Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

Chapter 173 Rehearsal

One hundred people gradually dispersed.

Some people walked along, chatting with those around them; some looked down at their employee badges; and some waited for their companions at the entrance. The sounds of footsteps, conversations, and chairs being moved mingled together as the first floor of the flagship store slowly emptied.

Sunlight streamed in through the glass curtain wall, falling on the floor and on the white display stands where no samples had yet been put up.

Lin Dong stood beside the podium.

Zhou Jing stood next to him, holding a folder in her hand.

The two watched as those figures disappeared through the doorway.

"President Lin, when is the rehearsal scheduled?" Zhou Jing asked.

Lin Dong glanced at her.

What do you think?

"The training is over, the job rotation is over, and the job assignment is over. The procedures are all set, the manuals have been distributed, and it's time for them to go through the whole process."

Zhou Jing paused for a moment, then said, "From opening to closing, from greeting guests to seeing them off, from reception to maintenance to cashiering, go through it all and see where the problem still exists."

"Tomorrow," Lin Dong said, "at nine o'clock in the morning."

Everyone is present.

The client called in all of their company's employees, including Zhang Mingyuan, Zhou Chengyu, and Su Xiaowen.

Let them act as customers for a day, to see the phones they've made and the newly renovated flagship store.

Zhou Jing was stunned for a moment.

"Mr. Lin, won't this delay the research and development progress?"

"A day won't make a difference," Lin Dong said. "Let them see what they've made and what kind of stores they're selling it in. Just one look is more important than a day of research and development."

Zhou Jing nodded and wrote it down in her notebook.

"We also need to go to the second floor," Lin Dong said. "The first and second floors serve the same function, both for display and experience. The second floor has additional workstations for maintenance engineers, offices for operations support, and a staff lounge. Coordination between the floors is where problems are most likely to arise."

"I understand," Zhou Jing said.

Lin Dong turned around and looked at her.

"I'll be there tomorrow. But I won't say a word. You do your thing, I'll do mine. If you have any problems, write them down and solve them. I'll just watch, I won't interfere."

Zhou Jing nodded.

Lin Dong returned to the company and went straight to the laboratory.

Everyone in the lab is busy.

Lin Dong clapped his hands.

"Stop for a moment."

Several people looked up.

"Take a day off tomorrow."

Li Hu was the first to react.

"Rest? Fourth brother, are you alright?"

"Let's go to the flagship store," Lin Dong said. "Let's be customers for a day. Go see what kind of store displays the phones you made yourself. That's your achievement."

The lab was silent for a second.

Then Li Hu jumped up from the chair.

"real?"

"real."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Li Hu grinned. "I've wanted to go for a long time."

Chen Long pushed up his glasses.

Xu Zang looked up from behind the screen and glanced at Lin Dong.

Zhang Mingyuan put down his tools and asked, "President Lin, is everyone going?"

"Everyone," Lin Dong said. "Call Li Guohui and Wang Mei from R&D, design, testing, and the factory as well. Meet at the flagship store entrance at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

Zhang Mingyuan nodded. He remembered the first time he went to the flagship store, the building was still under renovation and the scaffolding hadn't been removed yet.

It's finished now, but he hasn't gone to see it yet.

Su Xiaowen leaned against the wall, still holding the frame in her hand.

She asked, "Mr. Lin, what color are the display stands in the store?"

"White."

Su Xiaowen nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

By 8:30 a.m. the next morning, a large number of people were already standing in front of the flagship store.

Li Hu was the first to arrive. He squatted on the steps at the entrance, looking up at the metal emblem with the sun embedded in it.

Chen Long stood next to him, adjusted his glasses, and looked at the emblem as well.

Xu Zang leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets, his eyes closed.

Zhang Mingyuan arrived, Zhou Chengyu arrived, Su Xiaowen arrived, Cheng Chuan arrived dragged by Cheng Yu, and Ding Xiao arrived with her head down, looking at her phone.

Li Guohui and Wang Mei came from Dongguan. Li Guohui was wearing a jacket, and Wang Mei was wearing a clean white shirt.

Li Guohui stood at the doorway, staring at the glass curtain wall for a long time.

Wang Mei tugged at his sleeve, and he snapped out of his daze, giving a sheepish smile.

Uncle Cai arrived, holding a teacup, all smiles.

Zheng Hao stood at the door, his back ramrod straight, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.

Lin Dong got out of the car and walked to the door.

He glanced at his watch; it was 8:50. He smiled and said, "Come on in, don't just stand there. You'll be the first batch of customers starting at 9:00."

All the lights on on the first floor of the flagship store were on.

On the white display stand were prototype models, not the actual devices, but shell models, with the same weight and feel as the real devices.

Next to each prototype was a white card that read, "December 25th, Oriental Technology Launch Event, stay tuned."

