Chapter 61: Discussion on New Processes

"That's right. Next, we only need to design the corresponding production process and adjust the production lines, and we can begin mass production."

Su Xin smiled, then patted his forehead:

"Oh, right, I just remembered. I have my own secretary now, so I won't trouble you with these small matters. You go ahead and get back to your work; I'll have Secretary Feng help me arrange the patent company."

Liu Qingli remained foolishly stunned on the spot.

After acquiring Wanhua Energy and entering the new energy battery industry, although she did not think Su Xin could achieve anything, she had still spent quite a bit of effort to understand the industry knowledge in this field.

Therefore, she was very clear about how difficult the research and development of Solid-state Battery Technology was, how high its value was, and how profound its significance was.

She had never believed that Su Xin could achieve any technological breakthrough in solid-state batteries on his own, let alone fully develop a complete set of technology for solid-state batteries that could be used for mass production.

One must know that the world's top several major car companies and new energy manufacturers were all currently researching Solid-state Battery Technology, investing massive amounts of manpower and capital into it, and spending a great deal of time in an intense and fierce scientific research race.

Yet, up until now, none of the companies had produced any truly convincing plan; even their development paths and directions were somewhat chaotic, and the electrolytes and positive/negative electrode materials were still being explored, let alone clearly usable technology.

And Su Xin, he actually claimed to already have the full set of technology and could mass-produce it at any time?

It was equivalent to the major car companies still fumbling and learning how to walk, while Su Xin was already prepared to take long strides and run; such a level of technology was almost an era ahead of the major car companies.

Moreover, it only took one week?

Such an absurd thing—if it hadn't come from Su Xin's own mouth, if Su Xin didn't have the precedent of independently developing the Tiantian Assistant, and if she didn't know Su Xin quite well, her first reaction would likely have been to suspect that Su Xin was bragging.

When she finally came back to her senses, she discovered that Su Xin had already hung up the phone at some point.

She took a deep breath.

Liu Qingli suppressed the surging thoughts in her heart and began to rethink the company's strategic planning.

She knew that Su Xin would not lie about such things, so the solid-state battery technology must truly be mature; the next step was to adjust the production lines and prepare for large-scale mass production.

As the company chairman, sole shareholder, and also the top technician, Su Xin had already cleared the most important technical hurdles.

Then, as the company's CEO, she needed to adjust the company's strategy as soon as possible based on this epoch-making solid-state battery technology, make plans for all aspects in advance, and cooperate with Su Xin to clear away all obstacles so as to occupy the market as quickly as possible.

Thinking of this, Liu Qingli immediately put down all the work at hand and began to re-formulate the development strategic plan for Tianqi Energy.

On the other side.

After Su Xin organized the technical documents, he arranged for his secretary Feng Haifeng and bodyguard Xiang Lianyun to find a well-known patent agency company and rush to various parts of the world to urgently register international patents.

So-called patents are equivalent to exchanging the disclosure of technology for legal protection.

The reason Su Xin did not apply for a patent for the Tiantian Assistant back then, but only registered it for the record, was because the technology of the Tiantian Assistant was significantly ahead of others, and it also contained his own unique ideas that no one else could ever research the same thing, so there was no need to disclose the technology.

But the solid-state batteries developed now, although the technology was ahead of the major car companies, had a development direction that was much the same as theirs; those companies would likely be able to research it in a few years anyway, so there was absolutely no need to keep this kind of technology secret, and applying for a patent was the safest approach.

After sending his secretary off to get busy.

Su Xin gathered several management members and senior engineers from the Apocalypse Energy Factory to discuss the adjustment of production processes and production lines.

The formulation of production processes must consider the actual situation; for example, regarding the most important Sulfide Solid Electrolyte, Su Xin had indeed manufactured mass-producible finished products in the Laboratory, but in actual mass production operations, there were multiple preparation methods for Sulfide Solid Electrolyte, and which one was the most convenient and simple, had the lowest cost, and the least loss—these all needed to be considered based on the actual situation.

For other various new materials, the most suitable preparation and processing plans also had to be considered.

These required discussions with frontline engineers and the factory's grassroots management, rather than something he could imagine on his own.

After Su Xin gathered everyone, he did not reveal that he had already developed the solid-state battery, but only let everyone discuss together how to adjust the production lines based on this sulfide material.

Hearing his request, the several management members and senior engineers present could not help but look at each other.

They were all industry insiders, and the moment they heard what Su Xin wanted to produce, they naturally thought of solid-state battery electrolyte materials first.

However, they dared not believe in any way that after taking over the factory for only one week, Su Xin could actually develop a mass-producible solid-state battery.

"Perhaps the boss is preparing to produce something else?"

The few of them thought this way.

Although they didn't even believe this thought themselves—after all, this was a battery factory; besides producing battery materials, what else could they produce? Surely they weren't going to change industries?

But in their view, no matter how unreliable this thought was, it was still more credible than mass-producing solid-state batteries.

The few of them did not show the confusion and doubt in their hearts, but instead earnestly cooperated with Su Xin to think about the production process plan; in any case, if there were problems in the end, it was the boss himself who wanted to do it this way.

One of the senior engineers said:

"For this kind of sulfide material, the most common preparation methods currently are the Melt Method, the High-energy Ball Milling Method, and the Liquid Phase Method. But if it is for large-scale mass production, the Melt Method is definitely the most cost-effective among them. The processing equipment it requires is not high-tech, the process is not complicated, and the modification of the production line is not difficult. As long as the equipment is in place, it can be modified and debugged in at most half a month, and the yield rate is no worse than the other two methods."

"Employee training is also very simple. After all, the entire production process hasn't changed much; it only takes two days to modify the original process flow instruction manual, and then just a simple one-week training."

"Sulfide materials have significant toxicity. Planning a separate warehouse, establishing a separate requisition process, training specialized warehouse management personnel, and obtaining operation certificates will take about half a month or so."

"The processing flow for this new positive electrode material is not much different from the original material, so the production line doesn't need major changes; it only needs fine-tuning of the process."

Having a rare opportunity to make an appearance in front of the new boss, the other few people also expressed their opinions one after another.

At this time, the factory manager Li Yongxian hesitated and said:

"Boss, the costs for these adjustments to the production lines are indeed not too high, and the factory still has some funds, which should barely be enough."

"But the biggest problem is that we only have two cell production lines. If we want to adjust and modify the production lines, we must shut down at least one, which will seriously affect our current production efficiency and delay our delivery schedule. If we cause a breach of contract, we will need to pay huge liquidated damages."

"These are the biggest costs of modifying the production lines."