Complete Solaria Inc (CSLR) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is T.J. Rodgers, and we're here to present the Complete Solaria third-quarter report.

午安.我的名字是 T.J.羅傑斯，我們在這裡介紹完整的 Solaria 第三季報告。

Starting at my left, I have Taner Ozcelik, who I'm going to introduce to you. He is going to take over as CEO of the company -- Brian Wuebbels who's our CFO. Will Anderson is the Founder and current CEO of the company. He will be remaining with the company. And me, I've been with the company since 2018, including the merger of the company I joined and Complete Solaria.

從我左邊開始是 Taner Ozcelik，我將向大家介紹他。他將接任公司執行長——布萊恩·烏貝爾斯（Brian Wuebbels），他是我們的財務長。威爾·安德森是該公司的創始人兼現任執行長。他將留在公司。而我呢，我從2018年開始就在這家公司工作，包括我加入的公司和Complete Solaria的合併。

Okay. This is -- I have the front page of the report. I'm going to show you a couple things, then some graphs, relatively short report. Summary is our revenue this quarter as a systems company, which we are completely now, is $24.6 million. And that's flattish down 4% from the prior quarter.

好的。這是——我有報告的首頁。我將向您展示一些內容，然後是一些圖表和相對簡短的報告。總結一下，作為一家系統公司，我們本季的收入（我們現在已經完全實現了）為 2460 萬美元。與上一季相比，下降了 4%。

We did have module sales on top of that. But given that we're getting out of that, that was reported as discontinued operations, not as revenue. Our gross margin was up nicely from 18% in the prior quarter to 25%, and we will have more progress to talk about on gross margin as we go through the pitch.

除此之外，我們確實有模組銷售。但考慮到我們正在擺脫這種情況，這被報告為停產業務，而不是收入。我們的毛利率從上一季的 18% 大幅上升至 25%，並且在我們進行比稿時，我們將在毛利率方面取得更多進展。

We sold the module business and transferred its employees to Maxeon. For our WIP and our people and our patents in that area, we got $10.2 million. The main event right now is leaning out the company using Toyota production system terms. We've had a second RIF of 68 people with annualized savings of $7.5 million.

我們出售了模組業務並將員工轉移到了 Maxeon。對於我們的 WIP、我們的員工以及我們在該領域的專利，我們獲得了 1020 萬美元。現在的主要事件是使用豐田生產系統術語對公司進行精益求精。我們已經有了第二個 RIF，共有 68 人，年儲蓄額為 750 萬美元。

All in all, when I get done describing the list of things we've done to reduce costs, were knocking on the door of cash flow breakeven. We'll show you some projections. And our bookings remained strong. We had $56.4 million in new contracts signed, and that was a record for the company.

總而言之，當我描述完我們為降低成本所做的一系列事情時，我們正在敲響現金流收支平衡的大門。我們將向您展示一些預測。我們的預訂依然強勁。我們簽署了 5,640 萬美元的新合同，這是公司的記錄。

On the first page of the report, I have this little mini spreadsheet which kind of talks about the things I get asked about all the time. So the obvious, revenue gross margin opinc, and then I'm talking about cash flow, cash balance. I'll refer to the non-GAAP numbers, the conciliation of GAAP.

在報告的第一頁上，我有一個小型電子表格，它講述了我一直被問到的事情。顯而易見的是，收入毛利率，然後我談論現金流、現金餘額。我將參考非公認會計原則數字，即公認會計原則的調解。

These are the GAAP -- is included in the report. We have Q2, Q3 coming off of Q2. And then something we usually don't do, we have a forecast for Q4. And we thought carefully about this forecast, given that we've had a bad record of making our forecast.

這些是公認會計準則—包含在報告中。我們有第二季和第三季。然後，我們通常不做的事情是，我們對第四季度進行了預測。鑑於我們做出預測的記錄不佳，我們仔細考慮了這個預測。

Okay. So our revenue was $24,590,000, down from $32 million, but there is a discontinued operation. I talked about gross margin up 7 points. We're forecasting that our -- well, I'll come back to the forecast in a minute. We lost $9 million, down from $15 million. Our cash flow was negative $884,000, about the same as last quarter. And our cash balance at the end of the quarter is $1,661,000.

好的。因此，我們的收入為 24,590,000 美元，低於 3,200 萬美元，但業務已停止。我談到毛利率提高7點。我們預測我們的——好吧，我稍後會回到預測。我們損失了 900 萬美元，低於 1500 萬美元。我們的現金流為負 884,000 美元，與上季大致相同。本季末我們的現金餘額為 1,661,000 美元。

Now the -- well, next is our forecast for the quarter. For reasons we'll explain inside, we've decided to ramp down the fab a little bit, primarily, to get it under control and install some quality systems. Our gross margin, due to cost reduction, is going to go up. Our opinc loss is going to get cut in half. We'll have modest cash flow and end up with about the same amount of cash as this quarter.

現在，接下來是我們對本季的預測。出於我們將在內部解釋的原因，我們決定稍微縮減工廠規模，主要是為了控制它並安裝一些品質系統。由於成本降低，我們的毛利率將會上升。我們的意見損失將減少一半。我們將擁有適度的現金流，最終的現金數量與本季大致相同。

Those of you out there might ask, how am I going to, after a quarter with $9 million loss and $1 million starting the quarter, maintain that balance? And the answer is given here. And this -- the cash flow, obviously, includes operational losses and also any funding.

你們中的一些人可能會問，在一個季度虧損 900 萬美元、本季虧損 100 萬美元之後，我該如何保持這種平衡？答案在這裡給出。顯然，現金流包括營運損失和任何資金。

So there was funding -- in this number, we've been funding the company like any startup. We got $10 million in a bridge to our SPAC in Q2. We got $19.5 million in SPAC itself in Q3. And the deal I just talked about is banked, and we got $10.15 million from Maxeon.

所以有資金——在這個數字上，我們一直像任何新創公司一樣為該公司提供資金。第二季度，我們獲得了 1000 萬美元的資金用於通往 SPAC 的橋樑。第三季度，我們透過 SPAC 獲得了 1,950 萬美元的資金。我剛才談到的交易已經完成，我們從 Maxeon 獲得了 1015 萬美元。

Now on these forecasts, we've been deliberately conservative, as I said, to make the quarter and do it right. But I do give ranges down here. So basically, the revenue we know pretty well already, and we've got a range that brackets that pretty tightly.

現在，正如我所說，在這些預測上，我們一直刻意保守，以確保本季的業績並做到正確。但我確實在這裡給出了範圍。所以基本上，我們已經非常了解收入，我們有一個非常嚴格的範圍。

Gross margin is a little bit less well controlled. We don't think it'll be below 32, and it could be as high as 40. Will will actually explain that to you. Our opinc is going to be a loss. Here we've got the exact number; there's the range.

毛利率控制得不好。我們認為它不會低於 32，而且可能會高達 40。實際上 Will 會向您解釋這一點。我們的觀點將是虧損。在這裡我們得到了確切的數字；這是範圍。

And here I've written $1 million cash flow minimum and $1 million end cash minimum. And what I mean there is our company is currently fundable without extraordinary cost. And we've got an agreement with current shareholders that they're going to keep us afloat for the next two quarters, actually, to the middle of next year.

在這裡，我寫了 100 萬美元的現金流量最低限額和 100 萬美元的最終現金最低限額。我的意思是，我們公司目前無需額外成本即可獲得資助。我們與現有股東達成協議，他們將使我們在接下來的兩個季度（實際上是到明年年中）維持下去。

And just do that because the price of stock right now is dilutive, and we're interested in keeping afloat. We're not interested in raising a bunch of money at very low prices. So this is the picture going forward.

這樣做是因為現在的股票價格是稀釋性的，而我們有興趣維持下去。我們對以極低的價格籌集大量資金不感興趣。這就是未來的情況。

Graph of revenue. So here I've got revenue. The green is systems revenue, and then the yellow is the modules revenue. There is no modules revenue. We had -- money came in, but it wasn't called revenue last quarter. And here's our forecast with slightly down revenue and higher gross margin: $22 million, plus or minus 1; 35%, plus or minus 5, really.

