I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 444 One Billion? Heaven doesn't reward diligence! If the direction is wrong, all your efforts will be in vain!

"The conveyor belt, gears, and bearings are badly worn."

"The wire feed tube of the welding torch is blocked."

"The precision of the stamping equipment has also decreased."

"No inverter module installed?"

"They don't even have a real-time energy efficiency monitoring system?"

As Chen Yansen walked and looked around, he kept commenting, leaving Qin Shangzhi speechless.

Qi Siyang stood aside, keeping his eyes down and his mind at ease. He wanted to say something to smooth things over, but then he thought that he didn't understand the technology at all, and if he really interrupted, he would probably only make things worse. So he simply pretended to be deaf and dumb and didn't say a word.

"Mr. Chen, this production line is a bit old, but it's cheap," Qin Shangzhi explained, forcing a smile.

After all, it was a second-hand production line purchased in 1999, and it almost became a product of the new millennium. It produced tens of millions of air conditioners for Shinco. Even if it didn't make any great contributions, it certainly put in a lot of hard work.

"President Qin, are you sure that the air conditioners produced from this product can meet the energy efficiency standards?" Chen Yansen asked rhetorically.

Before he came, he wondered how Shinco could have fallen into such a miserable state of selling only 500,000 to 600,000 units a year.
After arriving, he lost interest in acquiring Shinco and instead wanted to meet Shinco's channel manager.

To be able to sell even this junk, one must be a top-tier sales genius!
"The air conditioner is priced low, so there will always be places and users who need Xinke." Qin Shangzhi forced a smile.

He never expected that Chen Yansen would be so knowledgeable about shearing machines, CNC punching machines, bending machines, tube expanders, and welding equipment. He could even point out the problems in the assembly process of compressors and refrigeration systems in a logical and well-founded manner.

This guy isn't some pushover; he's clearly a top expert in the industry!
"Mr. Chen, that's why the price of the new product is also very low." Qin Shangzhi pondered for a moment and said in a low voice.

Chen Yansen chuckled to himself, realizing that the biggest selling point of the new car was simply its price.

Qin Shangzhi pointed to the final assembly line not far away, his tone revealing a mixture of pride and nostalgia: "It was imported from Germany, and it cost 30 million back then."

Chen Yansen stepped forward to examine the equipment closely, gently running his fingers over the grease on the edge. He then asked, "With a conveyor belt speed of 0.8 meters per minute and a cycle time of 45 seconds, what is the actual production capacity for an 8-hour shift?"

"A little over four hundred." Qin Shangzhi dared not be vague and could only answer honestly.

Based on a cycle time of 45 seconds, theoretically 80 units can be produced per hour. If calculated based on an 8-hour shift, the theoretical production capacity should be 640 units.

However, the actual production capacity is only around 400, which obviously indicates that there is an efficiency loss problem in the production line. This is most likely caused by outdated equipment, long changeover time, and non-standard operation by personnel.

At this moment, Gao Weilin, who was standing nearby, said, "Last year, Shinco Air Conditioner's return rate was 18.7%, while the industry average was 6%."

Chen Yansen shook his head and said, "Xinke doesn't have its own compressor technology, its motors rely on imports, and even its control system is outsourced. To put it bluntly, you're just a high-end assembly plant."

Qin Shangzhi's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

The factory was deathly silent, with only the hum of the old equipment echoing in the air.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Qi Siyang quickly changed the subject, saying, "President Chen, shall we go to the conference room first?"

"No rush! Let's finish looking at the rest of the production workshops first," Chen Yansen waved his hand and refused.

He came to Changzhou on official business, not to chat idly over tea.

Qi Siyang sighed helplessly, gave Qin Shangzhi a wink, and seemed to say: Old Qin, have you been wasting your life these past few decades? You can't even handle a young man?

Qin Shangzhi gave a wry smile, forced himself to stay awake, and led Chen Yansen into the audio-visual equipment production workshop.

The workshop is small in scale, and its products mainly include DVD players, LCD TVs under 32 inches, home theaters, and soundbars (i.e., soundbars).

"Do people in China still buy DVDs?" Chen Yansen asked curiously.

He didn't mean to mock, he was just surprised.

"We mainly target the Southeast Asian and African markets, and sales are actually quite good, with over 100,000 units sold every year," Qin Shangzhi said with a shrug.

In his view, since Chen Yansen is an expert, he most likely wouldn't buy this pile of scrap metal from Xinke.

Without expectations, my mindset calmed down considerably. I treated it as making a friend and accompanied Chen Yansen on a tour of the nearly 300,000-square-meter factory area.

As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, and a rotten ship still has three thousand nails.

The total value of Shinco's factory, equipment, brand, patents, etc., is at least several billion yuan.

