Chapter 290: Exploring Overseas Markets and Prophetic Advantages

Chapter 290: Exploring Overseas Markets and Prophetic Advantages

Chapter 290: Exploring Overseas Markets and Prophetic Advantages

On July 7, Honor Electronics launched a new electric kettle.

Relying on the function of being able to cut off the power by itself, it immediately triggered a wave of popularity. This thing is much more practical than an electric mosquito swatter, and almost every family living in the city must have one.

It can cut off the power by itself, which is energy-saving and safe.

Carrefour supermarket in Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island:

A woman looked at the kettle in front of her that was emitting mist. With a "click", the sound of the boiling water gradually decreased and the white mist gradually disappeared.

"Did the power really go out?" The woman was surprised and asked the salesperson next to her: "How much is this kettle?"

The salesperson said, "The original price is 22.99 yuan, but now it's only 19.99 yuan."

"So expensive?" The woman hesitated. "Other kettles usually cost only 10 yuan."

The salesperson said, "Miss, our kettle has a control function. How can it be compared with an ordinary kettle? To put it bluntly, if you buy other kettles, isn't it just like boiling water in a pot? At most, the kettle is more convenient when pouring water;
And you see, our design, if you hold your hand in this position, even if you pour water, you won’t be burned by the steam, and the plastic here is not hot either, you can try it.”

"Hmm~" Under the guidance of the salesperson, the woman also poured one pot of water into another pot. Her hands did not come into contact with the steam during the whole process, and the place where her hands held was not very hot.

The salesperson asked again: "How do you feel?"

"Okay, I'll take one." The woman looked at the people watching next to her and finally made a decision.

This kettle is indeed different, and it looks pretty good. The only downside seems to be that the water inside is a little less than that of a large kettle.
The next day, Wang Zhiqun came to Yang Wendong's office and reported with a smile: "Mr. Yang, we sold more than 500 electric kettles on the first day."

"It's pretty good." Yang Wendong didn't care. This thing was indeed very novel.

Coupled with the publicity through its own media channels and the control of Carrefour channels, there will definitely be some achievements on the first day.

Wang Zhiqun added: "Lin Youcheng from the United States called me yesterday. He put the electric mosquito swatters I airlifted over to some retail stores and the effect was quite good, so he wanted to ask us to place an order for 3 units directly."

Yang Wendong asked: "How much is the price in the United States?"

Wang Zhiqun said: "The export price here is 12 Hong Kong dollars, which is about 2.2 US dollars. The selling price in the United States is between 5 and 6 US dollars."

"This price is indeed not expensive for Americans." Yang Wendong nodded.

On average, American wages are about ten times higher than those in Hong Kong. 5 to 6 US dollars is only half a day's income.

Moreover, the main sales target of electric mosquito swatters is still wealthy people, and the same is true in Hong Kong, where their purchasing power is even stronger.

Wang Zhiqun said: "Yes, wages in Europe and the United States are much higher than in Hong Kong. The strong exports of Hong Kong in recent years have a lot to do with this aspect."

"Well," Yang Wendong asked again, "Is your production capacity okay?"

“No problem.” Wang Zhiqun said: “Mr. Wei provided a lot of help, and all the suppliers were very cooperative. Their production capacity is even stronger than my assembly capacity;
The Changxing factory also provides a large enough factory area. Weisheng’s people have considered everything I could not think of, and even the quality inspection is very experienced.”

"That's good." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Since there are no problems, then we will ship the goods to the United States. In addition, we will ask Lin Youcheng to gradually open up various channels in the United States.

Although we cannot control the channels ourselves, we should at least bypass some of the middlemen dealers.”

No one can directly contact all terminals, but the fewer intermediate dealers there are, the better.

Once your own brand is successful, you will have the bargaining power with dealers. This is also the complexity of expanding distribution channels.

"Okay." Wang Zhiqun continued, "After the sales of electric kettles in Hong Kong and Taiwan stabilize, I will also plan to expand into the Japanese market.

Europeans and Americans don’t boil water very often, and the main market for electric kettles is in Asia.”

"Okay, as long as the production capacity can keep up, there will be no problem." Yang Wendong agreed.

When Changxing Industries became the largest factory in Hong Kong, although it did not do everything, its influence was enormous.

