Chapter 799 – Must have an open mind
“Manager Feng, you are back? Why didn’t you call me? I can pick you from the airport.” Jiang Wanmeng laughed.
“Stop your nonsense. I am glad that you can increase the company’s sales.” Feng Yu rolled his eyes at Jiang Wanmeng. All the people from state-owned enterprises were good at smooth-talking.
Li Na was having exams these few days, and Feng Yu got the time to visit Wind and Rain Home Appliances. Although Feng Yu had let Jiang Wanmeng take charge of the company, Feng Yu was still concern with the company. He will visit the company occasionally.
Jiang Wanmeng laughed. “We are still researching new products. Our DVD research had gotten some success. If we are lucky, we will be able to increase our production in one year.” Sometimes, product’s R&D had to depend on luck.
“What will be the production cost after the increase in production?”
“We will be able to control the cost to less than 500 RMB!” Jiang Wanmeng replied proudly.
Huh? The cost can be lowered by so much? Feng Yu remembered that before he left for the US, the cost of VCD players was still above 500 RMB.
“Which part do you all have a breakthrough?”
“It is mainly the decrease in the components’ pricing. The exterior casing’s materials had become cheaper. We found cheaper replacements for the more expensive components. We learned this from those foreign companies.”
Jiang Wanmeng got to admit that they still cannot be compared to those foreign established home appliances companies, even though he got more advanced technologies.
When Wind and Rain Home Appliances lowered the VCD players’ prices and sold the patent authorization to other companies, those foreign companies could not make any profits. But after some time, those companies found ways to cut costs. One way was to use cheaper materials.
Those foreign companies were able to find cheaper components that were as good as the expensive ones. Although the durability of the parts will be shortened from 10-20 years to 7-8 years, DVD players would have replaced VCD players. VCD players will be obsolete in about 3 to 5 years and why should they use durable components?
Jiang Wanmeng regretted not knowing about this. He had insisted on using the best components in their VCD players. If he had used cheaper alternatives for their VCD players, the cost of one VCD player would be less than 300 RMB, and their profits would be much higher.
Luckily, Jiang Wanmeng found out about this cost-saving measure, and his Super VCD player’s cost could be lowered. The future DVD player production cost will also be much lower than expected. This would be helpful to market the DVD players.
Feng Yu finally understood why VCD players in his previous life could be sold at 300 RMB. Those VCD players were made from inferior materials and could not last more than a year.
“You still have to take note of our product’s quality. I don’t want to see our products breaking down months after it is sold. Have you all developed any new functions?”
“We will not compromise on the quality. Our VCD players will last at least a few years. Currently, we developed two new functions, and it will be included in our latest model of players. One is memory function. This function will allow the user to continue playing from where he last stops. But it can only record one timestamp. The other function will allow the user to jump to the exact timestamp of the VCD, using the remote control. The VCD will start playing from the timestamp entered by the user.”
Feng Yu was happy to know that these two functions were developed successfully. These two functions will allow them to be one more step ahead of their competitors.
“Good. This way, our Super VCD players will continue to be ahead of the industry. But this is not enough. You all should think of new functions or inventions.”
Jiang Wanmeng looked at Feng Yu. “What new invention?” They were still researching and developing the DVD player. How can they find the time to research new products?
“What are the best-selling home appliances in the market now?” Feng Yu reminded him.
“Computers? We do not have experience in PCs. However, we can buy components from other people and assemble ourselves. But don’t you have shares in Lenovo?” Jiang Wanmeng was puzzled about why Manager Feng wants him to compete with Lenovo.
“I am not asking you to manufacture PCs. Do you know how to manufacture a simple Learning Machine?”
“I thought the Little Tyrant is producing the Learning Machine. Our Wind and Rain Brand are not selling this product.” The Learning Machine’s sales had been dropping. Most people had switched to PCs, and lesser people buy Learning Machines nowadays.
PCs were more powerful than Learning Machines and had more functions. Also, Lenovo’s PC was more advanced and cheaper than before. It only cost 8,000 RMB now!
“I am asking you to use incorporate the functions of the Learning Machine into our Super VCD. Do you understand?” Feng Yu gave Jiang Wanmeng a ‘you are so stupid’ look.
“Incorporate the functions of the Learning Machine into Super VCD players? How do we do that? Add a new motherboard inside?” Jiang Wanmeng mumbled.
“Why can’t we do that? If the Super VCD players can also let children learn to type and play games, do you think the sales will improve?”
“It should improve. It will be more worthwhile to buy one product with two products’ functions. It will also save space. But no one has ever done this before.”
“When we sold our VCD players, no one had also thought of that before. We have what others do not have, and ours are better in quality than others. Even the people in the olden days knows this.” Feng Yu shook his head with a disappointed look.
“What about the games? Create a slot in our players for game cartridges?”
“Do you know about PC games? How do PC games work on PCs?”
“Optic drive. I understand now. You are saying that we can store the games into CDs! This way, we only need to create a port for their joysticks, and the player will not increase in size by too much. There will also not be many changes to the exterior designs. Manager Feng, you are a genius!”
Feng Yu glanced at Jiang Wanmeng from the corner of his eyes. Of course, I am a genius. Jiang Wanmeng was good with his technical skills. But his thinking was not flexible enough. Zhong Qingxian was much better than him in this aspect.
Look at Zhong Qingxian. After acquiring Guangdong Strong Group, he continued to develop fruit jellies products. He always has new products for the market, and most of his products were well received by the consumers.
The latest product was a jelly called AD Calcium Jelly!
This product was only adding vitamin A and D into the Jelly. There were no changes to the taste and texture of the jelly, but the jelly had become more nutritious.
When parents buy food products for their children, they will look out for nutritious products. Why parents do not like their children to eat snacks? It is because snacks are not nutritious and will affect their children’s growth. Now, with AD Calcium Jelly, the parents were willing to buy this snack for their children. The sales of this product overtook all other jelly products in the market.
Someone once said that if two unrelated items were to be combined, it would be an invention. This was why Lehaha could have so many different products.
Lehaha’s tea beverage is developed by combining tea and sweet beverages. AD Calcium milk is created by adding vitamins and calcium into yogurt drinks. The Refreshing series of carbonated drinks are a combination of carbonated water with fruit flavoring.
All these “creations” had brought high profits for Lehaha. Now, Lehaha had grown to become China’s top beverage company. Their sales and profits had caught up to Jianlibao. Zhong Qingxian’s next target was to overtake Jianlibao!
“Manager Feng, this game VCD player still needs the help of Aiwa Little Tyrant. Can you let them know about this?” Jiang Wanmeng asked.
“Alright. Someone from that side will contact you. Remember, you must have an open mind!”