2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 355 Dexian Electronics
Time flies by so easily. As we enter December, another year is almost over before we know it.

For businesses, December is the time to deliver results, and the finance department is probably the busiest during this season.

For working people, their year begins on the eighth or tenth day of the first lunar month after the Spring Festival and ends in the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month before New Year's Eve.

This year's Lunar New Year's Eve comes later, on February 17th, which is more than two months away from the New Year.

Therefore, even though December has arrived, Xu Xinglei, a worker, doesn't feel much urgency. On the contrary, he seems to be working very hard because he has changed to a new job.

Tan Jincheng has a good memory, but as the company grows, the new employees are not recruited by him. He can't remember many of the grassroots employees, and Xu Xinglei happens to be one of them.

Because of the conversation that happened in the cafeteria last time, Xu Xinglei's supervisor knew that this young man knew the boss. In addition, Xu Xinglei had always performed well, worked diligently and conscientiously, and was an honest person, so he usually took care of him.

As a result, Zhao Xinbin, who had always had a good relationship with Xu Xinglei, also received certain preferential treatment. This preferential treatment was actually only reflected in work scheduling and priority in receiving any benefits or perks.

From the perspective of those on a higher level, it's not worth mentioning; they still have to do their jobs, right? But the grassroots employees actually quite like this.

After the new factory's production staff were debugging and training the workers, they needed an experienced employee to guide them during the trial production. Xu Xinglei's team leader immediately thought of him and asked if he was interested.

Of course he's interested! Besides having an easier daily workload, the team leader's salary and benefits have also increased. Only a fool wouldn't be interested.

The salary and benefits of physical enterprises are different from those of internet companies. There is no P-level system. The salary and benefits are based on the position. A regular screwdriver gets paid like a screwdriver, a repairman gets paid like a repairman, a quality inspector gets paid like a quality inspector, and a technician gets paid like a technician.

Of course, there will be some subdivisions, such as seniority, but within the same workshop and the same work group, the difference in wages will not be particularly large.

The only differences in income are overtime pay, day and night shift allowances, and seniority. Overall, it's more about working harder and earning more, so there's not much to say about fairness or unfairness.

But in reality, many positions don't require fairness; anyone can do them. Talking about fairness won't work; if they're not happy, just find someone else.

There are advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that everyone starts with the same salary, so if you want to earn more money, you can work more overtime. The disadvantage is that over time, it will wear down people's ambition, and then they will become complacent and lose their motivation.

On the other hand, there are very few upward mobility opportunities. Many people start out as screwdrivers and may be stuck doing that for the rest of their lives, with no hope in sight.

This is also the most criticized aspect of the factory, but Tan Jincheng doesn't see it that way.

Firstly, Flash is currently in a phase of rapid expansion, so joining the factory now means more opportunities. As long as you are willing to work hard, there are still ways to advance, although those ways are limited, but it's better than nothing.

People like Xu Xinglei are practically guaranteed a group leader position. If they perform well in leading their group and pass the assessment, they can be promoted to the next level.

Another reason is that in Tan Jincheng's mind, working is just about making money. As long as the income is good, that's fine. If he doesn't want to work anymore one day, he can go out and start his own small business.

The probability of getting promoted by working for someone else for a lifetime is actually quite low. Every profession has a lifespan. Compared to programmers who have difficulty finding jobs after 35, working in a factory is not as serious.

As the company grows and the number of employees increases, coupled with inefficiency, Flash will inevitably face various problems in its personnel structure, and Tan Jincheng will be criticized as a heartless boss.

But at least for now, no. During the trial production at the new factory, Xu Xinglei could feel that the new employees were in high spirits.

The new factory is quite far from the district center, closer to the Yinzhou area, and its location is relatively remote. At the end of 2006, the surrounding area was still a rural area, so it would be somewhat inconvenient to live here.

This was considered when the factory was first built. At that time, a piece of land was acquired in a nearby village and a dormitory area for employees was planned. It's only a ten-minute walk to and from get off work. It may be a bit remote, but it's convenient.

The company has a canteen that provides three meals a day, and there is also a small supermarket in the factory area. Since all the food and drinks are in the canteen, it saves money. For employees like Xu Xinglei who like to save money, apart from not having any leisure activities, there is nothing inconvenient.

Xu Xinglei has been working at FlashChe for 30 months. After deducting expenses and occasionally sending money home, he can save at least 2000 yuan a month. With the year-end bonuses for 2005 and 2006, he has about 8 yuan in savings.

Eighty thousand yuan in savings—something he had never even dared to dream of before.

He got a promotion and a raise, so his income will increase, and he will save more and more money in the future. He plans to go home earlier this year for the Chinese New Year. He also has the money for the bride price. He plans to go on a blind date to see if he can settle down and get married.

If things go smoothly, I can bring my wife along and she can live in the company's couples' dormitory.

