Chapter 333 - Director Lin’s Responsibilities (1/2)

In Otto Technologies… Chang You, Lin Wan, and the core members of the company had gathered in the conference room, ready to discuss the general direction for the new cell phone. Lin Wan had just arrived from Shang Yang Games.

Research and development of Be Quiet was underway. Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and the other designers had already produced a design manuscript. At the same time, the other employees were working on foundational tasks like obtaining art resources.

Lin Wan did not have to get involved in such tasks. Thus, she could spare some time to travel down to Otto Technologies and sit in the meeting about the new cell phone.

All the employees sat upright and still with somber expressions. They looked very serious.

At Otto Technologies, they were still employees working on cell phones, just like they had been at Hongcheng Technologies. However, everyone’s attitudes seemed slightly different here.

Chang You had been the Vice President when they were at Hongcheng Technologies. However, he had not had much say.

There had been many other Vice Presidents with the same authority as Chang You. What’s more, there had still been a CEO above him.

Since those at management level had had different mindsets, there had been a lot of conflict and wrangling. Since even Chang You—as Vice President, had not had much freedom, the friends who had been working under him had had it worse.

Yet, now, Chang You had gained Boss Pei’s trust. Thus, he was allowed to decide on the general direction of the new cell phone. He had much more authority now than before.

Naturally, the friends working under him no longer looked so sullen as well.

Furthermore, when the previous company had gone bust, everyone had had to go their separate ways. Now that they were reunited, most of them felt like they could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. As a result, all of them felt grateful to be where they were.

Chang You hung up and addressed everyone. “Boss Pei said that he’s busy at the moment, and so he won’t be able to come down. He said we can make the necessary decisions.

“Let’s begin, then.

“Director Lin, as Tengda’s representative, please feel free to raise any opinions you have.”

Lin Wan nodded. “Alright.”

She did not think that she would have any problems. After all, everyone seated in the room was more experienced than she was. Still, she had to maintain the right attitude as the head.

Chang You commenced the meeting according to the established agenda.

“The new cell phone model will be based on the research and development plan we created for Hongcheng Technologies’ flagship model back then. I think all of us likely have plans that we were forced to stop midway. Some of us had probably even negotiated a procurement plan with suppliers in detail. If there are no legal risks, we can make use of them.

“Our company’s first cell phone must use Original Design Manufacturing. I don’t expect anyone to have questions about that.

“At the moment, we mainly have two things to work on. First, we have to research and develop a system that belongs exclusively to our brand. Second, we have to set a general direction for our products and communicate this with the manufacturers.

“It goes without saying how important the system would be…”

Lin Wan listened quietly by the side, taking down notes from time to time.

Although she had not conducted research on the cell phone industry on purpose, she understood the basic concepts from her observations of her family business.

Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM) were two common modes of manufacturing in the cell phone industry.

A tech company producing cell phones did not have to take care of everything from designing to manufacturing, branding, and selling. They just had to outsource the various tasks to the relevant producers.

For OEM, the company itself would design the product and outsource the manufacturing. That was what companies like Pineapple did.

On the other hand, for ODM, the company would merely communicate their standards and requirements to the manufacturers. The manufacturers would then design and produce the products. This was more commonly known in the market as ‘private labeling’.

Of course, cell phone manufacturers could make custom requests. As long as they were willing to pay more, everything was negotiable.

Otto Technologies had only just been established. It was not possible for it to independently research and develop every part of a cell phone. Thus, ODM was the better option.

Going for ‘private labeling’ did not mean that the quality would be worse off. There was also nothing embarrassing about it. Most local and foreign cell phones were ODM products. Many cell phone models, including Shenhua, were also completed using ODM. Many Original Design Manufacturers had been designing cell phones on behalf of other companies for a long time. They had good plans for everything from the products themselves to hardware assembly. They also had tons of experience, good quality control, a stable supply chain, and reliable efficiency.

Some cell phone manufacturers even managed to produce low-end models using ODM that were of better quality compared to high-end models produced using OEM. This was a phenomenon that had confused many consumers.

Of course, things were different for large, stable companies like Shenhua or Pineapple. In those cases, taking over the designing work and creating a flagship model using OEM would increase the high-end brand’s value. OEM would obviously be the better choice.

However, for Otto Technologies, it was still too early to take this step. ODM was akin to private labeling, but they could still create custom cell phones. Of course, the more custom requests they had, the more money they would have to spend.

At that moment, everyone focused on coming up with a general plan for the new cell phone

-in other words, how to integrate the various existing plans.

They spoke freely, to their heart’s content.

“We definitely have to use the latest microchip.”

“We also have to use the best screens, right?”

“The camera can’t be too bad either. In fact, it looks like many flagship models have two cameras now. We have to follow suit, right?”

“We need to take care of battery life, too. Maintaining a good microchip and screen would require a lot of battery.”

“It should have more internal storage as well, and maybe add some RGB?”

“Wait, we’ll only be purchasing in small quantities. Can we get good microchips and screens?”

“If we can’t, we can always pay more! If we don’t use the best microchips for such an expensive model, we’d be criticized upside-down. We have to get them at all costs!”

They all spoke one after another, obviously excited to include the latest hardware in the cell phone.

The original design was intended to be Hongcheng Technologies’ flagship model, M9. It was what Hongcheng Technologies was supposed to use to enter the high-end market.