Chapter 103: Conspiracy
Chapter 103: Conspiracy
Three days later, Yang Wendong came to the new factory and once again saw Hong Xuefei and Wei Zetao, who now had dark circles under their eyes.
"Old Hong, how's the research on restoring the Rubik's Cube going?" Yang Wendong asked jokingly.
There is no doubt that the dark circles under the eyes are caused by staying up late, and the purpose of staying up late is naturally because of the Rubik's Cube. After all, 1000 yuan is a very large sum of money in this era, and you can buy a bathroom in any place with less money.
Hong Xuefei shook his head and said, "We haven't figured it out yet, so we don't know how to restore it."
Yang Wendong smiled again and said, "Don't worry about it. Don't take it too seriously. Your health is important. Don't ruin it."
Hong Xuefei could only say: "I don't stay up late to study this Rubik's Cube. I go to bed at nine o'clock every night.
But I kept thinking about how to solve the Rubik's Cube, and I couldn't fall asleep. I finally fell asleep, and then I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this problem again."
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "It seems that Lao Hong still likes research. I tried several times but failed to figure it out, so I stopped thinking about this problem."
Yang Wendong nodded and said to Lao Hong: "Give me the Rubik's Cube."
"Okay." Hong Xuefei handed over the Rubik's Cube.
After Yang Wendong took the Rubik's Cube, he turned it in his hands at lightning speed. In less than 3 minutes, he restored the original layout of 6 sides and 6 colors.
"How is this possible!" Hong Xuefei was immediately dumbfounded. He had been studying it for several days but couldn't find any solution. He was like a headless fly, running around in circles.
But in the hands of others, it recovered in just a short while.
Wei Zetao next to him was also a little bit incredulous. Although he had not studied the Rubik's Cube in depth, after playing with it for a while, he knew that it would be difficult to restore it.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "If you move this Rubik's Cube a few times, the color layout will be completely different. Theoretically, there are billions of different states of 54 different color positions.
Therefore, there is a skill to restoring the Rubik's Cube. It requires a specific method to restore the Rubik's Cube from any form to its original state of 6 sides and 6 colors."
"Mr. Yang, how long did it take you to come up with this research?" Hong Xuefei asked.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "I don't have this ability, but someone else has figured it out, but don't ask who it is."
"Okay." Hong Xuefei nodded. He still felt a little strange, but he didn't ask too much about his boss.
Yang Wendong added: "There is no need to rush to research the restoration method. What we need to do now is to prepare the corresponding equipment and molds for production."
He was not planning to write down the restoration method and sell it together as he had done on Taobao in his previous life. That would be no fun.
Times have changed. In the past, Internet self-media was popular. Even if you didn’t say anything, others would check it online and find the video, so merchants would provide restoration methods.
But in this era, no one knows how to restore it, so we can make this a selling point, and when someone figures it out in the future, we can change the way of selling it.
Hong Xuefei said: "Mr. Yang, we need to make a set of molds. The previous ones were all made by hand, and according to your requirements, the surface smoothness is relatively high, but our existing injection molding machine is too old to make it.
In addition, we can directly use the two-color injection molding method, so that the Rubik's Cube parts will have various colors. "
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That means we have to buy new equipment."
The injection molding machine in my factory was included when I bought Hongxing Plastic Factory. It is more than ten years old and can’t be any older. It can be used to make the bottom plate of mouse traps, but it is not suitable for other complex and demanding ones.
Hong Xuefei nodded: "Yes, I have been to Dongsheng and their new injection molding machine can meet the requirements."
Wei Zetao also said: "Tung Shing's injection molding machines are very famous in Hong Kong's plastics industry. The quality is not inferior to that of foreign ones, and the price is also cheap. Now many factories also buy a lot of plastic flowers and high-end toy equipment from Tung Shing."
Yang Wendong said: "We should buy the equipment when necessary. We should buy one first. It doesn't take up much space. We can put it in a corner here. Then we should make a set of molds. The quality should be good."