收入圖。所以這裡我有收入。綠色是系統收入，黃色是模組收入。沒有模組收入。我們有資金進來，但上個季度它不被稱為收入。這是我們對收入略有下降和毛利率較高的情況的預測：2,200 萬美元，正負 1； 35%，正負5，真的。

So we are now a system company. We made that transition. This graph talks about our problem. So we call our manufacturing site or our fab -- that's -- I guess, I call it that, and it's taken on over there. The work in process is not in wafers but in jobs: how many jobs are we doing?

所以我們現在是一家系統公司。我們實現了這項轉變。這張圖討論了我們的問題。所以我們稱我們的製造基地或我們的工廠——我想，我這麼稱呼它，它就在那裡進行。在製品不是晶圓，而是工作：我們做了多少工作？

And we look at that continuously, but we get reports every workweek. Complete Solaria has their own software to track the fab, and it's pretty complete. We're working on it to make it better, but it is more than adequate for doing the job. And when we tune it up some -- we'll be in good shape.

我們不斷地關注這一點，但我們每個工作週都會收到報告。完整 Solaria 有自己的軟體來追蹤晶圓廠，而且非常完整。我們正在努力使其變得更好，但它足以完成這項工作。當我們進行一些調整時——我們就會處於良好狀態。

The little anomaly here is when you pick it up, you get now. Now is workweek 45. September 30 is the 39th workweek. So the workweeks are simple: 13, 26, 39, and 52. So this is going backwards in time. I just want to let you know that.

這裡的小異常是當你拿起它時，你現在就得到了。現在是第 45 個工作週。9 月 30 日是第 39 個工作週。所以工作週很簡單：13、26、39 和 52。所以這是時間倒退。我只是想讓你知道這一點。

Back here, the company had exceptional customer reporting on the quality of work, and they were running the fab at a WIP level of about 2,000 jobs. And what happened was we started getting this big bunch of orders that I've talked about. It continued through last quarter.

回到這裡，該公司獲得了出色的客戶關於工作品質的報告，他們正在以約 2,000 個工作崗位的 WIP 水平運營該工廠。所發生的事情是我們開始收到我談到的一大堆訂單。這種情況一直持續到上個季度。

We thought we had fixed up the fab at the beginning of March, and we started just putting every order that we got into the fab. And that turned out to be a mistake. So you can see here -- my mistake, really, because I get this report, and I should've blown the whistle earlier.

我們以為我們已經在三月初修好了工廠，然後我們開始將收到的每一份訂單都放入工廠。結果證明這是一個錯誤。所以你可以在這裡看到——我的錯誤，真的，因為我收到了這份報告，我應該早點舉報。

So here you see the WP going up. Now what that means is, if you go from a WIP of, let's say, 2,000 to WIP, almost double that, if you do the same amount of work, double the WIP, moves half as fast. And that's our problem.

所以在這裡你可以看到 WP 上升。現在這意味著，如果您從 WIP（比如說 2,000）變為 WIP，則幾乎翻倍，如果您做相同的工作量，則 WIP 翻倍，移動速度減半。這就是我們的問題。

When things move half as fast, then they come out later. Sometimes, financing expires before you can get paid, and it causes a lot of downstream problems. When we finally got up here, I brought out the castor oil, and I shut down start.

當事情進展速度減半時，它們就會晚一些出現。有時，融資在您還沒有收到付款之前就到期了，這會導致許多下游問題。當我們終於到達這裡時，我拿出了蓖麻油，然後關閉了啟動。

So starting here at the peak in workweek 39 at the end of September when I reviewed the WIP, I said we're not going to put anything in the fab for a while till the inventory starts moving downward. And this is what's happened, and it moved downward nicely.

因此，從 9 月底第 39 個工作週的高峰期開始，當我審查 WIP 時，我說我們暫時不會在晶圓廠中放置任何東西，直到庫存開始下降。這就是所發生的事情，並且它很好地向下移動。

500 jobs came out of the fab. Don't think there's -- I guess, just to let you know, this is our WIP, our orders, our jobs, pre-construction. This is post-construction, and these are in the various phases of cash collection.

晶圓廠創造了 500 個工作機會。不要認為有——我想，只是為了讓你知道，這是我們的 WIP、我們的訂單、我們的工作、施工前的工作。這是施工後的情況，處於現金收集的各個階段。

And on top, we've got some WIP for new houses and stuff like that that I'm not going to talk about today. The last milestone relevant here is the purple bar which is cash collection. So you can see where the WIP is.

最重要的是，我們還有一些新房子的 WIP 以及類似的東西，我今天不打算談論這些。這裡相關的最後一個里程碑是紫色條，即現金收集。這樣您就可以看到 WIP 在哪裡。

We needed to cut costs. It was clear to me that our P&L was going to take too long and too much integrated money to get to where we needed it to be. So in Q2 -- at the end of Q2, we'd already done one RIF, and we were down to 415 people. And by the way, that equated to about $375,000 per employee per year.

我們需要削減成本。我很清楚，我們的損益表需要花費太長的時間和太多的綜合資金才能達到我們需要的目標。因此，在第二季 - 在第二季末，我們已經完成了一項 RIF，人數減少到 415 人。順便說一句，這相當於每位員工每年約 37.5 萬美元。

So it's not a bad number. They're not really overstaffed on the metric of $1 million per employee -- excuse me, $1 million per employee per year is exceptional. And they were at that 385. We did the first RIF. I was expecting a lot of trauma.

所以這不是一個壞數字。以每位員工 100 萬美元的標準來衡量，他們並沒有真正人手過剩——請原諒，每名員工每年 100 萬美元已經很特殊了。他們在那 385 處。我們做了第一個 RIF。我以為會受到很多創傷。

Fact is they sucked it in and did it, and they got almost no complaining. There was back drift, which was my fault. I wasn't watching this as much, and we always had good ideas for hiring people.

事實上，他們全心投入並做到了，幾乎沒有人抱怨。出現了向後漂移，這是我的錯。我不太看這個，而且我們總是有招募人員的好主意。

So here I introduced the system that I used before it's called a wreck auction. And basically, it holds the headcount of a company constant and only allows for a new person to come in if somebody else left.

所以在這裡我介紹一下我之前使用的系統，叫做殘骸拍賣。基本上，它使公司的員工人數保持不變，並且只有在其他人離開時才允許新人加入。

And even then, it's conditional upon giving of the wreck for the replacement to the most important position needed, whichever VP that comes from; that is, there's no automatic replacement. A very powerful system; turned that on here.

即便如此，它的條件是放棄殘骸以替換所需的最重要的職位，無論副總裁來自哪位；也就是說，沒有自動替換。一個非常強大的系統；在這裡打開它。

Then we had another layoff. We had a lot of subcontractors, too many. They're cheap. People tend to overhire on that. We finally got it -- accurate org charts for that part of the deal, and we exited the module business. So there is a huge drop to 321.

然後我們又裁員了。我們有很多分包商，太多了。它們很便宜。人們往往會過度僱用員工。我們終於得到了它——這部分交易的準確組織結構圖，然後我們退出了模組業務。所以大幅下降至 321。

And then this is -- I talked about the wreck auction method. This drift downward, as opposed to a drift upward, is what happened after that. So we glided down ten positions where we would rather have the savings of the person who left than replace the person, and the person's boss said it was okay. They'll live without that person.

然後這是——我談到了沉船拍賣方法。此後發生的情況是向下漂移，而不是向上漂移。因此，我們下滑了十個職位，我們寧願保留離職者的積蓄，也不願更換該人，而該人的老闆說沒關係。他們將生活在沒有那個人的情況下。

And we just had a second RIF. We're now down to headcount of 285. So if you go from 415 to 285, we've lost 33% of our people. For those of you that have been involved in RIFs, 5% is traumatic, 10% is draconian.

我們剛剛進行了第二次 RIF。我們現在的員工人數已減少到 285 人。因此，如果從 415 人減少到 285 人，我們就會失去 33% 的員工。對於參與過 RIF 的人來說，5% 是痛苦的，10% 是嚴厲的。

And this company's been through some tough times, induced by management, the Chairman. And I have to commend them for having gone through this period and never once making excuse, we can't do this or that because of the layoff.

