2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 129 Pressure and Motivation

The distant mountains are verdant, and the nearby mountains are serene; this is a picture of Jiangnan in June.

The sound of rain is not yet over; a hundred streams flow down to the calm lake.

Although it doesn't describe Suzhou, it perfectly captures the scene of Jiangnan in June. As one of the absolute representatives of Jiangnan, Suzhou not only has a profound historical heritage and the boundless beauty of Jiangnan scenery, but its industrial output also ranks among the top in the country.

Tan Jincheng had visited Suzhou more than once in his previous life, for work and tourism, but this was his first time in this life. In 2005, Suzhou's industry was not as developed as in his previous life, but the scenery seemed to be more beautiful.

However, late June is not a good time to visit Suzhou for tourism, because it is just too damn hot!
However, June and July are hot months, and it seems that you have little energy to do anything. The scorching sun makes you not want to go out.

But for the sake of making a living, one cannot have such ideals. Fortunately, the weather in those days was relatively normal, not as extreme as in later generations. It was hot when it was supposed to be hot and cool when it was supposed to be cool, and there were very few abnormal weather events that occurred out of season.

When did the weather start to become strange? I can't remember.

"Boss, the plastic parts for the batteries at home have been modified. We're not producing the 72V ones for now; we've switched to 60V and are doing trial production. Here are some photos of the trial mold they sent you. Take a look."

In the hotel, Sun Yuming sent several downloaded photos to Tan Jincheng's QQ. The photos were taken with a digital camera, so the receiving speed was a bit slow.

After the reception was completed, Tan Jincheng zoomed in and out of the photo countless times.

"Have them put the battery in and assemble it. It would be ridiculous if it couldn't fit. Also, they need to test the fit with other components and pay attention to the burrs on the product."

These workers are still unprofessional; they only took a few pictures of bare, individual products. What can you tell from that?

Since you're sending it to yourself for your own viewing, you should at least put the battery in and check how it fits—whether it's too loose, too tight, or just right.

"Okay, boss, you even know about molds? That's amazing," Sun Yuming replied, expressing his admiration.

Tan Jincheng pursed his lips, ignored him, and continued to enjoy the cool air conditioning in the summer.

I don't know anything about molds, but you can't look at a component in isolation; you have to see how well it fits together. That's basic common sense, right? As for whether the product has flash, that's a professional term I learned from Zhang Mingcan.

The general idea is that during the injection molding process, issues such as pressure from the plastic press and mold fit problems can cause glue leakage, resulting in rough-looking joints that affect the appearance and can also easily injure the hands.

These past few days I've been in Suzhou meeting with a controller and motor manufacturer. It turns out that the industrial base for electric scooters is basically concentrated in the Jiangsu province area, and even Chipstar has a manufacturing base here.

Tan Jincheng also noticed an interesting point: although battery manufacturers, controller and motor companies were all founded in the 1990s, they were not reorganized until after 2000.

Within the supplier system, the most recent restructuring occurred last year, which fully demonstrates that although the electric scooter industry has received a lot of attention, it has only truly achieved commercialization in the last few years, making this entry point quite early.

When the industry chain is immature, everything is difficult. Those who are the first to try something new often find it hard to survive until the end. Entering the market at this point is like entering a stock market during its upward phase, where you can easily profit by riding the industry's boom.

The purchase price of the controller and electrical appliances is not low either. They are all handled by one company. Each set costs 185 yuan, and there are still 40,000 sets. The total order price is 7.4 million yuan, which is nearly 620,000 yuan per month. The payment method is similar to that of the battery company, but the settlement time has been postponed.

The same applies to the supplier system going forward. If possible, it would be best to hold the payment for goods for one month, which would greatly reduce the financial pressure.

After visiting only a few suppliers, Tan Jincheng felt the pressure mounting. With purchase orders often exceeding several million yuan, starting in August, the financial pressure on Shanchi Automotive would become outrageous.

After calculating all the costs, if the market performance is poor in August, and countless suppliers need to make payments in September, then Flash Auto will face a shortage of funds, and it will only be a matter of time before it goes bankrupt!
"I only understand now what Old Ma meant when he said Taobao was only three months away from going bankrupt. Sigh." Tan Jincheng lay on the hotel bed, staring speechlessly at the ceiling.

That's right. July is just around the corner. If the market doesn't perform well, Flash Auto won't even last three months.

Starting a business is indeed like walking on thin ice.

Drip, drip.
Just as Tan Jincheng was feeling troubled, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was a message from Gu Qingqing.

"Boss Tan, you've arrived in Suzhou?"

"Yes, but I have to leave soon."

