Chapter 102 3M's Intentions and the Birth of the Rubik's Cube
Chapter 102 3M's Intentions and the Birth of the Rubik's Cube
Los Angeles, USA:
In a warehouse covering 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, 3M is different from other industrial giants of the same level in that most of its products are small things closely related to life.
Such as tape, household utensils, small furniture, kitchen containers, plastic bags, sponges, brushes, cleaning wool, gloves, plastic wrap, paper, magnetic tapes, etc. There are thousands of types, and there is nothing he doesn't have, except what you can't think of.
Many of them were invented by 3M, or have been improved and innovated to a certain extent. 3M's world-leading R&D and invention capabilities have enabled it to have the most patent registrations in the world, and have also made its small commodities best-sellers around the world. Even if each one is of very little value, the combined value has made 3M one of the top 50 large companies in the United States.
However, with such a complex variety of products, it is natural to rely on strong logistics capabilities. 3M has its own warehouses and fleets in many locations in the United States.
Robert stood not far from a truck, watching a forklift unload several pallets of packed sticky notes from the truck.
His old friend, Robin, who had blond hair and blue eyes with big waves, said, "Robert, this number of sticky notes is still seriously insufficient. Even California and Nevada cannot meet this demand."
Robert shrugged elegantly and said, "Yes, I know that, but it takes time to increase production capacity in Hong Kong. I have told them many times, and they also said that they are trying their best to expand production capacity."
"Is it because of funding issues?" Robin asked, "I know he previously advanced us a sum of money for goods. If he still needs funds, I think we can advance him another sum of money."
"So good? Are the higher-ups so easy to talk to?" Robert was a little surprised and asked, "Are you still going to use the patent of the sticky notes as collateral? I've tried it before. If you want, send someone else to Hong Kong to talk to Eric!"
"Not really." Robin said with a smile, "What they meant was that they wanted the exclusive distribution rights for sticky notes in other countries."
"Well, that's a normal reason." Robert nodded and said, "But I also talked to Eric, and he made it clear that they don't have enough production capacity and can't expand on a large scale immediately, so they will explore the US market first."
Robin smiled and said, "I know, so this is my purpose. Although there are other problems in expanding their production capacity, the most fundamental one is still funding, right? With sufficient funds, it is not a problem for such a simple product to expand its production capacity by dozens of times within two or three months.
As long as the production capacity is sufficient, he will be able to obtain higher profits, and we will also be able to obtain high profits in the US market.
We also want to replicate this in other countries, which is a win-win for us and Eric.”
"How much money are you willing to advance him?" Robert asked curiously.
Robin held up a finger and said, "A million dollars?"
"One million? Above." Robert paused, looked around to see that there were no people around, and asked, "Are you crazy? Last time, it took me three days to convince them to raise the price of the Post-it Note patent to 100?"
One million US dollars was a huge sum of money in the United States at that time. Even 100M, with an annual turnover of less than ten billion US dollars, was already one of the largest industrial groups in the United States.
Robin explained: "Robert, you are indeed the first person in the company to discover the value of sticky notes, and just as you predicted, sticky notes are now very popular.
But this is just your prediction, and the exact number is unknown; after learning that Post-it Notes were popular in California, the company's top management arranged for a professional market actuary to do a detailed investigation, and obtained a very shocking number. "
"Oh, what is the forecast for the North American market?" Robert asked curiously.
Robin was right. Even though he knew that there were huge opportunities in post-it notes, he had no idea how big the market was. It would take very professional people to conduct very professional investigations and obtain a large amount of relevant data to make a prediction.
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 percent will not affect the level of the predicted number, as long as the difference is not several times.
Robin said: "The data predicted by the marketing department is about 3000-5000 million US dollars per year. Can you imagine this number?"
"3000 to 5000 million US dollars?" Robert was shocked when he heard the number and asked, "Can it be that much?"
You know, the 3M Group has countless gadgets in various fields, but all of them combined only account for more than one billion US dollars a year.
In the entire group, it seems that only a few core products have single product sales exceeding US$3000 million.
"Yes, it's incredible." Robin took out a sticky note from his pocket and said, "The structure of this thing is so simple, so simple that it can't be simplified any further, but this thing has such a huge market potential that it's hard to imagine. Most importantly, it has a patent.
Now the board of directors is very regretful that they should have asked you to raise the patent acquisition price a little bit more."
"Improve it a little? I guess it won't help!" Robert recalled his interactions 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, but there is no chance.” Robin said with a smile: “The value of sticky notes is indeed very high, but if you want to maximize its value, you need strong channel capabilities.
There are only a handful of large companies in 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 good at inventing patents, but also has a keen eye for business. I negotiated with him several times to get the distribution rights of sticky notes in the United States, and that was when the other party had nothing but patents.
From time limits to regional limits, he clearly has a plan. He is obviously worried that a single channel operator will erode his rights and interests. So if you want to take over other places outside the United States, it will be even more difficult. "
"As long as there are benefits, you won't be uncooperative, right?" Robin said with a frown.
"I don't know, it depends on Eric's idea." Robert said with a smile: "At the beginning, I felt that he didn't want to give us the 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 now doing well, and if he really wants to expand, it should not be difficult to borrow money from local banks and financial institutions."
"Is that so?" Robin looked at Robert again and said, "How about you go to Hong Kong this time?"
"I should go?" Robert objected quickly: "I failed to convince him last time. It's only been a few months and you're going there again. Isn't that disrespectful to him? Even if you want a new cooperation, you have to find someone else to go."
Robin smiled and said, "You said it all. Eric is very smart and has a good vision. He also refused to let us obtain the agency rights in other countries. So if we send someone else, the effect will probably be similar.
