Distant mountains are verdant, nearby mountains are pure; this is a June scene of Jiangnan.
The sound of rain continues without ceasing, a hundred streams flow down to the flat lake.
Although this doesn't specifically describe Gusu, it perfectly captures the June scenery of Jiangnan.
As one of Jiangnan's absolute representative places, Gusu not only boasts profound historical heritage and boundless beautiful Jiangnan landscapes, but its industrial output value also ranks among the top in the nation.
Tan Jincheng had visited Gusu more than once in his previous life, for work and for tourism, but this was his first time in this life.
In 2005, Gusu's industry was not as developed as in his previous life, but the scenery seemed even more beautiful.
However, coming to Gusu at the end of June, if for tourism, was really not a good time, because it was just too damn hot!
But June and July are inherently hot seasons; it seems hard to exert oneself for anything.
The scorching sun deterred any thoughts of going out.
But for life, and for ideals, one couldn't afford to be idle.
Fortunately, the weather these days was still relatively normal, not as extreme as in later generations; it was hot when it should be hot and cool when it should be cool, with very few unseasonal abnormal weather patterns.
When did the weather start becoming abnormal?
He couldn't remember.
"Boss, the battery-holding plastic parts from our side have been modified. The 72V version won't be produced for now; we've switched to 60V for trial production. These are the trial mold photos they sent over, please take a look."
In the hotel, Sun Yuming sent the downloaded photos to Tan Jincheng's QQ.
They were taken with a digital camera, so the reception speed was a bit slow.
After the reception was complete a while later, Tan Jincheng zoomed in and out on the photos countless times.
"Tell them to put the battery in and assemble it; it would be a joke if it doesn't fit. Also, they should try assembling it with other components to check the fit, and pay attention to the product's flash."
These workers were still unprofessional, just taking a few bare photos of individual products.
What could he tell from that?
Since they were sending it for him to see, they should at least put the battery in to check the fit, to see if it was loose, tight, or just right.
"Okay, Boss, you even understand molds, that's amazing,"
Sun Yuming replied, sighing with emotion.
Tan Jincheng pursed his lips, ignored him, and continued to enjoy the cool air from the air conditioner.
What the hell do I know about molds?
But you can't look at a component in isolation; you have to see how it fits with others.
That's basic common sense, right?
As for flash on the product, that's a professional term he learned from Zhang Mingcan.
It roughly means that during the injection molding process, due to pressure issues from the plastic press and problems with mold fit, overflow occurs, making the joint parts of the product look rough and fuzzy, affecting aesthetics and easily causing hand injuries.
These days in Gusu, he was connecting with a controller and motor manufacturer.
Speaking of which, the industrial base for e-mopeds is still primarily concentrated in Su Province, and even Xinri has a manufacturing base here.
Tan Jincheng also noticed an interesting point: companies like the previous battery manufacturer, and now the controller, motor, and other companies, although established in the 1990s, only truly reorganized after 2000.
Within the supplier system, the closest reorganization date was last year.
This fully illustrates that although the e-moped industry received much attention, its true commercialization only happened in recent years.
Entering the market at this point was already very early.
With an immature industrial chain, everything is difficult.
The first to "eat the crab" often struggles to last until the end.
Entering at this point is like the rising period of a stock, making it easy to earn profits by following the industry's boom.
The procurement price for controllers and electrical components was not low, all sourced from one company.
A complete set cost 185 yuan, still for forty thousand sets.
The total order price was 7.4 million yuan, which averaged to nearly 620,000 yuan per month.
The payment method was similar to batteries, but the settlement time was pushed back.
The subsequent supplier systems would all be similar.
If possible, deferring payment for goods by a month would be best, as this would significantly reduce capital pressure.
After only visiting a few suppliers, the pressure Tan Jincheng felt was already growing.
With procurement orders often exceeding several million, Shanchi Auto's financial pressure would become absurdly high starting from August.
After a round of cost calculations, if market performance is poor in August, and countless suppliers need payment by September, then Shanchi Auto will face a capital shortage problem, and it will only be a matter of time before it collapses!
"Only now do I understand what Old Ma Tou meant when he said Taobao was only three months away from collapse, sigh."
Tan Jincheng lay on the hotel bed, staring speechlessly at the ceiling.
Indeed, July was just around the corner.
If market performance was poor, Shanchi Auto wouldn't even last three months.
Starting a business is truly like walking on thin ice.
Beep, beep.
Just as Tan Jincheng was fretting, his phone rang.
He picked it up and saw it was a message from Gu Qingqing.
"Boss Tan, you've arrived in Gusu?"
"Yes, but I'm leaving soon."
QQ Zone had finished its internal testing, and the official version was released in June.
The features of QQ Zone at this time were still relatively basic, but it had essential functions like blogs, photo albums, and message boards, aiming to compete with Sina Blog.
