Written by / Windsor
Edit/ Wong Tai Lu
Design / Zhao Haoran
Anxiety, anxiety, or anxiety.
Since March 28, Ying Yilun has been counting the days every day. If there is no epidemic, he does not know which city he is in, most likely Nanjing and Xiamen, where there are PATEO production bases; it may also be Wuhan or Beijing, visiting partners, he firmly believes that people need face-to-face communication; or airport lounges, more than 200 flights per year for many years, making him a VVVIP customer of an airline.
But for the past 35 days, he has only been able to stay at home, with little good news from the weChat bombing of his mobile phone and news on TV.
Another employee tested positive for nucleic acid, which was the fourth of PATEO's 400 employees, one of whom had 5 yangs and 1 yin in his home; the business-related U shield was sealed in the company building, which meant that wages could not be paid on time; the computer used to log in to the tax system for invoicing was also sealed in the company, and it was impossible to pay back without invoicing...
In the outside world, behind the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is the great power game, the international situation is surging; the A-share market has fallen again and again, and the Shanghai Composite Index has finally broken through the 3,000-point mark on April 25; under the lack of core suspension, it is expected that the Chinese auto market will fall by more than 40% in April; the number of positive patients in Shanghai is still increasing every day, and this wave of epidemic does not know when it will end...
On April 30, Buffett, the god of stocks, frequently said at the shareholders' meeting that the 92-year-old had an epiphany after experiencing several financial crises: When fighting inflation, the best investment is to invest in yourself. In Shanghai under the epidemic, tens of millions of people joined the fitness army, Liu Qihong girl turned out to be born, and in one month, the number of fans of the former "past artist" Douyin exceeded 50 million.
Similarly, for the founder of a business, the best way to combat anxiety is not to lie flat, but to move.
As the founder and chairman of The PATEO Car Networking, Ying Yilun is in meetings every day, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. customers leave work, two hours long, half an hour short, no commuting time, cut off the need for socializing, he still makes himself busy as always, and even the pace of work has become faster, and the extra time has become a meeting.
"It's a wheel war, and I sometimes don't have time to drink." Ying Yilun sighed. If life in the pandemic is described as a battle, then offense is the best defense, and in his words, he is leading the team to "save itself." Full of crisis awareness, always put yourself in a state of battle, this is the basic quality of entrepreneurs.
After stepping out of the house, looking at the sun and blooming flowers that have risen overhead, people sigh about the spring stolen by the epidemic, but for Ying Yilun and his leader Oftei, time is never wasted.
After three years, PATEO hoards goods like a hoarder
In 2022, three years after the new crown era.
"Now it's the stock market, the market where you live and die." In May 2020, Dr. Jia Ke, editor-in-chief of Automotive Business Review, visited PATEO headquarters in the center of Shanghai in the first time after the unsealing of Shanghai, when the first wave of the Wuhan epidemic had just passed, And Yilun was in a good mood, but it was difficult to hide his anxiety, "We feel that the company must first survive the cold winter, and the epidemic and economic situation, including the future changes in the country, are difficult to predict." ”
Revisited three years later, Ying Yilun said that decisions should be made based on the worst-case scenario. You can't just rely on foreign information to make decisions, otherwise you will eventually destroy the enterprise.
Seeing the risks that others do not see, foreseeing opportunities that others do not foresee, one of the values of founders lies in this. Three years ago, PATEO set up an emergency management committee, Ying Yilun as the director of the committee, under the establishment of 6 organizations, namely: chip supply team, customer recognition team, long-term material tracking team, logistics emergency team, production base team, overseas mobile team.
In three years, the epidemic has become normalized, and Under the leadership of Ying Yilun, Botai has passed the three hurdles of the Wuhan epidemic, chip shortage and zero outbreak stage.
"In the past year, not a single customer has stopped production because it was PATEO... We are very fortunate that so far the chip is not out of stock, which is also testing the company's system capabilities, establishing customer credit, and bringing some new business opportunities. Zhang Yi, executive vice president of Botai Car Networking, said proudly.
During the epidemic period, the production line shipment task was completed and delivery was guaranteed
After tasting the sweetness of hoarding goods, PATEO recently allocated 50 million yuan again to preemptively purchase a batch of materials judged to be high-risk areas. "This is the same as family hoarding, so as not to be caught off guard." Ying Yilun said.
