BSI Chapter 53 Breakthrough
Chapter 53 Breakthrough
The next morning, Zhang Lei saw the document sent by Su Chen.
He spent two hours verifying the new parameters in the simulation environment. The results were completely consistent with the data sent by Su Chen.
Then he took Xiao Chen and another engineer and flashed the new firmware onto the F3 engineering prototype, and took it to an open space in an industrial area near Shenzhen for field testing.
Shenzhen's July weather provides natural extreme testing conditions—a ground temperature of 36 degrees Celsius, hot winds blowing in from time to time, and the electromagnetic environment of the industrial area.
The F3 flew for two hours under these conditions.
The result was that all indicators met the standards.
Zhang Lei sent the test report that afternoon, the last line of which read: "President Su, when did you make this optimization? Our team has been stuck on this module for two weeks."
Su Chen did not answer the question. He only replied, "Next, we'll take all the remaining test items to the actual testing sites. I've already arranged three test locations—Shenzhen, Qingyuan, and Huizhou. The tests will be conducted in parallel at all three locations."
"Three engineering prototypes are needed to run simultaneously on three different sites," Zhang Lei said.
"It's all arranged. Xiao Chen will take one machine to Qingyuan, the new engineer Xiao Liu will take one machine to Huizhou, and you'll stay in Shenzhen. The data from the three sites will be cross-compiled every afternoon at 4 PM."
Zhang Lei didn't say anything more. He could sense that Su Chen was very different today—a sense of urgency as if he had placed all his bets.
The next two weeks were the most hectic period for Su Chen since his rebirth.
During the day, he handles the company's daily operations—managing the ground sales team, maintaining the dealer network, connecting with new customers for the plant protection SDK, and negotiating channel agreements with Ding Dean.
That evening, he entered the virtual disassembly lab to continuously optimize every detail of the F3 firmware—resisting sudden gusts of wind, heat dissipation algorithms during continuous high-temperature flight, and power compensation for batteries in low-temperature environments.
Every optimization was sent to Zhang Lei that evening, and then verified simultaneously at three venues the next day.
This parallel mode of "optimizing at night and testing during the day" has reduced the testing progress by three times.
Two weeks later, all of F3's harsh environment tests were completed.
Zhang Lei's summary report consisted of only one sentence: "All indicators met the standards. F3 can now enter mass production preparation."
When Su Chen saw this sentence, the floor beneath his feet seemed to become a little more stable.
The first question is solved.
With the technical issues of F3 resolved, the next problem is funding.
A shortfall of three million.
On another evening, Su Chen sat in his office and listed all possible sources of funding on a piece of paper.
Series B funding—No. Absolutely not. The system's red lines cannot be crossed.
Bank loans – given Hongyuan's current profit margin and growth rate, it could potentially secure some credit. However, the bank approval process takes at least a month, which is beyond our timeframe.
The advance payment for the Toyota channel agreement is approximately 800,000 yuan. However, the agreement has not yet been signed, so it cannot be considered a guaranteed income.
The cumulative profit for the next two months is approximately 2.4 million. This is certain.
Two million four hundred thousand + eight hundred thousand ≈ three million two hundred thousand. Just enough.
But the prerequisite is that Toyota's agreement must be signed within these two months.
Su Chen picked up the phone and dialed Ding De'an.
"Mr. Ding, could you expedite the process of finalizing the channel agreement?"
Ding De'an didn't ask why. He had been in business for over thirty years and could sense the urgency in Su Chen's tone.
"President Su, I've reviewed the agreement text. There's one main detail still under internal discussion—the minimum guaranteed sales volume for the first year."
"What number?"
"My internal opinion is that the number should not be less than three hundred units per year."
Three hundred units. Based on a retail price of 18,000 yuan, the total sales revenue is 5.4 million yuan. Ding De'an's channel service fee is 300 yuan per unit, totaling 90,000 yuan annually. This figure represents very low risk for Toyota.
"Three hundred units is no problem," Su Chen said. "Based on the current sales speed of plant protection products this season, three hundred units is a conservative estimate."
"I'll send you the text of the agreement this week. If there are no problems, we'll sign it next week."
"Okay. Thank you, Mr. Ding."
After hanging up the phone, Su Chen drew a line on the paper.
Toyota agreement – to be signed next week – advance payment received.
The funding gap will be filled.
There is a solution to the second question.
The third remaining question is that the service capabilities of the plant protection SDK team cannot keep up with the growth rate of customers.
Su Chen wrote a line on the paper:
[Hiring 2 people: 1 SDK Account Manager + 1 Technical Support Engineer]
Then he added a line below:
[Temporary solution: Have Xiao Zhou from Xiangtian concurrently serve as the technical support coordinator for the four provinces – he knows the agricultural machinery factory's infrastructure better than we do]
This is a clever arrangement. Liu Gang's technical director, Xiao Zhou, has been in the agricultural machinery industry for over ten years and has no trouble getting to know any of the manufacturers. Making him the intermediary for technical support is more suitable than anyone else.
Su Chen dialed the number to Liu Gang.
"Mr. Liu, there's something I'd like to discuss with you. Could you perhaps let Xiao Zhou take on the additional responsibility of coordinating technical support for our plant protection SDK across the four provinces? He's most familiar with the agricultural machinery factory environment. We'll pay him a separate service fee."
Liu Gang thought for a moment: "No problem. Xiao Zhou has always been interested in this area. But I have one condition."
"explain."
"Could Hongyuan notify Xiangtian in advance of SDK version updates? We need to spend time doing hardware compatibility testing. Currently, we often only find out about SDK updates after they've been released, causing Xiangtian's products to always be a version behind others."
"Okay. From now on, you'll notify Xiangtian one week in advance of each update."
"make a deal."
Su Chen hung up the phone and wrote "Solved" after the third question on the paper.
Three questions.
F3 technology breakthrough – solved.
Funding gap – there is a solution (awaiting Toyota's agreement signing).
SDK service capabilities - resolved.
Su Chen leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while.
I've only been sleeping four hours a day for the past two weeks. I'm so exhausted I feel dizzy.
But he knew what he was doing.
The F3 will go into mass production in two months. Tianying's new product will be released in three months. Hongyuan needs to enter the market a month earlier than Tianying—to let small businesses in the county see Hongyuan's products before Tianying's "durable" marketing offensive is launched.
The first player to enter the game defines the rules. Later players can only follow.
Su Chen fell asleep while looking out the window at the sky. In July in Shenzhen, the night sky was so pale that no stars could be seen, only the lights of Longhua District stretched out in a continuous expanse.
Fifteen months ago, there was only one small factory on the verge of bankruptcy under these lights.
Now it is a flight control platform company that is about to launch its third-generation product, whose plant protection flight control covers more than ten agricultural machinery manufacturers, and whose overseas companies are actively seeking it out.
Su Chen knew that this story was far from over.
F3 is just the beginning of the next chapter.
Plant protection ecology is just the beginning of the second curve.
Southeast Asia is just the beginning of internationalization.
However, industrial inspection—the third curve mentioned by Shen Yumeng—has not yet been launched.
The road ahead is still long.
But Su Chen wasn't in a hurry at all.
Because the direction is right. And if the direction is right, all that's needed is time.
Su Chen turned off the lights.
There's still a lot to do tomorrow.