Since the official release, Tan Jincheng was among the first batch of users.
He occasionally uploaded photos and his entrepreneurial insights, partly to record his life and partly to prepare an explanation for why he would buy so many QQ shares later.
The first batch of 100,000 QQ shares was just the beginning, but certainly not the end.
In the future, when he had more ample funds, Tan Jincheng would continue to buy QQ shares, possibly even becoming one of the major individual shareholders at a low price.
By then, he could say he was a loyal QQ user who was optimistic about QQ's development.
"If you don't believe me, look, as soon as QQ Zone launched, I was one of the first to try it."
Gu Qingqing, in turn, became one of Tan Jincheng's first loyal "fans."
Her presence could always be seen in the emotional insights recorded in his blogs and in the photos he uploaded.
Gu Qingqing seemed to treat this new application section as another channel to understand Tan Jincheng.
"So, Boss Tan has a younger sister, and she's not even one year old, how amazing!"
"So Boss Tan also has worries, being a boss seems pretty difficult, huh? He even has photos of himself? This one must have been taken by his employee. Traveling for business in this scorching heat is indeed suffering, and he even seems a bit tanned."
Just as Tan Jincheng, lying lazily in the hotel today, uploaded a record of his trip to Gusu, Gu Qingqing saw it and sent him a text message.
"Oh, oh, oh, is Gusu fun? I haven't been there yet."
"It's too hot, nothing much to do. If you want to visit, spring or autumn would be better."
"Then where is Boss Tan's next stop?"
"Next stop? Still in Su Province, heading to Wuxi."
Fortunately, the e-moped industrial chain is relatively concentrated.
Batteries, molds, plastic parts, and other small components can all be sourced in Zhe Province, while controllers, motors, and other core components can be found in Su Province.
As the client on a business trip, the choice was Tan Jincheng's.
The orders were signed for a year, so negotiations went very smoothly.
The major suppliers were also very friendly, showing what they considered their greatest sincerity in receiving Tan Jincheng and his group.
Procurement orders easily reaching several millions, while putting immense pressure on Shanchi Auto, also greatly facilitated the negotiations to establish the supply chain.
Large quantities and large sums naturally meant greater bargaining power.
In terms of procurement volume alone, Tan Jincheng's move this time demonstrated the demeanor of a large manufacturer within the supplier system.
For a while, it truly managed to impress many, preventing suppliers from raising significant doubts about Shanchi Auto's strength.
This was a gamble.
If they were more cautious, Shanchi Auto could have procured components month by month, using a method similar to their cooperation with Zhang Haiping, with advance payments and final payments.
This would entail much less risk.
However, this would only leave large suppliers, especially in batteries, with the impression that the other party lacked strength, providing no advantage in terms of bargaining or priority supply.
But at the same time, if the gamble succeeded, it would bring immense benefits to Shanchi Auto, including subsequent supply and great initiative when further expanding production capacity, allowing costs to be further compressed.
Taking batteries as an example, even if a set of lead-acid batteries drops by five yuan, 40,000 sets would save 200,000 yuan, enough for the annual salaries of two middle managers.
The procurement volume after expansion would be even more significant.
"Boss Tan, judging by your blog post today, you seem a bit unhappy?"
Gu Qingqing continued to send messages.
"Oh? How can you tell?"
Tan Jincheng asked, a little curious.
Although Tan Jincheng currently housed the soul of a 38-year-old middle-aged man, with the impact of mobile internet from his previous life, he was quite a surf expert online.
Some of the vocabulary used in his blog posts was still a bit forward-thinking compared to current trends.
It was just that current QQ Zone settings only allowed access to friends; otherwise, if Boss Tan put in some effort, he might even become an influencer on QQ Zone.
Perhaps he could create a company account and write some advertorials on QQ Zone to promote the Shanchi and Fengchi series? This idea seemed feasible.
QQ's user base currently consisted mainly of students, migrant workers, and office workers.
In a few more years, the post-85 and post-90 non-mainstream users would be even more concentrated in QQ Zone and Xuanwu Tuan.
Many of these "ghost fire youths" are factory workers.
Starting now to occupy QQ Zone and increase brand awareness would be a good strategy.
Furthermore, students currently don't have much spending power, but they have parents.
Planting the brand awareness of Shanchi and Fengchi in their minds and having them recommend it to their parents might also yield some unexpected results.
Moreover, when they grow up and enter society, Shanchi and Fengchi could become a symbol of nostalgia for them, which would be another major consumer group.
Thinking this, Tan Jincheng felt an unbidden excitement.
This could work!
Gu Qingqing truly was a lucky star.
If she hadn't mentioned QQ Zone, he really wouldn't have thought of this angle, only seeing it as a private space to record his life.
(End of Chapter)
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