Chapter 3 Ambition
Chapter 3 Ambition
Today, Weiku Electronics is just a generic mobile phone manufacturer and there is actually no project that requires in-depth research.
They make low-end feature phones, using chips from Lianke and various components provided by mature suppliers.
Even for the mobile phone design plan, Lianke has already provided the public version design. The main research and development of Weiku Electronics is actually to modify the public version mobile phone design plan, delete some functions, put on a shell and sell it directly.
It’s that easy to make a mobile phone using Lianke’s turnkey solution!
But even this is actually much better than most mobile phone workshops in Huaqiangnan.
Many mobile phone workshops in Huaqiangnan are unable to handle mobile phone design plans and often need to purchase mobile phone design plans from outside, and are only responsible for the appearance and assembly.
The price of mobile phone design plans is also very cheap. You can buy a set based on the public version for about 15,000 yuan, which will give you a customized mobile phone design plan with some small details.
However, the public version mobile phones produced in this way are basically the same except for the outer shell, and lack market competitiveness. Generally, only small workshops will do this, and they are not presentable even in Huaqiang South.
Some unknown-brand mobile phone manufacturers that have grown in scale and have some ambitions will hire their own R&D personnel to design mobile phone solutions on their own. In this way, they can make mobile phones that are somewhat different from public version mobile phones based on company needs and market changes, thereby enhancing their market competitiveness. The most important thing is to be able to quickly adapt to the rhythm of the market... and copy faster!
Weiku Electronics is one of them. In fact, Weiku Electronics is already considered a relatively powerful manufacturer in Huaqiang South.
In addition to OEM and private label products, the company ships more than 500,000 mobile phones annually. It also has its own mobile phone R&D department, a fairly large assembly production line, and some spare parts production lines, with a total number of several hundred employees.
Unfortunately, they are all low-end feature phones, mainly OEM and self-owned brands!
The production and sales volume of 500,000 units is not as much as the profit made by selling tens of thousands of units of big brand machines.
Now Xu Shenxue wants to reverse this situation. He not only needs to stabilize or even expand sales, but also increase gross profit margin as much as possible.
But if you want to achieve this, then the research and development of mobile phones is the top priority, and the high-frequency machine sea strategy relies on the frequent launch of new models...
Even if the new model just changes the shell, it also involves changes in the internal structure and appearance design, which all require efforts from the R&D department.
After carefully looking through the resumes of the employees in the R&D department, I didn't find any big surprises or unexpected events.
Apart from Xie Jianyong, there is only one person worth noting, and that is Tang Gaochi, the team leader of the software group. He is a top student in the computer science department of a top university with good technical skills. He is the backbone of the software group... and his salary level is also comparable to that of Xie Jianyong.
The other technical backbones are just so-so, not that great, but they can do their job.
There are also several fresh graduates with good foundation. Although their current abilities are not very good, we are still quite attentive during the recruitment process and select those with solid theoretical foundation. They may become technical backbones with subsequent training.
After reading it, Xu Shenxue asked Xie Jianyong to call in Tang Gaochi, several technical backbones, and several key talents. He had a brief chat with them, talked about his heart, and made some promises. He also mentioned that the company decided to increase the project bonus for the R&D department. In addition, it would provide some additional benefits, such as free coffee, snacks, and free midnight snacks.
Finally, I encouraged them to work hard and live up to their youth.
Xu Shenxue's words actually made Tang Gaochi and the others feel quite a bit better about him. It wasn't because of any heart-to-heart talk or anything like that. Everyone just skipped over these words, even the fresh graduates were not interested in them.
We all come here to work and earn money, and what you say hurts our feelings... But if you talk about adding project bonuses, that’s a different story, boss, whatever you say goes!
Xu Shenxue's purpose in chatting with them was not to call them over, but to give them the scientific research quotas exchanged for achievement points...including Xie Jianyong.
Although Xie Jianyong is a bit older, he is a serious technical backbone. The whole machine design, circuit boards, and internal structure design basically all depend on him. It is necessary to give him a scientific research quota to make his R&D efficiency higher.
The operating system was exchanged for ten D-level scientific research places. After all ten scientific research places were distributed, Xu Shenxue would have to see what their actual results were.
Those who achieve good results will continue to use their research quotas, and then receive a small salary increase as an incentive.
If someone's results are not very good, his research quota will be taken back and given to new employees!
According to the discussion at the meeting, Weiku Electronics has launched a new high-frequency machine strategy and is preparing to recruit several more R&D personnel.
By then, a few vacancies will be freed up for newly recruited R&D personnel.
After all the scientific research quotas were issued, Xu Shenxue's system page also had ten employees using D-level scientific research quotas. If he wanted to cancel the quota later, he could just remove it in this interface. It was simple and convenient.
----
After leaving the R&D department, Xu Shenxue returned to the office. At this time, an office assistant came over and said that the HTZ mobile phone that was commissioned for purchase had been purchased.
After taking the phone box and opening it, Xu Shenxue saw a smartphone with a sidesliding keyboard in his hand. The smartphone looked very thick and had many buttons on the chin.
