Chapter 88 Equipment Localization and Upgrading (Thanks to Fengliu Flute for the tip)
Robert said with a smile: "Yes, our little friend in Hong Kong is not only a genius in invention, but also a genius in marketing. We imitated him and just gave away a little for free. I immediately received a large number of calls asking to buy sticky notes.”
“Haha, it’s really amazing. I didn’t expect it to be so popular.” Robin was also surprised, and the six phones in front of him kept ringing. , a large number of clerks are recording customer needs.
Then a dedicated person tallied up the data and wrote it on the blackboard. The data above was a bit exciting.
Robert nodded and said: "I did predict that post-it notes would be very popular, but I didn't expect them to become so popular.
I just made a call to Hong Kong. They are working hard to produce, but I estimate that their small factory will have a little difficulty in satisfying California. ”
“Insufficient production capacity? Robin felt a little regretful and said, "It's a pity that we didn't get the production authorization. Otherwise, with our efficiency, we would have been able to increase our production capacity in a very short time." "
Robert said: "It's useless. I tried to make concessions to Eric in other aspects and wanted him to give us production authorization, but he didn't agree at all. "
Robin asked: "Why? "
Robert said: "Maybe he wants to protect his own interests by controlling the production side.
He doesn't know how much we produce when he authorizes us, and it's impossible for him to come over and check.
But the authorization is not given to us. If we still produce secretly, it will be easy to be discovered if the factory is large. ”
“After discovering it, he, a Hong Konger, can’t do anything to us, right? "Robin said with a smile.
Robert shrugged and said, "Maybe, but the contract signed in black and white, if we can get through some gray areas and directly breach the contract, it will affect the image of our 3M company.
Besides, if he transfers the contract to some professional law firms in the United States, it will really cause a big fuss and damage our reputation too much. There is no need to do such a thing. ”
Robin nodded and said: "That's right. Anyway, we control the channel, so there is no need to pursue the interests of the production side. I am mainly worried about the production capacity issue."
Robert thought for a while and said: "Although for Ai I don’t know Rick very well, but he gave me the impression that he is a very capable person in those few days. If you give him some time, he should be able to solve the production problems.”
Robin nodded and said: "This guy is so cunning. He controls life in his hands. Property rights, and the market in countries other than the United States is still blank.
I guess he just wants to wait for our company to fully promote sticky notes, and then attract dealers from other countries to take the initiative to find him. ”< br>
Robert said with a smile: "Anyone would do this. These sticky notes are so popular. If the business in the United States is good, I will go to Hong Kong to see if I can get it from Europe. ”
Robin nodded and said: "If I had known earlier, you should have quoted a higher price and just bought the patent. As long as the money is in place, I don't believe he won't sell it."
Robert said helplessly: "In the future Who can predict this? A budget of more than 500,000 US dollars requires a vote by the board of directors. The board of directors will not approve it without seeing the data.
At that time, several other companies also contacted Eric. If we delayed any longer, we might not even have this opportunity for cooperation.
And I could feel that he was determined to get it. If you build your own factory, you also know that having money is completely different from having a large-scale factory."
"Well, maybe." Robin added: "Then let's do what we are doing now."
Robert smiled and said: "Christmas is coming, and the ten-day holiday is enough for Hong Kong to prepare more goods. I will then look at the market feedback in California and let Eric formulate sufficient production capacity improvement plans."< br>
Robin said: "That's good. If I have a chance, I would like to meet this young man..."
"I will invite him to come to the United States next time." Robert said with a smile.
Although only urban enterprises around Los Angeles have received Post-it Notes, judging from the popularity, once Post-it Notes are really sold across the United States, the output value will really not be low.
With such a patent in hand, Eric is enough to become a key partner of 3M.
……
Hong Kong, in December, is still a little cold occasionally, especially when there is no sun.
In the small office in the Changxing factory, Yang Wendong yawned and stood up from the floor. It was dawn.
Not long after washing up, Su Yiyi, Zhao Liming, and Lin Haoyu also came and brought breakfast. Su Yiyi said: "Brother Dong, it's too hard for you to live in the factory every day like this."
