In 2004, John, along with two partners, founded a workshop. As sales engineers in the field of automation, they constantly endeavored to convince clients to switch from Siemens to Mitsubishi or from Omron to Siemens to facilitate business transactions. The automation machines they produced were utilized in various industries such as shoe manufacturing, furniture production, plastic casing production, and brewing, with clients located all around the world.
Facing fierce competition, they worked tirelessly to make ends meet.
However, the Chinese market proved to be particularly unique, where customer choices were often driven by relationships and kickbacks rather than quality and price. They spent a significant amount of time "serving" these clients, but the profits earned were meager. Despite their best efforts, they could barely scrape by, earning only $5 from the original PLC that cost $220.
On a rainy night, a customer insulted them publicly. This prompted them to negotiate with distributors of renowned brands in order to earn higher profits. The response they received was disheartening: "No, No, you have no choice. You can only earn little profit because end users choose the brand, not you. Well-known brand factories earn 40% profit, distributors earn 10% profit, but you only earn 2% profit!"
Shocked by this revelation, they, who possessed university degrees and were engineers, realized their hard work was seemingly worthless. They began contemplating a change, striving for a more dignified life. Pooling together $10,000, they embarked on the production of their own PLC. However, they soon discovered that the funds were insufficient, forcing them to take on various roles such as being PLC instructors and part-time couriers to generate enough capital for PLC production.