Putting everything else aside, if Qin Shangzhi dared to follow the example of Nanji Ren, Beiji Rong, and Philips, and license his brands to others and just sell the trademarks, earning a gross profit of 500 million yuan a year would be no problem at all.

After all, it's a 20-year-old brand, and with the "Newtech" name, there will always be consumers willing to buy it.

At that time, a whole host of new products will surely appear on the market, such as underwear, hand warmers, windbreakers, mobile phones, toilets, and rice cookers, thus forming a huge OEM universe.

But if they did that, it would be like drinking poison to quench their thirst.

Once a brand's reputation is completely destroyed, its true demise is nigh.

Of course, with proper management, it might just become the next Nanji Ren (a company name).

As Chen Yansen walked along, he noticed that many of the factory workers were in their forties, so he deliberately asked, "What percentage of the new frontline workers are over thirty-five?"

"47.2%." Qin Shangzhi completely gave up and explained everything in detail.

"Why did you close it? Why not bring in a younger group who work even harder overtime?" Chen Yansen pressed.

Qin Shangzhi's smile vanished instantly, and he said in a deep voice, "They are all newly appointed meritorious officials who have worked here for more than ten years."

A clay idol crossing a river can barely save itself, yet it worries about others?
Chen Yansen chuckled inwardly, but his impression of Qin Shangzhi changed slightly.

Although Qin Shangzhi is incompetent and can't do anything right, he's still a bit better than those animals who are targeting employees over 35 years old for layoffs.

No one understands the messed-up lives of those born in the 80s and 90s better than Chen Yansen.

Those born in the 80s had just graduated when the job allocation system was abolished; before they could find jobs, the financial crisis hit; and just when they finally got through it, housing prices began to soar.

Those born in the 90s had it even worse. When they were in junior high, primary school was free; when they were in high school, junior high was free; when they were in college, housing prices were skyrocketing; and after they worked hard for ten years to buy a house, housing prices started to fall again.

For those born in the 90s, the stronger their ambition, the more miserable their lives tend to be.

Chen Yansen has never had any age restrictions when hiring, and companies including Feiyu Technology have a number of older operations and programming staff.

It's definitely not because these people are cheap and easy to use!

“Mr. Qi, President Qin, to be frank, I’m not very interested in Xinke. It’s too old and dilapidated,” Chen Yansen said bluntly. “Mr. Chen, Xinke has been in Luoyang Town for twenty years, and the supporting businesses in the surrounding area are very complete. If Senlian Capital wants to start from scratch, the preliminary preparations alone will take one or two years.”

Qi Siyang patiently persuaded him.

As the highest-ranking official in charge of the central government of Changzhou, he naturally hoped to facilitate this acquisition.

Given Senlian Capital's operating style, promoting and raising employees will be just basic operations; upgrading production lines, increasing R&D funding, and boosting industrial output will be the real priorities.

New York may fall, but the state cannot afford to lose this economic performance, nor can it stand by and watch more than 5,000 people lose their jobs.

To borrow a line from the movie "Let the Bullets Fly," Qi Siyang doesn't care who the new boss is, as long as employment, tax revenue, and industrial output can remain in Changzhou.

"President Qin, what is the current valuation of Xinke Air Conditioning?" Chen Yansen asked after a moment of silence, deliberately showing a troubled expression.

The implication is clear: he only intends to acquire the air conditioning business.

As for the production lines that manufacture LCD TVs, DVD players, electric fans, air purifiers, and other products, he regarded them all as garbage.

"One billion, including the land, factory buildings, production equipment, as well as brand and patent assets." Qin Shangzhi gritted his teeth and quoted a package price.

“I don’t want the brand, you can keep it yourself,” Chen Yansen replied.

No brand?

Qin Shangzhi was slightly taken aback.

He originally thought that Chen Yansen's acquisition of Shinco Air Conditioning was mainly driven by the brand.

“Five hundred million, but there’s still two hundred million in debt, which Senlian Capital will have to bear,” Qin Shangzhi said after thinking for a moment.

“President Qin, 500 million is no problem, but the debt is Xinke’s own. I bought Xinke’s land, factory buildings and production lines, so why should I bear this debt?” Chen Yansen clearly expressed his disagreement.

Moreover, the land did not belong to Xinke. Based on the average price of 410 yuan per square meter for industrial land in Suzhou, the 30 square meters of industrial land is worth 1.23 million yuan.

The factory covers an area of ​​22 square meters, with a construction cost of approximately 900 to 1200 yuan per square meter, and a total value between 1.98 million and 2.64 million yuan. Considering the depreciation over ten years, giving him 1.8 million yuan would be considered a generous offer.

The value of the production equipment is even lower, at most 8000 million. These "old machines" that are about the same age as Chen Yansen will probably have to be taken to India or Africa to find a suitable buyer.

