Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

「At dawn the next day, the sky was just beginning to lighten.」

Chen Yansen sat at the desk in his hotel room, opened his laptop, and, as usual, began to review the core data of each subsidiary.

The majority shareholder of Gaode Map had also changed from Hou Jun to Senlian Capital. As planned, Xiao Jun should be preparing to take over full management of Gaode Map.

He couldn’t help but wonder just how complicated the expressions on Hou Jun’s and Cheng Congwu’s faces would be when they saw Xiao Jun.

After finishing his work, Chen Yansen pulled out his phone and started scrolling through Weibo. The ninth item on the trending list was about the first-day sales of the Orange Mobile Power Supply.

”Orange Power Bank 66W!”

Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought the Orange Power Bank’s output could reach 66 watts.

Only after clicking on it did you learn that the Orange Mobile Power Supply, which had just gone on sale the day before, had sold as many as 660,000 units network-wide.

A unibody alloy casing, imported battery cells, and a price of just 69 yuan.

For these specs and at this price, in 2012, it was like finding something that usually cost 100 yuan suddenly marked down by 70%.

If it had been any other brand, customers might have suspected exaggerated capacity claims, low-quality battery cells, or poor safety performance. But this was manufactured in a factory owned and operated by Orange.

From the Orange C1 to the Orange D1 and Orange C2, the company had long since established a strong reputation with users for its high-quality materials and reliable after-sales support.

These 660,000 sales weren’t achieved overnight.

Chen Yansen gave a faint smile. At this rate, selling tens of millions a year would be a piece of cake.

After all, as smartphone screens grew larger and the number of available apps multiplied, battery life was in a nosedive.

When people were out and about, especially Apple users, they felt insecure if they weren’t carrying a mobile power supply.

’Even Xiaomi can sell 30 million units a year. The Orange power bank’s battery cells and TI chips are higher quality; there’s no reason we should sell fewer than that.’

Chen Yansen assessed inwardly.

At 8:30 AM, Chen Yansen was driven to the No. 4 Orange Factory, located in the Luyang Industrial Zone.

As the car neared the complex, he saw Cao Dahua and the others standing and waiting by the main gate in the distance.

”Boss, this is Cai Jingming,” Cao Dahua said, gesturing to the middle-aged man beside him.

”You’ve been working hard,” Chen Yansen said with an encouraging smile, raising a hand to pat the man on the shoulder.

Cai Jingming was in his early forties with his hair in a side part and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was formerly the vice president of the Heshuo Hu City Branch before Cao Dahua poached him with a high salary to be the head of the No. 4 Factory.

Chen Yansen had only spoken to him on the phone before; this was their first time meeting in person.

”Thank you for your trust, Boss. I worked at Heshuo for many years and have extensive experience in production management, supply chain management, and cost control...” Cai Jingming began, speaking with great confidence.

”President Cai, the fact that you passed the interview means I already acknowledge your abilities. You don’t need to say anything more.”

Chen Yansen cut Cai Jingming off with a wave of his hand.

His requirements for the person in charge of the No. 4 Orange Factory weren’t particularly high; as long as there were no issues with production and daily management, that was enough.

Having worked at Heshuo for many years, especially in the mobile phone contract manufacturing sector, Cai Jingming was more than qualified for the position.

”Boss, this is Lin Qingbai, the head of R&D for the Shencheng City Orange Laboratory. He was previously in charge of mobile phone and tablet R&D at Foxconn. The Orange Bluetooth headset launching at the end of the month is the first product he’s worked on since joining us.”

As Cao Dahua spoke, he nudged a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses forward.

He was about thirty years old, dressed in a black suit with a blue tie. His style looked very similar to Tang Zhenzhe’s, and his hair shone brightly with wax.

”Hello, Boss,” Lin Qingbai said with a bow, his demeanor extremely humble.

”I’ve seen the design plans for the Orange Bluetooth headset. You’ve put a lot of work into selecting the diaphragm, coil, magnet unit, and wiring. But for an in-ear design like this, you still have to consider comfort for the wearer.”

Chen Yansen reminded him in a level tone.

Although Lin Qingbai’s design would have scored a 90 out of 100 in 2012, from Chen Yansen’s perspective as someone with future knowledge, the ear-hook style was simply too ugly. However, limited by the technology of the time, it was currently the optimal solution.

”Understood, Boss,” Lin Qingbai replied with a nod, not taking Chen Yansen’s words as a casual remark.

As a member of Orange Technology’s R&D team, although he had only been on the job for a few months, he had vaguely heard that the big boss’s influence was all over the hardware design and battery management systems of the Orange mobile phones.

’This was a young entrepreneur who truly understood technology!’

So naturally, Lin Qingbai was receptive to the suggestion. If it had been anyone else, he would have shot back without a second thought, ”I’m the damn head of R&D! What the hell do you know about design?”

”President Cai, I hear you’ve hired quite a few university graduates?” Chen Yansen asked, turning to Cai Jingming.

”I had the HR department run the numbers on employee education levels. 23% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, 39% have a high school education, and 38% have middle school or less. In reality, most of the university graduates are from second and third-tier schools.”

”I think having a certain percentage of employees with bachelor’s degrees is a good thing. It will make it much easier to select production line leaders, equipment technicians, and production planners in the future. We can consider it building a talent reserve.”

Cai Jingming said candidly.

The Heshuo Electronics Factory had a similar talent reserve strategy. Team leaders or supervisors promoted from the production floor understood both production and management, and their labor costs were lower than hiring externally.

”Not bad,” Chen Yansen said in simple praise.

”Boss, Mr. Meng is here,” Cao Dahua said suddenly.

Chen Yansen looked up and saw a black Audi A6 with a remarkably low-numbered license plate slowly approaching.