Chapter 71: I Found a Country
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The first thing that popped into Su Yun’s mind was doubt. The robot Wa-wah was so advanced and impressive. It only made sense if the inventor was as impressive, like a 40-year-old Doctor who wore thick gla.s.ses. But the son of Manager He was only twenty-something. He was very young, looked ordinary, and was not impressive. How could it be him?
However, she dared not put her doubts into words. Flas.h.i.+ng a gentle smile, she turned her head to He Li and said, “Manager, your son is truly outstanding. I did not expect that the robot Wa-wah was invented by your son. That’s impressive! Really impressive.” She gave her a big thumbs-up.
“This was done by my company’s research and development team, but not merely by myself. My mum was just exaggerating,” Chen Jin said coldly, putting down the Wa-wah is hand.
“O-oh.” Su Yun nodded. Her doubts dispelled a little and she started to trust what Chen Jin was saying. Perhaps, the Wa-wah robot really was invented by the Manager’s son.
Having just finished lunch, Su Yun sat in the living room and chatted with Manager He for a while. Finally, she bid goodbye and returned to her dormitory unit. Su Yun was constantly inattentive and her mind was wandering, unconsciously dropping gazes on the manager’s son. Even if the manager’s son only asked to leave and headed off to the office, Su Yun placed all her attention on him until she no longer saw his back.
She murmured in heart, So, everything Manager said was true?
Suddenly, the manager’s voice rang and Su Yun saw a smiling face. “Little Su, what do you think of my son? He is pretty cool, right?”
“Ah!” Su Yun panicked and got b.u.t.terflies in her stomach. She blushed instantly and said, “Right. Your son is really outstanding.” As soon as she finished, her face reddened.
“Hahahahaha!” The reaction of this female subordinate made He Li smile profoundly.
Su Yun became shyer and she quickly asked to leave, then ran away.
……..
At Xing Hai Technologies, the pre-order of robot cleaner Wa-wah broke five hundred thousand. All the stock was snapped up. In fact, the so-called “stock” referred to the stock of the una.s.sembled materials stored in Ling Feng Jing Mi Company, but not the final products. The production line of Ling Feng Jing Mi Company had to go full steam ahead and the workers needed to work in three s.h.i.+fts. When a Wa-wah robot rolled off the production line, it had to be tested. Only then could Wa-wah robots be packaged and distributed. And with the help of the logistics companies, the product could then be sold to the nation-wide households.
Chen Jin picked up his phone and called w.a.n.g Quan Long. “Chief Wong, what is the capacity of Wa-wah robots in the production line every day?”
“Less than two thousand. We are striving our best to increase the capacity to reach the maximum productivity!”
“Only two thousand?” Chen Jin furrowed his brows and said, “We have promised our customers to distribute the stock in two weeks and we have to finish it in four weeks. Your current quant.i.ty is far from enough!”
“I know, I know. But now it’s Lunar New Years’ time, and it is very difficult to recruit workers. The operating rate of the production line is less than 10%, and some workers even quit their jobs. That’s why we cannot keep up with the production quant.i.ty. I am so hurried that my mind is exploding,” w.a.n.g Quan Long said in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
“Why can’t we recruit workers?” Chen Jin asked inquisitively, “If you increase the remunerations, there will be more workers. If you pay well, we can recruit well.”
On the other side of the phone came a bitter laugh. “Ah! Chief Chen, you have oversimplified the problem. The OEM fee you offered is 5%, which means for each Wa-wah robot, Ling Feng only earns $185. Do you consider it as a very lucrative amount? Let me tell you, within $185, transportation cost takes up $55, our country takes away $30, and the worker’s cost const.i.tutes $80… the profit left for my factory is only $20! If I raise the workers’ salary, I will not have any profit. Then why would I continue my business, you say?”
That’s the reason why Wong Quan Long strived to persuade Chen Jin to price the Wa-wah robot at above $5,000. 5,000 times 5% would mean that Ling Feng Jing Mi Company could earn a gross profit of over $250 for every robot. That’s $70 more than $180. w.a.n.g Quan Long would naturally become more generous, offering a better salary and welfare to recruit sufficient workers. But the price of the robot was $3,699. His heart was full of complaints.
In the OEM industry, the compet.i.tion was stifling. The development of the real economy was really hard.
Chen Jin felt a bit awkward. He thought for a while and said, “Ah, how about this? Let’s make it a round figure. I’ll offer $15 more to you for every robot. You can use this additional sum of money to recruit more workers. Please get the five hundred thousand robots done as soon as possible. If I cannot distribute the products on time, it’s going to bring about huge negative impacts.”
“Alright, alright, no problem. With optimum efficiency, I will immediately raise the salary for hiring, and make sure the operating rate of our production line is saturated.” w.a.n.g Quan Long did some math. $15 more for each product, he multiplied it by five hundred thousand. The total sum was 7.5 million, which could increase the average salary of the workers by $2,000. With an attractive monthly wage of $8,000, hiring workers would hardly be a problem.
Besides, although developing real economy was difficult, w.a.n.g Quan Long had over-exaggerated the misery. OEM was still a very promising industry.
Taking the yield rate of a product as an example, when Ling Feng Jing Mi Company and Xing Hai Technologies signed the production contract, the agreed yield rate was 88%, which meant that the factory had to ensure that at least eighty-eight Wa-wah robots out of a hundred met the quality standard.
If Ling Feng Jing Mi Company or w.a.n.g Quan Long had the ability to boost the yield rate to 90%, 95% or even higher, they would earn more profit. The higher the yield rate, the greater the profit. And the yield rate control was exactly Wong Quan Long’s greatest strength.
…..
On Earth, the business was prospering, different development was smooth, and everything was basically on track. The capacity of the factory needed to be coordinated, but apart from that, there was nothing much for Chen Jin to worry about. He planned to take a good rest and adjust himself to a better status.
…..
On Planet Haierfa, the robot exploration team once again had major discovery. They found a country.
What?They could even find a country, how? What was going on?
About a thousand kilometers southwest of the base of operations, the robot exploration team crossed an abandoned country borderline and entered a hot and semi-arid zone. Based on the geographic feature and climate characteristics, it was confirmed that they had entered a country called “Moleido Republic.” The area of the country was approximately 1.8 million square kilometers, with a population of over one hundred million before the great destruction of the war. It was a prosperous, developing country.
After the great destruction of the war, the Republic adopted a neutral policy. Since it belonged to a nuclear-free country, it shouldn’t be a target of nuclear missiles. And because it had never come under nuclear attacks, the pollution of nuclear radiation would be very little. Moreover, most parts of the country were in tropical areas and the climate was hot. Thus, during the twenty-year nuclear winter, many survivors flooded to the Republic, and the number even reached three hundred million.
After the betrayal of the robots, the Republic naturally became the hardest nut to crack. The robots launched a series of attacks to Moleiduo Republic, and ultimately seized the country and killed all the survivors.
Therefore, within the border of Moleiduo Republic, things that could be found everywhere included abandoned battlefields, more complete cities, and all kinds of jewelry, money, and so forth left by the survivors.
Chen Jin considered them as a great harvest.