在管理階層和董事長的帶領下，這家公司經歷了一些艱難時期。我必須讚揚他們經歷了這段時期，並且從來沒有找藉口說我們因為裁員而不能這樣做或那樣做。

Okay. We have a new CEO. His name is Taner Ozcelik. And Founder Will Anderson will report to him. And they will work as a team to run the company.

好的。我們有一位新執行長。他的名字叫做塔納‧奧茲塞利克。創辦人威爾安德森將向他匯報。他們將作為一個團隊來經營公司。

I took a five-page resume and picked out the stuff I thought you would like to know about. He's Turkish. When he went to university -- as in many countries, India, for example, you take a standardized test, and you get ranked. And the top people get to go to college, and the rest of them don't.

我拿了一份五頁的履歷，挑出了我認為你想了解的內容。他是土耳其人。當他上大學時——就​​像在許多國家（例如印度）一樣，你參加標準化考試，然後獲得排名。頂尖的人可以上大學，而其他人則不能。

So he was number 82 among 650,000 college entry students. One, that's extraordinary. It's the top 0.013%. And two, the only other guy I know that ranked that high, you may know, his name is Badri Kothandaraman. He's the president of Enphase. And he was number 156.

所以他在65萬名大學入學學生中排名第82位。一，這是非凡的。這是最上面的0.013%。第二，我認識的唯一一個排名那麼高的人，你可能知道，他的名字是巴德里·科坦達拉曼。他是Enphase公司的總裁。他的號碼是156號。

And of course, in India, there's another digit on the population. Translation: real smart guy. Bronze medal at the World Mathematics Olympiad and another American medal. Point is high IQ, smart guy, practical, does patents, has papers, knows about money, MBA from Wharton.

當然，在印度，人口還有另一個數字。翻譯：真正聰明的人。世界數學奧林匹克銅牌和另一枚美國獎牌。重點是智商高，聰明，務實，有專利，有論文，懂錢，華頓商學院MBA。

First big job -- he had -- I picked out the big jobs that are relevant to us. First big job was at Sony. They wanted to build a semiconductor unit. He built it, started it at zero, and grew it to $200 million.

第一份重要工作──他有──我挑選了與我們相關的重要工作。第一份重要工作是在索尼。他們想建立一個半導體部門。他建造了它，從零開始，然後將其增長到 2 億美元。

Then he went to Nvidia. And I've done reference checks at these companies. He was there for a decade. His last job was seven years. So he tends to stay a long time where he goes. And he founded the automotive semiconductor unit for Nvidia, and he grew it from zero to $600 million.

然後他去了英偉達。我對這些公司進行了背景調查。他在那裡待了十年。他的最後一份工作已經七年了。所以他往往會在他去的地方停留很久。他還為 Nvidia 創立了汽車半導體部門，並將其從零增加到 6 億美元。

The big Nvidia chip is called Tegra. It's artificial intelligence supercomputer chip, the end of the line after their start with gaming chips. And it's designed to do autonomous driving; although, once you have the chip and know how to use it, you can use it in a lot of applications. And some cars have four or five copies of it in various functions.

Nvidia 的大型晶片稱為 Tegra。這是人工智慧超級電腦晶片，也是他們從遊戲晶片開始的產品線的終點。它是為自動駕駛而設計的；不過，一旦您擁有該晶片並知道如何使用它，您就可以在許多應用中使用它。有些汽車有四到五個不同功能的副本。

He designed -- he ran the division. So he was also in marketing. And he designed it into 126 cars at 23 companies. And it got the car of the year award, Tesla Model S and Audi A3. So if you wonder what it takes to have a car drive itself and not screw up, and you read all the stuff in the newspaper, you realize that the technology and the intelligence of the group behind it, Nvidia in particular, is pretty special.

他設計了——他管理了這個部門。所以他也從事行銷工作。他將其設計成 23 家公司的 126 輛汽車。並獲得年度汽車獎的還有特斯拉Model S和奧迪A3。因此，如果您想知道如何才能讓汽車自動駕駛而不發生故障，並且您閱讀了報紙上的所有內容，您就會意識到背後的團隊（尤其是 Nvidia）的技術和智慧非常特別。

He left Nvidia and went on to ON Semi. He got an offer to run a division that was called smart sensor. It had 800 employees, 13 companies, $250 million budget -- $250 billion budget, excuse me. So he had a chance to run something in bigger scope in an adjacent technology area.

他離開了英偉達並加入了安森美半導體。他收到了管理一個名為智慧感測器的部門的邀請。它有 800 名員工，13 家公司，2.5 億美元的預算——2500 億美元的預算，對不起。因此，他有機會在鄰近的技術領域進行更大範圍的工作。

He inherited it at $590 million and grew it to $850 million, actually, at a run rate -- I didn't put it in here, but he put it in parenthesis -- a run rate got to $1 billion in his last quarter there.

他以5.9 億美元的價格繼承了它，然後將其增長到了8.5 億美元，實際上，按照運行率——我沒有把它放在這裡，但他把它放在括號裡——在他的最後一個季度，運行率達到了10 億美元。

And I also put in this one; maybe it's a little shot at me. He fixed the distress asset, which was the Cypress imaging division. And I fess up here, I had an imaging division in Belgium. I really didn't like it a lot. I got rid of it. I was distressed to be associated with it, and he fixed it up and on.

我也放了這個；也許這是對我一點的攻擊。他修復了不良資產，即賽普拉斯成像部門。我在這裡承認，我在比利時有一個成像部門。我真的不太喜歡它。我擺脫了它。我很苦惱與這件事扯上關係，他就解決了這個問題。

So okay, we've got a new President. We're going to make things move.

好吧，我們有了一位新總統。我們會讓事情發生變化。

And also, during the search for the President, I met another guy, Chris Lundell. And I've asked him to join the Board, and he's accepted. These are both done deals. His first day is next Monday. He's already on board.

而且，在尋找總統的過程中，我遇到了另一個人，克里斯·倫德爾。我邀請他加入董事會，他被接受了。這些都是已完成的交易。他的第一天是下週一。他已經上船了。

Brigham Young, MBA in finance and economics. He worked at Novel for 13 years and had promos up the ladder, leading to VP of marketing. Then he went to Vivint Solar, and he was there from 2013 to 2016. And he was the Chief Marketing Officer at Vivint in 2013 at their IPO.

楊百翰，金融和經濟學工商管理碩士。他在 Novel 工作了 13 年，並獲得晉升，最終晉升為行銷副總裁。然後他去了 Vivint Solar，從 2013 年到 2016 年一直在那裡。2013 年 Vivint 首次公開募股時，他擔任 Vivint 的首席行銷長。

So he's got that connection to solar. He now runs his own company called CMO Grow. It's a national consulting company that creates scalable growth plans. That's one reason, on the sales and marketing side, he was attractive.

所以他與太陽能有聯繫。他現在經營自己的公司，名為 CMO Grow。這是一家全國性的顧問公司，致力於制定可擴展的成長計劃。這就是他在銷售和行銷方面具有吸引力的原因之一。

The other one is, he lives in Salt Lake. And two-thirds or more of our employees are in Salt Lake. And Salt Lake, I don't know if you know it or not, but many of the solar companies are there, six, seven, eight of them. And it's kind of like a solar valley.

另一個是，他住在鹽湖城。我們三分之二或更多的員工在鹽湖城。還有鹽湖城，我不知道你是否知道，但那裡有很多太陽能公司，有六家、七家、八家。它有點像太陽谷。

And he's well connected. He has his own health club, and he's got the who's who of solar valley in his health club. So as we try to build the company -- our fab and our primary residence is in Salt Lake -- Chris will help us a lot.

而且他人脈關係很好。他有自己的健身俱樂部，他的健身俱樂部裡有太陽谷的名人錄。因此，當我們嘗試建立公司時——我們的工廠和主要住所位於鹽湖城——克里斯將為我們提供很多幫助。

So we built the team big time this quarter. Okay, let me turn it over to Will. He'll do the CEO report for you.

因此，我們本季大力打造了團隊。好吧，我把它交給威爾。他將為你做執行長報告。

Thank you, T.J. So to begin, I just want to provide just a little bit more context around the shift in our business strategy. At the end of Q3, we announced -- and hopefully, most on this call have been able to see those announcements -- that we had decided to shed our modules business.

