artillery. They also need to be equipped with supplies, ammunition and other logistical materials. At least 14-18 aircraft supporting facilities must be considered on the deck. These are all obstacles.

However, the time given by the president is still sufficient. During the disassembly period, they are required to complete the plan for improving the power cabin first, and then consider the layout of the superstructure and other cabins. The time is sufficient until at least the end of May. As for the disassembled artillery, Contini has also made appropriate arrangements. Tripoli and Benghazi are currently lacking coastal fortifications. These naval guns are just arranged in full, and a batch of them are also settled in Tobruk.

After the idea of ​​amphibious assault ship transformation came to an end, Contini convened a group economic work meeting: This year, there is no doubt that United Construction and Petroleum Guard are Class A companies, and even United Milan has climbed into Class B, because it won the third place last year, and the gap from the first place is only 4 points, which is very close. Who will be given the Class C this year? It was very unexpected that it was given to United Motorcycle.

Everyone was shocked when the result was announced. United Motorcycle not only launched new products, but also completed orders very well. It is a rare product that is in short supply, and its profits are top-notch among all companies. Except for institutions like Union Bank that collect money without doing anything, United Motorcycle has the best profit. Now if you can see motorcycles on the streets of Italy, they are almost all United Motorcycle brands. Observers say that there are two brands in Italy, one is called United Motorcycle and the other is called other brands. Even Fiat Motorcycle has been beaten back step by step and has almost no power to fight back. Such a good company, even if it is not Class A, it should not be Class C, right?