Plastics, sheet metal, paper packaging, and various logistical goods are purchased in huge volumes every month, affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people and the wealth of hundreds of bosses.

Therefore, Honor Electronics is equivalent to a prince who was born with a golden key. As long as it has demand, all suppliers must satisfy it like their own father.

Wang Zhiqun said: "Okay."

Yang Wendong asked again: "How are the two new projects, the rice cooker and the microwave oven, going?"

Honor Electronics' two early products were actually based on creativity and supplemented by technology. Their significance was to serve as a sharp knife to open up the market first, allowing the company to have capital circulation and R&D capabilities, etc.

Microwave ovens and rice cookers are truly technologically advanced products.

Wang Zhiqun replied: "We have bought more than 20 Japanese rice cookers and conducted various research, including recording the various control times inside them. We then built a separate one, which is still in the testing stage. The control of the heat is a little different, so it is easy to burn."

"Why is this?" Yang Wendong asked.

Wang Zhiqun said: "We suspect it's the inner pot. We have recorded all the times and temperatures. There may be a slight difference, but it shouldn't have much impact.
But we don’t know what material the Japanese rice cooker company uses for the inner pot, we only know it’s steel, so we made one ourselves, but the result was much worse, and when we replaced it with the Japanese inner pot, it was much better.”

Yang Wendong analyzed: "So it's easy to control the time and temperature, but the material of the liner is uncertain?"

Wang Zhiqun replied: “Yes, there are two solutions to this problem. Either we find out what the materials are in Japan, but this may involve patent infringement;
Or we can choose the materials ourselves, do our own tests, adjust the temperature and time, and slowly find the data that suits our materials.”

"So it requires matching of multiple parameters." Yang Wendong nodded.

The heat transfer efficiency of the inner pot, the control time, and the temperature in each time period, these combined together are the three important parameters for cooking rice.

These things seemed simple in the previous life, but in fact, even the Japanese took a long time to figure them out.

Wang Zhiqun nodded and said, "Yes."

Yang Wendong said: "Then match them yourself, find more people, and do these experiments. They are just simple tests, so there is no need for any highly skilled personnel."

Investing in research and development is indeed time-consuming and laborious, but this is normal. There is no return without investment.

Relatively speaking, the current rice cooker is not considered high-tech. The main thing is to test enough and then find the most suitable parameters. "Okay." Wang Zhiqun said, "As for microwave ovens, there is another situation. Japan's Hayakawa Company is also doing research in this area."

"Hayakawa?" Yang Wendong frowned. He had never heard of this company.

Wang Zhiqun introduced: "This is a large Japanese electronics company. Their main products are radios, transistors, and..."

Following Wang Zhiqun's introduction, Yang Wendong gradually confirmed that this company should be the predecessor of Sharp.

So he asked, "Can they make their own magnetrons?"

The core of microwave heating is the magnetron. Apart from this, the rest are some unimportant things like the casing and power cord.

Wang Zhiqun said: "They are also in the process of research and development, but I don't know how the progress is."

Yang Wendong asked, "How is the R&D center in the United States doing with this thing?"

Wang Zhiqun replied: "It has been established. Mr. Lin helped me buy a 5-square-foot building there as the headquarters. As for talent, I also interviewed several people;

They are all experts in magnetrons and have already joined the company to conduct research in this area.”

"Okay, we should support their needs, but we also need to supervise them." Yang Wendong nodded.

From the time he traveled through time until now, he has been using his advantages as a prophet to grow and develop, and he has basically no competitors because everything he makes is the first concept.

Now we are entering the electronics industry. The market in this field is large enough and there are enough players. Innovation is useful, but we will also encounter competitors.

If we want to make other home appliances in the future, we will have more competitors, and this is something we must face. After all, if an electronics company wants to truly grow, it must have a lot of technology, which is the foundation.

"I understand. I have already sent more than a dozen people from Hong Kong over there. They will help as assistants." Wang Zhiqun said with a smile.

Yang Wendong added: "Okay, we need to keep an eye on this aspect, including this Hayakawa Company."

Wang Zhiqun said, "Okay, Mr. Yang, please rest assured. Although the scale of the Hayakawa Company is not small, it has many R&D projects. I know there are dozens of them, and their most important project is the R&D of radios and television picture tubes.
The resources available to the magnetron project are limited, and in terms of investment alone, they are far less than ours.”

