章 1279: Chapter 1279: The Beginning of the Southeast Asian Consortium
The requirements for entering the factory building of Tiangong Motorola Electronics Co., Ltd. are very strict. You must first change into a dustproof suit.
After the group finished changing, they walked into the interior of the factory.
What immediately caught their eye were the already well-established production workshops and assembly lines.
Of course, the assembly line was not running, and there were a few people here and there busily working on the production line, who looked like white people.
As he walked over there, Fok explained, 'Chairman, they are still assembling and debugging the equipment. Those are the engineers sent by Motorola. The person in charge is Aubrey Jerome, the tallest white engineer over there, who is currently the vice president of the new company.'
'In terms of products, we are not producing the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone, but have made some changes and are producing mobile phones under the brand name 'Tiangong Motorola'. The model has already been decided and is called the K101. The prototype has already been made, and I will show it to you later...'
Although the mobile phone brand is not Tiangong, but 'Tiangong Motorola', Xia Yu is not surprised, and is even quite satisfied.
At least he has some initiative!
For Tiangong Electronics Group, the brand 'Tiangong Motorola' is long-winded, not as good as the standalone 'Tiangong' brand, but it's better than just using 'Motorola' directly.
It's also right to differentiate the product from Motorola's DynaTAC 8000X, showing its own differences. Although it cannot rely too much on Motorola's influence, nowadays there is no commercially available mobile phone on the market worldwide, and everyone is at a similar starting line, so there is nothing to fear.
The Motorola brand is well-known, but when it comes to electronic products, the Teco brand of game consoles and portable music players are also best-sellers worldwide, and in the minds of young people, they may even be considered more prestigious.
If it weren't for Teco Electronics' reputation and strength, Motorola would not have been willing to license the technology, and would have let Teco-Motorola Electronics Co. produce mobile phones with some independent characteristics.
In the past, Ericsson and Sony were able to cooperate to produce Sony Ericsson mobile phones, but eventually Ericsson withdrew and Sony took over all of the equity. Production of the 'Sony Ericsson' brand of mobile phones ceased, and only Sony mobile phones were produced.
One day, the Tiangong Motorola mobile phones will also only have the word 'Tiangong' left.
How long it will take to get rid of the tail depends on when the farming can be done properly...
While talking, the group arrived in front of the assembly line.
Upon seeing Fok Kin-ning arrive, a white-haired old man stopped instructing and walked straight towards Xia Yu and the others.
'Jerome, let me introduce you, this is my boss, Mr Xia Yu.'
'Chairman, this is Aubrey Jerome, Motorola's senior engineer and now the company's vice president.'
As soon as the white-haired old man approached, Fok Kin-ning immediately introduced the two of them.
'Hello, boss, I'm Aubrey Jerome.'
'Hello, Mr. Jerome, thank you for your contribution to the company, you have worked hard.'
'This is my job responsibility.'
...
With just a few simple words, Xia Yu was able to determine that the Aubrey Jerome in front of him was an old engineering man. His thinking determined his character and style of work. He spoke straightforwardly and lacked in reading people.
However, for Tiangong Motorola Electronics, it is a good thing to have someone like him, and Xia Yu would rather deal with such technical talent.
'Jerome, it seems that the production line is almost complete. How long will it take before it can be put into production?'
Xia Yu walked up to the production line, looked carefully at the shiny metal machines, and then turned to Aubrey Jerome and asked.
'There are five production lines in total, and only three have been assembled so far. The other two will be ready in half a month at most, but the overall commissioning will take at least another month.'
'Add in staff training, final production testing and commissioning, and it'll be another month or so.'
'So a conservative estimate is that mass production won't begin until the end of March or early April at the earliest,'
said Aubrey Jerome with a serious face.
It'll be more than two months!
Xia Yu was slightly disappointed.
But then he thought, Motorola's mobile phones have not yet been launched, and it seems that they will be launched for sale around April, so the progress on his side is not much different from that of Motorola.
If production starts in early April, with the five production lines running at full capacity, the phones will be able to be distributed in full force in May.
Thinking about this, Xia Yu's mood improved slightly.
Aubrey Jerome did not notice, but Fok Kin-ning, who had followed Xia Yu for a long time, sensed the chairman's thoughts.
He immediately said, 'Chairman, although mass production will take some time, 200 prototypes have already been produced, and the vast majority are qualified products.'
'The Hong Kong Telephone Company has already completed the construction of signal base stations in Hong Kong and Macau, and we have already tested them. There is no problem with calls between Hong Kong and Macau.'
'Do you think we should put some into use first?'
Xia Yu was a little surprised and asked, 'The base stations of the Hong Kong Telephone Company are hardware facilities, but are the communication services ready?'
Fok Kin-ning immediately replied, 'I went to the Hong Kong Telephone Company the day before yesterday to find out the situation. The mobile communications department of the Hong Kong Telephone Company has already been fully staffed and has undergone the first phase of induction training.'
'It's just in time to take a batch of mobile phones to put into use, which will also allow them to practise in real combat, speed up the integration of skills, and improve service capabilities.'
