The Industrial Giant Reborn

In the original history of Nintendo, when its game watch was released in 1980, the price was between 5,000-7,000 yen, which was about 20-28 US dollars according to the exchange rate. However, the playability of Nintendo’s games at that time was very average. How can it be compared with the Magic Cube? In addition, it is two years earlier, and the cost of chips and LCD screens is much higher. It is normal for the price to be higher. If the sales volume is good, it may increase a little more. Of course , This scapegoat will naturally be carried by the dealer.

"Okay, then I plan to advertise on TVB in a few days, and the game consoles will also be delivered to ParknShop." Lei Shengli nodded and said, they naturally have plans for how to sell them, and Hong Kong naturally relies on their own The supermarket group in Japan relies on Sony Group, which has a good cooperative relationship with Midea. Other places, including Wanwan, adopt a dealer agency system. Wanwan has already selected the corresponding dealers. Now this Small things, unless the boss asks, otherwise they will do it themselves, at most they will report it in the meeting.

"I predict that the sales volume of this area will not be low. The industrial city must be ready for full production. In addition, the corresponding supply OEMs must also be ready." Chen Zhiwen added.

In the past, the sales volume of the game-like game watch was as high as 500,000 in the first two months, and exceeded 32 million in three years. Going to Wanwan solved the problem. The magic cube plus the cross key game boy in this life is definitely a hit, and the sales volume will definitely exceed the previous history.

This is also the reason why there is only one game at present. If several games are released together, the production capacity problem will definitely make people want to die in the first year. The explosion of the electronics industry is about to begin, just like Apple in 2010, and the game Segmented release is also the maximization of benefits.

"There is no problem with this one. Not only in Hong Kong, but also in Wanwan, I have found a few OEMs." Lei Shengli said, they also predicted that this arcade machine will definitely explode, because when they are free, they can also play games. I think it is very good, not to mention young people and children. Besides, two years ago in the arcade, people were willing to spend a few dollars to play the game for an hour. Now they only need to spend tens of dollars to play every day. Not attractive?

"What about the LCD screen? When will Hong Kong start producing it?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

For chips, Chen Zhiwen really doesn't have much hope. The chip factories in Hong Kong are mainly for home appliances. Therefore, chips are purchased from outside, but the yield rate of LCDs that can be produced in Hong Kong is too low. If you use your own, it will cost more.

Today’s LCD market is not big, especially when a large number of Japanese companies start production, resulting in oversupply in the market. However, once the scale of handheld devices takes off, it is very likely that the supply and demand of the LCD market will turn around, and the supply will be in short supply. At that time, it will be detrimental to end customers. The best way is to produce it yourself.

"We have entrusted Henry Morgan to purchase some new equipment, which is also the latest model. It may take a few months to arrive in Hong Kong, and then we can start trial production." Lei Shengli said.

"Okay, that's it for now. The sale of the Game Boy is still going on as planned. In addition, there is also an LCD factory in Wanwan. We can consider cultivating them with orders, and it is best to get some shares." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said. .

If you can make it yourself, if you can’t, find a few more suppliers to check and balance each other, and the potential of LCD has not yet begun to extend to too many fields. At this time, suppliers should not dare to offend big customers.

As for Wanwan, even if they don’t cultivate themselves, they can still rise. The potential is much better than that in Hong Kong. It’s better to take the opportunity to buy some shares to ensure the stability of their future supply and to share in the future of the LCD industry. .

"Over there at Wanwan? Then I'll send someone to try it." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"How about the home game console?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It is still being tested, and there are some problems in many places. I have asked Woz to analyze it, and it will take a while to get the results." Lei Shengli said awkwardly.

The research and development of handhelds is not difficult, but the space is relatively small, and there are requirements for heat dissipation and circuit board size, but home game consoles are much more complicated. This can be said to be the most difficult electronic product developed by Midea since its establishment. Tens of millions of dollars were invested. But it's much better than Atari. They spent 100 million US dollars and sold their own company's research and development.