Just thinking about it makes me feel so happy.
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Flash Group continued to reduce its shipments in November, with total shipments falling to 40,000 vehicles for the month. In December, as the new factory's production lines gradually come online after trial production, the capacity shortage will be somewhat alleviated.

In December, the most important thing for the Flash series electric vehicles is whether they can be rated as "national inspection-free products," because people really value that these days.

In Mr. Tan's opinion, this thing is really useless, but there's nothing he can do about it since consumers accept it.

"You're not even a nationally certified product, how dare you call yourself a famous brand?" This is a question that grassroots retail outlets have frequently faced over the past year. Although they explained that the brand was only recently established, it was useless; there will always be those who don't recognize your brand.

Flash has made considerable preparations for being selected as a national inspection-free brand. Over the past year, Flash has invested a lot in its services. In addition, it also has the added advantage of being the exclusive electric vehicle sponsor of the Olympic Games, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

Tan Jincheng didn't interfere too much in these matters. In recent days, apart from attending classes at Ningbo University, Tan Jincheng has been mainly busy sorting out the future industrial structure of Hangxin New Energy.

The Imperial Capital Research Institute sent Tan Jincheng a lot of study materials, which gave him a real headache.

Gu Qingqing rarely saw Tan Jincheng scratching his head like this, and couldn't help but tease him: "Finally, there's something you don't understand?"

The two are now somewhat like a college couple, attending classes together and returning to their home near the university in Ningbo.

They went back to Beicang together because of work needs.

Gu Qingqing doesn't stay in the dormitory much anymore. Nowadays, she's quite a celebrity at Ningbo University, and Orange Technology's daily affairs are getting busier and busier. Staying in the dormitory would make it difficult to manage everything.

"It's quite complicated. Don't even think about mastering the technology, but you can roughly figure out the business direction," Tan Jincheng said with a light laugh.

Hangxin New Energy's future business direction can be basically set in three major areas: power battery systems, energy storage systems, and lithium battery materials, and the company will make its layout around these three business segments.

The power battery system is definitely the most important, but at present, the application scenarios of new energy vehicles are not widespread, and the deployment is a bit premature.

In the early stages of the industrial chain, one can start by investing in upstream mining, lithium battery materials, and energy storage. Based on the materials collected by Zeng Jixiang, Zhao Xinyi, and ByteDance, Tan Jincheng is actually aware of many of these companies.

After all, when I entered the market as a retail investor in my previous life, it was during the peak of the new energy boom, but unfortunately, I didn't make any money.

As for mobile phone batteries, Hangxin New Energy should probably stop building its own factory. It feels like it's too late. It's almost 2007, and we've already entered the 2.5G era.

By the time the factory is built, it will be a bit too late. It would be better to use the model of Bafang Electric, which involves equity investment through capital and technology.

“Go to Shenzhen soon, take Chief Engineer Lü with you, and go find a company called Dexian Electronics Co., Ltd. in Longgang District, Shenzhen. The boss is Zhao Wu. Talk to them about cooperation.”

Zhao Xuhui answered the phone: "How does the cooperation work?"

“We will contribute technology and capital to invest in their company, taking a majority stake just like Bafang Electric. You can negotiate the details. If you can't reach an agreement with them, there are other battery companies in Shenzhen that you can also talk to.”

Many people may not know Dexian Electronics, but if we talk about a brand, many people should know it: Pisen.

Pisen is best known for its power banks, but they also make batteries for digital cameras, laptops, and mobile phones. They are a well-known battery brand in China.

Later, they probably couldn't compete with those giants in the battery business, so they switched to making 3C peripheral accessories. After the transformation, the accessory business did quite well.

This company was founded at the end of 2003 and officially started business at the beginning of 2004. At present, it owns a factory covering an area of ​​50 acres in Longgang District, Shenzhen, with nearly a thousand employees. At this time, their business is mainly focused on computer and digital camera accessories.

“Okay, I’ll discuss it with General Manager Lü tomorrow and set a time for us to go.” Zhao Xuhui replied.

"Okay, I'll send you the cooperation plan later. You can prepare in advance."

Partnering with Dexian Electronics will allow Hangxin Energy to have a mature factory and employees. In addition, their 3C accessory products can complement Jinyi Industrial's foreign trade.

"You still need to make a planning proposal?"

Tan Jincheng didn't hide his phone call from Gu Qingqing. The apartment was quite small, and the two of them shared a study.

"Yes, let's make a simple cooperation plan. If you're sleepy, you can go to sleep first."

A company can't have too many PPTs, but it also can't do without them. Tan Jincheng doesn't like his employees to be too obsessed with PPTs, but he himself likes to use PPTs to "fool" partners or investors.

I checked the time; it was 10:30.

"I'll stay with you, it's still early."

In a quiet little apartment, a single man and woman were working late into the night, with the woman keeping him company. They looked just like a young couple who had just entered society and were striving for their future.

(End of this chapter)