Brilliant Years 1991

Chapter 188 Another happy news!
This morning's work is still to visit the detailed production process of the electrical appliance factory's production workshop.

Cao Yukun has been doing this for several days.

His so-called production tour was not just a walk-through. He was very serious about the production line, followed by a large group of staff responsible for various aspects. He would ask questions at any time: What material is this thing made of? Why is it made of this material? Who is the supplier? What is the purchase price?
And so on.

To be frank, anyone who comes here to learn the technology secretly will not ask as detailed questions or observe as carefully as he does.

In the production of electrical appliances, especially for companies like Yuan Aijia Electric Appliances, the main products are basically just rice cookers and electric kettles. Frankly speaking, Cao Yukun feels that they do not have much technical content.

But the lack of technical content does not mean that there is no technical content.

The production of an electric rice cooker consists of at least a dozen molded parts, including the pot body, outer shell, circuit board, electromagnetic wire reel, heater, lid, over-pressure valve, etc. This thing is only simple for the user. Whether it is design and production or raw material procurement, it is actually quite complicated, at least in this era, for a layman like Cao Yukun.

What to do? Learn!

Start from the beginning, from every detail, learn it, understand it.

Although he has not been doing business for a long time, Cao Yukun has never believed that doing business is just about maneuvering over wine and tea tables, holding meetings in clean and bright conference rooms, or reviewing documents and signing signatures behind a large desk in a spacious office.

The so-called acquisition does not mean that you write a check, get a certain amount of shares, and become the chairman of the board of directors of the company - owning it without any control is no different from having nothing at all.

In some special circumstances, possessing something without any control is even equivalent to taking the blame.

Cao Yukun has always been serious about doing business and making money.

Since he has decided to acquire the company and has already completed the acquisition, he must take control of the company in his own hands - from personnel, to production, to finance, to supply and marketing, all of them must be done.

This is his habit and rule.

So once the acquisition was completed, the first thing he did after taking office was to require everyone in the factory, from management to workers, to be on duty, even if they were just there to clean up, they had to be on duty on time. Those who were not on duty would be fired. After everyone was on duty, he required production to resume.

There is considerable resistance.

After the acquisition was completed, a new board of directors was formed with a total of seven directors, four of whom were major creditors. Their only purpose in coming in was to oversee the company's operations and finances. The specific implementation method was to conduct a price evaluation on the various assets owned by the new Joyoung Electric. They wanted to restore the company's vitality as soon as possible by transferring assets and selling them off, and then it would be time to reorganize production and sales.

But Cao Yukun voted against it.

Not only did he take over 57% of the shares from HSBC at a price of one Hong Kong dollar, but after taking office he also frequently made moves to support the market and bring confidence to shareholders. In the following days, he spent more than one million Hong Kong dollars to buy up to 0.1% of the shares at prices ranging from 0.3 to 17 yuan. Finally, with 74% controlling stake, the share price finally stabilized at more than 0.3 Hong Kong dollars per share. Only then did he stop - because there are two restrictions here. First, if the share price of a listed company is lower than 0.25 Hong Kong dollars per share for a long time, it will be required to delist. Second, if the number of shares outstanding on the market is less than 25%, it will also be required to delist.

In order to maintain the company's status as a listed company, Cao Yukun had to do this.

But this actually led to the fact that he now holds 74% of the company's shares, forming an absolute controlling stake - not to mention that the creditor group led by HSBC was not willing to target him as the person who came out to take over. Even if they wanted to, they would not be able to do anything about it as long as the financial situation did not continue to deteriorate.

Therefore, management and workers were quickly recalled, and the company began to gradually resume production in an orderly manner.

Once production resumes, it will be convenient for Cao Yukun to observe and understand this industry from the most detailed aspects one by one - for example, as early as when he saw the financial reports of the original Aijia Electric Appliances in recent years from Eldon of HSBC, Cao Yukun was quite curious about it. He had been suppressing it before, pretending not to notice it and not interested in it, but now, after observing it for a few days, he finally figured it out.

Originally, Aijia Electric Appliances still had some technology.

The pot body is formed in one piece using pressing technology.

According to the company's deputy general manager in charge of technology and production, Cao Yukun introduced that when the company was engaged in production in the 1980s, it originally imported related accessories directly from Fuso. However, Fuso's electrical appliance industry was too strong. Eating rice is basically a thing that only exists in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Developed countries in Europe and the United States have no motivation to produce in this area, so they don't have the technology at all. Therefore, after Fuso's economy and technology developed, it has an overwhelming technological advantage in the production of many electrical appliances that are unique to East Asia and Southeast Asia. Hongkong, with such a small population and such a small market, can't even think of competing for this.

Once Fuso formed an absolute monopoly on the relevant technology, it quickly began to control the export of related accessories. The specific approach was to increase the supply price - from circuit boards, to die-cast pot bodies, to temperature probes, and even pot body coatings, all of which were supplied to downstream manufacturers at high prices.

