2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 122 Selection of Components
Everyone loves 18-year-olds; a man's judgment remains constant.

From late autumn to early summer, there is a beautiful, tall girl with long flowing hair who will work with you from time to time, eat with you, and chat with you.

From its gentle autumnal beauty to its vibrant summer energy, it's hard not to be drawn to it.

Although he has the soul of a 38-year-old, 38 is not an old age. Tan Jincheng will also be attracted to the girl in front of him, not only by her appearance, but also by her studiousness and her curious attitude towards new things.

Another thing that Tan Jincheng admired most about Gu Qingqing was her upbringing. From the first time they met, Tan Jincheng did not feel even a little bit of condescension from Gu Qingqing, and all their conversations were on an equal footing.

During his six months of entrepreneurship, Tan Jincheng had met more than just Gu Qingqing, a college student. Even if they wanted to make money off him, they maintained a superior attitude and looked down on small business owners like Tan Jincheng.

Of course, he's a chosen one, so it's understandable, but it's still somewhat uncomfortable to have this happen to you.

Just like Qin Siyu's suggestion of a raise yesterday, in Tan Jincheng's opinion, since you've already let Gu Qingqing know in advance, wouldn't it be better to have a middleman speak on it?
Over the past six months, in the limited contact he has had with Tan Jincheng, the strongest feeling he has experienced has been comfort, as if he had met an old friend of many years.

Therefore, Tan Jincheng would also delegate some tasks that weren't exactly part-time jobs to Gu Qingqing, such as the translation work at Jinpeng Trading. In fact, Tan Jincheng could easily handle it all by himself if he worked a little harder.

The reason for this, besides freeing up more time for other things, is also perhaps to have more opportunities to connect with others.

Currently, Gu Qingqing is still in charge of some of the translation work at Jinpeng Trading. After several translations, she has figured out how to translate these documents. After finishing, she sends them to Tan Jincheng for proofreading instead of Zhang Xupeng, who is now paying her salary directly.

As for the translation work at Jinyi Industrial, it involves even more technical terms related to electronic products, which Tan Jincheng himself couldn't handle, so he had to hire a more professional translator; of course, it was still a part-time job.

A trading company model with light asset operations allows for part-time work whenever possible, and lower operating costs can lead to higher profit margins.

In the future, electric scooters will also develop export business, which will be handled by Jinyi Industrial. One company will be responsible for production, and the other will be responsible for sales. This model was learned from the boss of a trading company in my previous life.

In his previous life, Tan Jincheng knew a boss in Ningbo whose export volume of a single product was among the top 15 in the industry. He operated in this way: the manufacturing company maintained a very low or even negative profit margin for many years, and transferred the profits to another company.

This model is common in later generations, but it is still relatively rare now. At least in Ningbo, a city with developed import and export industries, Tan Jincheng has not seen it much. At present, the model is still mainly similar to Jinpeng Trading.

Both models have their advantages. If you just want to make quick money for a few years, then of course the model of Jinpeng Trading is the best. But once the golden age of foreign trade is over and money is not so easy to make, the model of Jinpeng Trading will lose its competitiveness. At that time, the company will be deregistered and the company will run away with the money.

The latter model has a longer lifespan. In an era of high profit margins, it can thrive thanks to its cost advantages and tax rebates. In my previous life, this company fared quite well in the years following 2020.

In fact, most companies and brands that survive rely on this model. Making quick money is not necessarily short-sighted. Everyone has their own goals in business. The profits during the boom period can indeed be enough to live a life of luxury if you do well.

"What are you looking at? You haven't said anything for so long," Gu Qingqing said gracefully.

Boss Tan had been staring at me for a while, but it didn't seem like he was staring at me, because his eyes weren't focused; he must have been thinking about something.

After regaining his composure, Tan Jincheng smiled and took out an envelope from the drawer: "There is 5000 yuan in here. Part of it is your salary, and part of it is Qin Siyu and Zhao Xianbo's. The rest can be settled next time. Let me know when it is settled."

"Thank you, Mr. Tan," Gu Qingqing said with a smile as she took the envelope.

"From now on, you'll be focusing on operations and translation work for Jinpeng Trading, right?"

"I didn't say it outright, how did Boss Tan know?"

"Guess."

"Then you guessed right. Qin Siyu's family isn't well-off. She often does part-time jobs to earn a living, which is quite hard. Let her do all the shooting from now on. Boss Tan, please don't look for other models, okay?"

Unlike Qin Siyu, who does part-time jobs, Gu Qingqing does them simply to broaden her horizons and enrich her knowledge base, not to make money. For example, she would never do jobs like handing out flyers or working as a waitress in a restaurant.

"Alright, I'll do as you say. You can fill in for her if she's not available," Tan Jincheng readily agreed.

"That's no problem, but I have something I'd like to ask Boss Tan. How did you come up with the idea of ​​attracting customers to that lingerie store?"