The lights were on, and warm white light shone through the streamlined light strips on the ceiling, making the entire space bright but not glaring.

Li Hu was the first to rush in, lay down on the display stand, and picked up the prototype to examine it over and over.

"Fourth brother, isn't this the real thing?"

"A model," Lin Dong said. "You'll only see it at the official launch event."

"It feels good." Li Hu weighed it in his hand, then flipped it over to look at the back. "This curved surface, was it ground by Engineer Li?"

Li Guohui stood to the side; the model machine was also made in the factory, a one-to-one replica.

At 9:00 AM sharp, Zhou Jing stood in the middle of the first floor with a walkie-talkie in hand.

"Attention everyone, rehearsal begins. Open the door."

Zhang Mingyuan, Zhou Chengyu, Su Xiaowen, Li Hu, Chen Long, Xu Zang, Cheng Chuan, Cheng Yu, Ding Xiao, Li Guohui, Wang Mei

Uncle Cai, Zheng Hao, and a dozen others walked in through the door.

Some people were genuinely acting as customers, some were looking around the store, and some were nodding as they looked.

Li Hu walked the fastest, heading straight for the innermost booth; Zhang Mingyuan walked the slowest, looking at the ceiling, the lights, the floor, and the corners of the booth as he went.

The first "customer" was Zhang Mingyuan.

He walked to the booth, picked up the prototype, flipped it over to look at the back, then flipped it back and stared at the screen.

His fingers traced the edge of the prototype, from the top left corner to the bottom right corner, touching every seam.

He put down the prototype, picked up the one next to him, and touched it again.

An experience consultant walked over and stood next to him, not opposite him.

"Hello, this is a smartphone that Dongfang Technology will be releasing soon. Please hold it in your hand and feel its weight." She paused for a moment, "It's a little different from the phones you usually use because it doesn't have a keyboard."

Zhang Mingyuan nodded, then picked up the prototype again and examined it from all angles.

He looked at it for about a minute, then put the prototype down.

"Well done," he said.

The experience consultant paused for a moment, unsure how to respond.

Lin Dong stood on the second floor, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Zhang Mingyuan is not a customer, but the person in charge of hardware.

He was looking at the manufacturing precision of the mid-frame, the fit between the screen and the bezel, and the tactile feedback of the buttons.

He was inspecting his work.

The second "customer" was Li Hu.

He picked up the prototype, pretended to press the side buttons a few times, and then swiped his finger across the screen a few times.

"Can this phone access the internet?" he asked.

The experience consultant nodded. "Sure. It supports WAP internet access; you can access it by simply opening your browser."

"Can I listen to music?"

"Yes. It has a built-in music player that supports MP3 and WMA formats."

"Can I take a picture?"

"Yes. It has a 5-megapixel rear camera with autofocus."

Li Hu asked a series of questions, which the experience consultant answered one by one, without any rush.

Li Hu nodded and put the prototype down.

"Not bad." He turned and walked away, then turned back after a couple of steps. "By the way, how much?"

The experience consultant was taken aback.

"The price hasn't been announced yet; you'll find out after the press conference."

Li Hu grinned.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the press conference."

He found Lin Dong on the second floor.

"Fourth brother, the people you recruited are quite good. They answer any questions directly and calmly."

Lin Dong ignored him.

Li Hu didn't care. He leaned against the glass partition and looked downstairs.

On the repair engineer's side, Chen Hao received a "customer".

It's Cheng Chuan.

Cheng Chuan brought up the prototype and said that the phone had been dropped and the screen was no longer working.

Chen Hao took the prototype, put on an anti-static wrist strap, and picked up a screwdriver to start disassembling it.

The movements were steady, neither hurried nor slow.

Cheng Yu followed behind Cheng Chuan, standing outside the repair area, watching Chen Hao disassemble the machine.

Chen Hao removed the back cover, glanced at it, and said, "The ribbon cable is loose." He gently pressed it with tweezers, reassembled it, and handed it back.

"Okay, please try it."

Cheng Chuan pressed the button on the side, but it still didn't light up.

He pressed it again.

Chen Hao paused for a moment, then took it back, disassembled it again, and examined it very carefully this time.

He noticed that one of the pins on the ribbon cable connector was bent, so he gently straightened it with tweezers and then reinstalled it.

Cheng Chuan tried it, but it still lit up.

Chen Hao's forehead began to sweat.

They disassembled it again and replaced it with a new ribbon cable.

After putting it back in, Cheng Chuan pressed the button, but it didn't light up.

Chen Hao took a deep breath, disassembled the prototype, and this time he didn't use visual inspection but used a multimeter to measure several test points.

When I measured the third one, the multimeter's buzzer went off.

He put down the multimeter, stared at the circuit board for a while, then used tweezers to pick up a small capacitor and moved it to a different position.