"Okay." Hong Xuefei nodded and said, "Then I'll make a budget and give it to you later."
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "As soon as possible. Your design department doesn't need to do anything else recently. Get this done first."
Although Changxing Industrial is now quite large in scale, its products are very, very simple, relying solely on creativity.
Relatively speaking, the Magic Cube is the first product of my company with some technical content...
Hong Xuefei agreed and said, "Okay, Mr. Yang."
……
After Lao Hong left, Wei Zetao and Yang Wendong came into the office.
Wei Zetao said: "Mr. Yang, the data of the high temperature box test on the mouse sticky board has come out. The Japanese glue we have been using will liquefy at a high temperature of 50 degrees Celsius. The glue will slowly overflow, but the degree is very small.
At 60 degrees, it will liquefy severely and then flow all around.”
After listening to this, Yang Wendong said, “That is to say, in some high temperature environments, glue will overflow.
Then why did Lin Haoyu say that this phenomenon also occurred when he was in Hong Kong last year? The temperature in Hong Kong shouldn’t be that high, right? "
Wei Zetao replied: "It could also be due to the influence of time. Maybe when you are 30, a long time will lead to this situation.
Or maybe our glue is not that stable. After all, we don’t buy it directly from the manufacturer, but through traders, so there are many uncertainties involved.”
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "This is indeed a problem. We can only purchase this amount from traders."
In the earliest days, the glue for mouse traps was purchased directly from stores. Later, as the business expanded, we bought it directly from traders.
Later, when Wei Zetao and others arrived, they contacted the Japanese glue factory and wanted to buy directly, but they were rejected directly because they had a general agent in Hong Kong. Obviously, they would not destroy the cooperation for such a small amount.
Although our scale is getting bigger and bigger now, it is still a drop in the bucket for a glue factory. Unless one day our scale expands dozens or hundreds of times, the demand will be really huge.
Wei Zetao added: "We have now purchased a lot of similar glues on the market, and then tested them to see which one can be a better substitute."
"Well, that's fine." Yang Wendong nodded in agreement.
Wei Zetao added: "The environment of the mouse trap generally does not have high requirements for glue. As long as there is no glue overflow like this, and the mice can be caught, it basically meets the requirements.
But since we are going to change the glue, we have to do relevant tests and wait until we are sure there is no problem before changing it." "Well, we didn't need to pay too much attention when we were a small workshop, but now we have to formalize it." Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, "So, since the existing products can't withstand very high temperatures, we will temporarily avoid places that are too hot when shipping in the future, and ensure other places first.
Or maybe you can use another type of glue that is resistant to high temperatures for hotter areas in the future, that would also be fine.”
Now the temperature in the northern hemisphere is starting to rise, and Changxing Industrial has also visited many traders in winter and gained many potential customers.
Nowadays, many of the extra rat traps produced in winter have been cleared out, and the old factory has now started to produce rat traps at its full capacity.
Because it is mainly manual labor, the production capacity can expand very quickly, but the size of the place limits the upper limit. When the need arises in the future, we will probably have to change factories.
There is no way. Production capacity is expanding rapidly, and the factory may need to add a few more people a year, otherwise it will not be possible at all.
"Okay." Wei Zetao agreed.
Yang Wendong added: "The most important thing now is to determine the type of glue. Unfortunately, we don't have talent in this area. I don't think there is anyone in Hong Kong. Those traders don't understand the profound knowledge either."
Hong Kong does not have a glue industry, so naturally there is no talent in this area. Yang Wendong is helpless as he cannot poach talent from Japan. Perhaps there will always be someone willing to come, but it may take a long time.
Wei Zetao thought for a moment and said, "In fact, 3M should have talents in this area."
"3M? Well... of course there is, but are we asking them for advice on things that have nothing to do with sticky notes? Is that okay?" Yang Wendong asked after thinking for a while.
3M is the world's largest tape company. Even tape was invented by them. They also have derivative industries related to tape, such as double-sided tape, electrical tape, car film, etc.