“In QQ group chats, screenshots of posts from other forums are shared, and then everyone goes to look at those posts and gets inspiration from them,” Tan Jincheng said with a smile.

If we're talking about how quickly these kinds of LSP (Losing Personality Sorrow) topics spread, then WeChat groups are definitely the place to go. It seems like every WeChat group has similar topics circulating, and if you've joined a few, it's hard to avoid seeing them. When was WeChat developed? It seems to have launched around 2011, roughly the year smartphones became ubiquitous. With the large-scale promotion of smartphones, the world has changed.

Tan Jincheng is still using the Nokia he bought when he first came ashore; and it works really well, especially for someone like him who travels frequently for work. With two batteries and a universal charger, he doesn't have to worry about running out of power at all.

"Let's go, let's not talk about this anymore. They should be almost done packing by now. Let's go eat, and I'll take you home after we eat."

"Didn't they say we should take the bus?"

“It’s already quite late, and it’s inconvenient for you to turn around. Let me give you a ride. Also, if I’m not at the company next time and it’s inconvenient for you to go at night, you can ask Zhang Xupeng for help, and I’ll talk to him.”

"Going on another business trip?"

"Yes, we need to find suppliers. The recruitment process is going well, but we can't fall behind in terms of parts suppliers. We need to get into mass production as soon as possible, otherwise we can't afford to spend money like this every day."

“I don’t know much about business, but when your company’s electric scooter goes into mass production and hits the market, I’ll buy one to help boost your sales.”

"The reason why the first model is targeted at a certain customer group is probably because it doesn't suit your aesthetic. Why don't you ask your parents to buy one? They can give you feedback on their experience. When the second model comes out, I'll give you one as a gift. I'm sure you'll like the second one."

"Oh? So confident? How do you know I'll definitely like it?"

"You'll find out when the time comes. Let's go."

Since a suitable purchasing manager cannot be found for the time being, Tan Jincheng will start contacting suppliers next week, and the first issue to be resolved is the selection of batteries.

Due to cost considerations, most electric scooters on the market currently use lead-acid batteries. On the other hand, lithium battery technology is not yet mature enough, so using lead-acid batteries is the best solution.

Xinri uses Zhongke Sanhuan batteries. Given Flash's current procurement scale, if it were to compete head-to-head with Zhongke Sanhuan, it would definitely not be able to obtain preferential procurement prices. Therefore, even though Zhongke Sanhuan is currently the best-reputed battery on the market, Flash will not use it.

Other big brands like Chaowei and Tianneng are certainly worth considering if the price is right. However, it would be even better if you could find a brand that is both affordable and reliable. Lead-acid batteries are a mature industry, and there are many brands on the market.

I remember when I was very young, probably in the 1990s, I saw people in the countryside using batteries to electrofish. I don't know if they were lead-acid batteries or not, but in just over 10 years, this industry has become quite mature.

To control the cost of a small electric scooter, the cost of the seven core components cannot be cut, and the quality must be up to standard. The key is to find a balance, which means not focusing on the brand, since consumers don't know much about the brands of these components anyway.

The first thing to do is to buy some parts from brands that have good sales on the market, test them, assemble a few mini electric scooter models, and test which brand of parts has the best cost performance.

We can also test the training results over this period and see how well the employees have learned the assembly techniques. The soul of electric vehicle assembly is the wiring method of the controller, so let's see how well the employees have mastered these.

The next day, the first thing Tan Jincheng did when he arrived at the company was to call Sun Yuming over: "Go and coordinate with the people below to buy a few more electric scooters, take them apart and see what kind of batteries, motors, controllers, etc. are inside, and then go to the market to buy a few more of these separately and test them by category."

"Okay, boss, is there anything else?"

"Are the staff dormitories all ready?"

"It's all set up. We've rented a place in Xia'nan Village, about two or three kilometers from our factory. We've also hired a cook, and borrowed two workers from Uncle Zhang to do a simple coat of paint and some renovations so we can move in."

The "Uncle Zhang" that Sun Yuming mentioned is Zhang Qingliang. The renovation at Jinyi Industrial has already been completed. Currently, they are renovating Tan Jincheng's house, and Zhang Xupeng's newly purchased house will be renovated next.

Adding in the usual repairs and maintenance, it looks like Zhang Qingliang will be quite busy this year. He might have to stay in Beicang for the entire second half of the year. It's already June, and there are less than three months left until September in his previous life. He doesn't know if he can escape this calamity. Hopefully, things can change.

If fate continues as it did in the previous life, this time not only will Zhang Qingliang be very regretful, but Tan Jincheng will also ruin the rest of his life, since the accident happened while he was working for him.

Even knowing the risks involved, if Tan Jincheng were given another chance, he would still intervene.

"Also, the apartment you asked me to rent in the city has been rented. It has two bedrooms and a living room. It can be moved in right away after a quick cleaning."

"Okay, I understand. You can go ahead and get busy. Just keep an eye on the test results of the parts during this time. Once the tests are finished and the whole thing is ready, just give it to me."

(End of this chapter)