Chapter 157 Changxing Industry is making a fortune
Chapter 157 Changxing Industry is making a fortune
In Tsim Sha Tsui, inside the Changxing Industrial factory, a large number of trucks are queuing in and out.
It was already a bit cool in Hong Kong in December, but the workers outside were still busy loading and unloading goods.
"Mr. Yang." Wei Zetao walked up to the boss who was watching the truck loading and greeted him.
"Old Wei!" Yang Wendong turned his head to look at the newcomer and asked, "Is the current production capacity of Post-it Notes sufficient for the US market?"
Wei Zetao replied: "It's still a little bit insufficient. The plan for the second phase of the factory has been released, and it will be ready for construction after New Year's Day at the beginning of next month.
The planned production capacity of the second phase will be even larger than the current first phase, so it will be sufficient for the US market.
We have already sent a small number of samples to the European and Japanese markets in the past two months, and we will focus on developing them next year.”
"Yes." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, can the equipment and technicians keep up?"
Wei Zetao said: “The current plan is actually mainly based on the consideration of equipment and personnel. Otherwise, if we just build the second phase, we just need to spend money.
We have basically paid off part of our previous debts, so it is easy for us to borrow again.”
"Haha." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Finally, we have overcome the situation where the bank blocked our borrowing."
The profitability of Post-it Notes is amazing. From July to December, within just 7 months, the company earned a net profit of more than HK$12 million while production capacity was still gradually increasing.
Although the previous loan has not been fully repaid, the subsequent production capacity will increase and the profits will only increase.
Banks are not fools. They will definitely be willing to lend money as long as they can ensure that the risk is very low.
He had previously spent a lot of money on newspapers, radio stations and new buildings in Central, and the success of his business was also due to the sticky note factory.
Wei Zetao nodded and said, "Yes, if there is no second phase factory plan, we will be able to pay off our debts including 3M Company and Hong Kong banks by March next year.
Now that we have a second phase plan, we will need to continue borrowing, and after the second phase is completed, we will make a profit and repay the debt.”
"Well, that's normal. We should expand production at this time until the market meets demand." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We can continue to look for other suppliers for equipment to speed up supply.
As for people, we need to train them steadily. It is best if those who produce sticky notes can read. Their wages can be increased appropriately, and we must ensure that there are no quality problems. "
People with academic qualifications are not necessarily better than those without, nor do they necessarily have a better attitude. When recruiting thousands of people, it is impossible for any company to screen them one by one. Screening by academic qualifications is the simplest and most common method.
With more people with higher education, overall work efficiency will definitely improve. This is the experience of any company. It just depends on whether the company is willing to pay the extra cost and whether there is demand for the product or service.
Wei Zetao said: "Okay, that's no problem, but what about the old employees who are currently working in the sticky note position? Should they be transferred to the mouse trap workshop or the hook assembly workshop?"
"Don't worry about this for now. We still need to take care of the old employees." Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, "Provide appropriate training for these people, so that they can learn a few hundred words, which will facilitate the company's management."
"Okay." Wei Zetao agreed. He also knew that the boss would take some care of the early employees.
This is actually normal, and many companies do this. Besides, taking care of old employees can also give new employees hope for the future.
Yang Wendong asked again: "Speaking of sticky hooks, how is the Japanese market doing recently?"
The sticky hook was launched in the Hong Kong market around August and quickly became popular. It was later introduced to Taiwan and then Japan.
Markets come one after another because the production capacity is not much in the early stage.
Wei Zetao said: "The feedback from the Japanese market is also very good, including Taiwan.
There is just one problem. There are other sticky hooks that have copied our ideas in the market, in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Zhao Chengguang has already appealed to the court and closed down the small factory in Hong Kong.
I also hinted to the Ngee Ann Association's OEMs to control others through some means. "
"Well, the black and white forces worked together, not bad." Yang Wendong nodded with a smile, and then asked: "Did the Yi'an Society try it themselves?"
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "Even if they do it secretly, how big can they do it? Even if the sticky hook has no patent, they can do it legally. Without external channels, aren't they still working for Hong Kong traders?
It would be better for you to just supply us with goods, which is completely legal.”
"Yeah." Yang Wendong nodded. Gangs have to do illegal things because they can make money legally. Only fools would challenge the law for no reason, even in Hong Kong today.
Then he asked, "What about Japan Bay?"
