deltrittennovels Chapter 389 Ribbon-cutting Ceremony for the New Factory in Longgang
Chapter 389 Ribbon-cutting Ceremony for the New Factory in Longgang
At 9:00 a.m. on June 5, Lingyun arrived at the new factory in Longgang District, Shenzhen.
When Lingyun got out of the car, a line of people was already standing at the factory gate. Although it was only June, the weather in Shenzhen was already very hot, and it felt like the heat was rising from the ground.
He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his forearms. Zhao Hu got out of the passenger seat, carrying a black briefcase, and stood beside him.
Ma Baoguo stood at the front, wearing a dark blue work uniform, the collar buttoned up tightly, his forehead covered in sweat. Behind him stood a dozen or so people, including factory managers, supplier representatives, and several men in suits, whose affiliations were unclear. A red banner hung at the entrance, proclaiming "Xinghuo Electronics Factory Shenzhen New Plant Launch Ceremony."
Ling Yun strode over, and Ma Baoguo hurriedly came forward, extending his hand to shake Ling Yun's. Ma Baoguo wiped the sweat from his forehead, "President Ling, are you hot? It's cooler inside, let's talk inside." Ling Yun nodded.
Ma Baoguo stepped aside to let a man behind him pass. The man was around fifty years old, tall and thin, wearing a light gray jacket, and his hair was neatly combed. "President Ling, this is Deputy District Chief Zhang from Longgang District. He's here today for the ribbon-cutting ceremony."
Deputy District Head Zhang extended his hand, and Ling Yun shook it. Deputy District Head Zhang said, "Mr. Ling, welcome to Longgang. Xinghuo Electronics Factory is a key enterprise in our district, and the district attaches great importance to it. If you encounter any difficulties in the future, please come directly to me."
Ling Yun was flattered and said, "Thank you, District Chief Zhang. It's so hot, and you're still troubling me. I'm truly humbled." Deputy District Chief Zhang smiled and said, "Just call me Lao Zhang. Your Xinghuo Group has invested so much to build a factory in Longgang. It's a sign of your trust in us. We should do our best to provide you with good service and relieve your worries so you can focus on running your business."
The three chatted as they walked, quickly reaching the factory gate, where several large red flowers tied with red ribbons hung. A staff member handed them scissors with red handles, also tied with red ribbons. The three stood in front of the banner, and the people behind them automatically made way. Someone shouted, "One, two, three," and the scissors slashed, cutting the red ribbon. Applause erupted, and someone took photos, the flash going off twice. Ling Yun handed the scissors to someone nearby, stepped back, and let Deputy District Chief Zhang go first. Deputy District Chief Zhang waved his hand, saying, "President Ling, please go first."
The factory area is very large, covering more than 500 acres. To the left are three newly built factory buildings with gray exterior walls and large, clean windows. To the right is a five-story office building with a glass curtain wall. In the middle is a wide cement road, lined with palm trees. The trees are not large and were recently moved there; their leaves are still a little wilted.
Walking to Lingyun's right, Ma Baoguo pointed to the factory buildings on the left and said, "Factory No. 1 is the keyboard production line, No. 2 is the mouse production line, and No. 3 is the complete machine assembly line. Each line operates on two shifts, eight hours per shift, and can produce 10,000 sets of keyboards and mice and 5,000 complete machines a day. In Jinan, they produce 8,000 sets of keyboards and mice and 3,000 complete machines a day, more than doubling the production capacity."
Lingyun asked him, "Where are the workers? Have you hired enough?"
Ma Baoguo said, "There are 2,200 people, recruited locally, mostly from Longgang and Bao'an districts. They underwent a month of training and just started working last month. There are many young people, and they are quick, but they lack experience. We brought over 30 experienced workers from Jinan to train them, and they can be trained in two or three months."
Ling Yun nodded and continued walking. Reaching the entrance of Factory Building No. 1, Ma Baoguo pushed open the door, and a blast of cold air hit him. The factory was air-conditioned, set very low, just over twenty degrees Celsius, about ten degrees different from the outside. The workers, dressed in uniform light blue overalls and hats, sat on either side of the assembly line, heads down, working. The conveyor belt moved slowly, transporting keyboard motherboards from one end to the other.