But the problem is that you buy their raw materials at a high price for assembly, and when you put the products on the market, they still suppress your selling price and you are stuck on both ends. In view of this, in fact, in the late 1980s, the original controller of Aijia Electric Appliances carried out a wave of "technological upgrades" with great effort.

The so-called technological upgrade means spending more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars to introduce this set of integrated pot pressing technology.

A rice cooker is, after all, just a pot!

The original Aijia Electric Appliances adopted a crude production model that was almost close to processing supplied materials. Both the pots and the paint were imported raw materials and then assembled in the factory. But after the introduction of this production line, Aijia Electric Appliances only needed to import special alloy steel plates and produce the pot bodies itself.

It's just a pity that for the original Aijia Electric Appliances, this investment of up to 30 million Hong Kong dollars was too large, which brought great financial pressure to the company. In addition, although the company's production costs were reduced, they still had no ability to expand externally and sell to other places. They could only rely on the increasingly smaller Hong Kong market. As a result, the company's production scale began to shrink.

This led to his subsequent desperate actions, which eventually led to the bankruptcy of the company and he himself was sent to jail.

But Cao Yukun liked the technology that he had put a lot of effort into.

This is good stuff.

Now there are two or three electronics companies in Hongkong that have the capacity to produce circuit boards, which is enough to supply things like rice cookers. For the production of the pot body, the original Aijia Electric Appliances left behind such a good production line, and the coating can be imported from Europe and the United States. It is by no means Fuso's exclusive technology.

As for the temperature probe, although it seems to be a simple little technology, there are only three companies in the world that have this technology. The company in Fuso is indeed the one with the best quality and the lowest price. However, as long as they dare to raise the price or control the price, the company can purchase from other companies at any time.

As for other things, such as plastic shells, heating plates, and even more advanced electromagnetic wire reels, there is absolutely no company that can control the technology and supply - in fact, with this production foundation, if one really wants to engage in production, one will basically not be controlled by anyone.

Of course it's cool.

So in fact... the company now needs funds to restart production, and needs a larger market to sell what it produces, including the current large amount of inventory.

These two things are the most important.

But...sell the industrial land where the new factory has not been built yet?

Sorry, no need!
Your new boss became rich by being good at selling things!

…………

Near noon, Cao Yukun finished his visit and study in the workshop and was about to leave the factory when Zhou Aimin called and asked if he wanted to go back for lunch. Everyone had figured out the routine now. Although they didn't know who was outside or even how many there were, Cao Yukun's arrangement quickly made everyone realize that their husbands would definitely go back and stay for one day every three days.

I didn’t dare ask anything else, but when this day came, everyone was still very positive.

Zhou Aimin called not because she really hoped Cao Yukun would come home for lunch. He usually ate outside at noon. It was no accident that my husband became rich. He loved his work and always liked to have meals with his employees, communicate about feelings and work. She called just to make sure that my husband belonged to me today and he would definitely come back in the evening!

Well, today belongs to Zhou Aimin.

Although she is actually having her period these two days, what belongs to her is hers.

It was just noon... Just after eleven-thirty, Cao Yukun's Mercedes-Benz had already stopped outside the gate of Hongkong Chinese University, and a few minutes later, a cheerful figure ran out of the school.

She quickly opened the door and got into the Mercedes.

It was Fang Lijing, the younger sister of Mr. Ahao, the famous cold campus beauty and legal beauty of Hongkong Chinese University, and the dream goddess of Guo Chaofan, the second son of his cheap father-in-law Guo Hongying, who loved her but couldn't get her.

"How come you have time recently? Didn't you just acquire an electrical appliance company?"

As soon as she got in the car, she asked the question that she actually wanted to ask when she called last night.

Cao Yukun shrugged his shoulders with an arrogant look on his face. He had just been studying and observing seriously in the factory workshop, not daring to neglect anything. But now he was bragging to the girl, "It's nothing! It's just a small company. I can make money by doing it casually. It won't interfere with my relationship!"

Fang Lijing laughed and glanced at her.

In fact, her classmates and admirers don’t know that she is really not aloof at all.

In fact, Cao Yukun quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, rubbing it in his big hand, but the girl didn't struggle, at most her face just turned a little red.

Soon, Cao Yukun put his arm around the girl's neck, forcing her to get closer. He also moved closer, kissed her on the mouth, and asked, "What do you want to eat today?"

The girl blushed and said, "Whatever!"

"Do you want to go eat beef offal noodles? Pig's trotter noodles?"

Fang Lijing laughed happily, shyly and smiling, "No way! I want to have a big meal today! I'm going to give a big meal to a rich man like you!"

Cao Yukun laughed, "Eat it if you want, who's afraid of who? I'll let you eat me for the rest of my life!"

Fang Lijing smiled very happily after hearing that. She hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to lean into Cao Yukun's arms. She tried to adjust her posture a few times, and soon found the feeling she had when he held her in his arms at the beach last time. "Okay then, you said it, don't go back on your word, I want to eat you for the rest of my life!"

Cao Yukun didn't answer, but just smiled and kissed her on the top of her head, then rolled down the car window and shouted outside, "Ah Feng, drive! Your boss's wife wants to go out for a feast!"