Wei Zetao said: "It's still the same as in Hong Kong, relying on distributors. I have found a distributor in Taiwan who has some connections in the political circle. He promised to clean up the illegal sales points, at least to prevent them from expanding in scale.
The same is true for Japan, but we haven’t decided which one to choose yet.”
"Well, OK." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It will be the same with sticky notes in the future. There is 3M in America, so we didn't consider this issue in the past year.
We need to be cautious when entering other countries in the future. A good exclusive distributor can guarantee the interests of both parties.”
It is impossible to completely eliminate piracy, but it is enough to suppress most of it.
However, the government does not care about the piracy of some things, so there is nothing we can do about it. We can only rely on real business capabilities to grab the market.
In this regard, we can only rely on overseas dealers, and this is also the purpose of making concessions.
"I understand." Wei Zetao smiled and said, "We are also preparing to use the same method for spin mops. Even sticky hooks and spin mops are the same category of products, so we can directly use the sticky hook channel."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "That's about the same idea. Spin mops have become popular in Hong Kong recently. Can the various OEM factories supply them in time?"
A sticky note has caused Changxing Industry to struggle for more than a year, but it still cannot meet market demand.
In this case, it is obviously impossible for them to make sticky hooks and spin mops by themselves. At most, they can make a small part of the production capacity themselves.
Outsourcing is to use the rich human resources, experience, technology and quality control of a large number of other capitals to meet your own needs, while you only need to be responsible for controlling the market and appropriate quality monitoring.
Only in this way can we satisfy the market as quickly as possible, occupy the market, and thus obtain maximum benefits.
As for the early idea of the influence brought by factory land and employment, outsourcing cannot achieve this, but as long as you make money quickly and have more funds, you can directly go to Central to buy land and buildings.
Indirect control of many plastic factories in Hong Kong is also a form of influence.
Wei Zetao said with a smile: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang. At present, our suppliers are also producing at full capacity. We have enough orders. They can also see the market demand. We have already negotiated and they will continue to expand their scale."
"Well..., what about assembly?" Yang Wendong asked again: "We made this ourselves. I know it's easy to recruit people, but what about quality control?"
The adhesive hooks are manufactured outside, but the glue on the back of the hooks is applied by Changxing Industry itself, including a layer of sticker and the final packaging;
The same is true for the rotary mop. Except for the assembly, all other plastic parts are made by outsiders. The mop is also made by outsiders. Only the assembly is still the responsibility of our company. This is also to control the quality of the last step. They are still not assured when the assembly is outsourced to others. After all, if there is a problem in the previous step, it is likely to be discovered during assembly.
Wei Zetao said: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, I have specially recruited more than 160 experienced inspectors from plastic factories and dozens of quality engineers from Hong Kong Island.
They are assigned to 4 warehouse assembly factories and are responsible for quality monitoring of incoming materials, processes and shipments.
I even sent a few engineers to work on Xiao Zhao's mouse traps, but it's winter in the northern hemisphere, so he's not busy anymore and only half of them have returned."
The assembly of sticky hooks and rotary mops is not done in the Post-it Note factory, but just like the early mousetrap work, which could be done by renting a warehouse.
However, we now have a good relationship with the bank, and these warehouses were purchased directly by Changxing Industrial, and they are commercial properties.
Commercial land is used for simple light industry, and the Hong Kong government generally does not care.
"Well, OK." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then we can rely on exclusive channel distributors to guarantee market benefits externally, and spend more money internally to control quality.
As long as we follow this line of thought, there won’t be any major problems for Changxing Industry.”
"Yes, according to my understanding, by next year we will definitely become the largest industrial factory in Hong Kong." Wei Zetao said with a smile.
Yang Wendong said: "It's normal. Hong Kong's industries are mainly based on OEM. Although the total scale is not small, there are indeed not many large companies."
In places where industry had just begun to develop, such as the mainland in the 80s, there were no large enterprises. It was only after long-term market competition that giants were formed.
Changxing Industry was able to rise in a short period of time thanks to Yang Wendong's unique creativity and the Western society's recognition of patent law.
Wei Zetao added: "Mr. Yang, the finance department has recently summarized the monthly profits and sales. You can also go and take a look."
"Well, okay." Yang Wendong nodded. He did know the company's basic financial information, but the specific data still needed to be summarized by the finance department at the end of the quarter or the end of the year.
The same is true for many companies, including listed companies.
