172: See you at the Water Cube in Beijing!

What the hell kind of rest is going to the factory?

But since the boss had spoken, Yang Tuo could only reply, "Alright."

That afternoon, the two drove to the factory located in Langcheng. This Foxconn factory was currently Red Star's main OEM, and arguably, 90% of the orders processed there belonged to Red Star.

Yang Tuo recalled when he first arrived at Red Star, he had negotiated with the factory over production capacity issues, and the person in charge had stubbornly insisted that capacity must be reserved for the Apple phone, and Red Star would have to wait in line.

And now?

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Red Star was Foxconn's second-largest client, second only to Fruit.

This factory now served Red Star exclusively.

Both the Red Star roc mobile phone and the k series were developed in this factory.

Red Star's own factory had already started construction at the beginning of this year. The land approved by the government for Red Star was in Yizhuang, and the automated production workshop was expected to cover an area of 52,000 square meters.

Furthermore, in Chen Chen's plan, it was not just an automated factory, but also Red Star's R&D laboratory.

It would be responsible for the research and development of Red Star's new processes, new materials, and new technologies.

The internal design of the factory adopted fully automated production lines, essentially eliminating the need for manual labor.

This was a completely different concept from labor-intensive factories.

Otherwise, the Capital government would not have approved the land for Red Star so readily.

If you tried to build a simple mobile phone OEM factory in the Capital, the government wouldn't pay attention to you—they'd tell you to go play somewhere else.

After the first phase of the factory project becomes operational, it will be able to provide Red Star with an annual production capacity exceeding ten million units.

This wasn't capacity for low-end phones; this was entirely capacity for high-end phones.

If the shining series, which cost only a few hundred yuan, used this kind of fully automated production line, it would be better to just let the OEM factories handle the processing.

The profit would not be proportional to the expenditure; manual labor would still be more cost-effective.

"General Manager Yang, this year will be the boom of short videos."

"We must prepare to welcome the era of short videos over the next two years," Chen Chen told Yang Tuo in the car on the way to Langcheng.

"The short video boom? You mean videos that are only a few dozen seconds long?"

"Exactly. The ByteDance company we invested in will launch several short video applications before the end of the year. Red Star must prepare to establish a presence immediately."

"We need to build Red Star's influence on these short video applications."

Zhang Yiming's ByteDance had several short video applications undergoing final preparation and debugging, expected to launch in November or December, and several would launch simultaneously.

Apps like Pipi Shrimp, Neihan Duanzi, and Dousheng would all be launched at the same time.

This is a strategy adopted by many large companies: launching several identical applications into the market, letting them compete fiercely, and the one that ultimately survives is the Gu King.

The most successful company in this regard is Tencent Company, the most classic example being the two identical games, pubg and Peace Elite.

"I don't know which of the applications ByteDance is launching will have the last laugh, but I think it will be Dousheng."

"You need to pay close attention to this area."

"It would be best to establish one or more internal teams specifically responsible for short video marketing."

Listening to Chen Chen, Yang Tuo was deep in thought. So far, General Manager Chen's strategies had never failed.

Since General Manager Chen said the short video era was coming, he absolutely had to take it seriously.

"Understood, General Manager Chen. I will immediately set up two specialized teams when I get back."

At 2:30 PM, Chen Chen and Yang Tuo arrived at the factory in Langcheng, where workers were already beginning to assemble the Full-Screen Display mobile phones.

Accompanied by Qin Jing, the factory head, and the production manager, Chen Chen toured the various production lines of the factory.

"Who is that person General Manager Qin and Manager Zhang are accompanying? He looks so young."

"Keep your voice down. That's Chen Chen, the boss of Red Star, our biggest client."

"That young? I use a Red Star phone myself, but I never paid attention to their boss. I didn't expect him to be so young."

"You clearly haven't been paying attention to Red Star. There's even a photo of him and General Manager Chen hanging in the General Manager's office."

"Young, handsome, and rich, managing such a large company—he's truly the domineering CEO of my dreams."

"Are you daydreaming? Stop dreaming. The story of Cinderella and the domineering CEO only exists in novels."

"Hmph, it's just because he was born into a good family. His dad built the company up so big, and he just walked right into it."

"Why didn't you bribe Lady Meng when you were reincarnating so you could also be born into a good family?"

Workers in the workshop quietly discussed among themselves as they watched their boss and Manager Zhang accompany the young man on the tour through the glass.

"Manager Zhang, how many units can the current production line assemble in a day?" Chen Chen asked. Since he was touring the Full-Screen Display phone production line, he was naturally asking about that specific phone.

"The current output is over 6,000 units per day," Manager Zhang replied.

"Over 6,000 units?" Chen Chen frowned upon hearing that number.

The launch was still more than a month away. Calculating based on 40 days, did that mean the factory could only produce a maximum of 240,000 units by the end of the launch event?

However, realizing that the production line was not yet running at full capacity, he continued to ask, "How many can be produced when capacity is fully utilized?"

Manager Zhang calculated quickly, "With full capacity utilization and workers putting in extra overtime, the daily output would be over 17,000 units."

"17,000 units?"

Seeing Chen Chen's displeasure, Manager Zhang quickly explained: "General Manager Chen, the main constraint on production capacity is the sintering of the middle frame and the back cover."

"The inability to keep up with production in this area means our overall capacity cannot meet the demand."

Chen Chen nodded. He was aware of the technical difficulty involved in this process.

Even a minor issue could lead to the scrapping of an entire batch of middle frames and back covers.

"Is there no way to increase the output in this area?"

At this point, General Manager Qin Jing, the factory head, spoke up: "General Manager Chen, we are currently communicating with Red Star's Engineer to find ways to improve the process."

"We are trying our best to increase the yield rate, and we are confident that this will not affect your company's plans."

General Manager Qin now showed none of the arrogance he had displayed years ago, remaining behind Chen Chen throughout the entire tour.

Chen Chen also knew that the Microcrystalline Nano Zirconia Ceramic Technology was a completely new process, and the factory would require some time to improve its technical level for mass production.

There was no rushing it.

When Xiaomi made the Mix back then, the Microcrystalline Ceramic Technology limited their capacity, and for several months after the launch, the phone was constantly sold out.

"General Manager Yang, our Microcrystalline Nano Zirconia Ceramic is an excellent marketing point, so make sure the promotion is done well."

Turning around, Chen Chen said to Yang Tuo.

"General Manager Chen, I understand. The promotional video for this technology is already being filmed."

Snatching Yang Tuo away from Huawei really was a brilliant move.

When it came to marketing strategies, he couldn't compare himself to Lei Jun, or even Yu Chengbei; they were all masters of small tricks. Brand marketing required a professional like Yang Tuo to handle it effectively.

After returning to the company, Chen Chen posted a Weibo update, accompanied by a few photos taken at the factory today.

[The production of the new model is going smoothly. August 25th, we meet at the Capital Water Cube. Be there or be square.]