Chapter 89 Technology Optimization and Expansion Requirements

Chapter 89 Technology Optimization and Expansion Requirements

Chapter 89 Technology Optimization and Expansion Requirements

When Zhou Zhigang heard the number, he was overjoyed and asked, "Mr. Yang, I wonder what kind of improvements you need. I have been in Hong Kong for more than ten years, and I am definitely among the top three in terms of equipment."

Yang Wendong said: "This speed is too slow. I want to increase the speed. It would be best if it were of similar size, or slightly larger, so that the speed can be increased several times."

Many times, slow production speed cannot be increased by simply relying on the number of equipment, because too much equipment will cause serious management costs, which is not only a matter of money, but also the energy of management.

It is even more difficult to control quality.

Zhou Zhigang thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, it is theoretically feasible, but we need to redesign it. However, there is no doubt that such equipment will require high-precision foreign parts and motors, and the cost will definitely be very expensive."

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then let's design it first. I need to look at the cost before making a decision."

If a good device is much more expensive than several cheap ones combined for the same production capacity, then naturally I won’t consider it; but if they are similar or slightly more expensive, then naturally I will have to replace them.

The simplest example is the beverage equipment of later generations. Before the 80s, many of them were small workshop models, but in the 21st century, they were large assembly lines. Even though the cost of the assembly line was particularly high, it was convenient for quality control.

Although sticky notes are much simpler, if a huge output is produced by hundreds or thousands of small devices, the quality management will be a mess. This is something Yang Wendong needs to avoid as much as possible, especially since there are no computers yet.

Zhou Zhigang said: "Okay, we will design the relevant data first and then show it to you."

"Thank you very much." Yang Wendong said with a smile. The fact that Hong Kong has these equipment is good news for those of them who run factories and make products.

Zhou Zhigang added: "Mr. Yang, I know that Changxing Industrial has sticky mouse boards in addition to sticky notes. In fact, these sticky mouse boards can also be produced by equipment."

"Equipment production?" Yang Wendong asked, "Is it much cheaper than manual painting?"

"It's hard for me to say. It may be a little more expensive, but it can be produced in a standardized manner." Zhou Zhigang thought for a while and replied.

Yang Wendong smiled faintly and said, "Then don't think about it for now, we'll talk about it later."

The labor cost in Hong Kong today is the same as that in mainland China in the early 80s. Equipment is expensive but labor is cheap. For many industries, it is much more cost-effective to use labor than equipment.

The lower the level of the industry, the more obvious it is. Therefore, in Hong Kong today and in the mainland 80 years later, many industries are labor-intensive industries, which means that they do not require any equipment, or a small amount of auxiliary equipment, and products are mainly produced or assembled by manual labor.

However, Post-it Notes are not considered low-end products and cannot be mass-produced by manpower. They can only be produced using high-precision equipment.

Mouse sticky boards can naturally be produced manually, and it is simply a matter of applying glue.

Don’t say that it’s more expensive to produce mouse traps using equipment now. Even if the cost is about the same, or even if the labor cost may be a little more expensive, he will still use the manual mode.

The first reason is that he also wants to help people who live in squatter settlements like he once did; the second reason is that in this chaotic society, he needs to control a large number of jobs to protect himself. The more jobs he controls, the better the Hong Kong government will be able to manage Hong Kong. This is a positive auxiliary effect.

Not to mention the British, even the Japanese devils knew that they had to stabilize the local big entrepreneurs when they occupied the place militarily.
Zhou Zhigang smiled and said, "I see, but I have a second suggestion. We don't need to use the same equipment as sticky notes, but we can use the simplest assembly line.

For example, after Changxing’s employees apply the glue, the current process is to put it aside to dry, which is very inefficient. However, if a slow-moving assembly line is used, the glue can be placed directly on the assembly line and taken away, and then handled by dedicated personnel at the terminal.

This not only saves time, but also saves space. Mr. Yang should understand the reason behind this.”

"Well, that makes sense." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, next time you have a chance, send someone to deliver the information to our company."

The profit margin of sticky mouse boards is not very high either, because there is competition from other ways of catching mice, unlike Post-it notes.

