Chapter 59 Solution
"I roughly calculated that our profit margin for a Blackstone record player is only 1% of the selling price. This is a very dangerous number. It is no exaggeration to say that Blackstone has been on the verge of bankruptcy."
Bai Chuanfeng looked at everyone and said, "Changing material suppliers and reducing costs is only the first step. The most direct factor affecting product sales is the quality of the product itself."
After that, Shirakawa Kaede took a Blackstone record player from Assistant Komatsu.
"Please listen to the sound of this record player." He casually put on a classical record and then put down the cartridge.
As the record turned, a melodious piano sound came. However, before the record had turned two circles, the piano sound suddenly became hoarse and trembling.
The beautiful music turned into annoying noise and everyone frowned subconsciously.
Shirakawa Feng turned off the record player and moved the cartridge away.
"Mr. Yasuda, what's the main problem with this record player?" Shirakawa Feng turned his gaze to Masaaki Yasuda who was sitting on his right.
Masaaki Yasuda answered meticulously, "Excluding the stylus as a factor, it should be the unstable speed of the motor that produces vibrations that affect the output of the stylus signal."
He is the head of the technical department and is well versed in the working principles of the vinyl record player.
After all, the working principle of a vinyl record player is the sound-electricity-mechanical conversion process.
Take the Blackstone record player in front of them for example. The turntable rotates and the stylus vibrates on the grooves on the record surface. The vibration is converted into an electrical signal by the cartridge and transmitted to the amplifier. The amplifier then amplifies the signal and transmits it to the speakers, which finally outputs the sound.
This is a very traditional analog signal conversion process, and the structure of the record player is not complicated. The Blackstone record player has only about a hundred parts in total, which is relatively simple for an electronic product.
"As expected of Mr. Yasuda, very accurate. This is a problematic product that I collected before." Shirakawa Kaede was very satisfied with Yasuda from the technical department.
Although he doesn't talk much, he is indeed very capable.
"So, Mr. Yamaguchi, if the motor and needle are replaced, will the Blackstone record player still have these problems?"
Yamaguchi hesitated for a few seconds and decided to answer honestly, "The unstable motor speed should be solved, but the vibration itself may be difficult to eliminate."
Baichuan Feng nodded to show his understanding. This is how mechanical components are. As long as they are working, they will vibrate.
“In fact, I have never understood one thing: record players work in two ways.
One is a direct drive like our Blackstone, where the motor is directly connected to the turntable.
The other is belt drive, where the motor and the turntable are separated.
Why did we at Blackstone choose direct drive? "
Baichuan Feng looked at everyone, hoping to get an answer from everyone.
When hearing this question, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Why use direct drive? Of course, it is because the most advanced Panasonic record player uses direct drive.
Ever since Panasonic first launched the direct-drive record player in 1970, this new form of record player immediately became a hot seller.
Old Watanabe, who was just preparing to make a record player at the time, undoubtedly chose this design method which he believed to be advanced.
Seeing that everyone still had a confused expression, Baichuan Feng sighed slightly in his heart. But Yasuda seemed to have thought of something and was thinking about something.
"Why don't we use a belt-driven design? Because of the belt material, when the motor rotates, the vibration transmitted to the turntable will be effectively reduced by the belt."
After hearing what Baichuan Feng said, Yasuda was the first to react, and then everyone else was stunned.
It's not because of how advanced the design is that Shirakawa Kaede said, quite the opposite. The earliest record player was a belt-driven type.
They subconsciously imitated Panasonic's new design, but ignored the fact that Panasonic designed it this way because they had full confidence in their motors and designed a lot of shock-absorbing measures for this purpose.
Panasonic's record player is positioned at the high end, while Blackstone's is positioned at the mid-to-low end.
After several years of imitation, the product is still a mess and is getting worse and worse.
To put it bluntly, it was the stubbornness of the RB people, who stuck to the old ways. The president set the course , and within a few years no one questioned it, and they never thought about whether such a design was suitable for Blackstone.
Did they forget, or did they not dare?
Shirakawa Feng didn't want to get hung up on it, so he looked directly at Yasuda Masaaki. "Yasuda, is there any problem with changing to a belt drive?"
"No, tomorrow... No, I will come up with a revised plan tonight." Yasuda was quite aware of the need to learn from his mistakes and then be brave. He stood up and bowed to make his promise.
Baichuan Feng waved his hand and said, "Don't be so anxious. Check other designs and refer to other products on the market.
It doesn't have to be the latest one, the one that suits us is the best .
Gentlemen, our aim at Shirakawa Electric is to open your horizons and keep making progress. Progress is important, but so is vision. Don’t be bound by the past, be bold in your imagination and be courageous in seeking truth.”
Bai Chuanfeng supported the table with both hands and looked at everyone, "Reduce costs and optimize design. All of this is to allow Black Stone to break out of its cocoon and be reborn.
If the profit margin of a product does not reach 5% of the selling price, then there is no need to continue making this product. "
This is already the lowest standard that Baichuan Feng can accept. A normal manufacturer's profit margin is reasonable between 5% and 30%.
In some high-tech or monopoly industries, the net profit rate can even reach 40%-60%. For example, the high-precision chips of the future...
“In addition, the Blackstone record player brand also needs to be upgraded.”
"Eh" Everyone was very surprised to hear this.
"Blackstone's reputation isn't very good anymore, especially this year." Baichuan Feng hinted that just looking at that crappy product, it's estimated that all of Blackstone's reputation from the past few years has been ruined.
The people below looked embarrassed. Even though it was Watanabe who caused his own death, it couldn't be said that they had no responsibility at all.
Shirakawa Feng walked to the white board behind him, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote down a group of words, "black obsidian".
"Obsidian, we will use it as the brand name of our record player from now on." Shirakawa Feng introduced, pointing to the phrase on the signboard.
After a brief thought, everyone agreed to this decision. It was indeed necessary to consider upgrading. However, Kotaro was very excited. He felt that this was his own brand, a brand that belonged to them.
"By the way, don't forget to design a simple logo, which can deepen customers' recognition of our brand."
Finally, Baichuan Feng issued another task, and everyone nodded in agreement.
More than an hour had passed since the first high-level meeting of Shirakawa Electric was held.
Most of the time, it was Shirakawa Kaede who was talking and everyone else was listening. After this meeting, no one dared to look down on the president anymore.
Vision, technology, and courage, all of which were possessed. Based on this alone, they subconsciously thought that perhaps Shirakawa Electric would be much brighter than Watanabe Electric in the future.
After leaving the conference room, Kotaro excitedly hugged Shirakawa Feng, "Xiao Feng, is this the product we are going to make in the future?"
Although Kotaro still thinks that televisions and the like are more impressive, a record player seems to be pretty good too, as there wasn't one in Odeka Village before.
Baichuan Feng laughed, "This is just the beginning, not even a transition."
"Eh" Kotaro scratched the back of his head. He couldn't figure out what else it could be if not a record player. This was the only thing they could produce now.
