newbobooks Chapter 29 The Game with the Model Factory
Chapter 29 The Game with the Model Factory
Jinghai City, Chasing Light Studio.
It was eight o'clock in the morning, but the atmosphere was a bit tense.
"You're insane! Brother Nan, you're absolutely insane!"
Chen Bo stared wide-eyed at the newly printed list of materials, as if the paper contained not a list, but a death warrant.
"Zinc alloy frame, multi-layer metallic paint coating, independent sound and light circuit board, imported food-grade ABS granules... Brother Nan, do the math yourself! The hard cost alone is 54.3 yuan! And that doesn't even include labor assembly, warehousing and logistics, and losses! You're pricing it less than 5 yuan higher than the cost. What can you do with 5 yuan? Buy a bottle of Coke!"
Chen Bo felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
He was in charge of the money, and looking at the meager savings that had been painstakingly accumulated in the account, Gu Nan's actions seemed to him like throwing money into a fire.
"If we sell 100,000 units, the little money Bilibili just settled won't even cover our losses!"
Gu Nan was adjusting his collar in front of the mirror.
Faced with Chen Bo's roar, he didn't even raise an eyebrow, simply saying calmly, "Chen Bo, that's the calculation you're using as the client to find a large factory for OEM manufacturing. According to the normal process, you have to leave profits for the mold factory, injection molding factory, and assembly factory, and you also have to be skimmed off by the distributors. If you calculate it that way, the cost won't even be enough to cover 150."
"Then how else can we calculate it? Are we supposed to open our own factory?"
Chen Bo was completely bewildered.
"We don't have the capability to open our own factory yet, but we can 'pick up leftovers'."
Gu Nan's lips curled into a playful smile as he twirled the car keys between his fingers. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere. Today I'll teach you a lesson on what 'using four ounces to move a thousand pounds' means in business."
……
Half an hour later, the black sedan drove through the bustling city and into a desolate old industrial area.
Weeds grew rampant along the roadside, and the factory buildings were dilapidated. The car eventually stopped in front of a factory called "Hongda Precision Plastics Factory".
When Chen Bo got out of the car and took a look, his heart sank.
This is no factory.
It's practically a junkyard!
The factory gate was rusty, and the yard was piled with colorful plastic scraps, like mountains of garbage.
Only from the innermost workshop could one hear a few weak, feeble machine hums.
"Brother Nan, this lousy place wants to bid for our surrounding area? Have you been scammed by the real estate agent?"
Chen Bo looked disgusted.
"Don't let its dilapidated appearance fool you, this is a treasure trove." Gu Nan strode inside.
……
Factory Director's Office.
"I'm not doing it! Get out! Go back to where you came from!"
With a loud shout, Liu Hong, a man with a fierce face and wearing oil-stained work clothes, slammed the blueprints to the ground.
He was a seasoned veteran who had been in the industry for twenty years, and right now he was so annoyed he wanted to kill someone.
"Fifty-nine yuan? And you want zinc alloy? And two-color injection molding? Are you out of your mind?! Do you know what the price of zinc ingots is now? Do you know how much it costs to make a two-color mold?"
Liu Hong pointed at Gu Nan's nose, spitting as he spoke: "You bunch of college students, do you think people who run businesses are idiots? That's charity! Get lost, I'm annoyed right now!"
Liu Hong is indeed annoying.
Bank loans are due next week, workers' wages are two months behind, and competitors are still aggressively driving down prices.
He's got a temper right now, he could explode at the slightest provocation.
Chen Bo shrank back in fright. He was about to pick up the blueprints and say a few words to appease them when Gu Nan stopped him.
Gu Nanbu was not angry. Instead, he calmly bent down to pick up the blueprints and dusted them off.
Then, he sat down directly on the tattered sofa opposite Liu Hong, his posture commanding, his gaze deep and resolute.
"Director Liu, excessive anger is bad for your liver."
Gu Nan's voice wasn't loud, but it inexplicably had a convincing quality.
"Since I dared to come, I've naturally done the math for you. This deal will not only not be a loss for you, it will also save your life."
"Save my life?"
Liu Hong laughed in anger and lit another cigarette.
"If you can articulate this losing proposition in a compelling way, I'll call you 'Dad'!"
Gu Nan smiled slightly, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table: "I can't conjure money, but I can bring a batch of dead things to life."
Liu Hong abruptly stopped smoking: "What the hell?"
Gu Nan leaned forward slightly, instantly exuding a sense of oppression: "Factory Director Liu, you have five tons of goods sluggish in your warehouse number one, right? It's leftover deep space gray ABS granules from three years ago, left over from manufacturing for 'Hans Toys' in Germany. High grade, anti-oxidation, but because the color was too niche, nobody in China wanted it, and Hans went bankrupt. This batch of goods has been sitting in your hands for three years, right?"
Liu Hong's hand holding the cigarette trembled suddenly, and the ash fell onto his pants, burning a hole, but he was completely unaware.