In times of crisis, it is the foresight and decision-making ability of leaders that test their corporate culture.
There were 5 cases of positive employees in the family were sealed in the building, PATEO urgently sent daily necessities, epidemic prevention materials, including medicines to their communities; other employees who were sealed at home and had difficulties in life also received the company's love package; during the factory closure period, PATEO prepared dormitories and bedding for employees, and in the face of severe tests, PATEO showed a warm side of humanity.
The PATEO factory area is closed to ensure the quality of life of employees during the sealing period
In the 13 years since its establishment, PATEO's salary has never stopped, even in difficult times. Ying Yilun did not agree to the plan of two weeks late payment of financial salaries, and finally through the cooperation of the building's left-behind security guards and the company's supply chain staff, PATEO took the U disk out of the office safe and found a way to send it to the financial community to ensure that the salary was paid on time on April 8, and the ring was not broken for 13 years.
The problem of invoicing was also solved by means of a system with the help of software pre-installed on the remote desktop. PATEO and the customer partner recently changed the payment method, signed a warehousing settlement contract, and settled according to the car that came down the assembly line. "This ensures that as long as we can deliver the goods to the depot, we can get the relevant fees - which is not particularly large for the science and technology enterprises." Ying Yilun explained.
Unity of thought has also been completed within the company during the pandemic, with teams working from top to bottom, with executives taking the lead in salary cuts. In addition, the company suspended the recruitment plan, reduced the staffing, and improved the daily efficiency of the existing team.
"The general principle is that this team should be retained and we are confident in the future. We believe that winter will soon pass and, more importantly, when spring comes, the company will survive. Ying Yilun said.
Self-built fleet, PATEO shouldered 4 times the logistics cost
"We want to make sure that we do everything that we have to do for our customers, for our employees, and for society." Ying Yilun said.
Shouldering corporate responsibilities during the pandemic, PATEO is also experiencing challenges. Throughout April, Shanghai, the epicenter of China's auto industry, pressed the pause button, and supply chains became the biggest problem. With the recurrence of the epidemic, PATEO has formed an epidemic response mechanism, but even if the difficulties can be foreseen, the sealing and control of the headquarters still makes it more difficult for PATEO.
As a Tier 1 parts supplier in the automotive industry, PATEO has nearly 100 upstream and downstream partners, screens, various components, connectors, molds, plastic parts and other parts distributed in different cities and regions in China, logistics is a key part of the series.
Supply chain materials have been sanitize many times
"How to transport thousands of upstream parts of PATEO to our factory for assembly is the first difficulty of logistics; the second difficulty is how to transport the complete equipment to the car company for assembly; the third difficulty is how to settle into funds after transportation." Ying Yilun realized that every level is difficult.
Even more worrying is the fact that there is always someone out. Some suppliers have not survived this spring, some suppliers can not even find the boss, some suppliers are still in the last attempt, but they can last another month or two months is unknown.
"The whole supply chain is facing some level of disruption, which is a dilemma that has never been encountered before. This dilemma is far greater than the epidemic in Wuhan that year. "We can only see who persists to the end, we do our best to do it, in fact, we see more and more uncertainty, not less and less." ”
In order to combat uncertainty, PATEO came up with a bottom-up plan, such as building its own fleet, the two logistics fleets are Both of PATEO's own cars, their own drivers, in Shanghai, Nanjing, Xiamen, Wuhan and Chengdu and other areas for short-distance connection and special car transportation. In addition, PATEO strengthens cooperation with large logistics companies across the country to ensure that raw materials arrive in a timely manner and production is constantly filed.
PATEO built its own logistics fleet, adhering to the mission of guaranteeing supply
In PATEO's view, the formation of the fleet is not only to solve the company's own supply problems, in essence, it will help the upstream and downstream enterprises of the entire supply chain in more dimensions, and then help related enterprises to dredge the industrial chain problems in the entire industry.
Under the epidemic, society needs heroes, but overcoming many difficulties and difficulties to ensure normal supply and operation, PATEO has paid a huge price for this, and the high cost is all absorbed by the company itself. "Logistics costs have increased by about 300%-400%, which used to be a truckload of goods a day, and now it may be divided into six truckloads of goods and six drivers for 4-6 days." Ying Yilun said.
