When Manager Miao walked into the conference room with coffee in one hand and a laptop in the other, Ah Dong and Liang Kuo were discussing something fiercely.

"What's the big deal, both of you?" Manager Miao's new image of flaming red lips and cool short hair attracted the two, and Liang Kuo dishonestly peeked directly at Manager Miao's chest.

"It's just the two of us, we're all going to be here soon."

Sure enough, Carter took Zhao Sheng and two foreigners in and sat down on their own. One of the two foreigners was extremely fat and had blond hair. The other has black hair of medium height, is very skinny, and is well-dressed. They are all over the age of forty. Everyone was surprised that no one had notified Carter in advance that he would come, and the two foreigners were completely strangers. After Carter's introduction, everyone knew that the fat man was called Desmond and the thin man was called Stefano. Desmond is the director of the process department at the U.S. R&D center, and Stefano is the supplier, and the topic of today's meeting is the feasibility of large-scale procurement of mechanical automation.

Desmond began by introducing the next product line, emphasizing the mechanical changes and the challenges of assembly, arguing that the feasibility of manual assembly still exists, but there are concerns about quality. Finally, the marketing department's outlook for this new product in the market was shown. Then Carter responded to the factory's preparation plan, including the adjustment and upgrade of the production line, the corresponding personnel arrangement, and the most critical bottleneck station overcoming plan.

Manager Miao noticed that at least one of Carter's three plans was related to him. Immediately understood the intention of being invited to the meeting.

The three options are:

Scenario 1, due to the increasing complexity of the product structure, if the current production line, process, and number of people will be shortage, the number of operators in the assembly and test workshop is expected to double, based on the current 240 people, it will rise to nearly 500 people. It involves personnel recruitment, training, and follow-up of supporting service facilities. The cost is estimated to rise by about 40% in the first three years. The additional cost is $8 million. The advantages are that the personnel are fast, flexible, and the short-term investment is small. The return on investment is 1.25 and the cost is paid for in one year.

The second option is to maintain the existing staffing and purchase ten robots, four in the test area and six in the assembly hall. (Retain the two units already procured and add four more units for testing and assembly), and upgrade all existing production lines with automation. The capital investment increased by 15 million, and the depreciation was calculated on a five-year basis at 3 million US dollars per year. The ROI is close to 0.66

The third plan is to reduce 50% of the existing personnel and carry out deep automation integration, which requires the purchase of a total of 30 manipulators, and at the same time the automation upgrade of all existing production lines, with a one-time capital investment of 42 million US dollars, five years of depreciation, and a return on investment of 0.23.

Carter emphasized that there is no need for everyone to make a decision today, now it is just a matter of throwing bricks and stones for everyone to gather information, and the company will make a decision within a month.

It seems that this decision is easy to make if you only look at the ROI, but this kind of strategic decision is far from that simple. Increasing staff has huge advantages in Dongguan and even in China, with high quality and low price, flexibility and low risk (if the order is suddenly reduced, the last resort can be dismissed to stop the loss). However, the yield rate, quality control, and stability are far from being comparable with mechanization, and even the depreciation of equipment is too conservative to be calculated in five years? If the depreciation is converted into ten years, the result is immediately different. The most undesirable is of course the third option, the reduction of staff will first have a social impact, cause misleading panic, and in serious cases, it will affect the stock prices of Japanese and American companies, of course, if it is only an assembly and testing workshop, the scale of attrition is very small, and it will not have such a big negative impact. However, with an investment of more than 40 million, if there is any fluctuation in the output in the later stage, it will lead to drastic changes in costs, so the risk is too great.

Just as Manager Miao was taking notes, Ah Dong looked at Liang Kuo and gave Liang Kuo a look, and the latter understood.

"Dear Stefano, your company's two equipment has been installed for three months, and there are still a lot of problems in trial operation, how to ensure that the efficiency of the later stage can be achieved as scheduled?"

