2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 352 is about to begin!
As summer fades into autumn, the weather gradually cools down at the end of October, and Ningbo enters a rare and comfortable season.

Many businesses in Beicang District are having a headache lately. Employees who used to work overtime every day to earn extra pay are now frequently taking leave. Some of them will come back to work the day after taking leave, while others will resign the day after taking leave.

One or two cases might be one thing, but some small factories don't have many workers to begin with, and when a lot of people take leave, the shady dealings become apparent.

After investigating, the reason was discovered: FlashCare had started a large-scale recruitment drive.

Although they cooperate with the district labor bureau and the Wangjiang County labor bureau, and most of their needs are met by these places, they will always recruit some people from the community. Needless to say, Shanchi's benefits are excellent, and their turnover rate is arguably the lowest among all private enterprises in Beicang.

I've heard that many workers want to work at the Flash factory, but they just don't have the opportunity.

These small business owners are really worried. Normally, they don't need to worry about losing workers at this time of year because those who want to leave have already left, and even those who are dissatisfied with their wages and want to quit will grit their teeth and work until the end of the year.

The construction of the Flash Motors Beicang factory is progressing well. Most of the main projects have been completed and the first workshop to be built is now setting up production lines and preparing to debug the equipment.

At this point, recruitment and training will take time.

I joined the company in November, received training for more than a month, and then was assigned to the old factory to rotate with the workers. After that, I was ready to officially start working.

The Beicang factory will need about 1000 to 1200 workers. Combined with the existing factory staff, Flash can have up to 2000 people in Beicang, which is already quite large in scale.

"Old Chen, you're having such a great time! You only have to set up a stall at the entrance, while we have to go to the job market."

"You'd be so happy if your boss gave his employees a raise."

"You just said something pointless; hey, is your HR department still hiring? If you are, give me a referral, and I'll be your subordinate."

"What's going on? You, the HR manager in charge of recruitment, are you planning to pack up your bags and run away?"

"I can't keep doing this job. The boss is too stingy. It's hard to recruit people. Every time I go out to recruit, I only dare to give the company's address, not my name. Otherwise, people won't come as soon as they hear my name. I'll just lure them to the factory first."

Chen Jinwen smiled and said, "The HR department is indeed hiring. If you'd like to come, that's certainly possible."

When the new factory goes into production, we need to recruit more than just entry-level employees; we need to expand the workforce in all departments. In addition, we need to prepare a reserve of talent to prepare for the future production of the Tianjin factory.

Among the reserve talents, a group that can adapt to business trips and working in other places will be selected for key training and will be directly sent to Tianjin to enable the Tianjin factory to start operating quickly.

"Really? Then I'll go back and prepare my resume!" Zhao Zhonghui said happily.

You can tell from how he addresses Chen that the two are friends, and Chen Jinwen would certainly not joke about finding a job.

"You don't want your year-end bonus?"

"No thanks. At most, we administrative staff will only get some travel expenses. It's better to join your company sooner and earn two more months' salary to make up for it."

People who can reach the position of head of the human resources department are not stupid. In terms of ability, Zhao Zhonghui is even better than Chen Jinwen. Zhao Zhonghui's company has such poor benefits that he doesn't dare to put up a company sign or mention the company name when he sets up a stall.

It's almost as if he's famous among the workers in Beicang. Even with such treatment, Zhao Zhonghui still managed to lure in grassroots employees and ensure the factory's normal operation, which shows that he's quite capable.

What he lacked was simply good luck, like Chen Jinwen. Chen Jinwen was introduced to the company by Cheng Yongjun, and he never imagined things would turn out this way before he came.

Chen Jinwen thought about it and felt there was nothing wrong with it: "Okay then, go prepare your resume and I'll talk to our boss."

At the same time, Zhao Zhonghui was also very decisive: "Okay, I'll finish this job fair first, and then I'll send you my resume."

It's not that Flash's benefits are particularly good, nor that Tan Jincheng is trying to be a great philanthropist. In reality, most factories offer decent benefits, and employees are generally quite loyal these days. The 80s generation was arguably the most severely affected by PUA (Pick-Up Artist) tactics, so they are unlikely to quit if things are generally acceptable.

But some factory owners are indeed unscrupulous; they either don't want to make money or they simply don't want to provide normal wages and salaries.
-
"It's really a big deal! You know the Red Bean Group, right? The one that sells underwear? Now even they're making electric cars. Isn't that outrageous?"

I was chatting with Zhang Congxun today, and he complained that nowadays everyone, from cattle to horses, wants to get into the electric vehicle business, and the competition in this field is becoming increasingly unpredictable.

Zhang Congxun was invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hodo Group's factory in the Xishan Electric Vehicle Industrial Park today, with an annual output of 100 million vehicles.

"Now they're asking for an annual production of 100 million vehicles. A few days ago, Zongshen wanted to set up an electric vehicle factory with a capacity of 60 vehicles, but nobody paid any attention to them. Later, they went to Xuzhou."

