He obtained two loans with a total amount of more than 7 million US dollars.

By selling the dry cell battery patent to Panasonic Group, the company received a huge sum of US$15 million, which it does not have to pay taxes on for the time being and can use freely until the tax deadline.

The reserve funds for marketing and promotion projects continue to increase.

Recently, according to Han Chudong's request, they have begun to go around Hollywood, asking directors or screenwriters to insert facial mask shots in recently filmed movies, with a budget of up to US$700,000.

This is obviously more cost-effective than contacting Hollywood film and television companies directly.

With Hollywood's powerful cultural export capabilities, it is equivalent to advertising in advance in other countries and regions, trying to cultivate the subconscious desire of women to apply facial masks.

besides.

The budget directly invested in advertising projects in shopping malls, women's magazines, etc. is as high as about 6 million US dollars, and more than 1 million has been spent.

It seems that the money spent on advertising is more than the expenses of opening stores, training employees, and acquiring R&D laboratories combined. Moreover, this is only the first batch of budgets. After the product is actually launched on the market, the intensity of the second round of advertising will be decided depending on the situation.

The earliest plans were a little more modest.

With more funds in his account and initial success on Rodeo Drive, Han Chudong is now willing to spend money.

When a new product targeting the female market is launched, it cannot just rely on word of mouth from users. Spending money during market development is to make more money in the future. Moreover, the "Ex-Boyfriend" series of facial masks has already shown signs of becoming a hit, so investing money at this time will have the best effect.

Let’s look at Baofeng Electric.

The amount of profit has been growing steadily, and the company's own profits have begun to feed back into the company's development. It is also possible to use the company's own earnings to expand, but the speed is relatively slow.

We plan to invest another three to four million US dollars in the future, aiming to capture the entire California market this year and expand into surrounding states and cities next year.

There has been no news of any competitors appearing yet, or it is possible that they have already appeared, but due to the delay in information transmission, Han Chudong has not yet learned about it. Anyway, no matter what, it is definitely a good idea to seize the market first.

Taking over the California market is equivalent to taking over one-fifth of the domestic US market. The population here is relatively concentrated and the purchasing power is slightly stronger than in most states.

If you take too big a step, you may easily pull your balls.

It's not good to be too impatient. Although Han Chudong has never been in charge of this company, he personally reviews the weekly sales data and often communicates with Vice President Joe Austin.

Aurora Games.

Research and development has just started, and some progress has been made, and funds are still sufficient.

After he finishes mass-producing facial masks, he plans to take some time to visit Silicon Valley again.

All in all, the company still has more than 6 million in idle funds in its account. Considering that Baofeng Electric does not need a one-time investment, it can temporarily embezzle funds and squeeze out 8 million US dollars.

Clear thoughts at night.

After careful consideration, I have probably made a decision.

Five million was used for investment, and the remaining money was partly kept as a reserve and partly used to develop the Walkman.

Ever since he saw the tape player in Sun Laosan's shop last year, Han Chudong has kept it in mind.

Based on past experience, any epoch-making technological product represents huge profits and is worth betting on, just like investing in Aurora Games' home game console project.

…

The morning of the eleventh.

As soon as he finished drinking the white porridge, Han Chudong rushed to the old factory. Driver Wu was already waiting at the door.

They said it would be delivered at around 7 or 8 in the morning, but since I didn't receive a call, it probably hasn't arrived yet.

If an exact time is agreed upon, there would be no need to be so anxious. The annoying thing is that the product could be delivered at any time, but you are still in a hurry to get the facial mask production line.

The product counters in cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Seattle are already ready, and employees have received short-term training. They are now waiting to ship the products there for sale. One day's delay means one day's delay in making money.

Having invested so much time, energy and money, how could I keep a normal mind? I just wanted to install and debug the machine as soon as possible and then put it into production quickly.

Having accumulated experience in selling toys, another factory is planned to be located in Pennsylvania, close to major sales locations. The urban clusters on the East Coast are mainly concentrated around Pennsylvania, radiating to more than a dozen eastern states.

This is the initial plan, and we haven’t started to think about the long term yet.

The order for the second batch of production lines has been entrusted to the automation equipment giant Rockwell. When the time comes, we will rent a factory in Pennsylvania and ship the goods directly over.

It's okay to be anxious, but I can't forget my girlfriend. I'll go pick up Kyoko Mochizuki first, and then rush to the factory east of Chinatown together.

The old factory building was originally used as a wood warehouse and was rented in the name of Rainbow Beauty Company. After signing a long-term contract, it was renovated inside and out and painted dark red on the outside.