Yang Wendong Picking up the meat bun, he took a bite and said, "It's okay. In fact, it's not much different from home. It's easier for me to work. Besides, I've lived in squatters for more than ten years, and now I'm a thousand times better than before." Times.”
"That's what I said, but now that you are the boss, there is no need to do this." Su Yiyi said with a smile: "It is better to find a talent who can speak English as soon as possible."
Yang Wendong shook his head and said with a smile: "Those who can speak English are generally more likely to go to foreign companies, or even trading companies or some large factories. For a small company like ours, it's a bit difficult to find, and you want people to work night shifts."
< br>In the 1950s, Hong Kong was relatively conservative in many aspects. People with some academic qualifications tended to go to large companies or government departments. It was still difficult for small companies to recruit talents.
Talents who can speak English, especially those who can communicate freely, are the kind that foreign companies are eager to have. After all, the entire society is generally low-educated. Anyone who can recognize Chinese characters and read newspapers is considered knowledgeable. Elite.
Zhao Liming asked: “You can’t recruit people even if you spend more money?”
"People who spend more money may regard you as a liar." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Of course, it doesn't mean that we can't recruit. It may take a while, not that fast."
It is the mainland of later generations. There are so many talents, and sometimes many companies have to wait a long time to recruit people. That was still in the era of the explosion of communications. Now in Hong Kong, even if it is not a big company, it is difficult to recruit talents and it takes a long time.
It is a bit like the small private companies in the Mainland in the 1980s and 1990s, competing with foreign and state-owned enterprises for talents.
Lin Haoyu thought for a while and asked: "Brother Dong, how about installing a phone at home?"
"You can install a phone at home, but the numbers are different." Yang Wendong shook his head. Said: "I have also asked the telephone company. The same number can have several extensions, but there are restrictions on distance."
Naturally, there is no call forwarding technology in this era. There is only a small area where multiple phones share one line;
Theoretically, the Hong Kong Telephone Company can also connect the company's line to your own home, but people may I won't go to such trouble for your family. Or there may be some other technical reasons. Yang Wendong doesn't understand communications. What's more, this is still communications in the 1950s. It is estimated that Huawei engineers may be confused if they travel through time.
Su Yiyi said: "Then I will find a few more newspapers to submit recruitment information."
"Well, actually it doesn't matter. I talked to Robert last night After contacting him, he placed another large order." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "In the future, if there is no big emergency, he will place an order with us via air express.
Starting tonight, I don’t have to be on duty here. From now on, even if there is an emergency over there in the United States, Robert will call me at night. I will just pay him overtime pay based on his salary alone, once in a while. Not much money. "
"That would be great. "Su Yiyi said with a smile.
Yang Wendong nodded and said: "But the recruitment will continue, and we urgently need people who understand English. "
"Hmm. "Su Yiyi agreed.
Breakfast was quickly finished, Zhao Liming said: "Brother Dong, how many orders have been placed by 3M in the United States? ”
"600,000, they hope we can send it to the United States after Christmas." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
"600,000?" Zhao Liming said quickly: "This is impossible. Even if we speed up as fast as we can, we can only get 15,000 per day at most."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "I I know, so I refused. In fact, it’s useless even if it’s too late. This is just a small California kid. The demand in some areas, if we can meet the demand in California in a short period of time, 3M will definitely think about going to other states immediately.”
This kind of product that makes people like it at first glance can still improve. The role of office efficiency is a beneficial type of production means. Once it appears, it will inevitably explode.
Historically, after 3M invented the sticky notes, they were also faced with the situation of being unable to produce in time; no matter what happened in Hong Kong, it would be too late.
Therefore, he was not anxious about the insufficient production capacity in the early stage. Even in 2010, it took Apple several years to solve the production capacity problem. The more times like this, the more he has to be steady and get things done step by step. , there must be no quality problems.
Zhao Liming said: "Dongsheng told me yesterday that their imitation equipment is about to be completed, and invited us to take a look tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."
