Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 124 Selling the pots to Japan! (First update!)

Rice cookers aren't very expensive, but they sell a lot of products. Air conditioners, on the other hand, are big-ticket items that only a small percentage of people can afford.

But rice cookers are not.

Rice cookers are considered a basic necessity in daily life.

Nowadays, people's lives are getting faster and faster. Many people throw rice into the pot in the morning and let the rice cooker cook it by itself. Then they come back at noon, stir-fry a couple of dishes, eat them, and leave.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, there were 4.23 million registered households in China in 2008. Even if only half of them had purchasing needs, that would still be a market worth tens of billions of yuan.

If Tao Zhanpeng can really help me find a stable sales channel, then I can have two options.

The domestic civilian market is responsible for building brand awareness, which then drives the overseas civilian market.

In addition, there are overseas arms markets. With two channels for making money, the more money they make, the more projects they can develop.

The more projects you have, the more money you can make.

When projects and money accumulate to a certain level, it becomes a snowball effect, a crazy snowball effect.

Filled with curiosity, Lin Yi watched Tao Zhanpeng walk towards his Mercedes-Benz, and then saw him return with a document.

When they met again, they didn't speak, but walked side by side toward the office building.

After settling into the conference room and accepting the tea Lin Yi had prepared, Tao Zhanpeng casually handed over the documents he was holding.

"These are the channels I mentioned."

"When I received your goods last time, I had to go north to explore the market, so I asked my friend to send them to Japan and to several trading companies with whom we have cooperative relationships."

“After I returned from the north, I received a letter from them in Japan.”

"That is, the one you have in your hand."

As he spoke, Lin Yi had already picked up the document.

He held the bilingual (Chinese and Japanese) document in his hand, glancing at the Japanese text, then at the Chinese, carefully comparing the two languages ​​to check for any deliberate translation errors.

Further on, a sudden sentence made Lin Yi subconsciously frown.

He looked at the Japanese, then at the Chinese, and then back at the Japanese.

After repeating this process several times, he finally confirmed that the Japanese and Chinese translations of the two sentences corresponded, and that he hadn't misread them; the sentence was actually in the document.

Lowering quality standards and controlling product lifespan should reduce costs by at least 50%.

Confirming that it wasn't a translation error or a misunderstanding on his part, Lin Yi scratched his head, looking puzzled, then, with a hint of seeking guidance, handed the document to Tao Zhanpeng:
"Mr. Tao, did they make a mistake when they said that?"

Seeing where Lin Yi was pointing, Tao Zhanpeng shook his head:

"It wasn't a mistake."

"When I first saw the document, I thought it was a printing error or a pasting error, so I even called to ask."

After uttering these words, Tao Zhanpeng's expression became extremely serious. He sat up straight, crossed his arms, and said solemnly:

“It was their explicit request, and I still have the recording of the call.”

"As for why they did this, I can guess pretty much."

"It's nothing more than stable control, making the product break down immediately after the warranty expires, and then forcibly increasing the loss rate to make customers continue to pay."

At this opportune moment, a hint of doubt appeared on Lin Yi's face, and he then pressed on with the question:
"Impossible, right? Japan clearly has so much craftsmanship."

"Craftsmanship is useless." A hint of sarcasm appeared on Tao Zhanpeng's face. He stood up, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and looked at the streetlights outside, saying:
"The spirit of craftsmanship is nothing more than a pretext for controlling prices."

"We are now in the industrial age. Except for some equipment that cannot be mass-produced or that is too troublesome to produce by machines, everything else can be produced by machines in an industrialized way."

"The spirit of craftsmanship is worthless in this era, but the Japanese insist on doing the opposite, simply to gild their own image."

"In short, we need money."

"By the way!" Tao Zhanpeng turned around, looking at Lin Yi with a playful expression, and asked:

Do you know who sent this letter?

"Who?" Only then did Lin Yi notice that there was no name at the end of the letter, neither an individual's name nor a company's name.

There are only two letters, a green J and a white A.

This logo...

It looks strangely familiar.

I feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I just can't quite place it.

