Chapter 102 3M’s intention and the advent of the Rubik’s Cube
Los Angeles, United States:
In a warehouse with an area of more than 10,000 square meters, a large number of forklifts and trucks are running around.
This is one of the large transit warehouses of the American industrial giant 3M in the United States. As the largest industrial group in the United States, what is different from other industrial giants of the same level is that most of 3M’s products are of various types. Little things that matter in life.
Such as tape, household utensils, small furniture, kitchen containers, plastic bags, sponges, brushes, cleaning steel wool, gloves, plastic wrap, paper, tape, etc., there are thousands of types, only You can't imagine that there is nothing he doesn't have.
Many of them were invented by 3M, or were improved and innovated to a certain extent. Its R&D and invention capabilities are the best in the world, allowing 3M to have the most patent registrations in the world, and its small commodities have become best-selling around the world, even if Each one is of very small value, and together they make 3M one of the top 50 large companies in the United States.
However, the variety of goods is so complicated, so it naturally requires strong logistics capabilities. 3M has its own warehouses and fleets in many places in the United States.
Robert stood not far from a truck and watched a forklift unload several pallets of packed sticky notes from the truck.
The old friend beside him, the blond and wavy Robin, said: "Robert, the number of sticky notes is still seriously insufficient. Even California and Nevada cannot satisfy this amount."
Robert shrugged elegantly and said: "Yes, I know that too, but it takes time to increase production capacity in Hong Kong. I have told them many times and they also said that they are already trying their best to expand production capacity. .”
"Is it because of funding issues?" Robin asked: "I know he has advanced a payment to us before. If he still needs funds, I think the higher-ups can advance him another amount of funds."< br>
"So good? Is the boss so easy to talk to?" Robert suddenly felt a little strange and asked: "Don't you still have to use the patent of post-it notes as collateral? I have tried it a long time ago. If you want it, I will send it again. Others went to Hong Kong to talk to Eric!"
"No," Robin said with a smile, "The above means that he wants the exclusive distribution rights of sticky notes in other countries."
< br>"Well, this is a normal reason." Robert nodded and said: "But I also communicated with Eric, and he made it clear that they did not have enough production capacity to expand on a large scale immediately, so they first Open up the US market."
Robin smiled: "I know, so this is my purpose. Although they have other problems in expanding production capacity, the most fundamental thing is funding, right? With enough funds, it is not a problem to expand the production capacity of this simple product dozens of times within two or three months
As long as the production capacity is sufficient, he can obtain higher profits, and we can also obtain high profits in the US market.
Similarly, we also want to replicate this kind of thing in other countries. This is a win-win for us and Eric. "
"How much money are you willing to advance to him? "Robert asked curiously.
Robin raised a finger and said: "One million dollars? "
"1 million? "Up there." Robert paused, looked around and saw that there was no one around, and then asked, "Are you crazy?" Last time it took me 3 days to convince them to increase the price of acquiring the sticky note patent to 500,000? ”
One million U.S. dollars is still a huge amount of money in the United States in this era. Even 3M's annual turnover is less than one billion U.S. dollars, and it is already one of the large industrial groups in the United States.
Robin explained: "Robert, you are indeed the first in the company to discover the value of post-it notes. As you predicted, post-it notes are very popular now.
Yes This is just your prediction, and the exact number cannot be known; after the company executives learned that sticky notes were popular in California, they arranged for professional market actuaries to conduct a detailed survey and got a very shocking number. "
"Oh, how much is the North American market forecast?" Robert asked curiously.
Robin is right. Even though he knows that there is a huge opportunity for post-it notes, he has no idea how big the market is. This requires very professional people to do very professional investigations and obtain a large amount of relevant information. Only with data can predictions be possible.
No matter how professional you are, this number can only be said to be a rough estimate, and the accuracy will not be very high; but this is not very important, because in many cases, even a difference of 20 to 30% will not affect the predicted number. level, as long as there is no gap of several times.
Robin said: "The data predicted by the marketing department is almost 30-50 million US dollars, every year. Can you imagine this number?"
"30 million to 5000 Thousands of dollars? When Robert heard the numbers, he was very shocked and asked: "How many can there be?"