Stefano took it easy, stood up and said to everyone: "We have received the fault report shared by the engineer, everything is expected to run in the problem, I believe that under the new firmware, many problems will be solved, 90% efficiency, we can fully promise."

Ah Dong was very surprised that the other party dared to promise directly in front of so many people. It seems that the equipment must be very mature in other fields.

Liang Kuo asked about plans for the new firmware, and Stefano said that it would go live in April, when he would send engineers to retrain and meet with the new operating regulations.

Although Carter's opinion is not known, Desmond clearly prefers option two. Manager Miao vaguely felt that this meeting might be a huge turning point for the company. I still have a lot to do, adhering to notarization, neutrality, and putting the interests of the company first is naturally my professional ethics, but if it comes to such a sensitive operation as attrition, I am very cautious and cautious. Maybe that's the bottom line for every HR. However, from the current point of view, this possibility is almost zero.

After the meeting, Adong, Zhao Sheng, and Liang Kuo called Manager Miao and suggested that an internal meeting should be held, and Carter must be given a suggestion within two weeks.

Back in his office, Manager Miao was in a daze, and Adong walked in and smiled at him. Seeing that the two of them didn't speak, Chen Si stood up and walked out, and gently closed the door.

"What's the matter?"

"I missed you, I came to see you."

"Get out if it's okay."

Adong laughed and stared at Manager Miao. "Carter already has his idea."

"And give us two weeks?"

"It's up to us to convince him."

"What do you think?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, the key is what you think?"

"Ouch, when did the HR Department set the direction?"

"It's all about people."

The pen in Manager Miao's hand was dizzy by her dexterous hand. Anton is a man of deep pockets, and he has a good resume and has always been considered Carter's successor, but he has never shown his ambitions. Talking is also painful. Witty says that he doesn't like people who are too smart, but ironically he likes this smart person very much.

"I hope I don't go through option three." The witty words are blunt, "50% layoffs? Isn't it crazy? Buy forty million devices? What if the market is overly optimistic? The risk factor is significant. We should bring finance together into the discussion. “

"Open the window and look outside. Dongguan has changed, China has changed. "Industry 4.0 is coming. One million top-of-the-line six-shaft transmission manipulators are the price of cabbage. 50% layoffs, I'm afraid you only count the assembly line, right? ”

"You're not going to be convinced by Carter, are you?"

"Is it necessary for him to convince me? We have to prove it and then convince him. ”

Manager Miao threw the dizzy pen on the table and clasped his hands on his chest. Ah Dong suddenly leaned over with a mysterious face and said, "I'll tell you", Manager Miao leaned his ear over, and Ah Dong kissed her face.

"You're insane! Think of yourself as a child? Manager Miao's face flushed, and then his eyes rounded.

Ah Dong shrank his hand and ran out with a grin.

Although I am not a financial person, but I invested 40 million? And then it takes five years to recoup the cost, which is too big a step. It's insane. Compared to this, a 50% layoff is not too aggressive. Punch lines bet management wouldn't support the investment. You must know that although the financial crisis has not had much impact on the industry, it does not mean that everyone is so optimistic.

She seemed to think of something, and immediately dialed Zhao Sheng's phone.

"Manager Miao, what do you have to do?"

"What do you think about Carter's signal today?"

"What can I think? Now people are swordsmen, and I am fish and meat. That plan 3 literally killed me. I won't be so direct. “

It seems that Zhao Sheng, like himself, has reservations about plan three.

"You know nobody is going to agree to option one. So now think carefully about whether there is any possibility of compromise. “

"Outside are engaged in industrial upgrading, 08 years later, Dongguan closed a lot of factories, you know in your heart, almost no recruitment this year."

"I don't believe management will approve plan three."

"So you're fighting?" Zhao Sheng sighed, "I don't have much right to speak." But I also know my opinion, you know. I think option 2 is a bit milder. “

Wonders hung up the phone, wondering why you didn't just mention it in the meeting.