"Okay, let me know if there is any further news." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, the research and development of home game consoles is difficult, he knows, so it is normal to get stuck when encountering problems, and he doesn't care, as long as he controls a few games by himself. For the copyright of classic software games, he will definitely be able to get a share of this market.

Moreover, this kind of difficult research and development has also allowed the teams in Hong Kong and the United States to make a lot of progress, and recruited many people with strong technical skills according to the needs, which will be of great help to Midea in the future. After all, it has been almost 80 years since the successful development of home game consoles, and the era of personal computers has entered the era of blooming flowers, and Midea also needs to participate.

The time will soon be July. Inside a large factory in northern Yuen Long, Hong Kong:

"Chen Sheng, these are the first batch of color TV sets we produced. We plan to call the model T1, and the size is 25 inches. A lot of Sony authorizations are enough." He Guoyuan introduced while waiting for Chen Zhiwen and his party to walk in the workshop.

"Is there anything that we produce now that is subject to Sony?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"We have already obtained the technical patent. It took us more than a year to produce this piece. There should be no major problems. It is the equipment that we still need a long time to understand. If there is a problem now, we may need Japan Our engineers came to repair it." He Guoyuan said.

"Well, this is already pretty good, just keep working hard." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, going from 0-1 to technology, naturally there are many difficulties, and fortunately, he is going to bind Sony with the Japanese market of arcade machines and future handhelds , otherwise, if you want to obtain these large number of technical patents from it, you can't do it even if you have money. on the scalp.

It takes time to master the relevant technologies, even if you have enough funds. Fortunately, this is an outdated technology, but it is not unusable, because it is not too far behind the latest generation.

Color tube technology has been developed for decades, just like the smart phones of later generations after 2016, the difference between each generation is not big, and they can basically meet the basic needs of everyday people. It is a new generation of technology. It will be stronger, but not to the extent that it will absolutely eliminate the predecessor.

"We have placed thousands of T1 color TVs in our staff dormitories internally. In addition, our internal employees have also purchased thousands of sets, which are basically in the state of being broadcast every day. After one month, the pass rate can be counted. "He Guoyuan said.

"Our employees have become our guinea pigs." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"With so many people, there is also a lot of time on weekdays, and it is also beneficial, and it happens to kill two birds with one stone." He Guoyuan said with a smile, close to 20,000 employees, it is not for nothing.

"The chip in this remote control is produced by us, right?" Chen Zhiwen picked up a remote control on the side and said.

"Yes, this kind of chip does not require high manufacturing process, we can easily make it, and because we do it ourselves, at least a few dollars in cost and a lot of time are saved." He Guoyuan said.

"There are still many costs that can be saved." Chen Zhiwen smiled. In fact, he knew that his own chip factory would not be able to compete with Samsung and TSMC with the support of the United States in the future, but he still wanted to build this factory in Hong Kong. In order to improve the current efficiency.

Not to mention that many chip factories of American or Japanese companies only supply to themselves, even those that produce public chips, there are not many models that can be provided. If some products of Midea, especially home appliances, want to customize a chip that suits them , There is no supplier at all, not to mention, in the initial stage of new products, there is no output, who cares about you?

At this time, it is much more convenient to own a chip factory. The home appliance industry does not need any latest technology chips, as long as it can meet the requirements. Let alone saving money, it is saving time, which is of great significance.

"It's still Chen Sheng's foresight." He Guoyuan said with a smile, his air conditioner and refrigerator are now controlled by the simplest chips, which not only saves a lot of cost, but also weighs less. But if you don't, you're in a worse competitive position.

