19: Chapter 19 Problem Solving, Self-Developed System

Meanwhile, Huang Tianya's progress was also very smooth.

In less than a day, three qualified battery factories had been shortlisted, and they were all in Yangcheng.

One was a Hong Kong-funded enterprise whose owner wanted to retire, another was a Taiwan-funded enterprise whose headquarters' capital chain had broken, forcing a sale. The last was a local enterprise with decent technology but chaotic management, suffering consecutive years of losses... and some debt.

Just as he was conducting a detailed investigation, he received a call from Shen Fei.

"Tianya, how is the project progressing?"

"Three have been shortlisted, and I am preparing to inspect them."

"Time is tight. Which one can we take over the fastest?"

"The local one, Xin-Neng Battery. The equipment was purchased three years ago and can produce mainstream batteries. The maximum monthly capacity is 2 million units, with some room for expansion. With good management, reaching 2.2 million is completely feasible.

But the current problem is that it has a debt of over 8 million, the workers haven't been paid for over three months, and suppliers are blocking the gates every day..."

There was a brief silence on the other end before instructions came through again: "Go with this one. Tianya, try to sign the acquisition agreement today. We can accept some debt, but negotiate the price well, move fast, and there is one condition: production must resume within three days.

Within one week, complete the production line upgrade to achieve standardized production."

"Three days? That's a bit tight..." Huang Tianya was a little shocked.

"Throw money at it." Shen Fei once again used his money superpower.

"Raise the workers' wages by fifty percent, double the engineers' salaries, and clear out all the original management.

Tell them that as long as they can complete the task on time, all unpaid wages will be settled in one lump sum, and everyone will receive an additional bonus of 2,000 yuan."

"Understood."

Huang Tianya immediately left the Huaxin Investment office and headed to Xin-Neng Battery.

On the other side, at Transsion's headquarters, Shen Fei also summoned the High-density battery team rewarded by the system. The technical leader was Wang Mengyang.

"Professor Wang, once Tianya completes the acquisition over there, immediately take the technical team to assist with the production line modification.

Focus on solving the 1600mAh battery. If that's temporarily unfeasible, we can also make a 1400mAh alternative first to solve the problem as quickly as possible."

"Mr. Shen, these are all minor issues. No alternative is needed; I can definitely get the solution ready for you within three days. Do you want an even more advanced 2000mAh?"

"That's great." A smile finally appeared on Shen Fei's tense face. "Yes, we can use it on the upgraded model.

In addition, start the High-density battery project from today. Get this ultimate weapon out as soon as possible and push the battery capacity to over 3000mAh."

"Mr. Shen, that's not a big issue either; these are all mature solutions.

We are currently experimenting with new semi-solid-state batteries. Once a breakthrough is made, the energy density will increase significantly, and by then, energy autonomy will return to our hands."

"Then speed it up. Recruit PhDs in materials science to form a professional team. There is no budget cap. Strive to make a breakthrough within five years."

"Yes."

...

Once everyone returned to the company, Shen Fei immediately called an emergency meeting.

In the meeting room, Transsion's management team had already undergone a complete overhaul. They were all young progressives in their thirties, with some department heads even replaced by young people like Li Qing.

However, every one of them looked quite solemn; having just experienced the joy of financing, they were now facing a supply chain crisis.

"Everyone is clear on the situation," Shen Fei laid the issue directly on the table. "So next, we must walk on two legs.

This time, we have Mr. Huang to thank for helping us solve the immediate supply issue, but I don't want to see this kind of problem happen a second time.

People invest in Transsion to make money, not because they like wiping our asses. Liu Fang, your supply chain security department will receive a major demerit this time. Do you know where the problem lies?"

Liu Fang immediately stood up and said apologetically, "Boss, our department has already reflected on this, and the issue is very clear.

Relationships are just relationships; they cannot compare to money. When doing business, we shouldn't rely on relationships.

We won't make this kind of small mistake again. From now on, no single component will rely on just one supplier."

"Good. Our future layout must also be long-term.

The acquisition of Xin-Neng Battery has been completed today, and the relevant teams have been taken over and have begun expanding production.

I've set a goal for them to supply 400,000 units within a week, and the monthly capacity will gradually increase to around one million units. All departments must coordinate well."

The production director nodded and immediately checked the relevant parts. Although the battery supply was cut off, it would only start next month; this month's goods had already been delivered.

However, there might still be inventory tightness in the short term. Fortunately, the marketing channels in Africa were under their own control...

Transsion's pace wasn't too aggressive either; they were only expanding into a few countries at the same time.

"Engineer Chen, besides the new Feature phone models, the Smartphone project must also be accelerated. You can cooperate with Liu Zhihong on this."

Shen Fei looked at the newly appointed VP of Software. This was a former Nokia OS deputy he had headhunted. Because of the existence of the Symbian project team, he, as the head who advocated joining the Android Alliance, had received no attention at all.

Furthermore, due to the impact of the financial crisis, their entire team had been laid off.

Nokia would only retain the Symbian system in the future, using it to compete against iOS and Android.

Without Nokia's participation, the Android Alliance was nothing but a joke. These weaklings banding together wouldn't pose any threat to the Symbian system.

Shen Fei knew what would become the mainstream in the future, so he had Huang Tianya package them up and bring them back. However, his target was not Android...

"Mr. Liu, how is the progress on the Smartphone system?"

Liu Zhihong put the report in his hand aside: "Boss, currently, everyone on our team who was willing to come has arrived. The project team now has 35 people in total.

Regarding your suggestion of developing a new system from scratch, I believe... it's not advisable. Transsion's scale is still too small, and no one would adapt system software for us.

I think we can do deep customization based on Android 1.5, focusing on optimizing smoothness in low-memory environments.

However, Mr. Shen, the Qualcomm chips needed to make Smartphones... are very difficult to obtain right now."

In 2008, Qualcomm almost monopolized the Smartphone chip market. Although Fage had corresponding solutions, the performance was still mediocre, and the optimization was very poor...

Qualcomm was still the best choice. For a new player like Transsion, trying to get supply qualification for the latest chips was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But the new Transsion was different. Shen Fei had the black tech enhancement center rewarded by the system, which was enough to make MediaTek's chips rival Qualcomm's.

There was no need to worry about adaptation either. For African customers, having a Smartphone was already enough; wanting a good system on top of that... how could there be such a good deal?

"Let's use MediaTek's solution first. Although the performance is average, the integration is high enough and the cost is low enough, which is sufficient for us to gain a foothold. Once we have sales volume, we can go negotiate with Qualcomm."

"Understood."

Before the meeting ended, Shen Fei said in conclusion, "Everyone, this battery incident is a lesson.

If Transsion wants to become a true tech enterprise, we cannot let our lifeblood be controlled by others. From batteries to chips, from screens to memory, and most importantly, the operating system, we must build our own supply chain system piece by piece."

"This process will be very difficult and very expensive, but only in this way can Transsion survive the next round of competition."

After the meeting adjourned, Liu Zhihong was kept behind by Shen Fei alone. Right now, before the ecosystem had even expanded, it was the best opportunity to fight for the operating system market.

Even if they failed... with the African market, it was impossible for Transsion to fail. In this lifetime, the one that should fail was Android.