You know, there are countless gadgets in various fields under the 3M Group, but all of them add up. It only exceeds one billion US dollars per year.
In the entire group, it seems that only a few core products can achieve sales of more than 30 million US dollars per product.
"Yes, it's so incredible." Robin took out a sticky note from his pocket and said, "The structure of this thing is so simple that it can't be simplified anymore. But the market potential of this thing is unimaginable. In the end, The important thing is that it has a patent.
Now the board of directors is very regretful. It should have asked you to increase the patent purchase price a little bit. "
"Is it useless?" Robert recalled the interactions and exchanges with Yang Wendong in Hong Kong a few months ago, and then said: "Eric is a very smart man. He obviously knows the value of sticky notes."
"Maybe Yes, but there is not necessarily no chance." Robin said with a smile: "The value of post-it notes is indeed very high, but to maximize its value, you need strong channel capabilities.
There are only a handful of large companies around the world that have such capabilities, and the profits he can earn by cooperating with these large companies are also limited.”
Robert shook his head and said: "You underestimate Eric. He is not only powerful in invention patents, but also has a very keen vision in business. I negotiated several times for the US distribution rights of sticky notes. This is despite the fact that the other party has nothing but patents.
From time limits to regional restrictions, he obviously has a plan. He is obviously worried that a single channel player will erode his rights and interests. If you want to win other places outside the United States, it will be even harder."
"As long as there are benefits, you won't want to cooperate, right?" Robin said with a frown.
“I don’t know, it depends on Eric’s thoughts.” Robert said with a smile: “At the beginning, I thought he didn’t want to give us distribution rights in other countries.
If you just want to impress him with an advance payment, it may not be enough, because his business is getting better now. If he really wants to expand, it should not be difficult to borrow money from local banks and financial institutions.”
< br>
"Is that so?" Robin glanced at Robert again, and then said, "How about you go to Hong Kong this time?"
"Shall I go?" Robert objected quickly: "I was not convinced last time. He's only been there for a few months this time. Isn't he not giving face to others? Even if you want a new cooperation, you have to find someone else."
Robin said with a smile: "You said it. Okay, then Eric is very smart and discerning, He also refuses to allow us to obtain agency rights in other countries, so the effect will probably be similar if someone else is sent there.
In the past few months, you have been the one who has been in contact with him, so the relationship is pretty good. , why don't you have a frank talk with him and see what kind of conditions can make him agree to give us exclusive agency rights in other countries?"
"Does it have to be me?" Robert asked again. road.
Robin said: "I think it's up to you, Robert. This post-it note has now been favored by the board of directors, which attaches great importance to the agency rights of other countries. If according to what you said, it may not be useful if others go there, then In the end, I guess it’s up to you to take action.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.” After thinking for a while, Robert finally agreed.
In fact, being able to discover the market potential of post-it notes at the earliest, and go directly to Hong Kong to find the patentee and win the agency rights in the United States is already a huge success for 3M. After all, the U.S. market is in this era. At least it accounts for about 40% of the global market.
But the capitalists’ desire for money is unlimited, and they will not be satisfied. When the US market becomes available, they will think about other markets, and even want production rights and even patents themselves.
However, the person in Hong Kong is obviously also a very powerful person, and he must have his own ideas
Hong Kong:
During this period, Yang Wendong was also paying serious attention to Congdong Shengyun Several new pieces of equipment have come over. This new equipment will affect the speed of his future production capacity increase, but there have been no major problems. It is just that the scrap rate is slightly higher than the previous small equipment.
On the other side, the high and low temperature boxes purchased from Japan were also shipped over. This equipment is a standard part. Once the money is available, it will be shipped over by sea soon. In addition, Yang Wendong has some connections at the Wharf Wharf. , Picking up the goods is also very fast.
After the high and low temperature chamber arrived, the sticky mouse board and sticky notes were put in for experiments. In addition, some glue was purchased from the market for experiments.
Unfortunately, I wanted to recruit a professional who knew something about chemistry, but I could never find one in Hong Kong. I commissioned a headhunter from Japan and contacted two qualified Chinese chemical engineers. The company refused directly.
Without professional people, professional matters will be difficult. It was done, and Yang Wendong now understood why many countries in previous lives could not accomplish many things due to lack of talents.