A Feng agreed, jogged back immediately, opened the car door and got in.

Fang Lijing shyly yet happily huddled in Cao Yukun's arms and refused to come out.

…………

"Bang bang!"

"Enter!"

The door was pushed open, and it was Ah Hao who came in. Cao Yukun raised his head and smiled, "Hey, you're back?"

In fact, he had vaguely heard a commotion outside just now.

Ah Hao always came in with a smile, "Yes, Mr. Cao, I have fulfilled my mission."

Cao Yukun laughed loudly, stood up, walked over and shook his hand. "You did a great job. It even exceeded my expectations. It shows that you are actually very capable in marketing!"

With a budget of 3000 million Hong Kong dollars and a re-dubbed advertisement, Ah Hao became an instant hit in Lijiaopo. From mid-September to now, which is only days, according to feedback from local dealers, shipments have exceeded tons. Now it is even worth shipping directly from China to Lijiaopo, and each batch is tons.

This is undoubtedly an astonishing achievement.

Of course, it also fully demonstrates once again that the methods Cao Yukun used to enter the market are really very useful, at least in this era.

Lijiaopo is quite developed and is listed as one of the four Asian tigers together with Hongkong. It is also a tourist capital and a shopping mecca. It also has a developed shipping industry and even a similar population structure. It can be said that it is extremely similar to Hongkong in all aspects. So, theoretically speaking, anything that sells well in Hongkong will not be too bad there.

Otherwise, Ah Hao would not have thought of developing his own market, and Cao Yukun would not have approved it.

Now, Qinyuan brand plum juice is also a hit in Lijiaopo. Although the population of Lijiaopo is not as large as that of Hongkong, the purchasing power is not inferior. Even if it is slightly lower, it can still produce more than 5000 tons per month, which is also amazing.

The two places combined have a population of about tens of millions, making it the most developed place with the strongest consumption power in Asia today, except for Fusang. Before the official rise of the mainland, just eating from these two markets would be enough to make you very satisfied.

A total of 20,000 tons a month...what else do you want?

The taxes in Lijiaopo are a bit heavier, mainly because of the consumption tax on local people. Unlike Hongkong, it is a real free trade port. It is positioned as a transshipment trade port. Therefore, for the same selling price, after deducting more freight and heavier taxes, the profit there will not be as much as Hongkong.

But it's just 5000 Hong Kong dollars per ton, which is equivalent to about 690 US dollars, and the difference is just over 500 US dollars.

If 5000 tons can be sold there every month, it means that Cao Yukun's Yiren Kangyin can earn an additional 250 million RMB per month, and the beverage factory can also make an additional 400 million RMB in net profit.

At the same time, the beverage factory can hire more workers, pay them more overtime pay, and pay more taxes to the government - it's almost killing ten birds with one stone.

Oh, by the way, if the payment is received quickly enough, Zhou Aimin can move into the villa half a month earlier.

"Sit down, sit down and talk!"

I stopped him and asked him to sit on the sofa, and listened to his face-to-face report on what he had done in Lijiaopo in the past half month, especially the local feedback. Finally, Mr. Hao said that after the sales in Lijiaopo stabilized, he wanted to carefully investigate the Malaysian market again, continue to copy the path of the sour plum juice that sold well in Hongkong and Lijiaopo, and then go to expand the Malaysian market!

Mr. Hao is obviously very motivated!
Of course, Cao Yukun was very happy.

Who wouldn’t like employees who are willing to build their own empire, expand their own market and make a lot of money?

Cao Yukun expressed his agreement and even praise on the spot.

The Malaysian market is not small either. Not only is its population over 20 million, but more than one-third of it is Chinese. Before the Southeast Asian financial crisis, it was also one of the four Asian tigers. The vast rural areas and plantations are certainly not very rich, but Kuala Lumpur has a population of one or two million and its purchasing power is also very strong.

If you can take over Kuala Lumpur, it is almost equivalent to taking over half of Lijiaopo!

And for a country like Malaysia, conquering the capital often means being able to sell throughout the country!

By then, it will most likely not be smaller than the market in Lijiaopo.

He had to be praised highly. There was no way Cao Yukun would be stingy with his planned future brother-in-law. He not only said that he would directly increase his annual salary to 36 Hong Kong dollars, but also said that he would give him a big reward in the future. At the same time, he would treat everyone tonight to celebrate for Ah Hao!
After chatting for about an hour, Cao Yukun sent him home to reunite with his family.

Recently, Cao Yukun's thoughts and time have basically been focused on Joyoung Electric Appliances. Today is a rare day for him to come back, and there are indeed many documents that he needs to look at and sign.

However, just as Mr. Hao left and hadn't finished reading a document, the phone suddenly rang. Cao Yukun picked it up and asked, "Hello, who is this?"

There was a girl's voice on the other end of the phone, timidly and tentatively, "Hello, is this Cao Yukun?"

Upon hearing the voice, Cao Yukun immediately raised his head.

(End of this chapter)