"Well, this is also our advantage." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Now we only have these two projects. Don't worry about other things for now. Just invest all your efforts."

The help that a time traveler can provide to high technology is basically zero, unless he was an engineer in this field before traveling through time. However, times are different, and the technology is probably also different. If an IT worker in 0 goes back to 2024, he will not be able to write useful code.

But vision plays a greater role, because a normal electronics/IT company does not know the future technology or product development direction, so for safety reasons it will conduct research and development of multiple projects, which disperses resources, manpower and funds.

For example, in the early 2000s, the competition between LCD and CRT was fiercest. At that time, most companies were betting on both sides. If the company of the time traveler is also in this field, then it can focus on LCD.
The situation is the same now. Yang Wendong knows which products will have a market in the future. This is an advantage that is stronger than high technology.

Wang Zhiqun said: "Okay, I understand."

Yang Wendong thought for a moment and asked, "Is our transistor production line shipping normally?"

Wang Zhiqun said: "Yes, it has been put into normal production. The current daily production capacity is about 2, and it is still increasing. Many radio factories in Hong Kong have begun to use ours to replace transistors imported from Japan."

"Well, OK." Yang Wendong said, "This is not a terminal civilian product. You can decide based on your needs. If the demand is large in the future, you can prepare to purchase a production line. Anyway, there should be a lot of old production lines in the United States."

Since the 60s, Hong Kong's electronics industry has been developing in a blowout manner, and the demand for transistors has been increasing. If we can seize this market, we can enjoy this wave of dividends even if we do not make civilian electronic products.

"Okay, if market demand increases, I will report to you in a timely manner." Wang Zhiqun agreed.

On July 7, the sky was still cloudless.

The blazing sun shines down from the sky:

In the Changxing Industrial Park in Kwun Tong, Yang Wendong, Wei Zetao and a group of people came to a workshop together. A cool breeze blew over them, and they felt refreshed immediately.

Yang Wendong asked, "Old Wei, how many workshops here have air conditioners installed?"

Wei Zetao replied: “Except for the injection molding workshop which generates a lot of heat, other workshops such as assembly and warehouse are all connected to air conditioning;

The main reason is that many materials require temperature control, and if the assembly workers are too hot, their work efficiency will be very low. So, for these reasons, air conditioning is used everywhere.”

"Then it doesn't have to be so cold, right?" Yang Wendong asked with a smile, feeling the voices around him.

Wei Zetao said awkwardly: "Maybe it's because the people below know that you are here to inspect the plastic bag production line, so they turned down the air conditioning.

Normally, we only turn on the air conditioner to a level where people don’t feel too hot, and then use an electric fan to save electricity.”

"Well, that's good. It's better to save electricity. Hong Kong is also short of electricity right now." Yang Wendong nodded and said.

Droughts will also affect electricity. Some areas in Hong Kong are now experiencing insufficient voltage. Changxing Industrial is not greatly affected because of its good connections, but it still needs to be used sparingly.

For workers, it is really good to have air conditioning.

Wei Zetao said: "That's the plastic bag production line over there."

Everyone walked in front of a device. On the far left of the device was a roll of film, which was pulled into the device layer by layer. In the middle of the device was a complex cutting device. On the right, bags came out one by one, and employees at the back collected the bags one by one.

Yang Wendong asked: "How many bags can this equipment make in a day?"

Wei Zetao said: "We can make 12 a day, as long as we have enough materials."

"There should be no problem with production on Wang Yongqing's side, right?" Yang Wendong asked again.

Wei Zetao replied: "No problem. Their production capacity is more than ten times greater than that of my equipment, and the output that this equipment can provide is far more than what Carrefour Supermarket needs."

"That means it can be supplied to the market?" Yang Wendong asked.

Wei Zetao said: "Yes, I will make plastic bags of different sizes and purchase equipment later. I estimate that by the end of the year, I will be able to produce dozens of different bags."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We will continue to expand the scale. I want plastic bags to become one of Hong Kong's main export products."

PS: Asking for monthly tickets, today's data is not very good, are you all playing Black Wukong~~~
(End of this chapter)