However, Yang Wendong soon received good news:
In the independent office, Yang Wendong held a black plastic square in his hand and kept turning it.
The surface of this large square has 9 small squares on each side, which is naturally the most famous toy in the past life: the Rubik's Cube.
It’s just that at this moment, there is no color on it, it is all pure black. When people of this era put something like this in front of their eyes, they don’t know what it can do. They can only see that it is a square thing that can rotate~< br>
After spinning for a while, Yang Wendong put down the "Rubik's Cube" and said: "It's not bad. There's no lag in spinning. It basically meets my requirements."
"It took a few After a few months, we finally succeeded," Hong Xuefei said with a smile.
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said: "Old Wei, together with Lao Hong, register all the structures and parts of this thing for patents worldwide."
"Okay." Wei Zetao agreed immediately, then looked at the square object in his hand and asked: "Yang Sheng, what is the name of this thing? A registered patent must also have a name."
Yang Wendong said: "It's called the Rubik's Cube. If it's an English name, it's called magictube."
Anyway, no one knows what the use of this thing is before the color is marked. I have registered a structural patent first.
Wei Zetao asked again: "Yang Sheng, if patents are registered in most countries around the world, this kind of structural parts may cost tens of thousands of Hong Kong dollars."
"I know, Just register a global patent." Yang Wendong confirmed again.
“Okay.” Wei Zetao said, “Then I will go find Lawyer Zhang now.”
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said to Hong Xuefei: "Old Hong, you have worked hard during this period. This month, I will give you a separate bonus."
"Thank you, Yang Sheng. "Hong Xuefei was delighted. Whoever comes out to work doesn't do it for money.
A few days later, Wei Zetao and Hong Xuefei came to Yang Wendong's office, bringing with them the patent application return letters for the four internal structures of the Rubik's Cube and the combined structures.
“Not bad.” Yang Wendong glanced at the five patent documents in his hand. Although the certificate has not been officially issued, with this, unless others can come up with similar documents or patents that have been applied for in advance, it will be the same as normal. The patent certificate has the same legal effect.
Wei Zetao smiled and said: "The Hong Kong application has been completed. Because of the existence of the Paris Convention, basically all patents from the West and even countries as far as Japan are basically equivalent to registration.
However, Lawyer Zhang will still go through the normal application process, and it is estimated that he will be able to obtain the relevant return documents from all countries within two months. "
"Well, then, there is still this patent, please make another trip. Yang Wendong took out a colorful Rubik's Cube from his pocket and said with a smile: "This is the real value of the Rubik's Cube. The original Rubik's Cube has one face and one color, a total of 6 colors. Then it is disrupted, and then, Just to restore him."
It took a few minutes, Yang Wendong introduced how to play the Rubik's Cube, and then threw two colored Rubik's Cubes to the two of them.
" Is this an intellectual toy? "Wei Zetao looked at it for a while and asked.
As someone who has worked in the plastics industry for half his life, he is naturally familiar with many kinds of toys, and intellectual toys are also one of them. There are many kinds of them. But it basically tests children's thinking
"Yes, but this is not just for children, adults can also play with it." Yang Wendong smiled and said: "You can try to restore the color of this toy that has been disrupted."< br>
"Okay." Wei Zetao and Hong Xuefei already knew how to play the Rubik's Cube and started tinkering with it immediately.
One minute;
Five minutes;
Ten minutes;
After struggling for a while, the two of them had no clue at all. Even Hong Xuefei was seriously thinking about the internal structure invented by him, but no matter what, he couldn't figure out how to restore the previous color.
Yang Wendong joked and smiled: "How is it?"
"We will not be able to recover in a short time." Wei Zetao also readily admitted.
"Haha, in a short period of time, it seems that you are still confident." Yang Wendong smiled. Said: "Then take these two back and study them when you have time after get off work. If any of you can find a recovery method, I will give you a reward of 1,000 yuan."
"Really?" Hong Xuefei was immediately moved after hearing this.
Yang Wendong said: "Of course, when have I ever broken a promise?"
"Then I will study it carefully." Hong Xuefei suddenly became excited.
Yang Wendong said again: "Research is research, let's register the shape patent first."
(End of this chapter)