QQ Space has finished its internal testing phase, and the official version was released in June. At this time, QQ Space's functions were relatively rudimentary, but basic features such as logs, photo albums, and message boards were still available, making it comparable to Sina's blog. After the official release, Tan Jincheng was among the first users, occasionally uploading photos and his entrepreneurial reflections, partly to record his life and partly to prepare for explaining why he bought so many QQ stocks later.

The first batch of 10 QQ shares is just the beginning, but certainly not the end. In the future, when he has more funds, Tan Jincheng will continue to buy QQ shares. Who knows, he might become one of the major individual shareholders when the price is low.

I'll be a loyal QQ user then, and I'm optimistic about QQ's development. Just look, as soon as QQ Zone was launched, I became one of the first users.

Gu Qingqing became one of Tan Jincheng's first loyal "fans," and her image could be seen in every time he recorded his feelings and insights in his diary or uploaded photos.

Gu Qingqing seemed to regard this new application section as another way to learn about Tan Jincheng. It turns out that Boss Tan has a younger sister who is not even a year old. How amazing!

So even Boss Tan has his troubles. It's not easy being a boss, huh? There's even a photo of him? This one must have been taken by one of his employees. Going on a business trip in this sweltering heat must be quite a hardship; he seems to have gotten a bit tanned.

Today, Tan Jincheng, who was lying in the hotel and too lazy to go out, uploaded a record of his trip to Suzhou. After Gu Qingqing saw it, she sent him a text message.

"Oh, is Suzhou fun? I've never been there before."

"There's not much to do in this hot weather. If you want to come, you can come in the spring or autumn."

"So, where will Boss Tan go next?"

"Next stop, the next stop is still in Jiangsu Province, we're going to Wuxi."

Fortunately, the industrial chain for electric scooters is relatively concentrated. Batteries, molds, plastic parts, and other small components can all be sourced in Zhejiang Province, while controllers, motors, and other core components can be sourced in Jiangsu Province.

As the client was on a business trip, the choice was in Tan Jincheng's hands, and the order was signed on a one-year basis, so the negotiations went very smoothly. All the suppliers were also very friendly and showed what they considered to be their utmost sincerity in receiving Tan Jincheng and his party.

The large purchase orders, often amounting to millions, have put tremendous pressure on Flash Automotive, but they have also greatly facilitated the negotiations to streamline the supply chain. The large quantity and value of these orders naturally allow for greater room for negotiation.

Judging solely from the purchase volume, Tan Jincheng's actions this time have already demonstrated the style of a major manufacturer within the supplier system, which has indeed impressed many people and made it difficult for suppliers to raise many doubts about the strength of Shanchi Automotive.

This was a risky move. If they had been more cautious, Flash Auto could have purchased parts on a monthly basis, like they did with Zhang Haiping, using advance payments and final payments. This would have been much less risky.

However, this will only leave large suppliers, especially in the battery sector, with the impression that the other party is not capable, and will not have any advantage in terms of price negotiation or priority supply.

However, if the risk succeeds, it will bring great benefits to Flash Motors, including subsequent supply and the ability to further expand production capacity. Flash Motors will have a great deal of initiative and can further reduce costs.

Take batteries as an example. Even if the price of a set of lead-acid batteries drops by five yuan, 4 sets would cost 20 yuan, enough for the annual salaries of two middle managers. Not to mention the increased procurement volume after expansion.

"Boss Tan, judging from your log today, you seem a bit unhappy?" Gu Qingqing continued to send a message.

"Oh? How did you figure that out?" Tan Jincheng asked curiously.

Although Tan Jincheng currently possesses the soul of a 38-year-old, he has been exposed to the mobile internet in his previous life and is quite adept at surfing the internet. Some of the words in his blog posts are even more forward-thinking than they are now.

In other words, the current QQ Space settings only allow access to friends. Otherwise, if Mr. Tan put in some effort, he might have become a popular figure on QQ Space.

Perhaps we could create a company account and write some advertorials on QQ Space to promote Flash and the Flash series? This idea seems feasible, as QQ's user base is currently mainly composed of students, working professionals, and office workers.

In a few years, the non-mainstream generation of those born in the mid-85s and 90s will be concentrated on QQ Space and Audition Online. Many of these young people are factory workers. Starting now to occupy QQ Space and increase their popularity is a good way.

In addition, students don't have much purchasing power right now, but they have parents. Planting the seeds of brand awareness for Flash and Windmill in their minds and recommending them to their families might have some unexpected effects.

Furthermore, once they grow up and enter society, cars like the Flash and the Fengchi can become their dream cars, making them another major consumer group.

Thinking about it this way, Tan Jincheng felt inexplicably excited. This job was worth doing!
Gu Qingqing is truly a lucky star. If she hadn't mentioned QQ Space, I would never have thought of this feature. I only ever used it as a personal space to record my life.

(End of this chapter)