Just as he was racking his brains, Tao Zhanpeng helped him find the answer to his question:
"It's the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives, or more precisely, an electronics trading company under the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives."

"So go ahead and do it without worry, even if there are problems."

He walked up to Lin Yi, patted him on the shoulder, and pointed to the document, saying:

"Here are the documents. Take a good look at them today. If you think we can cooperate, call me tomorrow morning."

"I'll contact their people and have a conference call."

“I saw the letter they sent me, and they seemed quite anxious. If you seize the opportunity, your factory can take off.”

"I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

After leaving those words, Tao Zhanpeng picked up his briefcase and walked out. Lin Yi quickly put down the documents and escorted him all the way to the factory gate. Only after watching the other party's car disappear into the night did he turn around and walk back.

Inside the Mercedes, Tao Zhanpeng smiled as he watched the figure disappear in the rearview mirror, took out his phone, pulled it out from the glove compartment, found the number, and dialed it.

After waiting quite a while, the call was finally answered on the other end. The timing seemed inappropriate; the person on the other end was very angry.
"Tao Jun, I hope you can give me a reasonable explanation for why you called me at this time."

"Do I need to set aside time to report to you?" Tao Zhanpeng's words were laced with anger. After a moment of silence on the other end, he continued:

“I went to the Northwest recently and used all sorts of connections and subtle approaches.”

"We spent a lot of money, but we still couldn't find any information about the batch of explosives you mentioned."

"You're probably mistaken."

"Also, don't assign me this kind of stupid task next time."

Perhaps these answers weren't what the person on the other end of the phone wanted; after listening, they remained silent for a long time.

After waiting for a while without receiving a response, Tao Zhanpeng hung up the phone.

He tossed the phone aside, then took out another phone from the center console storage cabinet, found a Japanese-formatted number, and dialed an overseas number directly.

The call was answered very quickly this time.

As soon as the call connected, a cheerful voice came from the other end:
"Mr. Tao, you're calling me so late, there must be good news, right?"

Tao Zhanpeng shifted in his seat, finding a more comfortable position, and then said softly:
“I have returned to Shanghai, and just now, I handed over the documents that you sent me, Mr. Murakami, to that factory.”

“Your requests in the document are neither complicated nor excessive, so the factory should agree to them.”

"However, there is an old Chinese saying that things are unpredictable, so perhaps they will not agree."

"But in any case, I will give you an answer around 10 a.m. Tokyo time tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight, Mr. Murakami."

After the other person said goodnight, Tao Zhanpeng tossed his phone into the locker, slammed his right foot on the accelerator, and the Mercedes sped off into the night, disappearing into the darkness. Xiaomi Heavy Industry, Factory Manager's Office.

Lin Yi was still flipping through the documents in his hand.

However, the expression on his face when he looked at the documents seemed a little strange.

The entire document, read from beginning to end, can be summarized in just a few sentences.

Lowering quality standards and controlling product lifespan should reduce costs by at least 50%.

Murakami Corporation provides the funding, and Xiaomi Heavy Industry provides a solution, specifically a rice cooker design. The ownership of this design belongs to Murakami Corporation. During the production process, the rice cooker product must be labeled with Japanese labels and must not have any Chinese labels.

Xiaomi Heavy Industry owns the production rights, Murakami Corporation pays the money regularly, and Xiaomi Heavy Industry delivers the goods on time.

The goods are delivered to Huaxia Port, and 100% payment is received.

If the products cannot be sold due to overstocking, Murakami Corporation will terminate the contract in advance. Only after the contract is terminated can Xiaomi Heavy Industries put these products on the market for sale.

If the product was sold on the market before the contract was terminated, the seller is entitled to 1000% of the total amount owed.

Note: Especially for the China region!

All plans need to be completed within 24 hours, and the first batch of goods, approximately 100,000 rice cookers, must be delivered to the port within one week.

After reading through the entire document, the requirements are not difficult.

It's even very simple.

Because this is just a standard OEM agreement document.

Lin Yi could understand the amount of compensation, since there were many similar documents stored in the office filing cabinet.

The hardest part was the last sentence.