謝謝你，T.J.首先，我只想提供更多有關我們業務策略轉變的背景資訊。在第三季末，我們宣布——希望這次電話會議中的大多數人都能夠看到這些公告——我們決定放棄我們的模組業務。

Now, it had only been about a year ago that we acquired Solaria to become Complete Solaria and established two business units: modules and systems. The systems business is the business that I started and ran for 13 years. And that's the business that we are shifting back to.

現在，大約一年前，我們收購了 Solaria，成為 Complete Solaria，並建立了兩個業務部門：模組和系統。系統業務是我創辦並經營了13年的業務。這就是我們要回歸的業務。

And the reason why we made that decision is we, quite frankly, simply did not raise enough money when we went public to be able to execute on a very ambitious business plan. So considering the existing environment, where the entire solar industry is under a lot of pressure, we made the decision to preserve cash, generate cash out of the sale of the Solaria assets, and ensure our viability and ongoing opportunity for success.

坦白說，我們之所以做出這個決定，是因為我們在上市時沒有籌集到足夠的資金來執行一項非常雄心勃勃的商業計劃。因此，考慮到整個太陽能產業面臨巨大壓力的現有環境，我們決定保留現金，透過出售 Solaria 資產產生現金，並確保我們的生存能力和持續的成功機會。

And so I'm very encouraged moving into the fourth quarter at the progress that we've made, and we have a chance to start the next chapter in the history of this business. So starting from the divestiture of the modules business, we are now a systems-focused business. And as I said, this is the business that I founded 13 years ago on two core concepts.

因此，我對進入第四季度所取得的進展感到非常鼓舞，我們有機會開啟該業務歷史的下一個篇章。因此，從剝離模組業務開始，我們現在是一家以系統為中心的業務。正如我所說，這是我 13 年前基於兩個核心理念創立的公司。

The first is we make selling easy. We use software, we use systems, we use sales support, and we aggregate financing and other systems in order to be able to make it easy for our sales partners out in the field to attract customers and sell solar systems to them.

首先是我們讓銷售變得容易。我們使用軟體，我們使用系統，我們使用銷售支持，我們聚合融資和其他系統，以便能夠讓我們的現場銷售合作夥伴輕鬆吸引客戶並向他們銷售太陽能係統。

Secondly, we deliver a fast, world-class customer experience. Now, as we've talked about, we've been able to be successful including, recently, where many others have really struggled in generating new contracts. And as T.J. explained, this actually created a problem in terms of our ability to deliver on that second promise, which is a fast, world-class customer experience.

其次，我們提供快速、世界級的客戶體驗。現在，正如我們所討論的，我們已經取得了成功，包括最近許多其他人在簽訂新合約方面確實遇到了困難。正如 T.J.解釋說，這實際上為我們兌現第二個承諾的能力帶來了問題，即快速、世界一流的客戶體驗。

And as a result, our revenue stayed flat, and our customers started experiencing longer cycle times as our WIP levels increased. So we made the hard decision to bring our -- to start limiting our orders in order to bring our WIP levels down in order to focus on our customers. Because that is, ultimately, the strength and the heart of this business is delivering a superior customer experience.

結果，我們的收入保持不變，而隨著我們在製品水準的增加，我們的客戶開始經歷更長的周期時間。因此，我們做出了艱難的決定，開始限制我們的訂單，以降低我們的在製品水平，以便專注於我們的客戶。因為歸根結底，該業務的優勢和核心是提供卓越的客戶體驗。

And we know if we get that part right, we will be able to increase our orders again and generate the demand that we've always been successful at achieving. So in order to bring that WIP down and improve our activities, we've taken a few actions. As we've mentioned, we've already started to limit the flow of new orders into the line to reduce the number of projects that we're working on and speed up the line.

我們知道，如果我們做得好，我們將能夠再次增加訂單並產生我們一直成功實現的需求。因此，為了減少 WIP 並改善我們的活動，我們採取了一些行動。正如我們所提到的，我們已經開始限制新訂單流入生產線，以減少我們正在進行的項目數量並加快生產線速度。

Secondly, we've hired a very experienced VP of quality. And she is leading a task force to remove defects, catch them before they happen, and eliminate reworks. We've also hired a new VP of IT. And his responsibility is to help improve the scalability of our data systems, the software that runs at the heart of our business and allows us to deliver that world-class customer experience.

其次，我們聘請了一位經驗豐富的品質副總裁。她正在領導一個工作小組消除缺陷，在缺陷發生之前發現它們，並消除返工。我們也聘請了一位新的 IT 副總裁。他的職責是幫助提高我們數據系統的可擴展性，這是我們業務的核心，使我們能夠提供世界一流的客戶體驗。

And finally, we've continued with existing engagements of world-class manufacturing experts that have long backgrounds at Cypress Semiconductor, at Enphase, and others. T.J. has discussed in our quarterly report our North Star plan, which is, really, just our plan to ensure that we can achieve profitability and cash flow breakeven rapidly.

最後，我們繼續與在賽普拉斯半導體、Enphase 等公司擁有長期背景的世界級製造專家進行現有合作。 T.J.在我們的季度報告中討論了我們的北極星計劃，這實際上只是我們確保我們能夠快速實現盈利和現金流收支平衡的計劃。

It has three components; first, lowering our OpEx. We've done that through headcount reductions. We've also done that through significant cost reductions. And in Q4, our target is to achieve $5.9 million of OpEx, which is more than a 50% reduction from Q2.

它由三個組成部分組成；首先，降低我們的營運支出。我們透過裁員來做到這一點。我們也透過大幅降低成本來做到這一點。在第四季度，我們的目標是實現 590 萬美元的營運支出，比第二季減少 50% 以上。

We're also making great efforts to improve our gross margins, and I'll go into a little bit more detail on that momentarily. But as we've shifted from the modules-plus-systems business and really focused on systems, this is going to enable us to achieve much higher gross margins and have much greater control over our P&L.

我們還在努力提高毛利率，我將立即詳細介紹這一點。但隨著我們從模組加系統業務轉向真正專注於系統，這將使我們能夠實現更高的毛利率，並對損益表有更大的控制力。

And finally, we're in the process of lowering our commission rates through selective activities with our various sales partners in order to ensure that the orders that we do get in are going to be more profitable and better for our cash flows. So let me take a minute to talk about our gross margins.

最後，我們正在透過與各個銷售合作夥伴的選擇性活動來降低佣金率，以確保我們收到的訂單能夠帶來更多利潤，並有利於我們的現金流。讓我花一點時間談談我們的毛利率。

So first off, we can see Q2 and Q3 actuals and three major components of our COGS being broken out into equipment -- this is all of the solar panels, inverters, the racking, things that are actually installed on the site -- plus our installation labor; plus internal allocation, which is really just our costs of delivering the product, the people that are involved in our production facility in Salt Lake, our operating leases for our warehouses, et cetera.

首先，我們可以看到第二季和第三季的實際情況以及我們的銷貨成本的三個主要組成部分被分解為設備——這是所有太陽能電池板、逆變器、貨架、實際安裝在現場的東西－加上我們的安裝人工；加上內部分配，這實際上只是我們交付產品的成本、參與我們鹽湖生產設施的人員、我們倉庫的經營租賃等等。

So from Q2 to Q3 on the systems-only business, we advanced from 21% to 25%. And again, this is systems only, so our reported 18% was a combined modules plus systems. So systems only, 21% to 25%.

因此，從第二季到第三季度，純系統業務的成長率從 21% 上升到 25%。再說一次，這只是系統，所以我們報告的 18% 是模組加系統的組合。所以僅系統，21% 到 25%。

This was aided by an improvement in module cost in Q3. And that improvement is going to be seen much more dramatically in Q4 as we've secured pricing arrangements with our vendors that are now in Q4, delivering a much lower cost of goods.

這得益於第三季模組成本的改善。這種改善將在第四季度更加顯著，因為我們已經與供應商達成了定價安排，這使得商品成本大大降低。

Additionally, we have an opportunity to significantly lower our installation costs. In Q3, you actually see that our install labor went up. And this is as we were hiring new installation crews to operate as internally employed crews who will install our projects.