It would naturally be better to increase efficiency a little while being able to use manpower on a large scale, especially the utilization rate of factory space, which also seriously affects the profits of an enterprise.

"That's no problem, I'll send someone there in a few days." Zhou Zhigang said with a smile, "Another point is that the amount of glue on the mouse trap can actually be controlled by a simple device.

We can also design an outlet with a fixed output volume, which can ensure that there is no less glue and no waste.”

After listening to this, Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou is really thoughtful. However, we already have controls in this regard internally."

As a soul from the 21st century, although he is not proficient in factory management, he also knows the role of standardized processes. The main cost of the mouse sticky board is glue, so he naturally has to control the amount of it.

Zhou Zhigang added: "I know Mr. Yang has some measures, but the method I provide is to control the amount of glue extruded by electric means, which will have a very high precision.

I can also set the count, so your company's managers don't have to count the quantity every day, they only need to count the glue control equipment to know the production capacity."

"Count? How to count?" Yang Wendong asked curiously. Without an LCD display, he had no idea how to operate it.

Zhou Zhigang said with a smile: "It is controlled by a counter, just like our watches. The number of counts can control the switch jumps of ten thousand, thousand, hundred, ten and unit digits respectively."

"Interesting." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, as long as you can make it and it can benefit our factory, I will buy it."

In his previous life, Yang Wendong had visited many modern factories and knew the importance of precise control; but the prerequisite for the realization of industry in his previous life was modern computer control.

Coming to this era, naturally he had nothing. Even if he wanted to manage the factory well, he was powerless. Besides, his main energy was focused on customers in the past period of time.

But now it seems that this era also has its own methods.

Zhou Zhigang said: "Okay, Mr. Yang, I will make these things in the shortest possible time."

Yang Wendong asked: "Mr. Zhou is very proficient in factory management?"

Zhou Zhigang said with a smile: "I can't say I am proficient in it. I have some experience and I have figured it out. Also, many of our customers are large factories in Hong Kong. Even the warehouses of Ocean Company sometimes use our equipment."

Yang Wendong asked again: "Mr. Zhou, if I want to recruit someone who is more proficient in management, what do you think?"

Now, including the past few months, it was not a big problem to mess around with my own small factory, but now that the scale is getting bigger and bigger, especially with the support of 3M, even if I can't use the management methods of my previous life, I still have to have the efficient management of this era.

Zhou Zhigang thought for a moment and said, "As for factory management, there are actually not many companies in Hong Kong that are good at it, and there aren't many talented people. I do know a few, but they are my big clients, so it's not convenient for me to tell you their information. Besides, they are all senior managers in big factories. Mr. Yang, I'm very optimistic about you, but it's unlikely that you can poach them now."

"Well, I know that. I'm just preparing for the future." Yang Wendong smiled. Zhou Zhigang was telling the truth and he didn't mind such words.

Zhou Zhigang added: "Mr. Yang, let me tell you the simplest truth: if you want to poach people from any industry, just look at the largest company in that industry.

For example, if you are in the beverage business, you would hire people from Swire. If you are in the warehouse business, you would hire people from Wharf Holdings. If you are in the factory business, you would hire people from the largest factory.”

"Cheung Kong Holdings?" The first person Yang Wendong thought of was Lao Li.

There is no way. Now Cheung Kong Industries has become the largest factory in Hong Kong relying on plastic flowers. It has been hailed as the Plastic Flower King by newspapers many times. This is not just the king of Hong Kong, but the global level.

Zhou Zhigang shrugged and said, "I didn't say anything."

"Okay." Yang Wendong smiled and asked, "Is Cheung Kong also your client?"

"Yes, they are big customers. Many of their injection molding machines are purchased from us," Zhou Zhigang said with a smile.

This is not a big secret and there is no need to hide it. Besides, supplying equipment to the largest factory in Hong Kong is something that should be publicized.

"Injection molding machine?" Yang Wendong nodded. If he made his own Rubik's Cube in the future, he might have to buy an injection molding machine.

