The One Behind It All Chapter 13

Research and development work is proceeding in an orderly manner. There is no air conditioning in the building, only ceiling fans. People sweat profusely under the high temperature of the machines and work day and night, designing and making circuit boards, telephone consoles, welding circuit boards, writing software, debugging, modifying, and re-debugging. Smoking when you are tired, taking medicine when you are sick, lying on the table or sleeping on the floor for a while when you are really sleepy, and then continue working when you wake up. Sometimes I would sleep until a sudden delivery arrived in the middle of the night, and I would get up immediately and unload the heavy equipment before going back to sleep. There were too many mosquitoes at night, so the employees on duty covered themselves from head to toe with the plastic packaging used to cover the cabinets, and then dug several holes in their faces to ensure breathing. Now they were no longer afraid of mosquitoes.

It doesn't matter if the office conditions are a little tough, just endure it for a while, but the company is still facing a shortage of funds. The product has been developed and needs special testing equipment for testing. What should I do if I don’t have money to buy the equipment?

This is not difficult for Aiden and his partners. They gave full play to their ingenuity and used some native methods instead. Technicians use multimeters and oscilloscopes to test switches, and use magnifying glasses to inspect thousands of solder joints on circuit boards. When encountering a large traffic test of a switch, everyone is often called together and each person picks up two telephone microphones at the same time to test the performance of the equipment. People test during the day and hold meetings at night to discuss solutions. After the equipment is tested, everyone present, regardless of whether they are workers or managers, or whether they have a college degree or a doctorate, work together to pack the equipment, nail the angle irons, and move it, load it, and ship it. Although the environment is difficult, people are full of confidence in the future and are motivated to move forward. An engineer was so tired that his cornea fell off and he had to be hospitalized for surgery.

Not buying test equipment can save money, but Huawei's cash flow is still very tight, and it has encountered obstacles everywhere when trying to borrow money. Even the contract advance payment that has just been received has been invested in production and development. There are constant calls, telegrams, and faxes from customers all over the world, and everyone at Huawei feels unprecedented pressure. At that time, Huawei's wages were not high, and there were no subsidies or overtime pay. It was unable to pay wages for six consecutive months and had to borrow loan sharks at an annual interest rate of 24% to develop products and pay employees. Shareholders including Aiden not only There is no profit, but you have to keep emptying your own pockets to keep the company running. It is the dedication of the older generation of Huawei people to "produce first, live later" that allowed the company to survive the most difficult years and create the Huawei that is developing its ambitions today.

Aiden goes to the site almost every day to check the production and development progress, holds meetings to study the difficulties faced, and divides labor to coordinate and solve various problems. When it was time for dinner, Aiden and the company leaders would have dinner with everyone at the food stall, and the person with the highest position would pay for everyone's meal.