此外，我們還有機會大幅降低安裝成本。在第三季度，您實際上看到我們的安裝勞動力增加。這是因為我們正在僱用新的安裝人員作為內部僱用的人員來安裝我們的專案。

So we will now operate on a hybrid model that includes internal installation crews, as well as third party labor. And the key to bringing down this cost is increasing the percentage of projects performed by installation crews that are internal to us and maintaining them at full capacity utilization while utilizing our third party partners as overflow. That's a significant cost reduction.

因此，我們現在將採用混合模式運營，其中包括內部安裝人員以及第三方勞動力。降低成本的關鍵是增加我們內部安裝人員執行的專案的百分比，並保持他們充分利用能力，同時利用我們的第三方合作夥伴作為溢位。這顯著降低了成本。

And then, finally, the cost reduction from the various headcount reductions that we already highlighted resulted in a significant decrease to our internal allocation from Q2 to Q3. And for Q4, we're only assuming keeping that flat, although there are further opportunities for improvement there.

最後，我們已經強調的各種人員削減帶來的成本降低導致我們的內部分配從第二季到第三季顯著減少。對於第四季度，我們僅假設保持不變，儘管還有進一步改進的機會。

So all told, this creates a 40% target for our COGS -- sorry -- for our gross margin. We're forecasting 35%. That's what we're committing to you. And that is our expectation, but there's room to exceed that. And this is our plan to do so.

總而言之，這為我們的 COGS（抱歉）毛利率設定了 40% 的目標。我們預測為 35%。這就是我們對您的承諾。這是我們的期望，但還有超越的空間。這就是我們這樣做的計劃。

13 years as CEO of this business, and it's been a wonderfully enriching and exciting part of my career. And I'm excited to take the next steps, welcoming Taner as our new CEO. We've been able to accomplish a lot of things over that 13-year period. I've seen hundreds of solar companies come and go in the time that we've been building our business.

在這家公司擔任執行長 13 年，這是我職業生涯中非常豐富和令人興奮的一部分。我很高興採取下一步行動，歡迎 Taner 擔任我們的新執行長。在這 13 年裡，我們取得了許多成就。在我們開展業務的過程中，我目睹了數百家太陽能公司的興衰。

At the end of the day, we've built a really strong business that is positioned to do very well moving into the future, even as there is a certain amount of uncertainty for the broader industry. We've taken the necessary steps to ensure that we're going to be successful.

歸根結底，我們已經建立了一個非常強大的業務，即使更廣泛的行業存在一定的不確定性，它也能在未來取得很好的表現。我們已採取必要的步驟來確保我們成功。

These include refocusing back solely on our systems business, managing our new orders to make sure that we're improving our operations and ensuring that the customer experience is world class, reducing that WIP and speeding up our systems, and finally, bringing on a new CEO who's managed very large organizations and who's going to help us scale.

其中包括重新專注於我們的系統業務、管理我們的新訂單以確保我們改善營運並確保客戶體驗是世界一流的、減少 WIP 並加快我們的系統速度，最後引入新的系統執行長管理著非常大的組織，他將幫助我們擴大規模。

I'm very much looking forward to working with Taner and continuing to build this business into what it's capable of becoming. And so with that, I would like to give him an opportunity to introduce himself and say a few words. Taner?

我非常期待與 Taner 合作，並繼續將這項業務打造成它所能成為的樣子。因此，我想給他一個自我介紹的機會並說幾句話。坦兒？

All right. Thank you, Will. That was well done. I agree with everything you said. You guys have built an amazing business, in my opinion. And thank you, T.J., as well, for earlier introduction.

好的。謝謝你，威爾。那做得很好。我同意你所說的一切。在我看來，你們已經建立了一家了不起的企業。也謝謝 T.J. 之前的介紹。

I'm incredibly excited to be part of Complete Solaria. This nascent industry -- I call it nascent because the penetration rate in the US in residential is only, I think, 4%, less than 5% today. And I'm thrilled to be working with you, T.J.

我非常高興能夠成為 Complete Solaria 的一員。這個新興產業——我之所以稱之為新生，是因為我認為美國住宅的滲透率只有 4%，目前還不到 5%。我很高興能和你一起工作，T.J.

T.J., as you guys know, is one of the founders of the semiconductor industry. And this industry, semiconductor industry, is one that has progressed, I think, further and faster than any other industry on the planet in the last 50 years.

正如你們所知，T.J. 是半導體產業的創始人之一。我認為，半導體這個產業在過去 50 年裡比地球上任何其他產業都進步得更遠、更快。

Anything and everything in tech today runs on semiconductors. Trillion-dollar companies are either running on semiconductors or building them, like Nvidia has been doing in the last few years.

當今科技領域的一切都在半導體上運作。價值數萬億美元的公司要么依靠半導體運營，要么構建半導體，就像英偉達過去幾年所做的那樣。

Now, solar is based on semiconductors, and that's important. But more importantly, semiconductor industry, I think, is also one of those industries that has had the most rigor and discipline. And that's also one of the main reasons that the industry has propelled so fast and so far, in addition to the Moore's law, as you know.

現在，太陽能基於半導體，這一點很重要。但更重要的是，我認為半導體產業也是最嚴謹、最有紀律的產業之一。如您所知，除了摩爾定律之外，這也是該行業發展如此之快、發展如此之遠的主要原因之一。

Now, I've been in the industry for three decades, nearly 30 years, as T.J. overviewed. I'm here to bring that rigor and discipline and help Solaria become a scalable company, as Will mentioned.

現在，我已經在這個行業工作了三十年，將近三十年了，T.J.概述了。正如威爾所提到的，我來這裡是為了帶來嚴謹和紀律，幫助 Solaria 成為一家可擴展的公司。

It was also, I mean, reflecting back in the career, awesome for me to work with the companies that T.J. mentioned, particularly with Jensen Huang at Nvidia, where I built two businesses, both of them multi -- $100 million businesses. One of them reached over $1 billion, the automotive business, and has become the de facto -- one of the top processor companies in the world today.

我的意思是，回顧我的職業生涯，與 T.J. 的公司合作對我來說也很棒。提到過，特別是與 Nvidia 的 Jensen Huang 一起，我在那裡建立了兩家公司，都是價值數億美元的公司。其中之一是汽車業務，其營業額超過 10 億美元，並且已成為事實上的當今世界頂級處理器公司之一。

I've also, in addition to that, done a couple of transformations. And the most notable one was at ON Semi, where we basically took down a business that had about $600 million in revenue, shrunk it down to $200 million almost overnight because we got rid of one of the troubled businesses, and then grew it back to $1 billion run rate. Now, it's running at about [$1.4 billion], 50% gross margins, 50% approximately growth rate, all based on a lot of the design wins that we had done before I left the company.

除此之外，我還做了一些轉變。最引人注目的是安森美半導體，我們基本上拿下了一項收入約為6 億美元的業務，幾乎在一夜之間將其縮減至2 億美元，因為我們擺脫了其中一項陷入困境的業務，然後將其恢復到2 億美元。運行率為 10 億美元。現在，它的運行速度約為 [14 億美元]，毛利率為 50%，成長率約為 50%，所有這些都基於我離開公司之前我們完成的許多設計成果。

Now, I want to say -- and I think that will be important in Complete Solaria as well because that rigor and discipline that I mentioned is mainly in quality and execution. And I think I'll be able to bring that and help the company both through the experience of zero-to-one business growth I mentioned, and as well as the cultural transformation and the business transformation experiences that I've had.

現在，我想說——我認為這在 Complete Solaria 中也很重要，因為我提到的嚴格性和紀律主要體現在品質和執行方面。我認為我將能夠透過我提到的從零到一的業務成長經驗以及我所經歷的文化轉型和業務轉型經驗來實現這一點並幫助公司。

Now, I want to say one final word about renewable energy. I'm new to this, obviously, but I think we can all agree that renewable energy is here to stay. Solar is here to stay, and it will grow much further worldwide. And I believe that we're, essentially, at the beginning of that journey.

現在，我想對再生能源說最後一句話。顯然，我對此很陌生，但我認為我們都同意再生能源將繼續存在。太陽能將繼續存在，並將在全球範圍內進一步發展。我相信，從本質上講，我們正處於這段旅程的開始。

Now, Complete -- the way I think about it is like this. Complete Solaria is a systems company, as Will mentioned. As you know, the personal computing systems introduced in the 1980s basically revolutionized how we work for the next 50 years, and it still is doing the same and it still is going.

