"Boss, great news, tremendous news! The appliance stores in Beijing have set a new single-day sales record during this National Day promotion."
"Everyone, guess how many televisions we sold!"
Liu Junsheng, holding a telegram he had just received from the post office, rushed into the conference room, not even bothering that a meeting was already in progress.
Looking at this sales report, he was incredibly grateful that last year, when the boss gave a speech at the university, he had unhesitatingly given up the job assignment at the customs office and joined Zhenhua.
With such sales performance, in a few years, the branch factories the boss planned in various locations would likely be built. At that time, Liu Junsheng dared not even imagine the scale of the entire Zhenhua Group.
At least in his understanding, even the Shanghai Radio General Factory was far inferior to Zhenhua.
Working in a factory like this, especially under the boss, offered him opportunities that were definitely much better than being a small fry in the customs office.
"Xiao Liu, how many times have I told you not to be so hasty? You need to be calm and collected."
"We put so much effort into this National Day promotion. Achieving good results is inevitable, there's no need to be so excited."
Chen Yang looked at Liu Junsheng, who was panting and had run all the way in, and patiently admonished him.
This young man was a top student from Fudan. Chen Yang had spotted him at a recruitment speech at Fudan and was impressed by his execution and management capabilities.
The current Zhenhua was not short of factory workers, but it was severely lacking in management and sales talent.
Sales, needless to say, were still in their infancy in the entire private economy in China. There were very few people who knew how to do business, let alone marketing.
These were definitely things Chen Yang had to cultivate himself. However, he planned to hand this task over to Zhang Weiyang. Zhang Weiyang had been in Hong Kong for so long and was now far from his former self. Teaching university students who had just started working would be a piece of cake for him.
As for marketing ability, those who could be trained would be trained, and those who couldn't, well, there was nothing that could be done. It mainly depended on talent and effort.
However, management talent could not be cultivated in a short period. It required innate ability, and Liu Junsheng was such an exceptionally talented elite.
After Chen Yang recruited him from Fudan, this young man had essentially been like a secretary, staying by his side for hands-on guidance.
But Liu Junsheng's progress had been incredibly rapid. From initially being a bit flustered managing a single workshop, to now, after a year, the more than a hundred workshops at the Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory headquarters were operating in an orderly fashion under his management.
Managing a factory of tens of thousands of people was not easy. Even though Chen Yang had recruited over twenty university students like Liu Junsheng to assist him in setting up the Human Resources Department, they were often busy to the point of being dizzy.
When they were studying, their homeroom teachers struggled to manage a class of a few dozen students. Let alone a workshop with at least a hundred people, and they were all adults. Any minor conflict or argument would be a headache.
"Boss, I also want to be more composed, but I really can't help it."
"My goodness, they sold 1,800 televisions in a single day, and nearly 2,000 electric fans. They almost emptied our warehouse in Beijing."
"And they also took many pre-orders. I estimate that from this month to the next, even if the workers work overtime every day, they might not be able to fulfill these orders."
Liu Junsheng quickly handed the telegram slip he had copied from the post office to Chen Yang. Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory's current production capacity was not low; it could produce nearly 2,000 televisions per day.
However, these televisions were not supplied only to Beijing; they were sold nationwide.
He even heard that the general manager of the factory's Hong Kong office, Mr. Zhang, had opened an appliance store in Hong Kong and was already preparing to sell televisions and electric fans overseas.
When that happened, the factory's daily production volume would likely be even more insufficient, and the production scale would have to be expanded.
"Come, all workshop directors, please take a look. Also, the scheduling department should compile the data from various regions recently and prioritize all order delivery times."
"Transportation team, arrange driver shifts and changes reasonably, avoid fatigue driving. Use trains as much as possible for transportation. If trains are not feasible, then resort to long-distance road transport."
After more than a year of development, Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory was no longer just a rough framework as it was in the beginning. From the Human Resources Department, to the Finance and Accounting Department, to the Production Scheduling Department, the Transportation Team, the Canteen...
Except for not having the comprehensive cradle-to-grave services like state-owned enterprises such as hospitals, schools, and funeral homes, its functions and structure were basically complete.
"Factory Director, we guarantee the task will be completed."
"The Production Scheduling Department will provide an arrangement as soon as possible. Based on the urgency of the orders, the production progress of various workshops will be adjusted accordingly."
"It's still the old rule: whoever produces more products with better quality will be awarded the red flag for next month."
The person in charge of the Production Scheduling Department was also a university student Chen Yang had recruited from Fudan. His subordinates were usually the busiest. The production volume of each workshop, the delivery location, and which vehicle from the fleet to use, all depended on his department to control.
And this red flag was something Chen Yang had mentioned, and it was awarded by the Production Scheduling Department.
People of this era had a strong sense of honor. This red flag represented the honor of the entire workshop. Moreover, the workshop that received the red flag would have its workers receive a bonus of five yuan that month.
Perhaps some people didn't have a sense of collective honor, but five yuan was a tangible reward! In those days, five yuan could buy five jin of meat.
A few years later, in 1985, when the National Bureau of Statistics released the catalog of commodity prices again, people would be surprised to find that prices had begun to soar.
The era when one yuan could buy a pile of things would soon be gone forever. Items that originally cost one or two fen, or ten or twenty fen, would gradually become fewer and fewer.
But as of now, a bonus of five yuan was still very attractive. For this red flag, countless people would work overtime, just for this honor and reward.
"Good, that's settled. The Finance Department should calculate the balance on hand after deducting the procurement of the new batch of raw materials and components. The branch factory in Beijing is almost completed and requires funds to purchase production lines."
"Also, contact Mr. Zhang and see how much foreign exchange reserves they have in Hong Kong. When we open up the television markets in Southeast Asia and Europe and America, we will use goods to settle the payment."
The foreign trade company in Hong Kong and Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory operated separately. Although both were Chen Yang's businesses, there were too many factories, and they had to be accounted for independently, otherwise, it would become chaotic.
Of course, as fellow businesses of Chen Yang, when Zhenhua Electrical Appliance Factory needed foreign exchange to purchase equipment, the foreign trade company could advance the funds. After all, exchanging RMB for USD was too disadvantageous.