"I did the math and the profit margin on one of our Blackstone record players was only 1% of the selling price. That's a dangerous number, and it's no exaggeration to say that Blackstone has been on the verge of going out of business. ”

Shirakawa Kaede looked at everyone, "Changing material suppliers and reducing costs is only the first step. In addition, the most direct factor affecting product sales is the quality of the product itself. ”

After that, Shirakawa Kaede brought a Blackstone record player from Assistant Komatsu.

"Listen to the timbre of this turntable." He casually put down a classical record, then put down the cartridge.

As the record turned, a melodious piano sound came. However, before the record had turned twice, the sound of the piano suddenly began to become hoarse and trembling.

The beautiful music turned into an annoying noise, and everyone subconsciously frowned.

Kaede Shirakawa turned off the turntable and removed the cartridge.

"Yasuda-san, what's the main problem with this record player?" Shirakawa Kaede's gaze turned to Masaaki Yasuda, who was sitting on his right.

Masaaki Yasuda replied meticulously, "The reason for excluding the stylus is that the motor speed is unstable, which produces vibration that affects the output of the stylus signal. ”

He was the head of the technical department and knew how vinyl record players worked.

After all, the working principle of a vinyl record player is the process of acoustic-electric-mechanical conversion.

Judging from the Blackstone record player in front of them, the turntable rotated, and the stylus vibrated in the grooves on the surface of the record. The vibrations are converted into electrical signals through the cartridge and transmitted to the amplifier. Then the amplifier is amplified to the sound, and finally the sound is output.

This is a very traditional analog signal conversion process, and the structure of the record player is not complicated, and the Blackstone record player has only about 100 parts in total, which is relatively simple for electronic products.

"It's Yasuda-san, it's very accurate. This is a problematic product that I collected earlier. "For Yasuda of the technical department, Shirakawa Kaede is still very satisfied.

Although there are not many words, it is true that there are two brushes.

"So Yamaguchi-san, if the motor and stylus are replaced, will the Blackstone record player still have these problems?"

Kazuo Yamaguchi hesitated for a few seconds, then decided to answer honestly, "The unstable speed of the motor should be solved, but the vibration itself may be difficult to eliminate." ”

Shirakawa Kaede nodded in understanding, the mechanism is like this, as long as it works, it will vibrate.

"Actually, I haven't figured out one thing, there are two ways that a record player works.

One is a direct-drive drive, like our Blackstone. The motor is linked directly to the turntable.

The other is belt drive, and the motor and turntable are separated.

Why did we choose the direct drive type at Blackstone? ”

Shirakawa Kaede looked at everyone, hoping to get everyone's answer.

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other. Why use direct drive? Of course, it's because Panasonic, the most advanced of vinyl record players, uses a direct-drive type.

Since Panasonic pioneered the direct-drive record player in 1970, this new form of record player has been selling well.

Watanabe, who was just preparing to make a record player at the time, undoubtedly chose this way of design, which he thought was advanced.

Seeing that everyone still had blank expressions, Bai Chuanfeng sighed slightly in his heart. But Yasuda seemed to think of something, thoughtfully.

"Why don't we use a belt-driven design?! Due to the material of the belt, the vibration transmitted to the turntable is effectively reduced by the belt when the motor is rotating. ”

Listening to Shirakawa Kaede's words, Yasuda reacted first. Then everyone was even more stunned.

It's not because of how advanced this design Shirakawa Kaede said, quite the opposite. The earliest record players were belt-driven.

They subconsciously imitate Panasonic's new design because they see it, but they ignore that Panasonic designs it this way because they have full confidence in their motors. There's also a bunch of suspension measures designed for this.

Panasonic's positioning of this record player is high-end, while Blackstone's positioning is low-mid-range.

After imitating for a few years, it is still a four-way street, and it is even getting worse and worse.

To put it bluntly, it is the brains of RB people, sticking to stereotypes. The president set the course, and no one questioned it for a few years, and I didn't think about whether such a design would be suitable for Blackstone.

Did they forget, or did they dare.

Shirakawa Kaede didn't want to be entangled, he looked directly at Masaaki Yasuda. "Yasuda, is there a problem with changing to a belt drive?"

"No, tomorrow... No, I'll come up with a change tonight. Yasuda was quite ashamed and courageous, and directly got up and bowed to reassure.

Shirakawa Kaede waved his hand, "Don't be in such a hurry, check other designs in addition, you can refer to other products on the market."

It doesn't have to be the latest, it's the best that suits us.

Ladies and gentlemen, our purpose of Shirakawa Electric is to open our horizons and maintain progress. Progress is important, and so is vision. Don't stick to the past, imagine boldly and dare to verify. ”

Shirakawa Kaede propped up the table with both hands and looked at everyone, "Reduce costs and optimize design." It's all about bringing Blackstone back from its cocoon.

If the profit margin of a product does not reach 5% of the selling price, then there is no need for the product to continue. ”

This is already the minimum standard that Shirakawa Kaede can accept, and the profit margin of a normal manufacturer is only reasonable at 5%-30%.

In some high-tech or monopoly industries, the net profit margin can even reach 40%-60%. For example, the high-precision chip of the future...

"In addition, the Blackstone record player brand also needs to be upgraded."

"Eh" Hearing this, everyone was very surprised.

"Blackstone's reputation isn't good anymore, especially this year." Shirakawa Kaede pointed out, just the broken product, it is estimated that the reputation of the previous years has been ruined.

The faces of the people below were embarrassed, although it was because of Xiao Watanabe's death, it could not be said that they were not responsible.

Shirakawa Kaede came to the white board behind him, picked up a pen, and wrote down a set of words, "black obsidian."

"Obsidian, I'm going to use it as our record player brand name in the future." Shirakawa Kaede pointed to the phrase on the board and introduced.

After a little thought, everyone agreed to this resolution, and it was indeed necessary to consider escalation. But it was Torotaro's face that was excited, he felt that this was his own brand, their brand.

"By the way, don't forget to design a simple logo, which can deepen the customer's brand identity with us."

In the end, Shirakawa Kaede gave another task, and everyone nodded in agreement.

After the first high-level meeting in the true sense of Shirakawa Electric, more than an hour has passed.

Most of the time, it was Shirakawa Kaede who was talking, and everyone was listening. After this meeting, everyone no longer dared to underestimate the president.

Vision, technology, and courage are all available. Based on this alone, they subconsciously thought that maybe Shirakawa Electric would really be much brighter than Watanabe Electric in the future.

Out of the door of the conference room, Torotaro excitedly pestered Shirakawa Kaede, "Xiao Kaede, is this the product we want to make in the future?" ”

Although Torotaro still thinks that the TV is more powerful, but the record player seems to be good, and there was no one in Kogamura before.

Shirakawa Kaede laughed, "This is where it goes, it's not even a transition." ”

"Eh" Torotaro scratched the back of his head, he couldn't figure out what it wasn't a record player, now they can only produce this.