The Story of New EDFC

Episode 4 【 Meeting the Needs 】

"Sugiyama, we can not sell this."

Mihara said with no remorse, looking at the prototype that Sugiyama and Nakano had prepared after much trial and error.
"Why? What you don't like about it?
Sugiyama raised his voice a bit.
"EDFC remains a long-selling product for 10 years."
"It's only natural for people expect a lot for its new model."
"I'm sorry to say but this auto-adjust function falls short of such expectations."
"Make it react sooner. I mean instantly."

Both Sugiyama and Nakano had confidence in this prototype, but they were now completely silent.
After a short while, Nakano finally spoke.
"OK. We could probably do that."
Nakano continued.
"But the cost would go up."

"No! Can't do that!"
Sugiyama interrupted immediately.
"Something just simply good does not sell these days. Price is also the important factor."
All three got lost in deep thought, while still seating in the test car parked right in front of R&D building.

All of a sudden, Sugiyama's boss opened the door and climbed into the car.
"Let's go for a drive."
Mihara started the car right away.
"Mihara, do you think this sells well?"

"I think it's rather difficult, to be honest. We were just talking about that now."

"Nakano, can't you do something about this slow response?"

"We can make improvements, but the cost would be higher."

"Well, Sugiyama, can you accept that added cost?"

"-----."
Knowing how far Nakano had come to this point, Sugiyama could not give immediate answer.

"Sugiyama, how much is the existing EDFC?"

"It's JPY39,500 for a set."

"OK. New EDFC comes with lots of added features but is JPY20-30K more expensive. Will you buy?"

"Well, no."

"JPY50K. You need to improve the response but the retail price has to be lower than JPY50K. Listen, Suyigama and Nakano, this is a must."
Those words hit Sugiyama and Nakano quite hard but at the same time served as a sort of trigger for them to take a step further.
"Yes, sir. We're going to make it happen."
The battle, Sugiyama and Nakano were facing, was now entering into the final stage.