現在，完成了——我的想法是這樣的。正如威爾所提到的，Complete Solaria 是一家系統公司。如你所知，20 世紀 80 年代推出的個人運算系統基本上徹底改變了我們未來 50 年的工作方式，而且它仍然在做同樣的事情，並且仍在繼續。

In my opinion, solar industry is doing exactly the same for energy. It's effectively distributing the energy to the consumers, to the homes, and to the businesses directly, just like personal computers did it from the mainframes to the consumers and to homes.

在我看來，太陽能產業在能源領域所做的事情完全相同。它有效地將能源直接分配給消費者、家庭和企業，就像個人電腦從大型主機分配給消費者和家庭一樣。

Now, I believe, like Will said in closing, Complete Solaria has done incredibly well: 13 years, $100 million in revenues, is about to breakeven. It's very hard to reach those milestones irrespective of the industry that you're in. In fact, the first $100 million is the hardest $100 million you will ever do. And I've done it four times, so I know.

現在，我相信，就像威爾在結束語中所說的那樣，Complete Solaria 做得非常好：13 年的收入達到 1 億美元，即將實現收支平衡。無論您身處哪個行業，要達到這些里程碑都非常困難。事實上，第一個 1 億美元是您一生中最難做到的 1 億美元。我已經做過四次了，所以我知道。

So I am nothing but, and incredibly and I would say super thrilled to be part of the Complete Solaria team. I'm honored to be working with T.J., who's one of the great leaders of our time, and the Board and the employees, and the customers. And I can't wait to see what we will all accomplish together.

所以我只是，令人難以置信的是，我想說非常興奮能夠成為 Complete Solaria 團隊的一員。我很榮幸能與 T.J.（我們這個時代最偉大的領導者之一）、董事會、員工和客戶合作。我迫不及待地想看看我們將共同取得什麼成就。

So thank you.

所以謝謝。

Okay. We're going to open it up to questions. This is done texting. So we've got somebody who will take your questions and relay them to us.

好的。我們將開放提問。發簡訊就這樣完成了。因此，我們有人會回答您的問題並將其轉達給我們。

Please speak to the company's liquidity and cash burn rate (inaudible)

請談談公司的流動性和現金消耗率（聽不清楚）

Okay. Let me go back to the slide that's got data (multiple speakers)

好的。讓我回到有數據的幻燈片（多個發言者）

T.J., while you pull that up, I'm going to repeat the question for the audience. So the question was, can you walk us through cash flow and liquidity, and is there a bridge to breakeven?

T.J.，當你提起這個問題時，我將向觀眾重複這個問題。所以問題是，您能否向我們介紹現金流和流動性，以及是否有實現損益平衡的橋樑？

Okay. I see. I can't get rid of that bar. How do I get rid of that bar? Come help me. I need to get to my first slide, and it's hidden and I can't get to it. Hang on. I just got the key. Here it is, the Rosetta stone.

好的。我懂了。我無法擺脫那個酒吧。我該如何擺脫那個酒吧？快來幫幫我吧。我需要找到第一張投影片，但它被隱藏了，我無法找到它。不掛。我剛拿到鑰匙。這就是羅塞塔石碑。

Okay. So another way you can read this is, you guys always end the quarter with a little bit of cash. And the way you do it is you fund, and your funding has been $10 million a quarter, $10 million to $20 million.

好的。因此，您可以理解的另一種方式是，您總是在季度結束時帶著一點現金。你這樣做的方式就是你資助，你的資助是每季 1000 萬美元，1000 萬到 2000 萬美元。

So that implies, then, if you look at our last quarter, you got $1.6 million. You're burning $9.2 million opinc. So take that as a proxy for cash burn. You've got like 16% of a quarter before you run out of money.

這意味著，如果你看看我們上個季度，你會得到 160 萬美元。你正在燒掉 920 萬美元的 Opinc。因此，可以將其作為現金消耗的指標。在你的錢用完之前，你還剩一個季度的 16%。

Now, the fact is, our burn rate is going down next quarter. What I haven't shown on here is that burn rate will be cut approximately in half quarter on quarter for the next two quarters. For example, I showed you at the very end of the graph a big layoff, and that just started to be effective.

現在，事實是，下個季度我們的資金消耗率將會下降。我在這裡沒有展示的是，在接下來的兩個季度中，燒錢率將逐季減少約一半。例如，我在圖表的最後向您展示了一次大規模裁員，而這才剛開始生效。

So this burn rate number, if you look to the middle of next year -- I'm going to give you indicative number so you can understand my thinking. I don't know that burn rate well enough. I'm in a chaotic world, and we have immature systems in the company. But that burn rate up through the middle of next year is something on the order of $5 million, more.

所以，如果你展望明年年中，我將給你一個指示性數字，以便你能夠理解我的想法。我不太了解燃燒率。我身處一個混亂的世界，我們公司的製度還不成熟。但到明年年中為止，燒錢率約 500 萬美元，甚至更多。

And the answer is, I don't have to worry about going out and raising money, raising money right now with this P&L. That number combined with that number says it's going to be hard to raise money. And if you don't believe me, just ask Will, who gave 100 pitches to raise money. And that's really what's kept us afloat. These were all -- there raises here were pitches that Will gave to investors.

答案是，我不必擔心出去籌集資金，現在就用這個損益表籌集資金。這個數字與這個數字相結合表明籌集資金將會很困難。如果你不相信我，就問問威爾吧，他為了募款進行了 100 次宣傳。這確實是我們賴以生存的原因。這些都是——這裡的加薪是威爾向投資人提出的建議。

Now, we've got it under control. If you look at the investors in the company, they can easily afford to take our current estimate of cash flow to the middle of next year. For example, this quarter, we already have all the cash we need. It's done.

現在，我們已經控制住了。如果你看看公司的投資者，他們很容易就能承受我們目前對明年中期現金流的估計。例如，本季度，我們已經擁有了所需的所有現金。完成。

The Maxeon deal was funded this quarter, and going forward, it's an affordable number. We also -- I'm not going to talk about details today. But we also had a forward purchase agreement that will kick in somewhere around January 10 at our option. And that will raise money for us more than what I just said we need till the middle of next year.

Maxeon 交易已在本季獲得資金，展望未來，這是一個可以負擔的數字。我們今天也不會談細節。但我們也簽訂了遠期購買協議，該協議將根據我們的選擇在 1 月 10 日左右生效。這將為我們籌集到的資金將比我剛才所說的到明年年中所需的資金還要多。

The reason -- it's not written down here -- is that anybody who says he tells you, in the solar business, how much money he needs till the middle of next year is fooling himself. But the company -- the cash burn is down. We can handle it ourselves.

原因——這裡沒有寫下來——是任何人如果說他告訴你，在太陽能產業，到明年年中他需要多少錢，那就是在自欺欺人。但該公司的現金消耗卻有所下降。我們可以自己處理。

We're not going to go out and raise a bunch of money because the last thing I want to do is sell 10 million shares at $1 each to raise some money. So we have the capability of raising the money. And the numbers will continue to look like this, whatever number is required there in terms of cash flow to keep enough safe balance there so you can have $1 million whoopsie at the end of the quarter and not have to worry about liquidity.

我們不會出去籌集一大筆資金，因為我最不想做的就是以每股 1 美元的價格出售 1000 萬股股票來籌集資金。所以我們有能力籌集資金。這些數字將繼續像這樣，無論現金流需要多少，以保持足夠的安全平衡，這樣你就可以在季度末擁有 100 萬美元，而不必擔心流動性。

So we now feel like we're captains of our fate in this business, and we haven't felt that way ever. We've been fighting during this recession with solar headwinds to try to get that way. We're that way now, and we did it the hard way.

因此，我們現在感覺自己是這個行業命運的主宰，而我們以前從未有過這樣的感覺。在這次經濟衰退期間，我們一直在與太陽能逆風作鬥爭，試圖實現這一目標。我們現在就是這樣，而且我們是透過艱難的方式做到的。

We changed the company. We lowered the number of people employed. And we paid our dues to get it done. It's not done by sugar daddy.