"Well, okay, then tomorrow Go, if Dongsheng can make this equipment, it will be very helpful to us." Yang Wendong nodded.
The production and after-sales of equipment are all local, which is very high for improving the efficiency of enterprises. It is similar to the industrial parks in the mainland in later generations. The more concentrated the better, ranging from textiles and hardware to the automobile industry. This is true.
As a time traveler, although he did not open a factory in his previous life, he did trade. He knows this basic logic, and now he is trying to move closer to this direction.
Unfortunately, Hong Kong's industrial base is too poor, with no paper and glue industries. This has led to the need to maintain high inventory and high-cost procurement. However, there is currently no way to do this except to solve the problem of localization of equipment that can be achieved. .
The next day, Yang Wendong took Zhao and Su across the ferry, and then called a car to the Dongsheng Equipment Manufacturing Factory in the North Point of Hong Kong Island.
“Brother Dong, these factories are really not small, they are much bigger than ours.” Zhao Liming said, looking around and at Dong Sheng in front of him.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Normally, our scale is nothing in Hong Kong, but soon, it won't necessarily be."
With the development of 3M channels, he knows , My current factory is far from enough to meet demand, not to mention that when spring comes next spring in the northern hemisphere, the sticky spring will also come.
This time is different from this year. This year’s market has just been opened up. Next year, channel parties and trading companies must be well prepared. In addition, replacing plastic with cardboard will make it easier for export and terminal sales. Then sales will definitely explode.
Zhao Liming said: "Then we have to change places. The current factory cannot support our expansion too much."
Yang Wendong nodded and said: "Yes, This is actually a normal phenomenon. Many companies suddenly become busy and will have to find new locations for several months. The situation in Hong Kong is said to be the same when plastic flowers were popular last year.”
There are rumors that plastic flowers became popular in Hong Kong overnight, and then a large number of overseas merchants came to purchase them. Because of insufficient production capacity, those overseas traders. I wish I could make a 100% deposit directly just to get the goods first.
This has also caused many factory owners to rush around and look for new factories.
When the owners of industrial office buildings saw how urgent the market was, they raised prices and took advantage of them.
"That's good." Zhao Liming smiled, and then said: "Here comes someone from Dongsheng. He is Dongsheng's second-in-command Zhou Zhigang."
"Well, it seems that it is still the case. They value us very much." Yang Wendong smiled. Although he was confident about his future, Changxing was still only a small company.
Dongsheng is a well-known equipment company in Hong Kong. It is a great honor for the second-in-command to receive him.
“Is this Yang Sheng from Changxing Industrial?” Zhou Zhigang said with a smile on his face, shaking hands.
Yang Wendong also responded politely, shook hands and said with a smile: "Hello Zhou Sheng."
"Please come in." Zhou Zhigang said to the three of them: "The tea reception has been prepared above."
< br>"Zhou Sheng is so polite." Yang Wendong smiled, it was all polite etiquette, but it is indispensable.
A few people followed Zhou Zhigang and first came to a reception room in the three-story office building in front of the factory. Dongsheng was also an old company, so it was naturally much better than Changxing in these aspects.
"Yang Sheng, Zhao Sheng, Miss Su, here is the development history of our Dongsheng." Zhou Zhigang introduced with a smile: "In 1945, after the defeat of Little Japan, our Dongsheng was established. At the beginning I just made some pliers and scissors, and later."
Yang Wendong also listened quietly to the introduction, thinking that when his company becomes larger in the future, he will also need to create such a historical development wall
After listening to the introduction and drinking tea, Yang Wendong followed Zhou Zhigang came to the door of the factory at the back of the downstairs.
A machine that is similar to the sticky note equipment at home is also making sticky notes with full power at the moment;
An engineer saw the customer coming, and then stepped forward , introducing the equipment.
Yang Wendong looked at it and asked: "Zhou Sheng, this equipment will be produced in our company for a few days. If there is no problem, I can directly order 20 units, but I want to know if you can Optimization and improvement? ”
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(End of this chapter)