In the conference room, all major engineers reported on their research and development progress.
At this time, Ye Chen discovered that hundreds of engineers were divided into several groups, each working on different projects. Some were developing sound quality, some were developing storage, some were working on stability, some were working on batteries, and so on.
Although it seems that most of the funds have been invested, in fact after the funds are evenly divided, each group's funds are somewhat stretched.
Money is not an issue. The problem is that after so many engineers have divided the work, each group's R&D projects have made slow progress, so much so that they have produced basically nothing useful in two months.
In terms of finance, in the past two months, not to mention wages, 14 million has been invested in the research and development of instruments alone!
Of course, these can be recycled, which is understandable, but the one-time consumables also cost more than 5.2 million!
Adding in wages, bonuses, subsidies, etc., the 30 million given to the R&D department in the first quarter only left less than 10 million!
Ye Chen looked at the report and shook his head, rejecting this working method of division of labor and cooperation.
Division of labor and cooperation are only suitable for large enterprises with strong strength and solid foundation. With more people and more money, only the stable progress of each project can be ensured.
But Brilliance Electronics obviously does not belong to this kind of company.
"Mr. Ye, this is our entire research and development progress. There is no problem in catching up with domestic first-class manufacturers, but the technical gap with Toyo brands is too big. From a scientific point of view, I have no confidence."
Xu Zhiyuan said with some embarrassment. He also saw the dissatisfaction on Ye Chen's face.
Ye Chen put down the document in his hand and was not surprised.
After all, science is science, and there are no shortcuts. It is strange that you can surpass the results achieved by others with ten times the funds, ten times the R&D personnel, and ten times the knowledge in a short time.
So it was normal for Xu Zhiyuan to say he had no confidence. If he promised to complete the task, then Ye Chen would have to consider whether he should change to a chief engineer.
It’s okay to inject chicken blood, but it’s not okay to inject a few random shots!
Ye Chen raised his head, looked at everyone and said, "Although I appreciate everyone's hard work and the difficulty of research and development, to be honest, I am very dissatisfied with your work."
"Or to put it another way, the current situation of the company is severe, and your achievements are not enough for the company to launch the next round of market attack."
"Our main goal in the next round is to benchmark against Japanese brands, at least to be on an equal footing with them in the Chinese market!"
"Mr. Ye, in a short time we may..."
"I know."
Ye Chen interrupted, "It is impossible to completely surpass any Toyo brand in terms of product strength, so we can choose to overtake in a corner."
“On the market, Japanese brands also compete with each other, but whose Walkman is the best?
I don’t know, they all have their own characteristics.”
"So, there is no best product, only products with characteristics. Products with characteristics are good products, especially when your characteristics are very long!"
After Ye Chen finished speaking, the people below looked confused, obviously not understanding what he meant.
But Xu Zhiyuan understood something, and asked: "Mr. Ye, what do you mean, focus on development?"
"right!"
Ye Chen took over the words, "As I just said, you can attract attention only when your specialties are particularly long. Giving up on research and development will not work. All-round development will be disadvantageous. Therefore, we must find out what customers need most and focus on it.
Power, precise breakthrough!"
"client needs?"
Xu Zhiyuan had some difficulties. He was engaged in research and didn't really know much about market matters.
“What is Sony’s best product right now?”
Ye Chen suddenly asked.
"d250."
Xu Zhiyuan said, taking out a black Walkman, "This is their best-selling Walkman. For the first time, it is equipped with DBB technology, which is dynamic bass, which can make some music more powerful.
At the same time, it is also equipped with a second-generation chewing gum battery, and the battery life has been increased from two hours in the first generation to three hours.”
“Gum batteries?
Or chewing gum?”
Ye Chen was stunned for a moment, and an idea suddenly came to his mind.
In the 1990s, Sony's Walkman developed at a very rapid pace. New products were released basically every quarter, and epoch-making technologies appeared every year.
Especially in terms of battery life, we were the first to develop and use ni-cd nickel-cadmium batteries (gum batteries) in 1985, and in 1990 we developed nickel-metal hydride batteries, which are also known as AA batteries.
Among them, the most impactful one on the market is the AA battery, which directly increases Sony’s maximum battery life from 3 hours to 8 hours!
This qualitative leap allowed Sony's Walkman sales to soar after 1990, and it made so much money that it had the funds to research and develop lithium batteries, so it soared and became a big brother in the industry.
It can be seen that for a Walkman, battery life is the top priority!
"Battery life!"
Ye Chen blurted out.
"What?"
"I said battery life!"
Ye Chen slapped the table, "From today on, except for battery life-related projects, everything else will stop. Note, I said everything!"
"Invest all funds and personnel into battery research and development. The chewing gum batteries currently used by Sony are ni-cd nickel-cadmium batteries. I ask you to develop nickel-metal hydride batteries at full speed that can be recharged and recycled and have a larger capacity."
"The battery is about the size of a thumb, cylindrical, with dimensions of 14mm in diameter and 50mm in height."
"Mr. Ye...this..." Xu Zhiyuan wanted to say something.
"Don't do this or that, I have the final say, just nickel-metal hydride batteries!"
Ye Chen did not estimate Xu Zhiyuan's thoughts, but continued.
"In the past, I mainly managed the market and didn't care much about R&D. Some people started to play with my dreams and ideals here with high wages, and made some unrealistic things. To put it bluntly, they were just working hard!"
"Put away the mask on your forehead, tighten your nerves, and the head of the department will act like a leader!"
"In addition, the management of the R&D team also needs to be changed. It must be divided into multiple R&D teams internally, and a technological breakthrough must be handed over to multiple teams!"
"Whoever succeeds will be the big brother. Whoever does well will get more money. As for those who fail or fail to do well, just pack up and leave!"
After Ye Chen finished speaking, the bird below was silent.
In the past two months, everyone has become accustomed to receiving high wages, high benefits, and doing what they like.
But Ye Chen immediately set a direction for everyone, and also forcibly increased the competitive pressure on the team!
There are only so many battery technologies. If a team succeeds, it means that many losers will be fired. This level of competition is too cruel!