Reborn since 1993

Chapter 341 Feeding Cake
"Guilin Ricoh?"

Li Dongling glanced at the plan handed over by Wang Jizhi and asked, "Is this company still alive?"

Three or four years ago, Guilin Ricoh Company was well-known in the domestic copier industry.

After the slogan "Guilin Ricoh, in all directions" was released on the central media TV station, it quickly became the leader in the domestic copier industry, with sales exceeding 200 million!

If it continues to develop normally, Guilin Ricoh is likely to become a giant among domestic copier manufacturers. However, the rapid development of Guilin Ricoh is due to its cooperation with Nippon Ricoh Co., Ltd., which transfers technology and provides key components.

In the year Dongling Hi-Tech was founded, China further relaxed restrictions on foreign companies in the copier industry. Ricoh directly entered the domestic market and established its own sales and after-sales channels in China.

As expected, Guilin Ricoh was kicked out by Japan Ricoh. Japan Ricoh directly took over the Guilin Ricoh copier factory. Without core components, the machines could not be assembled. Soon, Guilin Ricoh copiers disappeared in the country.

“Ricoh Factory in Guilin is not doing well right now!”

Wang Jizhi shook his head and said, "If this continues, Guilin Ricoh may go bankrupt in a few years if nothing unexpected happens!"

"But now, Guilin Ricoh Copier Factory still has a chance. Before Japan Ricoh severed its cooperation, Guilin Ricoh had its own copier production line and had achieved 70% self-production of parts.

In addition, we have a group of experienced copier R&D personnel. If we can win the Guilin Ricoh and Lingyun copier projects, we can save a lot of time and money.”

Guilin Ricoh has a foundation in the copier industry. Although its technology is not as good as that of Nippon Ricoh, it has a mature R&D team and a copier production line, which can save Lingyun Copier a lot of trouble.

Now the three major copier giants, Canon, Ricoh and Xerox, have almost completely occupied the domestic copier market with patents and key components.

Domestic copier manufacturers have been wiped out, but just three to five years ago, there were still a number of domestic brands such as Hanguang Youmei, Jiangcheng Friendship, and Xingyingkou Copier Factory. However, within a few years, they were defeated by Canon and Xerox.

"We can get in touch with the team at Ricoh in Guilin. If the price is right, we can move the R&D team and production line there to Yanjing!
Not only Guilin Ricoh, but other domestic copier and printer manufacturers can also invite their R&D personnel to join Lingyun.

In addition, we can work with domestic printer and copier parts and consumables manufacturers to jointly develop key parts, toner and other consumables!"

Li Dongling said that even if Lingyun did not poach people, it would not take long before these domestic printer manufacturers would basically go bankrupt.

The R&D personnel and engineers of these companies either join overseas manufacturers such as Canon, Xerox, and HP, or retire or change careers. They have no other options. After all, if R&D personnel are away from front-line research and development for a long time, it will be difficult for them to make progress in today's world of rapid technological advancement and constant change.

Even now, it is hard to say how many R&D personnel and engineers are still working at Ricoh Guilin.

"Lingyun's first product will be developed in the direction of a multi-functional copier!"

Li Dongling put down the plan and said to Yang Jizhi, Li Dongling is not an expert in the research and development of copiers and printers, but he is familiar with the copiers and printers in his previous life!

As a senior designer at the Mechanical Design Bureau of Hanxi Province in his previous life, what Li Dongling came into contact with the most in his previous life, apart from various design software, were copiers and printers. Li Dongling had used all kinds of brands and still remembered the changes in copiers and printers.

Wang Jizhi frowned as he listened to Li Dongling's words, but he did not question Li Dongling's proposal. Instead, he took out the note he carried with him and wrote down what Ji Dongling said.

As an old-school R&D personnel, Wang Jizhi is quite pragmatic and not stubborn. He always likes to decide the outcome after the fact. This is a habit he developed in the Soitong Group. At that time, the people at Soitong did not support self-developed typewriters and there was a lot of opposition, but Wang Jizhi still gritted his teeth and did it!
Wang Jizhi likes to see the truth with his hands. Whether he can do it or not, he will know after he has done it. Otherwise, how can he determine the winner by just talking?
Similarly, regarding Li Dongling’s proposal, Wang Jizhi decided to complete the experiment before discussing other matters.

Li Dongling also noticed Wang Jizhi's actions. "In addition to multi-function copiers, in the future, Lingyun Copier will develop in the direction of digital copiers and color copiers, and launch digital copiers for small offices, which will be sold to companies, banks, vehicle management offices, and various license-issuing units!
Digital copiers are Lingyun’s chance to overtake Xerox, Canon, Epson, Ricoh and other established copier giants! "Li Dongling didn’t say this was the only chance, but digital copiers are indeed Lingyun’s only chance to turn things around in the next ten years.

