Upon hearing the boss’s straightforward inquiry, Master Wang glanced at Lin Yi and Li Huiqun, appearing somewhat hesitant.
Seeing this, Zhuang Yan waved his hand and said directly:
"There’s no outsider here, just speak your mind."
Hearing this, Master Wang hesitated no more and, after exchanging glances with a few other engineers, said:
"Our equipment is world-class, and producing these electronic components is not an issue. However, this batch of components is completely incompatible with our current molds, there’s not even a little overlap.
To start production on this batch of components, we need to order and create a whole new set of special molds. This would undoubtedly raise the costs significantly.
Furthermore, I just checked, and the requirements for these molds are exceptionally high."
At this point, everyone present understood.
Zhuang Yan also grasped Master Wang’s underlying message; if these components were to be produced, the entire factory’s equipment would require new, more advanced molds.
In other words, without considerable orders, doing this wouldn’t be worthwhile.
As for Lin Yi, he wasn’t surprised to hear this. After all, this is a phone from the future, and even having existing equipment capable of production is already quite the feat. Let alone just swapping out some special molds.
This actually surprised Lin Yi quite a bit.
At this moment, Lin Yi knew it was time for him to speak up. Regardless of how good their personal relationship was, true interests come first in business.
"Brother Zhuang, later have someone calculate the cost of replacing these molds. Let’s first sign a procurement contract; we’ll temporarily cover the cost of this set of molds until the order profits cover the mold costs, then we’ll transfer it to you."
In this way, Lin Yi essentially took the risk upon himself. If the sales couldn’t cover the cost, Lin Yi would foot the bill for the molds.
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan waved his hand and then continued to ask Master Wang:
"Master Wang, approximately how much will the replacement cost for these molds be? Just speak truthfully, there are no outsiders."
Upon hearing this, Master Wang consulted with the engineers beside him, then turned to Zhuang Yan and said very seriously:
"For this batch of components, if we produce them all, we’d need five production workshops. Based on our budget, replacing the molds for five workshops would cost between 50 to 70 million USD. If we replace all equipment in 35 workshops, the cost would be around 250 to 350 million USD."
"Gasp! That’s a lot of money!!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Li Huiqun couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
Then he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
It wasn’t that he was being overly dramatic. Coming from an ordinary family, how could he not be shocked hearing amounts of several hundred million dollars?
However, Lin Yi, upon hearing this number, actually let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
This figure was still within his acceptable range.
After all, spending several hundred million to produce a phone from the future seemed entirely justifiable.
"Alright, then you should quickly contact the mold manufacturers. Oh, by the way, brother, how many orders are you expecting? I’ll start with five production workshops for you, would that be enough?"
With five production workshops, daily output would be quite considerable.
After all, in Zhuang Yan’s view, Lin Yi’s company is just newly established, and it was uncertain whether what they produced could be sold.
Therefore, in his opinion, five workshops were already quite a lot.
This is because a complete set of components requires different equipment from five workshops, otherwise, Zhuang Yan might have just given him one workshop as a trial.
Lin Yi responded straightforwardly:
"Brother Zhuang, do you have many orders right now? If there are any spare production workshops, then let’s refurbish them all, after completing the orders in hand, you can renovate them all."
This wasn’t Lin Yi being blindly confident; it’s mainly because his phone was truly impressive.
Once on the market, he was tenfold confident that it could surpass every other phone.
In the end, Zhuang Yan trusted Lin Yi so much that he decided to modify all the unused 25 production workshops.
Seeing this, Lin Yi greatly admired Zhuang Yan’s boldness.
Meanwhile, Li Huiqun was already dumbfounded.
Speaking about billion-dollar projects so casually sounded as easy as discussing cabbages to them.
And the nonchalant manner in which Lin Yi tossed around figures in billions of USD made Li Huiqun question if he knew Lin Yi at all. When did his boss become so impressive?
After discussing these renovation matters, Lin Yi decided to show the engineers some small components like display screens to assess their production capabilities.
Unfortunately, their factory didn’t have the proper production facilities for these.
This did not surprise Lin Yi, as specialization is important, and Guangshuo Electronics on the island was just a small branch.
So it was understandable that they were missing some production lines.
However, this meant additional trouble for him.
The batteries needed to be sourced from a battery factory, and the screens from a screen factory. This would mean at least half a month before he could think about returning.
Thankfully, he managed to find a temporary ally to rely on.
After discussing with Zhuang Yan, he left the samples there.
Declining Zhuang Yan’s invitation for a meal, Lin Yi drove back home.
As for Li Huiqun, Lin Yi didn’t send him back, as he had told his family he was going to the Capital City, so whether he went back or not didn’t matter.
But when Li Huiqun arrived at Lin Yi’s new villa, he was completely awestruck.
Standing at the villa’s gate, he stammered:
"Bo-boss, is this... your house???"
To Li Huiqun’s shock, Lin Yi merely chuckled.
Then he led the way inside.
As soon as he stepped through the villa’s gate, he saw two elderly ladies chatting in the small courtyard’s pavilion.
Upon seeing Lin Yi enter, both elderly ladies smiled broadly.
"Oh, Grandma and Grandmother, what are you doing here? It’s so hot, why not stay inside and enjoy the air conditioning."
"Can’t get used to that thing, it’s bone-chilling. The natural breeze is more comfortable. Eh? Where’s Han Han?"
Grandma looked behind Lin Yi, but beside Li Huiqun, did not spot Xiao Zihan, so she asked.
However, Grandma Xiao, not seeing Xiao Zihan, didn’t seem disappointed and continued smiling at Lin Yi.
"Zihan is at school. I just came back to deal with some matters and stopped by to see you..."