Because the old equipment they had at home could only produce the crudest plastics, which could not meet the basic quality requirements of high-end toys.
After returning from Dongsheng, Yang Wendong found Hong Xuefei and asked about the progress of the Rubik's Cube structure.

Hong Xuefei said, "Mr. Yang, we have already developed a 2nd-order rotating cube. We have made some progress on the 3rd-order one, but it still doesn't meet your requirements."

"Let me see the level 2 block." Yang Wendong said quickly.

At present, it is no secret within Changxing Industry that the research on the "Magic Cube" is ongoing. After all, with such a small factory and several researchers spending every day on it, it is hard for others not to know about it.

But except Yang Wendong, no one knew what the function of this thing was. He did not say the name "Magic Cube", but just used "rotating cube" instead.

Taking the 2nd-order rotating cube from Hong Xuefei, Yang Wendong turned it for a while and it was very smooth, but it didn't make much sense. Then he asked: "Is the principle of the 3rd-order rotating cube the same as this?"

"We are currently working in the same direction, but things are not going smoothly." Hong Xuefei explained: "Although there is only one level difference, the difficulty has increased by at least ten times."

"Well, start with separate blocks in six directions, and then slowly add small blocks." Yang Wendong suggested after thinking for a while.

Although he was not very clear about the internal structure of the Rubik's Cube, the block in the center of each rotating face must be the core.

Hong Xuefei said, "Okay, Mr. Yang."

"Thank you for your hard work. If you have any questions later, just come to me directly." Yang Wendong said again.

He had never done any design in his previous life, but he was a person of the Internet age after all, and he had a lot of knowledge. However, most of the time he himself couldn't remember what was useful.

Perhaps, when others ask him questions, he will have some unique understanding, which may be his "golden finger"
The next day, Yang Wendong came to the factory early. Dongsheng's equipment was brought over yesterday afternoon and debugged overnight. Because the structure was similar to that of Japan, it was put into operation this morning.

Yang Wendong looked at it for a while and asked Aaron beside him: "Aaron, how does this equipment compare to the Japanese ones?"

Aaron was one of the first employees to learn how to use the Japanese sticky note equipment. He also had a very good attitude and was even teaching himself some Chinese. He was considered to be one of the employees that Yang Wendong in the factory was quite optimistic about.

Aaron said: "I see that the equipment runs similarly, but this equipment seems to have some gaps in glue control. Occasionally, there will be too much glue on some sticky notes."

Yang Wendong said, "Well, this is a new imitation device, so it's normal to have problems. Write them down, and call Dongsheng in a couple of days and ask them to fix it."

Aaron asked: "Shall I fight?"

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Yes, come and fight. Don't be afraid. You are the customer, you are the big brother, they should be afraid of you."

"Brother Dong, I have never made a phone call in my life. This is the first time I've seen you here." A Long said a little embarrassedly.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It's okay. There's always a first time. You'll get used to it."

Afterwards, Zhao Liming also came over to look at it for a while and said, "Brother Dong, it looks like there are only some differences in details."

"Well, this equipment is not complicated. Dongsheng has been an equipment company for more than ten years, so it still has this capability." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "Have the sticky notes made in the past few days been sent to the United States?"

Zhao Liming said: "Yes, they were all sent by air freight. 3M paid for the air freight, which was several times more expensive than our products. Only they were willing to pay that."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Now is the time for them to expand the market. Compared with the marketing expenses, this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket."

Zhao Liming added: "When Dongsheng's equipment is gradually delivered, our output will exceed 5 per day, but this number is far from meeting 3M's requirements."

"It's as expected." Yang Wendong said. This kind of market can explode instantly, but the products can only be made by relying on equipment. There will definitely be insufficient production capacity in the early stage and expansion is needed.

Zhao Liming added: "But now there is another problem. Even if Dongsheng sends another 20 devices, our factory can barely accommodate them.

But if we buy more equipment, or the equipment with higher capacity that you mentioned, then we won’t have enough space in our factory;

In particular, according to our internal estimates, the sales of mouse traps after the beginning of next spring will probably be ten times that of this year.”

……

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)