This is the HTZ-G1 that was released just half a month ago, the world's first Android phone, and it is only sold overseas. The people in the general manager's office bought it at the Huaqiang South Market at a high premium.
Xu Shenxue tried to play with the phone for a while, and then compared it with the Fruit 3G released in June this year. After repeatedly comparing and pondering for a long time, Xu Shenxue asked someone to call up Xie Jianyong, the manager of the R&D department.
After Xie Jianyong came in, he was the first to speak: "Boss Xu, what can I do for you?"
Xu Shenxue just left the R&D department an hour ago...why were he called back here?
Xu Shenxue stood up and walked out from his desk. As he walked towards the sofa, he said, "Old Xie, come and have some tea together."
"Yesterday, a supplier just sent me some tea, saying it was authentic Da Hong Pao from Wuyi Mountain. That person was just bragging. How could there be so much authentic Da Hong Pao? Come, help me taste it and see how much of the Da Hong Pao flavor this tea has!"
Xie Jianyong was a little uncomfortable with Xu Shenxue's enthusiasm: "I'm sorry to ask you to make tea, Mr. Xu. I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Xu Shenxue made tea expertly while saying, "Why should I be embarrassed? You are in charge of the R&D department. Whether the high-frequency sea-of-machine tactics can be carried out in the future depends on you. It's nothing for me to make you a cup of tea!"
After a few simple words, when the first round of tea was ready, Xu Shenxue handed over the teacup and said, "Come on, try it!"
Xie Jianyong picked up the small cup, took a sip, and then said, "Good tea. Although I don't know much about tea, this tea tastes really good!"
Xu Shenxue smiled and said, "Really? It seems that the supplier didn't exaggerate too much!"
Putting down the teacup, Xu Shenxue said, "Old Xie, please pay more attention to the research and development of subsequent new models!"
As he spoke, Xu Shenxue stood up and took two mobile phones from the desk, pointing at the HTZ phone and asked, "Do you know this phone?"
Xie Jianyong looked at the phone on the coffee table and said without hesitation: "Is this the HTZ-G1 phone that was launched overseas last month? It uses the new Google Android system."
Xie Jianyong is engaged in mobile phone research and development, and what he does is "independent micro-innovation" research and development. What he has to do every day is to check what new mobile phones have appeared on the market, what new functions and features they have, and keep up with market trends at all times!
The HTZ-G1 mobile phone is unfamiliar to ordinary people in China today, but it is not unfamiliar to him as an insider in the industry.
Although he had never seen the real thing, he had seen a lot of pictures and recognized it at a glance.
Xu Shenxue said: "Yes, it is the HTZ-G1. I asked someone to buy a smuggled product from Huaqiang South. It was just delivered!"
As he spoke, Xu Shenxue put the Fruit 3G in his hand on the table again: "Take a look at this!"
Xie Jianyong was even more familiar with the second mobile phone. It was the Fruit 3G that had just been launched in June this year and was also sold overseas. There were currently no official products in China, but there were many parallel imports. He bought one at a high price from Huaqiangnan.
Compared to the HTZ-G1 which is not so famous, the Fruit 3G is a popular model sweeping the world.
Although it has not yet been released in China, there are countless reports about it. Even in Huaqiangnan, the parallel-imported Fruit 3G phones are very popular.
However, Xie Jianyong didn't know what Xu Shenxue wanted to do by taking out the phone today.
He looked at HTZ's phone, then at the fruit machine, and finally fixed his eyes on the fruit machine, and asked in confusion: "We are doing this?"
"It's hard to make a high-end imitation of Apple's smartphones. The Nucleus OS system we use now is hard to modify to have an interface similar to a smartphone, and there's no way to use touch screen input."
"Even if we don't consider this, a 3.5-inch screen is too big. Even if we don't use a retina screen, a low-end 3.5-inch screen is not cheap. The cost of making a machine like this is too high. If we sell it at a high price, no one will want it. If we sell it at a low price, we will lose money."
It's a low-end imitation phone, and it can't be sold at a high price.
Hearing this, Xu Shenxue was a little speechless. Who told you to make a high-end imitation phone of Apple... and a high-end imitation phone of Apple under the Nucleus OS system, what a wild imagination.
Xu Shenxue held the Fruit 3G phone in one hand and said, "Look at the Fruit phone. It's just the right size. The multi-touch control is fast and convenient. The design is simple. There are no physical buttons on the front except for the return button at the bottom. It's very good in every aspect. But it's too expensive. I'm afraid it will cost around yuan when it goes on sale in China in the future!"
Then Xu Shenxue picked up the HTZ phone again: "As for this Android HTZ phone, well, the others are not reliable, especially the side-sliding full keyboard, which is superfluous. It is not only ugly but also makes the body too thick and heavy. It is also too expensive. If it is launched in China, it will probably cost more than 4,000 yuan."
"However, the Android system installed here has great potential!"
As he spoke, Xu Shenxue placed the two phones side by side on the coffee table. "What do you think? Can we make an Android smartphone that is fully touch-controlled, has very few physical buttons, has a simpler and prettier appearance, an optimized interface design, and is cheaper, so that it costs more than 2,000 yuan?"
(End of this chapter)