The factory covers an area of ​​more than 3,000 square meters and has two floors. It is an old building constructed during World War I. The roof was renovated in the 1960s. It is definitely enough to be used only for the production of beauty products. There is also enough space to stack raw materials and finished goods.

When Han Chudong saw two trucks with Washington state license plates parked outside and forklifts unloading wooden boxes, he was overjoyed. He hurriedly got out of the car and walked over to greet the Rockwell technician on board.

The automated assembly lines for manufacturing dry batteries have not been completed yet, but they have nothing to do with Han Chudong now.

These assembly lines for producing facial masks are relatively simple. The mask papers and essences are customized directly from other manufacturers. Here, only the steps of putting the mask papers into bags, filling with essence, sealing, quality control and boxing are required.

After unpacking and debugging the machine, dozens of workers who had been recruited in advance finally completed their training and helped assemble the production line.

The process went relatively smoothly. After a lot of trouble, by the time the first production line was assembled and powered on and started running, it was already noon. The engineers came on site to debug and moved in raw materials for actual testing. This time it was not so smooth.

The mask paper was too soft and easily stuck together. The machine made mistakes from time to time during bagging. When Han Chudong heard that it might take two days, he was so anxious that he almost jumped up.

There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!

I quickly asked the Rockwell engineer, "What should we do now? There is a mistake every 20 or so packs. Some bags are empty, and some are filled with two masks. If they are wrinkled when put in, customers will definitely complain."

"Well... please wait a moment, let me check what's wrong. No such problem occurred during the test. Is there a difference between the raw materials you used and the samples you gave us?" the brown-haired engineer asked.

"...I remember that I increased the thickness a little bit. Didn't I inform you?"

While speaking, Han Chudong looked at the heads of various departments. At this moment, almost all the temporary executives of Rainbow Mask were present.

The reason why it is called "temporary" is that the working time is too short and its actual working ability cannot be seen yet. It is possible that the position may be changed at any time to make way for more capable employees.

The executives also know the news, so they have been very serious recently. The economy is in recession and jobs are hard to find, but the salaries Han Chudong pays his subordinates are generally above the standard, which is considered relatively generous.

If the raw materials were changed without telling the assembly line manufacturer, and if this delayed production, it would obviously be the mistake of the purchasing manager.

A middle-aged British man with a calm appearance admitted on the spot: "I felt it was too thin at the time, so the thickness was increased by 0.2mm. Sorry, I seem to have forgotten to contact them."

"...Remember to be careful next time." Han Chudong was quite depressed.

He refrained from saying anything harsh, let alone blaming anyone. The purchasing department held a relatively high position in his heart, and today was a day worth being happy about. Since the problem had been found, he should think about how to solve it.

After negotiating with the engineer, I asked someone to do the test and put the facial mask paper into the bag.

We found that manual bagging is also possible and the speed is not much slower than that of machines. Anyway, as long as we can produce on time, it will be fine. The remaining modification and debugging work will be delayed for two or three days, which is not a big problem.

Facial masks that have just been produced must not be used as their quality may be problematic.

At around noon, Han Chudong was waiting behind the assembly line. He saw boxes being delivered one after another, each containing eight facial masks, no more, no less.

Finally, the box sealing step needs to be completed manually. It is very simple. Just ask some girls to do the work. The labor cost is pitifully low compared to the product profit.

He pulled out a bag from the box, tore it open, and saw that the mask essence had soaked into the mask paper. He clapped his hands and laughed:

"Very good! Hurry up and get the rest of the production line ready, and start production today! Stay and work overtime, and I'll pay you an extra two dollars an hour!"

This was said to the other workers.

Before production began, some employees were asked to manually fill the facial masks and supply them to Rodeo Drive for sale.

The vast majority of people are in training and can get wages, but the amount is relatively low. When recruiting, it was mentioned that the wages would be raised to the agreed level from the day of formal production. The average worker earns about US$400 per month.

When people first heard about the temporary salary increase, few had any complaints. Instead, they felt happy about being able to earn money. Standing on both sides of the assembly line, smiles appeared on their faces.

Some people need to support a family, some people's parents have no retirement pay, and some people's children are still young, so it's time to spend money.

Rather than having an easy job without high wages, they hoped to have the opportunity to earn more money through labor. Soon, under the organization of middle-level management, they arranged employees in various positions that needed manpower and continued to try to carry out mass production.

Now the trial-produced masks will be destroyed, and the quality will be truly tested after another barrel of mask essence is filled again. Mass production of aloe-flavored masks will begin before two o'clock, and many workers are standing at the back sealing and packing the boxes.

If everything goes well, tonight or tomorrow, the first batch of mass-produced masks will be sent to West Coast cities such as San Francisco and Seattle for sale...