From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 294 Everyone is united

[Entries are being extracted automatically...]

……

[Successful extraction! Congratulations, host, you have obtained the entry "United as One"!]

...

Feature 1: When employees of the host company and employees of the cooperating first-tier supply chain meet the basic social security and five social insurances and one housing fund requirements, the product manufacturing quality improves by 15%.

[Feature 2: When the actual wages of the host company's employees and first-tier supply chain employees are 15% or more higher than the domestic industry average, the collective R&D capability increases by 30% and the collective loyalty increases by 30%; (Note: This term can be applied on a one-to-one basis)]

Feature 3: When the host company's employees and first-tier supply chain employees work overtime in compliance with regulations (overtime pay/time off in full), and there is no malicious wage arrears or withholding of wages, they automatically obtain "protection" status: the rate of work-related injuries/safety accidents and the probability of equipment failure are reduced by 30%; (Note: This entry can be applied on a one-to-one basis)

[Feature 4: When the host company has more than 10 employees, the "United We Stand" buff is automatically activated; United We Stand: Host company employee productivity +5%, collective R&D capability +5%, product quality +5%, collective employee loyalty +5%... When the host company has more than 20 employees, this buff automatically doubles!]

...

When the host company's net profit exceeds 1000 billion, the next term will be automatically extracted.

...

"United as one... with one heart and one mind?!"

It was as if heavenly music was playing in Xu Yi's ears.

My emotions are running high!
OK OK.

Finally...it's here!
The system is giving me another perk!

It can be said.

Xingchen's success today is entirely due to his own 99% effort and hard work, and the system's negligible 1% assistance.

……

cough.

Let's put aside the idle talk for now.

Xu Yi began to study the new entry carefully.

The system gain is still very good and powerful.

When it comes to improving public speaking skills, it truly does.

Moreover, it was a very subtle and gradual process that made him more adept and quick-witted, not only in holding press conferences, but also in communicating with people and handling matters...

A speech given at a meeting is a speech, and a speech given face-to-face is also a speech!
"Production quality" can be equated with the quality of the product leaving the factory. This is a comprehensive improvement that can make Xingchen's products more competitive under the same technology and production process.

Even though we're all using the same machines and the same production lines, my quality is just a little better than yours.

That's roughly the feeling.

It's worth noting that the previous "fever" category had this kind of boost when the conditions for imitating competitors' products were met.

Now, Xingchen has almost nothing left to imitate in the fields of batteries and car manufacturing.

...

The company offers all five social insurances and one housing fund, and the actual salary is higher than the industry average.

For the employees of Xingchen Group, this is already enough.

However, when it comes to the primary supply chain, the scope becomes much broader.

Xu Yi carefully examined the information and confirmed that the object referred to in the system entry was a Tier 1 level core supplier.

This means signing a direct OEM supply contract with StarCraft, becoming a StarCraft system supplier, and directly responsible for quality, delivery, after-sales service, recalls, and changes.

These suppliers who can cooperate with Xingchen are either major technology companies like Qualcomm, Bosch, and Nvidia, or they are among the top companies in China's new energy vehicle industry chain and automobile manufacturing industry chain.

Let's not even talk about the big companies. As joint venture giants or high-tech foreign companies, their salaries and social security benefits are already higher than the industry average.

Other suppliers that heavily rely on orders from Xingchen could take this opportunity to be controlled.

Xu Yi was curious about the collective R&D efficiency. The so-called one-to-one approach probably meant that as long as the supplier met the standards, they could receive the benefit buff, while non-compliant suppliers would not.

In this way, these supply chains that rely on the stars for their livelihood will not fall behind due to slow research and development.

As for collective loyalty, what exactly is that?
Does that mean the employees on the supply chain are also directly loyal to StarCraft?
……

Xu Yi picked up his phone and sent a message to Zheng Tie.

"Old Zheng, could you take some time soon to conduct background checks on our core supply chain partners and factory workers?"

He emphasized this point.

Product quality improvement also covers product components. Improving this aspect is equivalent to improving the yield rate and final quality, and all that's required is the most basic social security and housing fund contributions.

It seems like a worthwhile deal no matter how you look at it.

Is this year we conducting background checks on the supply chain's grassroots level ahead of schedule?
Zheng Tie was slightly puzzled by his boss's sudden instruction.

Xingchen Group has a strong control over its core suppliers. Before the large number of its directly supplied supply chain factories are allowed to enter the market and are designated as suppliers, background checks are conducted. Every 12 months thereafter, the qualifications, factory capacity, equipment, quality system, and other processes are reviewed.

