Thinking about all this, Chen Dong's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and he spoke to the group.
"Don't worry about the distribution channels yet. The priority right now is to expedite the conversion of the MP3 production line. Also, the current production line only produces 30,000 units per month, which is too little. We need to find a way to improve that."
“Boss, 30,000 units is just a current estimate. Once the workers are more skilled, I think the output can be increased significantly.” The engineer immediately gave his answer.
Chen Dong nodded, then looked at Wang An: "How many Walkman production lines do we have in our electronics factory?"
There are 6.
"In this way, we will modify all six production lines and bring in four more, making a total of ten production lines to produce MP3 players."
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhiyuan hurriedly said, "Boss, shouldn't we hold off on this for now? We haven't even figured out the distribution channels for MP3 players yet. If we rush to produce them, storage will be a big problem. Besides, our company's portable music players have been selling quite well and have a good reputation so far. In addition, the electronics factory has orders booked until the end of this year. If we stop everything now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to the sales team later."
Lin Zhiyuan's words were exactly what Wang An wanted to say. Since Longteng Electronics shifted its focus back to the domestic market, its sales have been soaring, and the Longteng Walkmans it produces are now in short supply.
But now, judging from Chen Dong's intentions, all the Walkman production lines need to be completely renovated. Compared to the time and money generated from the Walkman sales, it seems like a losing proposition.
Upon hearing this, Chen Dong thought for a moment and changed his mind, saying, "Then let's do this: shut down half of the Walkman production line, and import seven more production lines to modify. I'll handle the MP3 player distribution channels. You just need to ensure quality control and prevent any issues with our product quality."
Then Chen Dong looked at the engineer and said, "Engineer Wang, do you see any other way to further reduce the cost of the MP3 player? A cost of 200 RMB is still too high."
Upon hearing this, Engineer Wang smiled wryly and said, "Boss, this price is already low. If we purchase a large quantity of storage chips, we might be able to lower the unit price a bit. As for the other raw materials, I'm afraid it's hard to say."
Indeed, the core components of an MP3 player are the circuit board, storage chip, and decoding chip. The circuit board is relatively easy to obtain; MP3 circuit boards are quite simple, and this part can be purchased from other domestic manufacturers. At the very least, it can be manufactured domestically based on the design principles of electronic circuit boards.
However, memory chips still require some technology in this era, and most companies that produce memory chips are located in island nations.
The instruments, equipment, and researchers Chen Dong brought back from Japan last time were all semiconductor experts. However, he hadn't had anyone research the storage chips used in MP3 players, which are essentially TF cards or mobile phone memory cards. This kind of technology, which isn't particularly advanced or advanced, meant that Longteng Group had to import these storage chips from abroad.
Chen Dong nodded upon hearing this and said, "Let's prepare for both possibilities. Send someone to talk to the memory chip company. Also, find some samples for the experts from those island nations to see if we can develop something based on this."
The replacement product after TF card is called SD card, which is a storage card that truly breaks away from MB and enters GB as the unit of measurement.
"Okay, boss." Hearing this, Engineer Wang smiled wryly. Developing new storage chips was no easy task, but he still agreed in front of Chen Dong.
Chen Dong looked at Lin Zhiyuan and Wang An and said, "You two should talk to the original distributors during this period of time. Try to reduce the supply of Walkmans as much as possible, or cancel them if possible. Before the end of the year, the group will stop producing Walkmans."
“But boss, we’ve already received payment for the Walkmans,” Wang An said.
Hearing this, Chen Dong also felt a headache. In this era, resources were scarce, especially entertainment products. Things like the Little Tyrant learning machine and cartridge game consoles were rare items in many parts of China.
Popular game cartridges like Mario, Contra, and Battle City can sell for around 100 yuan each. Many middlemen choose to pay in advance to get the goods as quickly as possible.
Walkmans are no exception!
If any boy had a Walkman in his hand, he would instantly become the coolest guy on campus. Calling it a girl-chasing artifact is no exaggeration.
Chen Dong thought for a moment and then said, "How about this, complete the orders that need to be completed as soon as possible. If we really can't complete them, we'll refund them. In any case, I want to get an inventory of one million MP3 players before the end of the year."
"One million units?"
Everyone was taken aback. Although Chen Dong said he would handle the distribution channels, Lin Zhiyuan was still not very confident. At that time, the mainstream in the market was still the Walkman, which used cassette tapes.
MP3 players that can play music without using cassette tapes certainly have their advantages, but their disadvantages are also obvious, as they lack music download channels.
Therefore, having sales channels alone is not enough; there must also be sufficient music resources available for download. The two complement each other and are indispensable.
"Yes, it's one million units. To be honest, I'm afraid that this quantity will lead to supply shortages." Chen Dong was not lying about this. The MP3 player that Emperor Alliance was popular all over the world had created a buying frenzy, and in just over two years, the number of MP3 players sold reached one hundred million units.
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