我們換了公司。我們減少了就業人數。我們付出了我們的代價來完成它。這不是糖爹做的。

What are your specific strategies for WIP reduction over the next two to three quarters (inaudible)?

您在未來兩到三個季度減少 WIP 的具體策略是什麼（聽不清楚）？

Let me have Will answer the question about WIP reduction. Let me -- I'll bring up the WIP reduction graph for you.

讓我來回答一下關於減少 WIP 的問題。讓我——我將為您提供 WIP 減少圖表。

Yeah. So what are our specific strategies for WIP reduction, particularly post-construction? So the strategy for pre-construction, and you can see the drop in pre-construction, was to start limiting the orders.

是的。那麼，我們減少在製品（尤其是施工後）的具體策略是什麼？因此，開工前的策略，你可以看到開工前的下降，就是開始限制訂單。

Now, the next step to get the rest of those bars down is we have to operate at a much faster pace. And the way that we're doing that is by transferring resources from those that would otherwise be doing pre-construction to doing more post-construction activities.

現在，要降低其餘的障礙，下一步是我們必須以更快的速度運作。我們這樣做的方式是將資源從原本進行施工前活動的資源轉移到進行更多施工後活動。

We have a very effective group in Salt Lake who operate the various steps of our production queue. And we've reassigned resources there to focus specifically on completing final inspections, collecting all of the financing documents, getting projects through the utility review process faster so that everything that is in our control, we've been able to address.

我們在鹽湖城有一個非常有效率的團隊，負責操作生產隊列的各個步驟。我們在那裡重新分配了資源，專門專注於完成最終檢查、收集所有融資文件、讓專案更快地通過公用事業審查流程，以便我們能夠解決我們控制範圍內的所有問題。

In doing so, we will be able to collect money faster as well, and that'll improve our cash flow. Ultimately, turning customers over very quickly generates happy customers, which also then promotes stronger sales. But it also improves the cash cycle much faster. And so that's another one of the ways that we can be in control of our own destiny.

這樣做，我們也將能夠更快地收款，這將改善我們的現金流。最終，快速吸引客戶會產生滿意的客戶，進而促進更強勁的銷售。但它也更快地改善了現金週期。這是我們掌控自己命運的另一種方式。

So this backlog graph that you see here, many customers report backlog as being a good thing. But there can be too much of a good thing. And we intend to turn that backlog into cash and shrink these bars.

因此，您在此處看到的積壓圖表顯示，許多客戶表示積壓是一件好事。但好事可能太多了。我們打算將積壓的訂單轉換為現金並縮小這些門檻。

Let me comment on that. When I came into the company, I came into a company that was as mature as my company Cypress was when I came in. They don't -- we didn't have quality systems.

讓我對此發表評論。當我進入公司時，我進入的公司與我加入時的賽普拉斯公司一樣成熟。他們沒有——我們沒有品質體系。

And when the Japanese, literally, in 1986, almost put Cypress Semiconductor out of business by making static RAMs and selling them for $2, I got the religion about quality. And I didn't know a thing about it. I went to great schools, I had good grades, and I had a PhD, and I didn't know a jack about quality because nobody ever taught me about it.

當日本人在 1986 年通過生產靜態 RAM 並以 2 美元的價格出售差點讓賽普拉斯半導體公司破產時，我開始相信品質。我對此一無所知。我上過很好的學校，成績很好，還獲得了博士學位，但我對品質一無所知，因為沒有人教我。

So I latched on to some of the best consultants I could find in the industry and companies that were noted for quality. In semiconductors, by the way, automobiles and semiconductors -- and I'll point out Taner has two automobile jobs -- those are jobs where your customers, if you have more than two defects per million, will throw you out. You learn about quality in semiconductors selling to car guys. That's it.

因此，我找到了一些業內最好的顧問和以品質著稱的公司。順便說一句，在半導體領域，汽車和半導體——我要指出的是，塔納有兩項汽車工作——在這些工作中，如果你的每百萬個缺陷超過兩個，你的客戶就會把你趕走。您將了解銷售給汽車製造商的半導體的品質。就是這樣。

So I came to a company with -- immature to non-existent quality business processes. Obviously, everybody wants to do a good job. But let me give you an example of something that really does happen.

所以我來到了一家業務流程不成熟甚至不存在的公司。顯然，每個人都想做好工作。但讓我舉一個確實發生過的例子。

You go out and sign a contract. Then you start launching it, and you start buying the panels. Meanwhile, you go to a finance person, because you have to give these guys finance, and you get a finance deal done. So they give you a finance deal, and then the clock starts for 120 days. And 120 days after that finance deal, the finance disappears, and you have to start over again.

你出去簽合約。然後你開始啟動它，並開始購買面板。同時，你去找財務人員，因為你必須給這些人資金，然後你就可以完成一筆財務交易。所以他們會給你一筆融資協議，然後 120 天的時間就開始了。融資交易 120 天后，融資就消失了，你必須重新開始。

Meanwhile, back in the marketplace, you find out there's a run where Joe Biden has raised the -- actually, make it Donald Trump -- has raised tariffs back and forth. And all of a sudden, you can't get the panels you need in your backlog. You have a 90-day wait or something like that.

同時，回到市場，你會發現喬·拜登已經提高了——實際上是唐納德·特朗普——來回提高了關稅。突然間，您無法在待辦事項中獲得所需的面板。您需要等待 90 天或類似的時間。

So then, you're waiting for the panels when your financing expires. I can tell dozens of stories like that. There are over a thousand things you have to do. And what needs to happen is we need a quality program that prevents stories like I just said, and there are multiple of them, from ever happening.

那麼，當你的融資到期時，你就需要等待面板了。我可以講幾十個這樣的故事。有超過一千件事情你必須要做。需要發生的是，我們需要一個高品質的計劃來防止像我剛才所說的這樣的故事發生，而且這樣的故事有很多。

So we brought in one of the best quality people I've ever worked with. She is tough. And one of the reasons you saw it go backward is -- I spent a third of my time at Cypress on quality. I thought it was extremely important. And the first thing I did was shut it down and start reducing the WIP.

因此，我們引進了我共事過的最優秀的人才之一。她很堅強。你看到它倒退的原因之一是——我在賽普拉斯花了三分之一的時間在品質上。我認為這非常重要。我做的第一件事就是關閉它並開始減少 WIP。

She is now putting in quality improvement points in the line that are very detailed, and she now controls entry into the line. You can't -- wow, we'll make the quarter, get that in there, and get it out. You can't do that anymore. You have to go in, you have to go through a quality control point, and a quality person has to allow that thing into the line.

她現在正在生產線上放置非常詳細的品質改進點，並且她現在控制著生產線的入口。你不能——哇，我們會完成這個季度，把它放進去，然後把它拿出來。你不能再這樣做了。你必須進去，你必須通過品質控制點，品質人員必須允許該東西進入生產線。

So right now, we're suffering because there's several hundred runs that are waiting for quality approval to move ahead. That'll all happen shortly, but the troops are now getting the fact that you don't move a lot unless you have the quality perfect, and that's not part of their culture.

所以現在，我們正在遭受痛苦，因為有數百個運行正在等待品質批准才能繼續進行。這一切很快就會發生，但部隊現在已經意識到，除非你擁有完美的品質，否則你不會經常移動，而這不是他們文化的一部分。

So when that system -- those systems take off, then the fab will start to run more efficiently, and that will really be the end of it. Then we'll work on things like step elimination. We'll work on computers to get more data. We'll look at [forward] data to try to predict what's going to happen and pre-empt problems from happening, the standard stuff you do.

因此，當該系統啟動時，晶圓廠將開始更有效率地運行，這將真正結束。然後我們將進行諸如步驟消除之類的工作。我們將在計算機上工作以獲取更多數據。我們將查看[轉發]數據，嘗試預測將要發生的情況並預防問題發生，這是您所做的標準工作。

Quality is number one, and quality is a learnable task. I learned it, saved my company, and I'm good to teach it. I've already given my first quality lecture in Salt Lake, and we've got world-class quality person. So that, to me, is the main event.