"A digital copier?"

This time Wang Jizhi was really surprised. Now was the era of analog copiers. Although Canon and Xerox had proposed the concept of digital copiers and even launched some concept machines, they had great defects, were more expensive than analog copiers, and were not as efficient, and had not yet been accepted by the market.

There is now a fierce dispute over the routes of analog copiers and digital copiers. Wang Jizhi did not expect that Li Dongling would actually bet on digital copiers, whose technology is not yet mature.

If you develop analog copiers, you won't get any benefits, but you can still get some benefits from following the lead of Canon, Xerox and other companies. If you develop digital copiers, you may end up losing everything.

"There will always be risks. Analog copiers are dominated by Canon and others. If Ling Yun wants to go in, he will have to depend on them. He may not even get a bite of meat. It's better to choose a new track. What if it succeeds?" Li Dongling said.

Wang Jizhi's expression changed for a moment, and finally he nodded. He did not comment on the research and development direction of multi-function compound copiers and digital copiers proposed by Li Dongling, but he agreed with what Li Dongling said that he would not get any benefits by following Canon and Xerox.

When he was at Soitong, he realized that if he blindly imitated Japanese typewriters, he would never be able to surpass them and would always be one step behind them and be led by them.

Between an analog copier and a digital copier, choosing the latter is a bit risky, but if the machine can be developed, it will be a sure win!
Li Dongling proposed the research and development direction of Lingyun's copiers, but he did not mention printers. This was because the research and development of printers was not something that Lingyun could do alone. It would take several years for its parent company Dongling Hi-Tech and its big brother Dongxin Semiconductor to work together to have a chance to accomplish it.

In the next few years, Lingyun printers are unlikely to avoid the fate of temporarily assembling parts, that is, the core components, nozzles, engines, laser drums, universal printing chips, printer operating systems, software, etc. Lingyun cannot produce them all at once and can only purchase them from abroad while developing them on its own.

However, as long as the most critical printer universal consumables chip is developed, and a not-too-shabby printer operating system is produced, the Lingyun printer can basically be declared domestically produced. The remaining components can be developed slowly or purchased from domestic component manufacturers.

"Mr. Wang, Dongling Hi-Tech, Dongxin Semiconductor and other companies will support Lingyun printers. In addition, if there is an opportunity, I will also meet with Kingsoft and other domestic software companies and ask them to help develop some software for Lingyun!" Li Dongling said to Wang Jizhi.

"As long as the Lingyun printer can be successfully developed, Mr. Wang, you and the R&D team can get 5% of Lingyun's equity. In addition, you can also get a 2% equity reward. If Lingyun can go public in the future, you can sell this equity, or when you retire, the Lingyun board of directors will buy back this equity!"

If you want the horse to run fast, you must feed it well. By joining the Lingyun printer R&D team, you can jointly receive a 5% equity reward in the future. If the R&D is successful, Lingyun will not only be listed on the Nasdaq, but as the company that developed the first domestically-made printer, if Lingyun submits an application for listing to A, then the listing is almost a foregone conclusion.

By then, it is basically a high probability that those who hold shares and options of Lingyun Company will achieve financial freedom. Li Dongling does not believe in this pie, and he cannot recruit technical experts for Lingyun!
Hearing Li Dongling's words, Wang Jizhi's morale suddenly boosted. Lingyun's job was not easy, but the cards Li Dongling gave him were many times better than when he was in the Sitong Group.

At Soitong, Wang Jizhi had no people or funds, so he could only rely on himself and a few technical personnel to fight hard. In the end, they did not get a penny from the sale of typewriters. When Soitong went public, those technical personnel who had worked like slaves for it did not get any benefits and were even kicked out.

On Li Dongling's side, before Wang Jizhi even started working in the laboratory, a large amount of resources and funds began to be transferred to him continuously. To be honest, Wang Jizhi has never fought such a rich battle in all these years!

As for equity rewards and bonuses, Wang Jizhi was in Soitong, so there was no need to mention them, and he and the technical department had no share at all.

Li Dongling glanced at the Van Cleef & Arpels watch on his wrist that Yao Luoying had given him on his birthday this year, and said to Wang Jizhi, "Mr. Wang, after I finish this meeting at Tianya.com, let's have dinner together tonight!"

Wang Jizhi didn't say much. He asked for an office and started designing and calculating on the drawings. He had a lot of ideas in his mind waiting for him to verify, and he had no intention of doing anything else.

Li Dongling walked towards the Tianya conference room.

(End of this chapter)