……
The two soon arrived at the Finance Department office, where there were a total of 42 people. Changxing Industry now has more than 2000 workers, involving 7 factories and 4 major industries. In this era without computers for office work, the number of financial staff is naturally relatively large.
"Brother Dong." Su Yiyi walked closer and said with a smile.
Yang Wendong also asked with a smile: "Yiyi, how have you been learning from Sister Wang this year?"
Su Yiyi smiled and said, "There are still many things I can't learn. I'm still helping Sister Wang with things."
"Take your time, learn as much as you can." Yang Wendong didn't care. He naturally didn't need Su Yiyi to do finance. What was more important was a supervisory role, someone who let all financial departments know that she belonged to the boss.
At this time, Sister Wang Fengzhi came over and said, "Mr. Yang, the information has been placed in the conference room."
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded, and then the others walked to a meeting room inside the Finance Department;
This factory is very large, and the office area of each department is naturally not small. They also have corresponding rest areas, meeting rooms, managers' separate offices, etc.
Yang Wendong has also learned to check the financial account books over the years, which is a necessary skill for being a boss. After Sister Wang's explanation one by one, Yang Wendong also understood the data.
"In other words, after deducting the depreciation of fixed assets and excluding the interest and principal to be repaid to the bank last month, the company's net profit was 65 Hong Kong dollars?" After Yang Wendong understood every major account clearly, his eyes also turned to the final data.
Sister Wang nodded and said, "Yes, of which HK$58 came from sticky notes, and the rest came from mouse traps, sticky hooks, and the newly launched spin mop."
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It's really good, but the current debt is a bit heavy, otherwise the data would be better."
58 Hong Kong dollars may not be a big deal considering the average annual salary of one million for TikTok in the past, but in this era, it can be said to be a huge sum of money.
In the whole of Hong Kong, there are probably less than a dozen companies that dare to describe the size of their assets as "billion", and they are all large British banks or foreign companies; among the Chinese, there is probably not a single one.
I can earn 65 Hong Kong dollars a month. Even if there is no improvement in the future, I will still make about 800 million a year. It is no exaggeration to say that I am making a fortune every day.
Sister Wang said with a smile: "Mr. Yang, according to this data and the company's continued expansion of production capacity, in a little over half a year, we will be able to pay off the previous loan of nearly 500 million;
This means that they have acquired several large factories and land, as well as so many equipment that can produce sticky notes.
Even shipping companies can’t make this kind of return on investment so quickly.”
"It's still inferior to shipping, but it's a little more stable." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Sister Wang, Lao Wei, this year is almost over, you should make an incentive and reward plan internally and give annual rewards to all employees in the entire factory.
It’s not just cash rewards, there should also be material rewards, such as rice, flour, oil or bacon, which can be stored for a long time. Otherwise, if they are only given cash, I think the workers will still save it and be reluctant to spend it. "
"Okay, I thank Mr. Yang on behalf of all the employees." Wei Zetao agreed and said, "Mr. Yang, there is one more thing that is a bit difficult to handle. I would like to ask for your advice."
"What's the matter?" Yang Wendong asked.
Wei Zetao said: "The company's daily meals are generally better because of your request. There are often meat dishes and no restrictions on rice.
This has led to many people secretly taking food home, and even causing serious food waste.”
"Food waste?" Yang Wendong frowned slightly, then said: "Whoever wastes food will be punished directly. The amount of the punishment is decided by you internally. If they do not change after repeated violations, they will be fired directly, and the same applies to management.
As for taking food home, then from now on, you are not allowed to take rice out.
As for the food, you can’t eat it at will. Everyone has their own portion, which is given to them by the company. It’s their freedom to take it back. We don’t care.”
"Okay." Wei Zetao thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Yang, although the food belongs to the employees, if they don't eat it, it will affect them, and it may also affect the quality of their work."
Yang Wendong asked: "They take it home to feed their families, right?"
"Yes." Wei Zetao said: "It is impossible to sell it. It can't be sold. I checked and found that most of them are for their children.
Although our salary is not bad, most families still need to save money.”
"Then let's do this." Yang Wendong thought for a while and said, "Ask the kitchen to prepare extra buns, two for each employee every day, one meat and one vegetable, but restrict the vegetables from being taken out.
It would be more convenient to let them take the buns back home, and it could be considered as an additional benefit after the company makes money."
"Okay, thank you Mr. Yang." Wei Zetao said with a smile.
……
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)