Regarding patents, despite Shinco's current decline, its R&D team once numbered over 400 people a few years ago. It had accumulated a considerable patent pool in technologies such as eddy current noise reduction, swing devices, and multi-fold high-efficiency evaporators, and also possessed a large number of basic patents.

Some things you may not need, but you can't be without them, otherwise you'll easily be sued by your competitors for infringement.

A simple estimate puts these patents at around 100 million yuan. Regardless of their performance, they represent over a decade of accumulated expertise.

Chen Yansen offered a price of 500 million yuan, which was based entirely on the liquidation price and had no premium whatsoever.

Because even newcomers don't qualify for a premium!
"What about the more than 5,000 employees in the factory?" Qin Shangzhi neither agreed nor refused, and then asked.

“I will try my best to retain operators below the supervisor level; others will either receive ‘N+1’ compensation upon leaving or be re-interviewed and re-evaluated,” Chen Yansen replied.

Qin Shangzhi and Qi Siyang exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of conflict in each other's eyes.

On the positive side, Senlian Capital was willing to take over all of Xinke's entry-level employees; on the negative side, the other party was too aggressive in its price-cutting, only willing to offer 300 million yuan after deducting liabilities.

“Mr. Chen, how about we go to President Qin’s office for a cup of tea and talk things over?” Qi Siyang suggested again.

In the short term, Qin Shangzhi will find it difficult to make a decision, after all, it involves a business worth hundreds of millions of yuan and the livelihoods of more than 5,000 employees.

"Okay." This time, Chen Yansen agreed very readily.

A group of people stood outside the production workshop, many of them wiping the sweat from their foreheads.

In July, Suzhou was also unbearably hot and humid.

Three minutes later, the group entered Qin Shangzhi's office. The room was decorated in an antique style, with the desk and chair made entirely of mahogany. A calligraphy scroll with the words "Heaven rewards diligence" hung directly in front of the desk, the characters vigorous and powerful.

Heaven doesn't reward hard work!
If you're heading in the wrong direction, all your efforts will be in vain!
Qin Shangzhi's case perfectly illustrates this point: the more effort he puts in, the faster the newcomer dies.

"Mr. Chen, Mr. Qi, please have a seat! Xiao Sun, go brew a pot of Longjing tea." Qin Shangzhi said as he instructed his assistant.

Chen Yansen remained calm and chatted casually with Qi Siyang and Qin Shangzhi, taking the opportunity to reveal that Senlian Capital would soon be investing in the large home appliance sector.

This caused Qi Siyang and Qin Shangzhi to look at each other in bewilderment.

Qin Shangzhi was envious!

Qi Siyang was thinking about how to retain Senlian Capital's investment, thereby driving the economic development of Changzhou and the prosperity of the entire industrial chain.

"By the way, which company owns the factory next to Shinco? It looks like the factory is just as big as Shinco's," Chen Yansen asked casually.

“It’s Xinyuan Sheet Metal Co., Ltd. They used to be the supplier of casings and brackets for Shinco Air Conditioning. But as Shinco’s business volume gradually decreased, their boss moved the factory to Ningxiang to supply components for Gree,” Qin Shangzhi said slowly.

In fact, during Shinco's heyday, seven out of ten nearby factories were Shinco's supporting enterprises, producing products such as motors, air conditioning vents, buttons, foam packaging, and cartons for them.

"How big is the area? Is anyone using it?" Chen Yansen asked knowingly.

"It covers an area of ​​28 square meters, with a factory area of ​​20 square meters. The core production area, including sheet metal, two-piece assembly, final assembly, and finished product warehouse, is 12 square meters. The technology research and development area is 3 square meters, and the administrative office building, staff canteen, dormitory, power center, and logistics plaza cover an area of ​​5 square meters."

Qi Siyang glanced at his assistant, who immediately recited the words fluently from memory.

Finally, it was added: "Two months ago, AUX intended to build a production base in Luoyang Town, which would require an estimated 50 square meters of industrial land. The original site of Xinyuan Sheet Metal was exactly within their target area."

Chen Yansen smiled, and from the eyes and subtle movements of Qi Siyang and his assistant, he keenly gleaned a message: this statement was likely half true and half false.

Based on his experience, he judged that Aux Investment was real, but the site selection was fake.

"Oh, never mind then." Chen Yansen picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and said nonchalantly.

You want to rip me off?

no way!

Qi Siyang gave an awkward smile, glared at his self-righteous assistant, and then said with a smile, "If President Chen is willing, I will step in to resolve this."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Mr. Qi." Chen Yansen smiled calmly.

After some consideration, Qin Shangzhi, who was sitting to the side, tentatively asked, "President Chen, six hundred million! I'll handle the debt problem myself."

(End of this chapter)