socalfunplaces Page 702
Page 702
Inside the warehouse, dozens of brand-new lathes were neatly arranged.
At this point, Milo Moreno once again displayed his eloquence, speaking fluently and persuasively to He Yuzhu about the development history of these lathes and their respective characteristics and advantages.
According to him, all the old-fashioned lathes that He Yuzhu used to produce were classified as mechanical lathes.
In an era before electronic devices were widespread, all production processes relied entirely on manual operation.
The first generation of CNC lathes was born in 1952, and the components used at that time were all vacuum tubes!
He Yuzhu was actually quite familiar with vacuum tubes, because even the radios he listened to regularly used vacuum tube components.
In 1959, with the production of transistors, transistors and printed circuit boards began to be widely used in some CNC systems, and thus the second generation of CNC lathes came into being.
After explaining this background information to He Yuzhu in detail, Milo Moreno pointed to a cabinet next to the lathe and said:
"Look, this is the CNC center of the lathe."
Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu couldn't help but ask curiously:
"So how exactly should we use it to produce parts?"
Milo Moreno calmly replied:
"First of all, we need to make a perforated paper tape."
He Yuzhu was stunned when he heard this. Although he understood what each of the four words meant on its own, he was completely baffled when they were put together. He had no idea what this thing was.
Milo Moreno gently pressed the button, and the control panel of the CNC center slowly popped open. He carefully pointed to the roll of paper inside, his eyes gleaming with confidence and professionalism, and said:
"Look here, this paper roll is quite something! It has countless tiny holes arranged in different combinations. These holes aren't just randomly punched; they each represent a different meaning. You can use these holes to precisely control the movement of the lathe's cutting tools, thereby achieving the processing effect we want."
Standing to the side, He Yuzhu stared intently at the scroll of paper, his brows furrowed, as if trying to understand its mysteries.
After some thought, he finally nodded in realization, indicating that he had roughly figured it out.
It turns out that if you want to produce a part using a CNC lathe, you first need to carefully write a complete program according to specific rules.
At that time, the technology was still quite primitive. There were no advanced storage devices like hard drives, floppy disks, or flash memory. So, all the key information could only be recorded using this old but practical perforated paper tape, and the lathe would obediently follow the instructions transmitted through the holes in the paper tape to execute the corresponding operating steps.
The existence of such amazing CNC lathes is a real boon for manufacturers!
They no longer need to spend a lot of time and energy training highly skilled and experienced senior lathe operators. They can easily operate these high-tech machines to complete complex machining operations simply by recruiting ordinary workers with relatively lower skill levels.
However, every advantage has its disadvantages. Although CNC lathes bring many conveniences, there is also a rather troublesome little problem. Whenever a new type of part with different specifications is needed, a completely new program must be written and made into a special punched paper tape before it can be put into use.
Moreover, this job requires a deep understanding of mechanical principles and excellent programming skills!
Thinking of this, He Yuzhu couldn't help but ask curiously:
"For some common universal connectors, do you have the corresponding perforated paper tape prepared in advance?"
"Of course! Not only that, we can also provide professional training services, including how to teach workers to operate these machines skillfully, and even relatively complex processes like making perforated paper tape, we can teach you clearly!"
After hearing this, He Yuzhu couldn't help but ask curiously:
"So, may I ask, are these lathes products that you distribute, or does your company have its own independent production plant?"
The other party smiled slightly and replied:
"To be honest, my family runs a fairly large lathe manufacturing company in faraway Los Angeles! The parts used in these lathes and CNC machine tools are all carefully produced in our own factory and then undergo a strict assembly process before they are released to the market."
Upon hearing this, He Yuzhu's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked:
"So, are these crucial transistor components also made by yourselves? You know, these things are quite rare!"
In fact, He Yuzhu had long coveted the technology to produce transistors, but unfortunately he had never been able to achieve his goal.
In the current market environment, very few manufacturers possess such production capabilities, and He Yuzhu himself lacks sufficient channels and resources to contact and cooperate with them. However, to his utter surprise, Mr. Milo Moreno, who had proactively approached him to promote his products, revealed such crucial information—the company behind Moreno Trading Company actually possessed advanced transistor manufacturing technology!
Unable to contain his excitement, He Yuzhu quickly said:
"In principle, if all the conditions are right, I would be interested in ordering a batch of these lathes. Why don't we sit down and discuss the details?"
Seeing this, Milo Moreno was naturally overjoyed and readily agreed:
"That's great! We have all kinds of lathes of different models and specifications here, and some of them aren't even on display yet. But no problem, we have a detailed and accurate product catalog for your reference."
The three of them slowly walked into the office. He Yuzhu's eyes were sharp as he quickly scanned the various lathes neatly arranged in the room.
He walked to each lathe, sometimes stopping to examine its appearance carefully; sometimes reaching out to gently touch it, feeling the texture of the metal surface.
