American Factory is a documentary that chronicles Fuyao's experience of opening a factory in the United States. At that time, General Motors had gone bankrupt in Dayton, Ohio, leaving many families in the local community out of work. Subsequently, China's Fuyao Company invested in Dayton and established Fuyao Glass America in its factory here, employing a large number of local American workers and also bringing in a large number of Chinese workers. In the case of such Chinese investment and establishment, and the United States contributing part of the labor force, Fuyao Group began to operate gradually. However, due to differences in culture and social systems and other aspects, the operation of Fuyao Glass Group was not smooth. The reason why Cao Dewang opened the factory to the United States is because when he went to the United States to discuss cooperation, he accidentally went to the Ford Museum, where he found the industrial and economic gap between China and the United States. Cao Dewang used the various economic indicators in the Ford Motor Museum as a yardstick to measure China's economy. He found that we are 100 years behind the United States. In times of economic transformation, traditional industries are required to provide building materials. At that time, the glass industry in China was just starting, and the glass industry in the United States was the vanguard of the traditional industry 100 years ago, so the development of the glass industry in the United States is very promising. In terms of tax burden, China has value-added tax, while the United States does not, and the energy price in the United States is lower than that in China. Costs are relatively low. Those basic materials are 4% to 5% cheaper, and the overall price is 16% to 17% cheaper. However, due to the cultural and institutional differences between the two countries, many contradictions have also been caused. American workers complain of high work pressure, low wages, poor working conditions, and high safety hazards. Amid the workers' complaints, the shadow of the union began to loom. The trade union encouraged the workers to "pull gangs and sects" and spread the benefits of introducing trade unions everywhere in the factory. Facing such a situation, Cao Dewang took a tough attitude, and the tug-of-war between the two parties started. Because Cao Dewang is very aware of the bad history of the American Auto Union, he is well aware that the American Auto Union affects the labor efficiency of workers, and even made it clear: "If the union comes in, I will close the door." Under Cao Dewang's tough attitude, he eventually opposed it. The faction defeated the trade union faction. At the same time, due to differences in cultural systems, the management of the factory is also a difficult problem. How to manage American workers has become a big question for Cao Dewang and his Chinese management team. In order to solve this big problem, Cao Dewang took various measures. One of these measures is to bring middle managers from American factories to Fuyao Group's Chinese factories to participate in view and learn. Watching Chinese workers work 12 hours a day, often work overtime, rarely go home, never complain at work, and can pick up broken glass with bare hands with only thin gloves, the management representative of the US factory expressed this. Shocked. After the American managers returned, they also began to implement the management system of Chinese factories. However, due to the deep-rooted thinking of Americans, this management system was not successfully implemented in American factories. It can be seen that proper management is very important for a company. At the end of the film, the union failed to form, and Fuyao Group's American factory has officially become profitable since 2018. From the perspective of profitability, Cao Dewang's business model has successfully maximized the economic benefits of the enterprise. But at the end of the film, it is mentioned to increase technical investment and promote the process of machine substitution. If you think about it carefully, there are certain benefits. First of all, if the machine replacement is really realized, the Chinese workers can get more rest time, and the personal safety of the workers can also be guaranteed. Second, robots have no minds and can effectively solve the problem of cultural differences.
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