Liu Ming took Xing Baohua to Luchuan County, which is about 20 kilometers south of the city center.
Despite the 20-kilometer distance, it took Xing Baohua nearly an hour to ride his tuk-tuk.
Moreover, the road is difficult to travel; further south from here is the mountainous region.
There is a famous historical figure in Luchuan County, namely Pu Songling, the author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.
Liu Ming pointed out the way, and they soon arrived at the electronics factory. As soon as Xing Baohua saw the factory name on the sign, he knew why he couldn't find it.
Chenguang Electronics Factory in Luchuan County.
I was only thinking about the No. 1 and No. 2 factories in the city. I didn't realize that the county-level units below were also full of hidden talents!
Soon we entered the factory area and met the factory manager. He was a slightly overweight middle-aged man wearing glasses, with a slight local accent, and he was all smiles and extremely enthusiastic.
After they sat down, Liu Ming explained his purpose. He said that this comrade wanted to have a complete set of circuit boards processed, and he would help bring them over and make an introduction.
At this time, Liu Ming still didn't know Xing Baohua's full name or which organization he worked for.
Xing Baohua quickly introduced himself, saying he worked at the Shangguzhuang Electronics Factory in the city. He explained that he had designed a circuit diagram and hoped the factory could help with production.
The factory manager introduced himself as Zhang Deping. He then took the drawing that Xing Baohua had placed on the table and examined it carefully.
After watching for about twenty minutes, I walked to my desk, picked up the phone, and asked the factory's chief engineer to come over.
A few minutes later, the chief engineer came over and looked at the drawings, and the two of them studied them for a while. Finally, Factory Director Zhang said to Xing Baohua, "This looks a bit like a computer board! It's somewhat similar to the Guozier Ill in our factory? If you add a central processing unit, you could probably assemble a computer to play with. Is your Shangguzhuang Electronics Factory going to assemble computers?"
Hearing this, Xing Baohua felt that the factory director was capable, and even a professional one.
It's much easier to talk to a knowledgeable leader.
"This is a learning machine. I reverse-engineered the Atari 800 and redraw the blueprints. I also limited many functions and reduced a lot of control and management IC chips, so it can only be used as an entry-level computer that can write programs. Its main purpose is to teach how to write programs and run programs. It also has reserved expansion slots."
"The reserved port is for connecting modular devices, right? It can read and write floppy disks or print documents, and so on?" Director Zhang asked.
"Yes," Xing Baohua nodded and said.
Do we still need to provide the chips?
“That’s not necessary. I just need the boards. The factory workers will assemble the entire product,” Xing Baohua said.
Actually, it's not just about going back to assemble them; the biggest factor is preventing excess boards from leaking out. There's really no way to prevent that. You produce a thousand, but someone else produces five thousand, finds a place to put them in a casing, and sells them. They sell more than you, and at a lower price. What can you do?
Then, Factory Director Zhang handed the blueprints to the chief engineer and asked him to calculate the cost.
“I can take this job, but I don’t have enough production lines. Our factory only has one production line that can produce circuit boards, which makes PCBs and circuit boards for Taishan TV Factory. I can only process and produce them for you after completing the task, and the quantity will be small.”
"Can we set up a production line?" Xing Baohua asked.
"Hehe, young man, getting the lines isn't so easy. How about this, I'll produce three hundred sets of boards for you a month, and they'll be high-quality, premium-grade boards," Factory Manager Zhang said after thinking for a moment. Actually, providing premium-grade boards was already quite good, as it guaranteed the quality control of the boards.
The next step is to see the calculated processing price. As long as Xing Baohua can accept it, the order will be awarded to Luchuan Chenguang Electronics Factory.
Unfortunately, production capacity was insufficient. It was also fortunate; if production had been ramped up, Xing Baohua wouldn't have had the funds to pay for the goods upfront and would have had to owe them money.
They might not let you owe them money. During this period, if a product was selling like hotcakes, it was common to buy it with cash, and sometimes trucks would be stopped and forced to buy goods as soon as they left the factory.
A monthly output of 300 is acceptable. If it becomes a hit, I'd be willing to invest my own money to set up a production line for it.
Why not buy a production line and manufacture them ourselves?
There's a time lag involved here; building a factory, training employees, purchasing production lines, etc., can't be done in less than six months.
The only option is to bleed money first, then recover. Furthermore, finding a supplier isn't enough; you must have backup manufacturers so that if one factory can't deliver due to other factors, there are other factories that can supply you.
This prevents the possibility of suppliers cutting off supplies and causing production stoppages.
Because the cost accounting process took a long time, Director Zhang hosted a banquet for Xing Baohua and Liu Ming in the canteen.
During a meal, Xing Baohua discovered that Director Zhang was very talkative, able to chat about anything and everything, even his experiences abroad.
Xing Baohua asked the other party if they had ever been abroad.
Factory Director Zhang nodded and said, "I spent three years with the older brother and then two years in East Germany."
Xing Baohua only thought of me as someone else.
He couldn't understand why someone as capable as Director Zhang could stay in a small factory.
This was a private matter for them, and he was too embarrassed to ask. However, he admired Xing Baohua for being able to support an electronics factory in a small county.
After dinner, we returned to the office and chatted for about an hour, finally settling on a price. The price quoted to Xing Baohua was 167.3 yuan.
Xing Baohua had calculated that the price would be more than 3 yuan higher than he had estimated. This didn't even include the major core components. The total cost could be controlled at around 280 yuan. The higher price was due to the smaller production volume, which Xing Baohua could accept.
We'll sign a temporary agreement tonight and a formal contract tomorrow. Xing Baohua will leave the blueprints behind.
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