All plans need to be completed within 24 hours, and the first batch of goods, approximately 100,000 rice cookers, must be delivered to the port within one week.

Completing the plan within 24 hours means working overtime, which is very annoying.

Then 10 rice cookers, one week.

We still need to work overtime.

As the boss, he really wanted to take a vacation.

When I was a student, I was forced to study every day. After graduation, I became a boss, but I'm still forced to go to work every day. So why become a boss?

irritable.

Lin Yi tossed the file aside, opened his design software, and prepared to work overtime through the night to come up with a rough plan.

It's called a plan, but it's really just about the appearance.

The software opens, and its operating logic immediately opens the previously used work file.

That is, the electric pressure cooker that was made for Ahmed and his group before.

Upon seeing the design draft, Lin Yi glanced at the document, then at the electric pressure cooker, and then back at the document.

To cover his tracks, Lin Yi also designed a rice cooker that would explode during his last design project.

However, in the end, the electric pressure cooker was sent out, and the rice cooker version was not sent out.

Thinking of this, he immediately opened the system panel, found the save file in the system panel, and also found another rice cooker that he had not given away.

The system panel displays a 3D preview image.

To be fair, although he is a science student and a mathematician, Lin Yi believes that his aesthetic sense is quite good.

So this rice cooker doesn't look ugly.

Quite beautiful.

It has more functions than a regular rice cooker, and with sufficient functions and good quality, plus a good-looking appearance, Lin Yi believed that the Japanese would definitely like this rice cooker.

Furthermore, the Japanese are relatively resilient to pressure and would not do something as foolish as putting gunpowder in a rice cooker.

perfect.

With a clap of his hands, Lin Yi exported the design file from the system, loaded the concept diagram and some design drawings onto the hard drive, tidied up, and then went out to wash up with his clothes in his arms.

As I stepped outside, I could see light filtering through the crack in the door of the finance office across the street, along with the sound of people cursing.

Any melons?

Lin Yi curiously pressed his ear against the door and listened for a while before realizing that Ji Shuangshuang was probably chatting with her best friend, whose name was something like Li.

During their conversation, they mentioned things like traveling to Japan, shopping in Japan, and buying electronic products.

These words also include phrases like "no holidays," "overtime," and "people will die during this year's Spring Festival."

After listening for a while, Lin Yi couldn't hear clearly, so he decided to get straight to the point.

He knocked on the door.

The conversation inside the room abruptly stopped, and shortly after, Ji Shuangshuang, wearing a thick cotton-padded pajama top, with curling irons hanging from her hair and a face mask on, appeared at the door:
"boss."

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Upon hearing this question, Ji Shuangshuang opened the office door, then turned to the side and pointed to the large pile of documents on the desk:

"We're calculating this month's wages."

Glancing at the documents on the table, Lin Yi leaned against the door and asked with a smile:

Are you going to Japan for tourism?

"It wasn't me, it was Li Xiaoya." Ji Shuangshuang returned to her computer and continued working, typing two words before looking up again:
"To be precise, it wasn't her, it was her mother."

“Her mother heard from her aunt that there are many good things in Japan, and her mother is planning to go there for a trip during the Chinese New Year and do some shopping. She is asking her to help with the formalities.”

"She's complaining to me!"

"As for me, I think my limit is if I can get all these things sorted out by New Year's Eve."

He does not mean that.

For some reason, Lin Yi suddenly remembered the contents of the document he had just read, especially that note.

I was wondering why those people were in such a hurry, but now it seems their target is the large group of people who will travel to Japan to spend money after the Spring Festival.

This period in the previous life was precisely when Japanese and Korean products were extremely popular in China.

During holidays, large numbers of people travel to Japan and South Korea, and at the same time, purchase Japanese and South Korean electronic products.

Lin Yi once saw a joke about an older woman from Zhejiang Province who traveled all the way to Japan to buy a smart toilet seat.

After buying it, I didn't know how to install it, so I looked up the manufacturer on the label.

Then the manufacturer was right next to hers, less than 10 kilometers away as the crow flies.

If Murakami Corporation's sales target is these tourists, then their product...

(End of this chapter)