Manpower, material resources and logistics costs are all growing, and the logistics time that used to take only 1 day has now become 4 or 5 days. This is equivalent to the original one person running 400 meters, now it has become a relay race for 4 people, each running 100 meters, or even more.
For suppliers, logistics is not their job, but "to ensure that factories don't stop production, we can only do it". Ying Yilun said that PATEO has launched a wartime management system within itself, "now is a special state, not a normal state at all", and they are even ready to stick to the limit state for several months.
"We have no complaints, and the first thing any business is to operate is risk." Ying Yilun said, but every day he is looking forward to the early easing of the epidemic in Shanghai. A grain of ash of the times, falling on the head of an individual, is a mountain, the strength of a person and an enterprise is small, should Yilun call on the government in the later stage to introduce relevant policies, to give innovative enterprises, private enterprises a certain amount of support.
Expanding against the trend, new business logic is about to come out
If you don't go crazy, you can't live.
People familiar with Ying Yilun know that his speech speed is very fast, his tone is extremely infectious, and if you add whimsical content, it often brings the listener into his world. Before making others believe, we must first make ourselves believe that in 2009, when we entered the automotive industry, Ying Yilun has a fanatical love and determination for smart cars.
"We hope that smart cars will spark a revolution in China's industry, not just sell a few cars." In a 2015 interview with Automotive Business Review, Ying Yilun pointed out, "In the next five years, China's auto industry will lead Europe and the Americas, and the latter will replicate China." ”
The original good expectations are becoming a reality, China has gradually become the vanguard of the global intelligent electrification transformation, riding on the east wind of industry change, The customers of The PATEO Car Networking cover nearly 30 automotive brands such as luxury, joint venture, and independent, and the company's three intelligent vehicle terminal product production lines have an annual production capacity of 1 million sets.
Despite the impact of the epidemic in the first quarter, the output value still increased by more than 20% over the same period last year. Ying Yilun is extremely determined that the intelligent network business has huge room for growth, and he plans to introduce a fourth production line in June, which will reach a production volume of 1.2 million units a year after the introduction. Then it is expected that by the end of 2023, there will be 8 production lines.
No winter is insurmountable, no spring will not come, as Ying Yilun believes, the epidemic will eventually pass, but this period will also leave something for everyone.
On April 11, Mr. Sun, an owner of a residential area in Puxi, Shanghai, took the initiative to take out 12 bottles of Coke and put them in the lobby of the building to share with neighbors. Then 12 bottles of Coke began a wonderful journey of "bartering". The heart-warming scene in the epidemic occurred in the community where Ying Yilun lived.
The neighborhood, which is close at hand, has become the warmest light in spring. Taking advantage of the opportunity of home isolation, he also enjoyed the pleasure of being absent for a long time, playing chess, TV, and chatting with his family, "to some extent, this is also a kind of value-added to life", Ying Yilun has time to rediscover the beauty of life, and more importantly, he has time to think.
Ying Yilun finally had time to look up at the sky and accompany his family
But at the moment, the epidemic is still in great uncertainty, no one knows when the epidemic will end, how it will end, and what kind of world we will usher in after the end. The threshold for entrepreneurship is getting higher and higher, and a passionate and vast era seems to be far away from us, and how to deal with those who are in it.
"The uncertainty about the future is still large and will be getting bigger and bigger. How do you jump out of the dimension of the past few decades of your life, stand on a new dimension, or stand on a challenging dimension to rethink the family, enterprise development, and industrial process, this is a new exam question. The time I was at home gave me a lot of opportunities to think late at night. ”
Ying Yilun said that he still has not thought through it, because he realizes that the problems faced by an entrepreneur are limited and have boundaries, while the problems faced by a company that is growing rapidly are borderless and disorderly, and the experience of the past few decades and the logic of thinking about problems cannot give solutions to the problems.
"I need to rethink a new logic of business operation, which can only be firmly established as the times continue to evolve." He said. In May, Shanghai began to enter the dynamic zeroing stage, the current hurdle is about to pass again, Ying Yilun will soon resume the life of trapeze artists, with a new thinking to meet new challenges.
This article was originally produced by Automotive Business Review
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