No company in the world can match the breadth of its involvement. Many of these are related to glue, so they must have a large number of talents in this area and their own related industrial chains.
Wei Zetao said, "Maybe, but we were discussing business matters on the phone, so it's not appropriate to ask about this kind of thing.
But if face-to-face communication is possible, I received a call from Robert yesterday and he said he would come to Hong Kong in three days."
"Come to Hong Kong?" Yang Wendong immediately had a hint of doubt and asked, "I feel like there must be something wrong!"
This era is not as convenient as it will be decades later, when you can travel anywhere in the world by just taking a plane.
Even though airplanes already existed, they were far inferior to later airplanes in all aspects. Even the Boeing 747 had not yet been developed. It was very energy-consuming to travel to other continents.
Moreover, without mobile phones, communication was also a hassle. Unless there was something very important, no one would be bored and run around.
Wei Zetao agreed and said, "I also think it's not normal. I asked him and he didn't say anything, but I feel like he might need to talk to us about some business matters."
"It should be." Yang Wendong said, "It's probably because of the sticky note. Let's wait until he comes over."
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "If we meet in person, many things will be much easier to discuss. For example, we can ask Robert to introduce an expert in glue and we can just pay him. This will be of great help to our factory."
"Yeah, that's right." Yang Wendong nodded.
Opening a factory, especially one that is a bit complicated, really requires reliance on relevant talents.
If he just wanted to make a little money, then it would be fine if he could just make mouse traps, sticky notes or even Rubik's Cubes; but he had to insist on doing them well. At the very least, any product, even one with exclusive patent protection, must have matching quality if it wants to sell at a good price in order for the company to last long.
Three days later, Yang Wendong, Su Yiyi and Wei Zetao arrived at Kai Tak Airport to welcome Robert who came from the United States.
But this time, he was accompanied by a big foreign horse.
"Eric, this is my colleague Robin." Robert said with a smile.
Yang Wendong said politely: "Hello, Miss Robin."
"Hello." Robin also shook hands politely.
This time when Robert came to Hong Kong, the higher-ups were still a little concerned about him coming alone, so they asked her to come along as well.
"Let me take you two to the hotel." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
In the days when there were no direct flights from the United States to Hong Kong, it would probably take more than 20 hours or even longer. Add to that the time difference, so the first thing guests should do when arriving in Hong Kong is to rest.
"Okay." Robert nodded.
Afterwards, the two of them went to the hotel in Yang Wendong's car, while Lao Wei followed in a second-hand car.
The hotel they stayed in this time was still a big hotel in Hong Kong, because there were only a few good hotels in Hong Kong in the 50s.
The next day, Yang Wendong drove to the hotel again and took the two of them to visit his new factory.
Robert had been to the old factory before, and when he saw the new one, he smiled and said, "Eric, your factory is much better."
"Haha, by cooperating with 3M, we are naturally getting better and better." Yang Wendong smiled. To be honest, he couldn't stand his own factory before.
Robert nodded and said, "Post-it notes are already on sale in California and Nevada, and the demand is very high. The same should be true in other states of the United States.
With your current scale, you can supply about two states, but if other states also develop the market, it will definitely be too late."
Yang Wendong said: "I know, so I am also preparing for the next round of expansion."
"But it's still too slow." Robert said, "We at 3M are willing to advance you a considerable amount of low-interest loans so that you can expand. What do you think?"
"That's great." After listening to it, Yang Wendong smiled and asked, "But there is a saying in Chinese that there is no free lunch in the world. If someone takes the initiative to give you a benefit, they must have something to ask for."
Although it would be beneficial for 3M if his production capacity expanded faster, he did not believe that 3M would take the initiative to come to Hong Kong to provide him with funds at a low interest rate.
Robert smiled and said, "This sentence is very good, and there is a sentence with a similar meaning in English.
Our request is very simple. I told you last time that 3M also has strong sales channels in other places outside the United States. This time I came here to discuss this matter with you again. "
(End of this chapter)