"By the way, the production capacity of the fan factory is still very high, right? How is the quality in Shekou?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"There is no problem with the test, mainly the parts from our side are sent to assemble. As long as the control is good, there should be no problem, but be cautious. The current fans in Shekou are still mainly used in some small European countries and Southeast Asian countries. If there is a problem, it will not be a problem. It's easy to solve." He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, keep an eye on it. The game department will launch a new product soon. The sales volume will be very large. The difficulty of assembly and labor requirements will be much greater than that of fans. It is impossible for us to produce all of them by ourselves. In the future We will still look for suppliers to manufacture, but in the early stage, it is best for us to produce it ourselves, and the industrial park needs to transfer the fan talents as much as possible." Chen Zhiwen said.

"In Shekou, the production capacity is still climbing, and it is unlikely to increase in a short time. If it is really necessary, I can arrange to transfer all the fan assembly to Wanwan. Anyway, the current labor in Hong Kong, this There is basically no profit in the business." He Guoyuan said.

"Yes, some simple products, including parts such as air conditioners and refrigerators, should be transferred out slowly." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In the past, it was to reduce costs desperately to compete for overseas markets, and it needed to create a large number of jobs to stabilize the Hong Kong government. Otherwise, he might have some moths when he bought Hutchison or Wharf.

Now, terminal channels in overseas markets have basically been opened up, and two high-margin products, handheld consoles and home game consoles, are about to be put into production, and low-end products will naturally have to be transferred. After all, Hong Kong is a city with a limited number of workers. Yes, and no matter how high Midea's profits are, the benefits to employees are not comparable to the development of Hong Kong's real estate, so the factories in Hong Kong cannot continue to expand indefinitely.

Either move to Wanwan or Shekou in the Mainland, let Director Yuan Geng expand the area of ​​the Shekou Industrial Zone by 15 times. This is also the idea. In the electronic age, every year is very important. After the mid-1980s and even in the 1990s, large-scale investment was made in China.

Besides, with the development speed of the global electronics market in the next decade or so, I am afraid that there will not be enough OEMs in every corner.

"Chen Sheng, if we invest in Wanwan, I think we should invest in Taipei, where the cost of land or labor is high, but the real estate market is also hotter. In the long run, the investment value is the highest." He Guoyuan said again.

"You're quite discerning, and you've even considered real estate in the future." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"I went to university in Taipei, and there are a lot of people I know there. I also know some of the housing price trends in Taipei and Wanwan recently, which is very similar to Hong Kong now. As far as I know, many of our suppliers are Because the factory land was bought, we directly earned the money to open the factory for several lifetimes, we are not forcing, but there is no need to give up this profit." He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, then let's go to Taipei to talk, it's best to get a place close to the city." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Anyone who does business in Hong Kong, in fact, who can not be affected by real estate? Even Li Ka-shing, who was looking for land to build a plastic factory in the 1950s, discovered the huge changes in land prices in a short period of time, and then devoted himself to the real estate industry. Even if you don't do real estate business, if you buy land with great value-added potential to start a factory, no fool will know it and not do it, right?

Soon another half month passed.

During this period of time, TVB broadcasted advertisements about Game Boy in prime time every day, and also pointed out that only ParknShop Supermarket in Hong Kong sells them.

This has also led to many game enthusiasts going to ParknShop to inquire. You must know that the price of arcade machines is too expensive, and it is necessary to maintain a global unified price. With the income of ordinary people in Hong Kong, most of them cannot afford it.

However, Chen Zhiwen also gave some benefits to Hong Kong, sending the arcade machines produced by the factory with appearance defects or non-serious defects directly to some shopping malls, so that many people can play with coins, but the price is not expensive, 1 cent a time , It is much cheaper than that in the United States, and Midea is not going to rely on these to recover costs.

But even if it is 1 cent once, it is unbearable for many people, but the game is so fun. When they know that there is a "magic cube" in a handheld handheld, they immediately become interested. No matter how expensive the price is, it is a one-time consumption, so you can definitely get started by gnashing your teeth.

On July 26, the handheld Game Boy was officially put on sale at ParknShop, priced at HK$180. On the first day, 2,500 handhelds were sold out.

PS: I recommend a book "Rebirth Special Trouble", there will be another chapter later