"Is it really that outrageous? It's understandable for Zongshen to set up an electric vehicle factory, but for an underwear company to do the same? Does he think he can just pick up money off the street?" Tan Jincheng was also stunned.

He didn't actually know that, but if he thought about the new energy vehicles of 10 years or so from now, anyone could make one, no matter how cheap or expensive, and he could understand it. The technical barriers weren't high; if he just ran a pure assembly plant, getting all the parts from suppliers, he could really make a quick buck by leveraging his financial resources.

However, it's still a bit outrageous, as these are two completely unrelated industries.

Red Bean electric scooter? Could it be bright red, like their underwear?

"It's that exaggerated. Just a few days ago I was complaining to Lao Dong that you were bragging about producing 500 million cars a year. Now it seems there are many people who can brag even more than you."

Tan Jincheng didn't argue with him. He wasn't exaggerating. In the future electric vehicle market, a leading company could achieve annual sales exceeding ten million units, and the impact of the mobile internet market on electric vehicle stores would be negligible. This business was quite good.

"Don't say I'm bragging. You should keep an eye on your own factory first. There are so many factories near your house. When it comes to poaching people, they'll definitely start with you and Brother Dong. Don't let the newly appointed marketing director get poached again."

"That really hit the nail on the head," Zhang Congxun said angrily. "You still have the nerve to say that? You're not a decent guy at all. When Aima poached people, they started by targeting your family, and you didn't even inform us. We've been so good to you."

You're kidding me! Even if I had thought of Yu Lin at the time, I would never have told you.

"How can you blame me? Our company also suffered heavy losses. A lot of people were poached. If I hadn't quickly raised salaries and improved benefits, the marketing department would probably have been wiped out. I was so busy at the time that I had no idea what to do."

"Stop giving me that nonsense. You reacted so quickly, but I already found out. They poached your marketing director, Zhou Ao. I don't believe you even if you say you didn't expect them to poach people from me."

"Brother, you've really wronged me. I really didn't expect it. Besides, I was also working on Kaixin.com at the time. Just tell me, did I have the energy?"

"I don't care, at least you owe me a phone call to Lao Dong, and you should at least treat me to a meal," Zhang Congxun said, trying to get away with it.

It's not that I really blame Tan Jincheng, I just wanted to have this meal. Besides, this kid has never treated me to a meal before.

"Alright, alright, dinner will be simple. In two months, our company's Beicang factory will be having its production launch ceremony. I'll send you invitations then, how about that?"

"That's exactly what I've been waiting for. Flash is now considered an industry leader. It's only right to send out invitations for the opening of a new factory and give our peers a chance to get together."

"Thanks for the reminder, Brother Zhang. I'll definitely invite more colleagues then."

Yes, now that they are leading manufacturers in the industry, even a newcomer like Red Bean invites peers from the same industrial zone to visit their groundbreaking ceremony. There's no reason why Flashcart wouldn't invite them to its production launch ceremony.

In a way, this is also an opportunity for Tan Jincheng to further expand his network of contacts. Competition is competition, but no leading company can rely solely on the electric vehicle business.

They can be competitors or partners, just like Tencent.

On the other hand, Tan Jincheng also felt quite lucky. If he hadn't expanded production capacity in time and invested in two industrial parks in succession, perhaps if it had been any later, Flash would have fallen behind the pace of industry development.

The scarcity marketing strategy is only effective in the early stages of an industry's development, when products are relatively scarce. Once everyone is operating at full capacity and has a large amount of readily available stock, this strategy will no longer be effective.

The Beicang Industrial Park can officially start production on New Year's Day. The Jinmen Industrial Park will start production in part in 2007 and will be fully operational by the end of 2008. The Wangjiang Industrial Park will be fully operational by 2010 at the latest.

2008年闪驰科技的产能在200万辆至250辆之间，而到了2010年，闪驰科技电动车的产能最多可以达到750万辆！

With a production capacity of 750 million vehicles, you can do whatever you want with it.

Despite fierce competition in the industry, FlashTech remains fearless.

Meanwhile, at Orange Technology in the Flash Group building, CEO Gu Qingqing was busy contacting school leaders, hoping they could provide Orange Technology with some assistance and contact some local governments in impoverished areas.

Orange Technology plans to launch a farmer assistance campaign in these impoverished areas under the name of Happy Farm.

This is where the power of the university comes into play, and it's one of the benefits of university student entrepreneurship projects. If you contact them using the name of Orange Technology, they might not even respond, but if you contact them using the name of Ningbo University, they'll treat you like royalty.

When the leaders of Ningbo University learned of this news, they were very willing to provide assistance. So what if the actual controller behind Orange Technology is Tan Jincheng?
This is a great opportunity for Ningbo University to gain recognition.

"Our classmate's boyfriend is really something else to have been able to create the Flash Group."

Games + Farmers' Assistance: A Brand New Approach.

(End of this chapter)