After careful selection, he finally chose twenty lathes and nodded in satisfaction.
Then, He Yuzhu raised his head, looked firmly at the person opposite him, and said:
"I need a total of one hundred lathes like these, but I've only selected these twenty so far. So I'd like to ask if your company could accept our services to manufacture the remaining eighty?"
In fact, He Yuzhu knew very well that it was almost impossible to get the other party to transfer the transistor production technology easily, since they had only just met and lacked sufficient understanding and trust between them.
When He Yuzhu mentioned the word "OEM," Milo Moreno looked surprised and asked in confusion:
"OEM? What does that mean?"
He Yuzhu smiled slightly and patiently explained:
"You might want to compare the wage levels of workers in Los Angeles and Hong Kong. It's not hard to see that labor costs here are much lower than in Los Angeles!"
Milo Moreno nodded thoughtfully and responded with deep feeling:
“That’s true! In Los Angeles, the average weekly wage for workers is around $500, but here it’s only about HK$200 a month. However… I still don’t quite understand what you mean by ‘outsourcing’?”
He Yuzhu smiled and continued to explain:
"The so-called OEM manufacturing is actually quite simple. We have the capability to produce ordinary machine tools. If we add key components such as transistors provided by you, we can manufacture high-quality CNC machine tools for you according to your requirements!"
Milo Moreno's eyes widened, his mouth slightly agape, as if frozen in place. He remained stunned for a long moment before finally regaining his composure and stammering:
"You...you mean you're going to take charge of our production?"
The other person smiled and nodded, answering affirmatively:
"That's right, exactly. This way, you can enjoy the huge advantage of lower production costs! Not only that, you'll no longer have to deal with those troublesome unions. We'll produce the products for your company, and you can focus on research and development and sales. How about that, isn't it great?"
Upon hearing this, Milo Moreno's face showed disbelief, and he muttered to himself:
"There's actually such a way to operate?"
At this point, He Yuzhu began to explain in detail the various specific benefits of the OEM model.
From improving efficiency to reducing risks, and saving manpower and resources, it covers all aspects and leaves no room for criticism.
More importantly, these benefits are all real advantages, and there are no obvious flaws or shortcomings.
Milo Moreno became increasingly excited as he listened, and his mind quickly began to make plans.
Before long, he was pleasantly surprised to find that if he adopted this OEM model, he could save tens of thousands of dollars a year just on employee salaries!
This is not just a matter of increasing profits; it represents a huge difference in wage levels between the United States and Hong Kong! Thinking of this, Milo Moreno couldn't help but beam with joy, dancing with excitement.
He rushed to the cabinet, eagerly opened the door, and took out a bottle of top-quality red wine that he had treasured for a long time.
Then, with practiced ease, he pulled out the cork and slowly poured the ruby-red wine into three crystal-clear stemmed glasses.
Finally, he picked up a glass of red wine in each hand, raised them high, and said loudly with a broad smile:
"Come on, let's toast to this brilliant, flawless idea!"
Huang Zhiru, who was standing to the side, was already dumbfounded. She never expected that her seemingly ordinary boss would come up with such an ingenious idea.
At that moment, looking at her boss's triumphant appearance, she sighed inwardly:
"My boss is an absolute business genius! How come I've never heard of such a magical business strategy as 'OEM' before?"
They all build their own factories, produce their products, and then sell them to various places.
The boss actually came up with the idea of contract manufacturing, using Hong Kong's cheap local labor force to produce goods and earn a small processing fee.
They don't care about raw materials, technology, or the market; they only focus on production.
Milo Moreno chatted with He Yuzhu for a long time, discussing many specific details, and then suddenly remembered to ask:
"But how can you guarantee that the technology won't be spread?"
Chapter 492 Innovation Based on OEM Manufacturing
"Didn't you tell me before that there are more than 10 manufacturers in the whole of America, and the machine tools they produce are almost all the same type? So, does that mean these manufacturers really don't have this technology?"
Milo Moreno slapped his forehead, then laughed as if suddenly realizing something, and said:
"Oh dear, look at my brain, I'm so confused! Actually, this technology isn't anything unique or exclusive high-end technology."
Currently, there are countless manufacturers producing CNC lathes.
Although each company has its own unique characteristics and strengths, they do not necessarily have a significant competitive advantage when compared with their peers.
Thinking about it this way, passing on this technology to He Yuzhu doesn't seem like such a groundbreaking event.
However, the necessary procedures still need to be followed, so when signing the contract, it is essential to specify one point: He Yuzhu is absolutely prohibited from transferring this technology to any third party without authorization.
Immediately afterwards, Milo Moreno made the request without hesitation.
He Yuzhu, without hesitation, readily agreed and confidently stated:
"Of course there's no problem! We have to follow the rules when we're doing business."
At that moment, he was making his own plans. As long as he could successfully obtain the technology, he could then hand it over to that high-ranking leader.