Lingyun stood in front of the production line and watched for a while. A female worker was assembling keycaps, holding one in her left hand and pressing it down with her right—click, done. Next one, click. And the next one, click. Her movements were so fast that her fingers were barely visible. On her desk was a plastic basket filled with keycaps of various colors—black, white, and gray.
Ma Baoguo, standing nearby, said, "This cable is specifically for Alienware keyboards. The keycaps are made of PBT material, which is wear-resistant and doesn't get oily. The switches are our own developed Spark switches, which feel similar to Cherry MX switches but have a longer lifespan. Alienware has high standards; each keyboard is tested three times. The first test is after assembly, the second is after aging, and the third is before packaging. The yield rate is controlled at over 98%, and any that fail are disassembled and scrapped."
Ling Yun asked him, "What's the scrap rate?"
Ma Baoguo said, "It's about 0.5%. The main issues are scratched keycaps, unresponsive switches, and short circuits on the PCB. Most of the problems are with the incoming materials; we have fewer issues with our own components."
Ling Yun nodded, turned around, and walked towards Factory Building No. 2. Factory Building No. 2 was the mouse production line, with a layout similar to Factory No. 1, but the machines were smaller and the conveyor belts narrower. Workers sat at their workstations, holding mouse casings and installing motherboards, scroll wheels, and microswitches. Their movements were rapid, one after another. Ling Yun stood behind a female worker, watching her install a microswitch. Left hand holding the switch, right hand holding the soldering iron, she touched it once, and it was soldered. She touched it again, and it was soldered again. Her movements were practiced, the solder joints perfectly round and shiny.
Ma Baoguo, standing nearby, said, "For mice, we're mainly focusing on optical mice right now. We're also making mechanical ones, but in smaller quantities. Optical mice have high precision, don't drop frames, and users like them. Alienware uses our optical mice, which have 800 DPI. Starlight uses 400 DPI mice, which are cheaper. The microswitches are from Omron, with a lifespan of ten million clicks. We're also developing our own microswitches, but they're not mature yet, so we're using imported ones for now."
Lingyun asked him, "What about the sensors? Whose are they?"
Ma Baoguo said, "Avago's sensors are imported; there aren't any usable ones domestically for the time being. We're collaborating with a company in Suzhou. They've been making sensors for several years, and they've produced samples, but the performance is slightly lacking. We've invested in them and given them another six months for R&D, so they should be able to catch up, and then we'll have complete control over them."
Ling Yun nodded and continued walking. Factory number three was the complete machine assembly line, larger than the previous two. The production line stretched as far as the eye could see, arranged in two rows. Workers installed motherboards into cases, connected power supplies, inserted memory, plugged in hard drives, and tightened the screws. One machine after another, like an assembly line. The testing area was at the end of the production line, with dozens of monitors lined up, running test programs on their screens, green progress bars moving step by step. When it reached the end, a "ding" sounded, indicating it had passed. The worker took the computer down, placed it on a shelf beside it, and moved on to the next one.
Ling Yun stood in front of the shelf and picked up a computer. The silver-gray case was smaller than a typical desktop. The front panel had a Spark logo—a bright, silver five-pointed star. He opened the side panel and looked inside. The motherboard was Spark's own design, a green PCB board covered with capacitors, resistors, and chips. The CPU was AMD, the memory was Hynix, and the hard drive was Western Digital. All were imported. He closed the side panel and put the computer back. He asked Ma Baoguo, "What is the domestic content rate of the components in this machine?"
Ma Baoguo said, "About 30%. The case, power supply, motherboard, keyboard, and mouse are domestically made. The CPU, memory, hard drive, and graphics card are imported. The CPU is from AMD, and AMD has a cooperative relationship with us, so they give us a price lower than the market price. The memory and hard drive are from Japan and South Korea; there are no compatible ones in China. The graphics card is also imported from Taiwan. We don't make graphics cards ourselves; it's too complicated, so we'll put that aside for now."
Ling Yun didn't speak. He turned around and looked at the production line. He stood there for a while, then walked out. Ma Baoguo followed behind and asked, "President Ling, will you be having lunch at the factory? The canteen has added some dishes today."
Lingyun said, "No, I have to go to Dongguan this afternoon to check out the supply chain there."