Xia Yu nodded with a smile: 'OK, you arrange it, the presidents of each first- and second-tier company will be equipped with a mobile phone first, and in addition, take 100 more. I'll take them to give away, and ask the other bigwigs to help advertise them.'
'If that's not enough, we can have another batch of prototypes produced.'
It would be completely easy to produce another batch of prototypes.
The top bosses in Xiangjiang are the bellwethers of the industry, and if they each had a Tiangong Motorola phone, it would definitely be the best form of advertising, and the phone would definitely become an instant hit.
If nothing unexpected happened, they would be able to receive an order before the phone was even launched, which would save him from having to do any marketing before the launch.
When the chairman of the board got involved, it really made a difference!
Fok Kin-ning smiled busily and said, 'Chairman, please rest assured, I guarantee that the task will be completed.'
After leaving Tiangong Motorola Electronics Co., Ltd. satisfied, Xia Yu went to Tiangong Electrical Appliances Manufacturing Group, Tiangong Machinery Group and Tiangong Technology Laboratory one after the other that day.
Relying on the first offline chain sales network in Asia, Tiangong brand electrical appliances have been selling well in Southeast Asia, and branches have also been established in the mainland to produce and sell them.
Tiangong Machinery Group, on the other hand, continues to develop new products based on existing products and constantly delves into the field of heavy machinery. In the future, it will be the mainstay of the machinery and heavy industry sector under the consortium.
As for the Tiangong Technology Laboratory, by recruiting people from around the world, the number of research personnel has reached more than 1,300. There are 31 individual laboratories within the company, and 89 projects are currently being developed. The company has already obtained 769 patented technologies.
Although the value of the patents varies and the number of patents is still far behind that of world-renowned laboratories, at least it is on the right track.
Moreover, in terms of Asia, Tiangong Technology Laboratory is already among the best in terms of size and strength, although it is all achieved by burning money.
Last year, Tiangong Technology Laboratory burned HK$2.287 billion, an average of HK$6.26 million a day, which is more than a million US dollars!
With such abundant financial support and no KPI assessment, Tiangong Technology Laboratory's reputation has spread widely in the academic research community, and it has become one of the holy places in the hearts of many scientists.
For mainland scientists in particular, it is a dream come true. There is no academic bureaucracy to suppress them, and they don't have to beg for funding. They can devote themselves to research and development, which is simply unimaginable.
Therefore, after some mainland scientists had been at Tiangong Technology Laboratory for a period of time, they wrote letters one after the other inviting their good friends to join.
Tiangong Technology Laboratory was able to grow from just 300 people to more than 1,300 in just one and a half years, thanks to these mainland scientists. Nowadays, more than half of the scientists in the laboratory are from the mainland.
In order to facilitate internal academic exchanges and external exchanges, Tiangong Technology Laboratory also cooperated with Jiuding Newspaper Company to establish Tiangong Science Press in December 1982. At present, the press only has one magazine, Tiangong Science, which is a comprehensive periodical. At the beginning, it only included papers from within Tiangong Technology Laboratory, but after its reputation spread, many people submitted articles.
Through the recommendations of mainland scientists within the laboratory, Tiangong Science has now become the first channel for mainland scientists to submit articles externally.
In terms of circulation, the highest issue of 'Tiangong Science' has reached 48,000 copies. Although it is far less than the entertainment magazines under the Jiuding Newspaper Company, its influence is definitely not low, after all, it is an academic magazine.
After learning this, Xia Yu thought again of the academic hegemony of later generations of European and American countries, and even the Nobel Prize had a political nature.
If he acted now, there was still a chance to break the blockade.
So while at the Tiangong Science and Technology Laboratory, he waved his hand and announced on the spot that he would establish a Universal Science Foundation, with an initial investment of 100 million Hong Kong dollars, to be used to select scientists with outstanding contributions in various fields each year. The selection would begin this year for the first time, and the winner of each award would receive a bonus of 5 million Hong Kong dollars!
After Xia Yu's announcement, the atmosphere in the entire Tiangong Technology Laboratory was electric. Everyone cheered for Xia Yu, and Xia Yu's prestige reached its peak.
Although this award has to compete with science awards from around the world, they at least have one more chance, don't they?
And this award is still the fairest for them, unlike the awards in Europe and the United States, which don't even let them in the door. As long as they can get it once, it will be both an honour and the prize money will be able to secure their lives for the rest of their lives.
In particular, scientists from the mainland are full of emotion. Just think, in the country, you can live on a monthly salary of a few tens of dollars. If you can get a prize of 5 million Hong Kong dollars, it is enough to completely settle your family, and there is still money for your family to do scientific research and cultivate your own offspring, so that they can have a higher starting point.
After leaving the Yuen Long Science and Technology Industrial Park, Xia Yu seized the time to devote himself to the organisational and physical construction of the consortium.
January 19, 1984.
This was destined to be a day that would be remembered in history.
That morning, twenty-two big shots in the business world, including Xia Yu, gathered in a luxurious villa newly opened by Xia Yu.
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