You have been in contact with him for the past few months, so your relationship is pretty good. Why don't you have a frank discussion with him and see what conditions will get him to agree to give us exclusive agency rights in other countries."
"It has to be me?" Robert asked again.
Robin said, "I think it has to be you, Robert. The board of directors has already taken a fancy to this sticky note, and they attach great importance to the agency rights in other countries. If what you said is true, it may not be useful for other people to go, then I guess you will have to do it in the end."
"Okay, I'll give it a try." Robert thought for a moment and finally agreed.
In fact, being able to first discover the market potential of Post-it Notes, and going directly to Hong Kong to find the patent holder and obtain the U.S. agency rights was already a huge success for 3M. After all, the U.S. market accounted for at least 40% of the global market at that time.
But capitalists’ desire for money is infinite and they will never be satisfied. Once they have the American market, they will start thinking about other markets and even want the production rights and the patent itself.
However, the one in Hong Kong is obviously also a very powerful person, and he must have his own ideas.
Hong Kong:
During this period, Yang Wendong has also been paying close attention to several new equipment shipped from Dongsheng. This new equipment will affect the speed of his future production capacity increase, but there have been no major problems. The only problem is that the scrap rate is slightly higher than the previous small equipment.
On the other hand, the high and low temperature boxes purchased from Japan were also shipped over. This type of equipment is a standard part, and it was quickly shipped over by sea once the money was in place. In addition, Yang Wendong had some connections at the Hutchison Whampoa Terminal, so the goods could be picked up quickly.
After the high and low temperature box arrived, the mouse trap and sticky notes were put in for the experiment. In addition, some glue was purchased from the market for testing.
Unfortunately, we wanted to recruit a professional who knows a little about chemistry, but we couldn't find one in Hong Kong. We commissioned a headhunter in Japan and contacted two Chinese chemical engineers who met the requirements. However, when they heard that we were going to come to Hong Kong and that we were a small company, they rejected us directly.
Without professionals, it would be difficult to accomplish professional tasks. Yang Wendong now understood why many countries in the past could not accomplish many things due to lack of talent.
However, Yang Wendong soon received good news:
In the independent office, Yang Wendong held a black plastic cube in his hand and kept turning it.
The surface of this big cube has 9 small cubes on each side, which is naturally the most famous toy in the previous life: the Rubik's Cube.
But at this moment, there is no color on it, it is all pure black. If such a thing is placed in front of people of this era, they don’t know what it can do. They can only see that it is a square thing that can rotate~
After spinning it for a while, Yang Wendong put down the "Magic Cube" and said, "Not bad, it spins without any lag, and basically meets my requirements."
"It took several months, but we finally succeeded." Hong Xuefei said with a smile.
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded, and then said: "Old Wei, you and Old Hong should register patents for all the structures and parts of this thing, worldwide."
"Okay." Wei Zetao agreed immediately, then looked at the cube in his hand and asked, "Mr. Yang, what is this thing called? A patent registration also requires a name."
Yang Wendong said: "It's called the Rubik's Cube. If it's called Magic Tube in English, it's called Magic Tube."
Anyway, no one knows what this thing is used for before the color is marked, so I'll register a structural patent first.
Wei Zetao asked again: "Mr. Yang, if the patent is registered in most countries around the world, this kind of structural part 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'll 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 bonus separately."
"Thank you, Mr. Yang." Hong Xuefei was delighted. Who wouldn't come out to work for money?
A few days later, Wei Zetao and Hong Xuefei came to Yang Wendong's office together, bringing with them the patent application reply letters for the four internal structures and combination structures of the Rubik's Cube.
"Good." Yang Wendong glanced at the five patent documents in his hand. Although the certificate had not been officially issued yet, with this, unless others could produce similar documents or patents applied for in advance, it would have the same legal effect as a normal patent certificate.
Wei Zetao smiled and said: "The application in Hong Kong has been completed. Because of the existence of the Paris Convention, basically all patents from Western countries to Japan are equivalent to registration.
However, Attorney Zhang will still follow the normal application process and will probably be able to get the relevant return documents from all countries within two months.”
"Well, then, I'll trouble you to make another trip for this patent." 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 color on each side, a total of 6 colors, and then it was scrambled, and then it was restored."
It took Yang Wendong a few minutes to introduce how to play the Rubik's Cube, and then he threw two colored Rubik's Cubes to the two people.
"Is this an intellectual toy?" Wei Zetao asked after looking at it for a while.
As someone who has worked in the plastics industry for half his life, he is naturally familiar with many different kinds of toys, and intellectual toys are one of them. There are many types of them, but basically they all test children's thinking.
"Yes, but this is not just for children, adults can play with it too." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "You can try to restore the color of this toy that has been disrupted."
"Okay." Wei Zetao and Hong Xuefei already knew how to play the Rubik's Cube, and immediately started tinkering with it.
One minute;
5 minutes;
10 minutes;
After struggling for a while, the two still had no idea. Even Hong Xuefei, who was thinking seriously about the internal structure he invented, could not figure out how to restore the original color.
Yang Wendong laughed and said, "How is it?"
"We can't recover in a short period of time." Wei Zetao also readily admitted it.
"Haha, it's a short time. It seems you are still confident." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Then take these two back and study them when you have time after get off work. If anyone of you can find a way to restore the original body, I will give you a reward of 1000 yuan."
"Really?" Hong Xuefei was immediately moved after hearing this.
Yang Wendong said: "Of course, when have I ever broken my promise?"
"Then I'll have to study it carefully." Hong Xuefei suddenly became excited.
Yang Wendong added: "Research is research, let's first register the patent for the appearance."
(End of this chapter)