Extraordinary Genius

Feng Yu was in a good mood when he saw the prototype. He had already asked Liu Michael to do up the design for this bladeless fan. The fan top was fixed in place, and the size could not be adjusted much. The main design would be focusing on the fan base and the colors.

Now Feng Yu only need to talk to the engineers on the location of the air inflow inlets and the exterior design can be finalized! As for the interior design, he would leave it to the engineers at the Aviation Factory. The parts inside the fans were too complicated for him to design.

Hearing what Feng Yu said, Hou Haitao and Li Shiyou were happy. The R&D was a success, and the Aviation Factory would be getting a portion of the profits. The Aviation Factory would be getting 13 RMB for one unit. Although it was not much, if 10,000 units were sold in a year, their earnings would be 130,000 RMB. The Motor Factory as a contractor would be getting 30 RMB for a unit. If the Motor Factory used a small workshop to manufacture these fans, there should be no problems producing more than 1,0000 units a month!

“Manager Feng, what about the additional R&D fund?” Hou Haitao looked at Feng Yu.

Feng Yu waved and said: “I will give you an additional 100,000 RMB. The watts must be lowered to 40 watts, and the wind power must be the same. Or, you can make it into two modes. How long do you need to complete this research?”

When Hou Haitao heard 100,000 RMB, he immediately replied: “1 week!”

Feng Yu stared at Hou Haitao. This can be completed in 1 week? Damn. I am tricked! The Aviation Factory must have completed the research and was able to lower the required electricity to 40 watts, but he purposely did not take it out. He only wanted more money!

Never mind. Because of 100,000 RMB, it was not worth getting angry with him. When the ultra-high power electric furnace arrives, the money can be earned back!

“Director Li, you look at these blueprints. How many units can your factory produce and when can the production start?” Feng Yu asked.

“The machines just need to re-calibrate, and these motors were not complicated. Two weeks to set up the production line and if the plastic factory can keep up with our production, I guaranteed that every month there will be 1,000 units!” Li Shiyou showed 1 finger and said confidently.

Feng Yu frowned. Only 1,000 units a month? This figure was too low and does not meet Feng Yu’s requirement. This number would not even be enough for China’s market, let alone exportation.

“Director Li, is your factory facing some difficulties? How come the figure is so low?”

Li Shiyou smiled: “My factory had just gotten a big order for the Three Gorges Dam and a few small hydropower stations. These were orders from the Central Committee and local governments. It cannot be delayed.”

Feng Yu also vomit blood when he heard this. Do you mean that my bladeless fans can be delayed? With your current speed, when the fans are launched in May, there will only be about 2,000 to 3,000 units. It was not even worth advertising at CCTV!

The market for the bladeless fans was bigger than the humidifiers. Feng Yu also wanted Fu Guangzheng to sell to the overseas market. With the Fu family’s presences in South-East Asia and the European, US market, there should be at least over a hundred thousand unit sold this year. The production speed of the Motor Factory was definitely not enough to meet the demand.

“Director Li, this is not right. We had signed a contract.” Feng Yu said unhappily.

“Manager Feng, I also had no choice. These power stations are the country’s important projects and cannot be delayed. I even have to close off one workshop for the humidifiers.” Li Shiyou had a helpless look.

Feng Yu looked at Hou Haitao: “Director Hou, can your Aviation Factory produce these bladeless fans? I can give you 35 RMB per unit!”

The Motor Factory only get 30 RMB per unit, and Feng Yu offered the Aviation Factory 35 RMB. Both Li Shiyou and Hou Haitao knew that Feng Yu was angry.

Hou Haitao thought for a while. His factory could spare a workshop to produce these fans, but the number of fans produced should be the same as the Motor Factory. Since Feng Yu was not happy with the Motor Factory’s speed, then he should also not be satisfied with his.

Hou Haitao would not agree to do this as not only the profits were little and he could even offend Li Shiyou.

“Manager Feng, our workshops were also short of manpower. We have to manufacture planes, cars, and vans. The most we can do is to spare a workshop for your fans, but there might not be enough workers. The production numbers might not even be more than the Motor Factory.” He was implying to Feng Yu to use the Motor Factory.

Feng Yu looked at Li Shiyou and Hou Haitao, and he suddenly laughed. His laughter shocked Li Shiyou and Hou Haitao. What’s wrong with Feng Yu? Now there was lesser production, and he was still so happy?

“I am not sure if the both of you had taken a close look at our 3-way cooperation contracts. There is a term stated in the contract that if both of your factories could not produce the number of units I wanted, then I have the right to terminate the contract and get double compensations from each of you!”

What? Terminate the contract? Compensations?

Hou Haitao jumped up and shouted: “Manager Feng, there must be something wrong with the contract. I am only in charge of doing the R&D and technical support. Li Shiyou is the one who is in-charge of the production. They are unable to fulfill the terms of the contract, and what has it got to do with the Aviation Factory?”

Hou Haitao did not care about Li Shiyou now. The profits from the humidifiers were very high, and every month the Aviation Factory got quite a significant amount for their share. How can the contract be terminated? Feng Yu still want to get compensations from him? The Aviation Factory was not responsible for the production and why should they be penalized too?

“Manager Feng, what are you saying? We had been cooperating well, and this was also because of the orders from the higher-ups. I also had no choice.” Li Shiyou said.

They heard rumors that Feng Yu had unpredictable mood swings. Today was the first time they experience firsthand. He was still smiling happily earlier, and now, he wants to get compensations form both factories.

But was there really this term in the contract? When they signed the contracts, both of them were blinded by greed and did not notice these fine details. Regarding reading contracts and finding loopholes, they still fell short of Feng Yu.

“Orders from your higher-ups? Are you saying that orders from your higher-ups are more important than our contract? So you are implying that your orders are above the law?” Feng Yu starts to find fault.

During the festive season, the news reported a speech from the “Chief Designer” (Translator’s notes: I googled this Chief Designer and found that it was referring to Deng Xiaoping.). He talked about the recent crackdown and said that nobody is above the law!

Li Shiyou knew about this, and although he felt that it was more important to fulfill the orders from the top, he could not admit it.

Manager Feng, calm down. Let’s discuss and find a solution calmly. How about I go to the factories in Lin Province to ask them to be our contractors? This way, our production would not be affected.”

“Right. Let’s look for other factories to help us manufacture the fans.” Hou Haitao echoed.

Feng Yu hesitantly said: “Contract the production to other factories? This method can work too. But it would be better if we set up a factory ourselves. Lin Province is too near to us and too far from the Hong Kong Company that does our exportation. Why not we set up a new factory in South Guangzhou?”

Feng Yu finally reveals his real motive!

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