His pupils suddenly contracted, and he stared at Gu Nan as if he'd seen a ghost. That was the biggest secret in his factory; how did this kid know it all?
Back then, in order to secure that big order from Germany, he mortgaged his house to finance the preparation of materials. However, the other party went bankrupt. This batch of top-quality materials was unwanted by domestic manufacturers of low-end toys because of its uncommon color, while manufacturers of high-end toys thought the quantity was too small. It just sat in the warehouse collecting dust and became a bad debt.
Gu Nan noticed Liu Hong's wariness, but he didn't pay it any mind or offer any further explanation.
Gu Nan certainly wouldn't say that he had searched his phone in his mind for information on the enterprise credit information disclosure system, the CEIC database platform, and the bidding and procurement platform, and then asked the AI after compiling the information...
Gu Nan continued to speak, each word like a nail driven into Liu Hong's Achilles' heel.
"If this batch of material is left for another six months, it will age and become brittle, and then it will be a pile of garbage."
Gu Nan's eyes shone brightly. "The main color of the Ultraman Tiga's Spark Lens requires this specially made Space Gray. I bought your inventory at scrap metal prices; you cleared out your stock, revitalized dead assets, and even made a profit from processing fees. Turning a dead end into a winning one—is this a worthwhile deal?"
A deathly silence fell over the office. Liu Hong's heavy breathing was clearly audible.
"Hmph, they might save on materials, but what about the craftsmanship?"
Liu Hong gritted his teeth and persisted, "Your drawings are too complicated. Sound and light synchronization, gradual breathing lights... My workers can only tighten screws, they can't solder delicate circuits. If the scrap rate is high, I'll still lose money!"
Gu Nan's smile deepened.
That's exactly what he was waiting for.
He took out a 3D-printed prototype from his bag and opened it with a "click" in front of Liu Hong.
"Who said you were allowed to weld?"
Gu Nan took out a small, sealed black box. "I had the circuit board custom-made by a professional factory in Shenzhen. It's made entirely with surface mount technology and has extremely high integration. Your workers don't need to know electronics; they just need to insert this black box into the slot, close the cover, and twist it."
"Furthermore, I've optimized all the internal structures of your old equipment. I've eliminated the easily damaged spring levers and replaced them with magnetic attraction and gravity sensing; I've also eliminated gear transmission. This 'foolproof' design means even an apprentice who's only been in the factory for three days can assemble it blindly, increasing efficiency by 40% and keeping the scrap rate to one in a thousand."
Liu Hong took a closer look and was completely stunned.
This structure... is absolutely ingenious!
It's a brilliant design created entirely for large-scale industrial mass production!
Of course he didn't know... that this thing was a direct copy of the structure by Gu Nan, who imitated the repair and disassembly video of a transformation device from a certain conglomerate B that he had searched on his phone.
If you were to design something from scratch in this world, the cost wouldn't be so low.
However, in Liu Hong's eyes, this was a different story.
The young man in front of me is not some hot-blooded naiveté at all.
He is a business genius who is proficient in supply chain, cost control, industrial design, and even calculates the financial loopholes caused by inventory backlog!
"Director Liu, this isn't over yet."
Gu Nan stood up, bracing his hands on the desk like a lion eyeing its prey.
"Your bank loan, 1.2 million, is due next Wednesday. And your rival, 'Qiao Tianzun,' is taking advantage of your situation, trying to buy up your factory at a low price, right?"
The cigarette butt in Liu Hong's hand fell to the ground, and he completely broke down.
"Will you be a lackey of the Celestial Master, only to be drained dry and discarded in the end? Or will you cooperate with me and fight back to turn the tables?"
Gu Nan slammed the contract heavily on the table. "The first order is for 50,000 units, cash on delivery! A 30% deposit is enough to pay off your loan interest and save the factory."
"Earn money standing up, or kneel and wait to die. The choice is yours."
Inside the office, only the clock ticked.
As Liu Hong looked at the contract, his gaze gradually shifted from struggle to a gambler's frenzy.
"Oh shit……"
He suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "Mr. Gu, you win! I'll take this order! I'll provide all that German material, and I'll personally mix the paint. If there's even the slightest flaw, I, Liu Hong, will twist my head off and let you kick it around like a football!"
"But I have one condition."
Liu Hong raised a rough finger.
However, a fleeting, unnatural blush suddenly crossed that fleshy face, revealing a hint of anxiety.
"If it sells out, raise the price by 5% for the next batch. Also... you have to get that Victory Team member to sign something for my grandson! That little brat keeps yelling 'transformation' and buying that junk from the Celestial Master, it's driving me crazy! I want to show him that his grandpa makes the real thing!"
Hearing this down-to-earth, even slightly arrogant request, Gu Nan's tense face finally broke into a genuine smile.
He reached out and firmly grasped that large, calloused hand.
"Deal. The new model of the magic wand, numbered 00001, is your grandson's."
……
(Do you enjoy this kind of realistic plot? After all, this is an urban fantasy novel, not fanfiction, so this type of plot is necessary. If you think it's padded, the author should write less later.)