Reinstall the ribbon cable, put the back cover back on, tighten the screws, install the battery, and hand it to Cheng Chuan.

"Try again."

Cheng Chuan pressed a button on the side.

The prototype's screen lit up.

Chen Hao leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

Li Guohui stood to the side and watched the whole thing.

He glanced at Lin Dong, who was on the second floor and was also looking in this direction.

Their eyes met, and Lin Dong nodded.

On the operations support side, Su Xiaowen was queuing at the cashier with a repair order in hand.

There were two people ahead of me; the operations support staff were entering data into the system. They were moving slowly and methodically, which was just right.

When it was Su Xiaowen's turn, she asked, "Can I swipe my card?" The operations support colleague looked up and said, "Yes," then took a POS machine out of the drawer and set it up.

"Please swipe your card."

Su Xiaowen took out a card from her bag and swiped it.

The operations support colleague pressed a few keys and handed her the POS machine. "Please enter your password."

Su Xiaowen entered the password, and the POS machine printed out a receipt.

The operations support colleague tore off the receipt and handed it to her with both hands.

Please sign here.

Su Xiaowen signed the form, took the repair order, and turned to leave.

At noon, the last "customer" left.

Zhou Jing, holding a walkie-talkie, stood in the middle of the first floor and announced, "Attention everyone, rehearsal is over."

One hundred people walked back from their respective posts and stood in their original formation.

The company staff were still on the first floor. Li Hu was telling Chen Long, "The height of this booth is just right," while Zhang Mingyuan was telling Su Xiaowen, "The curvature of the mid-frame is fine, and the screen fits perfectly."

Li Guohui stood at the door, looking up at the metal sun emblem.

Zhou Jing glanced at Lin Dong.

Lin Dong came down from the second floor and stood next to her.

"What do you think?" Lin Dong asked.

Zhou Jing thought for a moment.

"The experience consultant was great, natural and relaxed. The repair engineer is technically skilled, but slow to react. The wiring issue Chen Hao had earlier might have been solved by someone with less experience."

She paused for a moment, then said, "The operations support system is slow; we need to practice more. The checkout process is fine, and the POS machine works, but it needs to be faster."

"Anything else?" he asked.

Zhou Jing thought about it again.

"The handover process between the reception on the first floor and the maintenance on the second floor is not smooth enough. Customers have to take their orders to the second floor themselves, but there is no signage at the stairwell, so some people can't find their way."

She paused for a moment, then said, "There should be a guide at the top of the stairs."

Lin Dong looked at her.

"continue."

"It's right to put the cashier on the first floor. Customers can pay directly after checking their phones without having to go up to the second floor."

Zhou Jing said, "But the position of the POS machine needs to be adjusted. The current position makes it difficult for customers to reach their hands far away when signing."

Lin Dong nodded.

"That's all?"

Zhou Jing thought for a moment and then added another point.

"The maintenance engineer's tools are not conveniently placed. The multimeter is on the left, but Chen Hao uses his right hand, so he has to step over to get it every time. It should be placed on the right."

Lin Dong glanced at her.

"You have a keen eye for detail."

Zhou Jing didn't respond.

Lin Dong stood at the front of the line without saying a word.

Zhou Jing waited a few seconds, and seeing that he didn't speak, she stood at the front of the line herself.

She recounted the issues she had just discussed with Lin Dong, along with their solutions and timelines.

Add a guide at the stairwell.

POS machine position adjustment.

The maintenance engineer rearranged his tools.

Practice entering data into the operations support system more often.

If a maintenance engineer's adaptability cannot be developed, then replace them.

Lin Dong stood beside her while she spoke, without interrupting.

Everyone saw him, but he didn't say a word.

After Zhou Jing finished speaking, she asked, "Any questions?"

"No," everyone said in unison.

"Let's go eat. We'll continue training this afternoon."

One hundred people dispersed.

The company staff also started leaving one after another.

As Li Hu left, he patted Lin Dong on the shoulder and said, "Fourth brother, the shop is good."

Zhang Mingyuan nodded as he walked past without saying a word.

Su Xiaowen walked very slowly, constantly looking at the renderings on the wall.

Li Guohui and Wang Mei walked at the very back. Wang Mei held Li Guohui's arm, and Li Guohui kept turning around to look at the glass curtain wall.

Lin Dong stood at the door, watching them walk away. Zhou Jing stood beside him.

"Mr. Lin, are you still watching this afternoon?"

"I'm not watching anymore," Lin Dong said. "You keep an eye on it."

He turned and left.

Zheng Hao had already parked the car at the intersection.

Lin Dong opened the car door, got in, and leaned back in the seat.

"Brother Dong, shall we go back to the company?" Zheng Hao glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

, return. "