To avoid major quality incidents caused by supplier errors.

Only five or six months have passed since the last review.

"Mr. Xu, are you worried about production capacity and quality issues on the supply chain side? Production capacity is indeed tight right now, but we also have very strict controls, especially on production capacity, factory equipment, and parts quality. We haven't relaxed our control over anything."

Zheng Tie thought he was worried about this.

"No, no, I need a more detailed investigation, not just superficial stuff. Focus on the basic social security and housing fund contributions, and see which factories still have a lot of outsourcing or whose employees' basic wages are not compliant..."

Xu Yi offered some pointers.

"Uh, this..."

Zheng Tie was slightly shocked!

Controlling the social security and housing fund contributions of core suppliers, as well as their outsourcing practices, and even raising their base salaries?!
Xu Yi: "Currently, the group has about a hundred core suppliers with whom we cooperate directly. If we want to build a more complete group system, we also need a good supplier ecosystem."

“These suppliers make money and follow our employment rules, which ensures the stability of the supply chain. What we want is to continuously provide high-quality products, not to reduce short-term profits.”

Generally, requiring suppliers to reduce costs year by year is in line with the company's corporate spirit of "continuous improvement".

Alternatively, some companies simply use bidding and regularly changing core suppliers to allow suppliers to negotiate prices and reduce costs indefinitely in order to obtain the right to bid.

While this approach can indeed directly reduce costs, it also creates new problems in quality control. Frequent changes in suppliers and basic components are only suitable for low-end, high-volume, low-price product systems.

Xingchen's products are becoming increasingly high-end and of higher quality. Even small components like chassis aluminum castings and high-voltage wiring harnesses require continuous quality improvement year by year, which necessitates the continuous progress of basic suppliers.

Zheng Tie thought this made sense, as Xingchen's own factory had long adopted this practice in terms of employee benefits.

In short: high welfare and strict management.

In the long run, the employees' discipline and obedience, as well as the manufacturers' adaptability and learning ability, far surpass those of domestic car factories.

Due to low staff turnover and resignation rates, long-term stability is also high.

They can indeed reduce salaries and benefits, which can create significant short-term growth potential in financial statements.

Because there are so many people who want to work at the Star Factory now, the flow of people is endless when they expand recruitment every quarter.

Despite Xu Yi's tough stance, the factory's operations at the grassroots level remained high-quality and efficient.

Many frontline employees, as well as sales staff who joined Xingchen Automotive, spontaneously bought a Xingchen car as their first action after working for a period of time.

According to internal statistics, this sales volume, which was initially insignificant, has now come to account for a considerable share.

Almost one in three Starry Night store salespeople buys a Starry Night car.

On the one hand, the internal purchase is indeed cost-effective (you can only get an internal purchase quota after working for a full year).

On the other hand, it is indeed an affirmation of the group's values.

Zhengzhou Railway Bureau has begun conducting background checks and is also taking the issue of salaries and benefits for frontline employees in the supply chain seriously. A thorough investigation into the core supply chain of Xingchen Group is quietly being conducted and is gradually being carried down the supply chain.

...

After making the call, Xu Yi asked his assistant, Xiao Zhoubang, to compile a list of the company's current number of employees at all levels, including R&D, production, and sales, as well as all the workers in all its factories.

A specific number was quickly obtained.

The Star Group has approximately 78,000 employees. Once the Luzhou car manufacturing plant is completed in the second quarter and Star Mobile expands, it is certain that the number will exceed 100,000.

Knowing that he could get the 5% all-around buff soon, Xu Yi felt more at ease.

…………

Wu Zheng is a veteran who has worked in the chip industry for 20 years.

His resume is quite impressive in the industry, including positions as a semiconductor researcher at Samsung headquarters, manager of the automotive chip department at Motorola's Suzhou R&D Center, head of chip R&D at Freescale in Shanghai, and director of Samsung Semiconductor's domestic research institute.

Having worked for foreign companies for a long time, I have experienced the ups and downs of the chip industry.

Besides wanting to settle down in China, he also had the ambition to start his own "career".

For example, the track of "new energy intelligent vehicles and autonomous driving chips".

Anyone with eyesight can see it.

The rise of new energy vehicles in China is happening at a rapid pace.

Speaking of this, we have to mention a car company that has a huge influence on the entire industry.