品質是第一位的，品質是一項可以學習的任務。我學會了它，拯救了我的公司，我很樂意教導它。我已經在鹽湖城做了我的第一次高品質講座，我們有世界一流的高品質人員。所以，對我來說，這是主要事件。

Can you please provide any color on the ongoing relationship with Maxeon post-sale (inaudible)?

您能否提供與 Maxeon 售後持續關係的任何資訊（聽不清楚）？

What's our relationship with Maxeon post-sale? I'll start out with my relationship with them. Maxeon is the ex-manufacturing of SunPower. I was the Chairman of SunPower when it went public in 2004, 2005, and I know the Maxeon people well because they used to work for me.

我們與 Maxeon 售後有何關係？我將從我和他們的關係開始。 Maxeon 是 SunPower 的前製造商。 2004年、2005年SunPower上市時我是該公司的董事長，我很了解Maxeon的員工，因為他們曾經為我工作過。

SunPower was a division of Cypress, and when we took it public, it was a subsidiary. And then we spun it out to shareholders. That was a big day for them. It was like a $1.6 billion stock dividend.

SunPower 是 Cypress 的一個部門，當我們將其上市時，它是一家子公司。然後我們將其分拆給股東。這對他們來說是一個重要的日子。這就像 16 億美元的股票股息。

So I know Bill Mulligan, who runs it. He was the VP of R&D. He's the guy whose team went from wonderful Silicon Valley and lived in a walled compound in Manila to take the factory and turn on an automated line there. So we have very deep relationships with the company.

所以我認識比爾·穆里根（Bill Mulligan），他是這家公司的負責人。他是研發副總裁。他的團隊來自美麗的矽谷，住在馬尼拉的一個有圍牆的大院子裡，接管工廠並打開那裡的自動化生產線。所以我們和公司有非常深厚的關係。

And they, of course, wanted to crack Salesforce's sales modules. Because they've got a lot of modules that are really high quality, and they want to break into the American market. And they had a ready-made thing there.

當然，他們想要破解 Salesforce 的銷售模組。因為他們有很多非常高品質的模組，而且他們想打入美國市場。他們那裡有現成的東西。

Going forward, I'll turn that one over to Will.

接下來，我會把這個交給威爾。

Yeah, thank you. So going forward, we have a supply agreement with Maxeon. They're perfectly situated to be able to really maximize the value of our Solaria modules and the IP there.

是的，謝謝。因此，展望未來，我們與 Maxeon 簽訂了供應協議。他們處於完美位置，能夠真正最大限度地發揮我們 Solaria 模組及其智慧財產權的價值。

And so they're going to manufacture it. They're going to do a great job, and we'll continue to be able to purchase our equipment that we've always relied upon and loved from them.

所以他們要製造它。他們會做得很好，我們將繼續能夠從他們那裡購買我們一直依賴和喜愛的設備。

Although our foray into Solaria combining with Complete Solar is now dissolved, fact is there's some residual DNA that makes a lot of difference. For example, Solaria worked on world-class panels. That's what they did.

儘管我們對 Solaria 與 Complete Solar 結合的嘗試現已解散，但事實是，仍有一些殘留的 DNA 產生了很大的影響。例如，Solaria 致力於生產世界一流的面板。他們就是這麼做的。

They had the SunPower pitch. Our panels are all black. You get more watts from our panel than anybody else's, and then we have got great reliability. And we're now getting access to those SunPower panels, the seventh generation of them, with a relationship with -- normally we couldn't get. Those panels typically go into utility in very large volume.

他們進行了 SunPower 推介。我們的面板都是黑色的。您可以從我們的面板獲得比其他任何面板更多的瓦數，然後我們就獲得了極高的可靠性。我們現在可以接觸到這些 SunPower 面板，即第七代，並與我們通常無法接觸到的關係建立聯繫。這些面板通常會大量投入使用。

So that's one. We get high-quality panels. That means we'll have two offerings: the standard offering where we'll take the standard power panel at the lowest possible cost and put it on your house. And then there will be the asterisk offering, which will have some percent upgrade. And they will be able to get at the, it's called integrated-back-contact, IBC cells and panels, coming from Maxeon, the best in the world.

這就是其中之一。我們得到高品質的面板。這意味著我們將提供兩種產品：標準產品，我們將以盡可能低的成本採用標準電源面板並將其安裝在您的房子上。然後將會有星號產品，它將有一定百分比的升級。他們將能夠獲得來自 Maxeon 的世界上最好的整合式背接觸式 IBC 電池和麵板。

So we and Maxeon have a friendly relationship, and we'll continue to have it.

因此，我們和 Maxeon 有著友好的關係，並且我們將繼續保持這種關係。

Can you speak to the ways (inaudible)?

能談談方法嗎（聽不清楚）？

Yeah, speak to the financing -- this is the customer financing for going solar, and what's our mix of product? So there's been a lot of discussion about this with a lot of companies. And the two most popular ways to go solar are with a loan, and there are various solar lending companies. And we have strong relationships with many of them.

是的，談談融資－這是太陽能的客戶融資，我們的產品組合是什麼？因此，與許多公司對此進行了許多討論。兩種最受歡迎的太陽能方式是貸款，並且有各種太陽能貸款公司。我們與其中許多人建立了牢固的關係。

And then there are leases or PPAs; third-party owned is the category that that's called. And these are finance products that allow a homeowner to go solar and only pay for the power that the system produces, while the PPA owner, which is one of our finance partners, owns the system.

然後是租賃或購電協議；第三方擁有的就是所謂的類別。這些金融產品允許房主使用太陽能，只需為系統產生的電力付費，而購電協議所有者（我們的金融合作夥伴之一）則擁有該系統。

And so as interest rates have gone up, we've seen a shift for those who have access to good PPA and lease products, shifting the products that they're selling to the customers to use more of the leases and PPAs. And that certainly has happened for us.

因此，隨著利率上升，我們看到那些能夠獲得優質購電協議和租賃產品的人發生了轉變，他們將向客戶銷售的產品轉向更多地使用租賃和購電協議。這確實發生在我們身上。

In the third quarter, we increased our proportion of third-party owned systems up to 56% of total systems installed. And for our bookings, it was even higher than that. And so we've seen that increase steadily over the last four quarters.

第三季度，我們將第三方自有系統的比例提高到已安裝系統總數的 56%。對於我們的預訂來說，這個數字甚至更高。因此，我們看到這一數字在過去四個季度中穩步增長。

(inaudible - microphone inaccessible)

（聽不清楚 - 麥克風無法存取）

Which utilities have the most upward pressure on utility rates, on electricity rates? We are seeing utility rates go up across the board. That's something that you can always rely on. The cost of electricity is going to go up.

哪些公用事業公司對公用事業費率和電價的上行壓力最大？我們看到公用事業費率全面上漲。這是您始終可以信賴的。電力成本將會上漲。

In California, we've seen a lot of rate changes that have resulted in a tiered time-of-use system, where the high-end time periods are actually increasing very fast. So I would say in California, we've seen that a lot.

在加州，我們看到了許多費率變化，這些變化導致了分層使用時間系統，其中高端時間段實際上增長得非常快。所以我想說，在加州，我們已經看到很多這樣的情況了。

And I should mention that even with changes to the regulatory environment, as it relates to solar, which for a lot of companies has been a challenge, we've continued to grow in California. And a big part of that is electricity rates are going up. So we're confident in the customer value proposition for solar and solar plus storage. And we see the market across the US continuing to grow.

我應該提到，即使監管環境發生變化，因為它與太陽能有關，這對許多公司來說都是一個挑戰，但我們在加州的業務仍在繼續成長。其中很大一部分是電費上漲。因此，我們對太陽能和太陽能+儲存的客戶價值主張充滿信心。我們看到美國各地的市場持續成長。

(inaudible - microphone inaccessible)

（聽不清楚 - 麥克風無法存取）

We've seen very fast declining equipment costs over the last several months, in particular. I think that will slow down eventually, probably, in the first part of 2024. But there's still a little bit of room for costs to continue to come down.

特別是在過去幾個月裡，我們看到設備成本下降得非常快。我認為最終可能會在 2024 年上半年放緩。但成本仍有一點繼續下降的空間。

Okay. Doesn't look like we have any more questions. Thank you very much for tuning in.

好的。看來我們沒有更多問題了。非常感謝您的收聽。