On the other end of the phone was Zhao Xiaojie, the director of the purchasing department. He was a veteran of the Sanqing Dynasty. He was always dedicated to his work and completed his tasks well without making any mistakes.
Zhao Xiaojie's voice sounded a little panicked at first, but he quickly calmed down.
“Mr. , the goods arrived very smoothly, so I signed an order with them for the third batch later.
"The third batch is mainly prepared for the scientific research team and postdoctoral fellows of the National Key Laboratory, and was originally intended to be installed in the new headquarters."
"The first two batches arrived on time, but the third batch has not arrived, and now it has exceeded the arrival date agreed in the contract."
"I have been urging the manufacturer to ship on time since three months ago. The manufacturer has promised well and said that there will be no delay. But every time the delivery time is approaching, they make excuses."
"The first time he said that the factory was on fire and it would take time to renovate. The second time he said that the workers were on strike, which was simply ridiculous. The third time he said that it was too difficult to book shipping and that it would be changed to land transportation. Then after a while, he said that the train could not be booked. , have to wait in line again for the warehouse, and so on.”
"It has been delayed for almost a month now, and I have not received any shipping information. Now I have to contact them once a day, but the reason given to me is always waiting in line for the shipping date."
"I feel something is wrong now. Something may have gone wrong. This is definitely not normal business behavior."
Wei Kang snorted coldly and said: "Of course this is not normal. But didn't you make any preparation plan?"
Zhao Xiaojie said quickly: "I have been contacting other manufacturers since the first postponement. I have contacted Thermo Fisher and Roche, but they both said that if I place an order now, the fastest delivery date will be half a year later."
"Mr. Wei, you also know that in the field of gene sequencing, Illumina is the industry leader with a high market share. Moreover, all our machines are from Illumina, and the supporting reagents are also from the same company. If we suddenly switch to another manufacturer, There may be problems.”
"As long as we have cooperated well in the past, there have been no problems. Machine maintenance and reagent purchase have been very smooth. They also attach great importance to their customers and often send people to visit for maintenance."
"Mr. Wei, it's my fault this time. I didn't foresee this situation and make a response plan."
After Wei Kang heard this, he suddenly felt strange in his heart. He naturally saw that this manufacturer was deliberately playing tricks, and none of the other alternative manufacturers was willing to take over.
Usually, these manufacturers will do anything to grab orders and are very happy to express their sincerity.
You know, the order schedule in each manufacturer's hands is very flexible. It is a normal unspoken industry rule to move the order order for large customers. But this time they didn't even want the order delivered to their door. Dismiss people as a matter of routine.
This is certainly due to Zhao Xiaojie's lack of awareness of worries and poor alternative plans, but the hidden meaning of these Western manufacturers seems to be obvious.
Is this a joint effort to target the Three Purities?
Wei Kang tapped his fingers on the balcony railing and couldn't help but fall into thought.
Gene sequencing uses sequencing equipment to determine the sequence of bases in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), thereby deciphering the genetic code of DNA and providing guidance for life science research, clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Gene sequencers are essential equipment for genetic testing and are currently mainly used in clinical testing and scientific research services.
This industry is different from the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is full of heroes, and the top ten giants in the industry are not far behind each other.
However, the gene sequencing industry has formed an oligopoly structure. Illumina is mainly engaged in the production and sales of gene sequencers and reagents, accounting for more than 90% of the global market share. The second and third largest companies in the industry are Thermo Fisher and Roche respectively. , sharing the remaining market share together.
Illumina's largest product line is Qualcomm sequencers, which is also the instrument ordered by Sanqing this time.
High-throughput sequencer is one of the biggest revolutionary technologies in life sciences in recent years. Its emergence and development have greatly accelerated the entire process of biological research, and also changed the application fields and the ideas of clinical research and diagnosis.
Since the advent of the first-generation sequencing technology, there are currently four generations of gene sequencing technology on the market. However, the second-generation sequencing technology born in 2005 still occupies the mainstream in the global market, because Mina has built deep technical barriers by relying on its monopoly advantage.
For a long time, almost all domestic gene sequencers have been imported from it, but Sanqing has always ordered the latest instruments, and it can only choose Illumina products.
As a core tool of life science and technology, gene sequencer has absolute barriers to entry. In a sense, it is not only the pinnacle of technology in the field of life sciences, but also the mother of this industry. Its value is no less than that of chip manufacturing and space engineering. technology.
The research and development of gene sequencers places extremely high requirements on the quality of relevant personnel. R&D personnel must be familiar with many complex subjects such as biology, physics, chips, and precision machinery. At the same time, its manufacturing process is quite complex, and breakthroughs cannot be achieved overnight and can be easily copied.
Gene sequencers are a typical hard technology that integrates software and hardware and are a decoder of life data for humans, animals and plants.
It not only has a wide range of application scenarios in new drug research and development, genetic research, and clinical treatment, but also plays a key supporting role in the research and application of animal and plant genomics in the agricultural field.
It can be said that it is the "lithography machine" of life sciences.
Broadly speaking, lithography machines and gene sequencers have similar patterns in terms of sequences in the technology tree.
One is based on silicon and the other is based on carbon. They are the two key keys to solve the question of "where does human civilization come from and where does it go?" so far.
The former is a sophisticated device for transforming the physical world externally; the latter is a core tool for unlocking life science internally.
Just like ASML's monopoly in the field of lithography machines, Illumina is also the well-deserved industry leader in the gene sequencer industry.
With such a nationally important technology in the hands of one company, one can imagine what kind of impact it will have on downstream manufacturers when it secretly controls orders.
Wei Kang couldn't help but think of the legendary Bangguo Two-Star Group, whose factories were always on fire. Then he looked at the many lame excuses that Imina had made, and a sneer appeared on his face.
He said flatly: "The current situation is obvious that we are being targeted."
"This is a long-planned conspiracy to cut off supply, and it is a conspiracy implemented by the entire genetic sequencing industry."
"Sanqing has offended many people. Perhaps the price limit order has angered other pharmaceutical companies, or perhaps the progress of genetic medicine has made the West uneasy."
"In short, they chose gene sequencers as their target after careful selection, because this is a monopoly industry, so we have no other choice, and in the end we have to give in."
"Whether they want to delay our R&D progress, disgust us or threaten us, their goal has been achieved."
"I have a hunch that this is just the first step. There will be countless conspiracies and killer moves waiting for us later."
"Since Western countries are unwilling to sell goods to us, we must make plans early and respond as soon as possible."
"Old Zhao, do we have any other choice?"
(End of chapter)