—Star Auto

The success and actions of this company have given a strong boost to all those who are optimistic about the new energy vehicle and autonomous driving sectors!

This also gave people like Wu Zheng the idea of ​​settling down in the country and seizing opportunities.

No matter how high one climbs in a foreign company, Chinese people will never be able to get into the core circle.

Rather than this.

It would be better to expand domestically.

Just last year, Yu Kai from Horizon Robotics sent him a message.

The two were old acquaintances, having already exchanged technical knowledge and personal favors when Yu Kai was still working at Baidu Deep Learning.

Yu Kai tried his best to win him over, inviting him to visit the Shanghai R&D center.

Wu Zheng also looked at their internal prototype verification chip, Horizon Robotics' first-generation AI vision chip, codenamed Journey 1.

Compared to the previous two years, this progress is remarkable.

After all, Horizon Robotics has secured funding from investors including Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and GSR Ventures, raising over $3 million this year. With less pressure on R&D, progress has been smoother.

Their main goal was to benchmark against Mobileye's products and business model, and to develop a domestically produced, independently controllable chip in terms of both software and hardware. This wasn't too difficult.

He got into a taxi, and Yu Kai's voice message arrived shortly afterward.

He was invited to attend the internal final sample validation meeting in April.

Horizon Robotics has reached the stage where it is about to be fabricated.

"Mr. Yu, thank you for your trust. I will attend the mid-year exchange meeting, but I think I need to think about joining the company. I haven't made up my mind yet..." Wu Zheng replied with a voice message.

soon.

A reply has also arrived from the horizon.

This time, I made a direct phone call.

The call was answered after only one ring.

Yu Kai's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Brother Wu, I don't think this is such a difficult decision. As long as you come to Horizon Robotics, you will be the chief person in charge of chip R&D. There are relatively few people in China who are in this field. Chip R&D is a talent-intensive industry. Apart from us, it is probably difficult to find other platforms in China that will give you the opportunity to fully utilize your abilities."

His words were very straightforward: Horizon Robotics' current strategy is to recruit these Chinese elites who have returned from foreign companies and understand chips into its team.

Moreover, they are pursuing a path of chip hardware and software synergy.

Wu Zheng is a rare talent with experience in breaking through the bottlenecks from chip design and manufacturing to algorithm self-development.

The prospects for developing intelligent driving chips and AI vision computing chips in China are very promising.

Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Samsung are all doing this overseas. If China can catch up, the return on investment for this car market of over a billion people will be immeasurable.

“I know… I certainly saw Horizon’s sincerity. I’m not considering the salary either; everyone is going there for this prospect.”

As Wu Zheng answered, he turned his head to look at the scenery outside. At this moment, the taxi had already driven into a science and technology park.

Towering technology buildings in the distance.

The logo, bearing the "Star Technology" mark, gleams brightly in the sunlight, as if it's glowing.

“Then that’s even more certain. Could there be anyone else who could impress you?” Yu Kai said with a smile.

Horizon Robotics is one of the earliest companies in China to focus on edge AI chips, and their technology roadmap is very clear.

Other domestic companies involved in the chip industry include Cambricon, which is still making cloud AI chips; HiSilicon, which mainly focuses on mobile phone chips and server chips; and ECARX and Rockchip, which are not worth mentioning and are not even in the intelligent driving chip field.

So it's impossible.

It's impossible!

Wu Zheng had nowhere else to go but the horizon.

They are all from Baidu Deep Academy, and their expertise in intelligent driving is unparalleled. There is no team in China stronger than Baidu's core Apollo team.

But I didn't expect it.

The other person's next sentence made his head spin!

"Ah."

Wu Zheng's brief one-word response.

Then he said:

"I spoke with Mr. Xu from Xingchen Motors on the phone. He said that Xingchen is also going to develop its own chips. I've been thinking about it and I'll take a look first and consider this further..."

Although he spoke in a tone of consideration, his inner desire was quite strong.

The team on Horizon is indeed very strong.

But who says stars don't count?

The large team of intelligent driving specialists at Xingchen also came from Baidu's core team!

They also have Wu Xinzhou.

Wu Zheng has already reviewed the intelligent driving system that was developed.

They're ridiculously strong.

And it has already begun to be used in practice.

It has such a large user base and the brand recognition of a leading new energy company.

He came running over "from the heart" as soon as he received the call, without Mr. Xu having to say much.

The main feature is "You can do whatever you want".

I'm fully automatic!

……

(End of this chapter)