Chapter 197 Shortcomings
It is almost impossible for Xu Qiang to develop aramid and related production line systems alone in a short period of time. Moreover, Xu Qiang is not a major in electronic mechanics, and drawing equipment drawings is his weakness. If he can go back to university in the future, Xu Qiang will definitely make up for this shortcoming.

Moreover, in later generations, computers and related industrial software are very commonly used, and it is rare to see people drawing designs on paper. But it is undeniable that drawing is the basic skill for many manufacturing technicians. If Xu Qiang wants to get involved in this profession, there are many things he must learn.

"I don't know much about your technical matters. Let me talk to Chief Engineer Li later and ask him to transfer a few people from the technical department to your project team. What do you think?" Liu Biao said after thinking for a while.

"That's great." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

"Okay, go back and prepare well. The renovation project of the chemical workshop will probably start before the end of the month. You must complete the task well then." Liu Biao said.

"I won't let you down."

After Xu Qiang finished speaking, he stood up and left Liu Biao's office.

Next, Xu Qiang will write another project plan, including the personnel composition of the project team, R&D plans, various requirements, etc., and then wait for Liu Biao to assign personnel to him and notify all workshops and departments, asking them to actively cooperate with Xu Qiang's project.

At this moment, more than ten days had passed since the last bet was made in the guesthouse, and there were less than four months left until the beginning of March.

During this period, Xu Qiang also has to carry out a renovation project of the chemical workshop, so the work pressure will be very high.

However, when he thought about the rewards that would be brought by successful development of aramid products in the future, Xu Qiang felt uncontrollably excited.

Others may not recognize the value of this product, but Xu Qiang himself understands that if this product is successfully developed, it will bring huge rewards to the factory and himself, and may even allow Xu Qiang's name to be written directly into the history of China's industrial development!

However, the project has just begun and Xu Qiang still has many problems to solve.

Throughout the afternoon, until the end of get off work, Xu Qiang finally finished writing the project plan, and he could hand it directly to Liu Biao early the next morning.

After completing all this, Xu Qiang rode his scooter back to the peat field.

During this period, Yang Dong, the village chief of Xiazhuang Village, has been expanding the factory's manpower and has arranged almost all the remaining young and strong labor force in the village to the fertilizer factory. As a result, six three-level sedimentation tanks were dug in succession within just half a month. All of them were peat production lines with earth stoves underneath and could be heated. This also greatly increased the output of humic acid in a short period of time, and nearly three tons of finished products can be produced every day, which is almost six times the output before Xu Qiang was affiliated!
Moreover, since Xu Qiang transferred Liu Jun to start producing dyes, the production management of the peat field was almost entirely handed over to the people in Xiazhuang Village. So much so that many times, Yang Dong secretly asked the villagers to take the fertilizers produced that day to the town to sell without going through Xu Qiang. The funds obtained were not recorded in the account at all, but went directly into his own pocket. Liu Jun reported this matter to Xu Qiang privately.

However, Xu Qiang turned a blind eye to this, because he no longer makes money by selling humic acid fertilizers, and he had anticipated this kind of thing.

Moreover, the price of humic acid fertilizer has been falling again and again. Many surrounding villages have also started to establish humic acid fertilizer factories, striving to get a piece of the pie. Wang Zhong from the supply and marketing cooperative has become the biggest winner of the rapid development of the local humic acid industry.

So all Xu Qiang needs now is a site and a production and operation license. As for the humic acid business that allowed him to make his first pot of gold after his rebirth, it is now useless.

This also made Xu Qiang realize once again that industries with low technological barriers will eventually fall into endless internal competition.

If you want to be in an industry with long-term stable high profits, you need very high technical barriers and a strong industry moat.

"I have contacted the manufacturer in Shanghai, and they said they will deliver the goods as soon as possible, no later than the 20th of this month."

In the hut on the peat field, Erhu reported to Xu Qiang on the tasks he had completed on this business trip.

A few days ago, Xu Qiang arranged for Erhu to go to a Shanghai manufacturer to order a reactor for producing indigo powder. After Xu Qiang transferred the money to the manufacturer through remittance, Erhu had already received the purchase contract.

"Thank you for your hard work." Xu Qiang nodded and then asked, "By the way, did you go to the two factories I asked you to visit during your trip to Shanghai?"

"Yes, this is their product quotation." Erhu took out a few sheets of printed paper and handed them to Xu Qiang, saying, "They are all small factories located in the vicinity of Shanghai. They are not very large and mainly do OEM for some large factories. They also want to expand their customer base, so they are willing to give us some discounts. If the order amount is large enough, they can continue to offer discounts."

"Very good." Xu Qiang took the order, looked at it, and nodded with satisfaction.

The production of indigo powder requires several chemical raw materials. Previously, Xu Qiang had always purchased them from the County Materials Bureau through Wang Zhong.

But all eggs should not be put in one basket. Xu Qiang also needed more channels to purchase raw materials. So when Erhu went to Shanghai to buy a reactor, Xu Qiang arranged for him to visit some nearby chemical manufacturers to inquire about the prices of these raw materials.

In the second half of 1980, many chemical workshops of various sizes had appeared around Shanghai. They were all small collective enterprises supported by local township governments. They initially made profits by producing some raw materials for large factories through their own connections and channels. As the entire industry developed, they also began to expand their customer base. With the help of many "Sunday engineers", their technical level continued to improve, and their product variety became more and more abundant. Compared with the products of state-owned enterprises, they were more competitive in terms of price. Especially in the southern Jiangsu region during this period, almost every city, county, township, and village government established a large number of township enterprises. The government funded the enterprises, and then the government appointed capable people to serve as the heads of the enterprises. Due to the government's relationship, these township enterprises could rely on government relations to obtain loans from banks, and they could also occupy land at low cost, which greatly reduced the possibility of business failure.

The southern Jiangsu region first developed rural township enterprises and then marketized them. In fact, it was also "first building the shell of a planned economy and then using the capital market's market-oriented heart."

Most of the farmers in southern Jiangsu were originally unemployed, but after the state capital was used to establish enterprises, some farmers became the first industrial workers in these township enterprises, which promoted the development of southern Jiangsu as a whole.

The booming development of these regions has also facilitated Xu Qiang's procurement of raw materials, machinery and related equipment, which is crucial.

"Uncle, do you still need any help here?" Erhu suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I have a cousin in Jiujiang, he's my second aunt's child. After graduating from high school, he found a job in a factory, but he was fired not long after he started working. He has been at home for half a year. My second aunt came back from Shangrao this time and saw that I was dressed quite well, so she wanted me to help find him a job..."

"Fired? Because of what?" Xu Qiang was stunned when he heard that.

You have to know that these days workers in state-owned enterprises have stable jobs. As long as they don't make big mistakes, such as criminal offenses, it's basically impossible for them to be fired.

"They said it was because of hooliganism..."

"Playing like a hooligan!?" Xu Qiang was suddenly shocked.

"Actually, my cousin got a girlfriend, and that girl was also an employee of their factory. They were reported for kissing in the park. Fortunately, my aunt knew someone in the Public Security Bureau, so he was only detained for a few days and then released. As a result, the factory directly fired him." Erhu said with a sneer.

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, Xu Qiang immediately laughed.

If this kind of thing happened in later generations, it would not be worth mentioning at all, but in this era, it is a very serious matter.

People in those days had serious feudal traditional ideas. Generally, when men and women were in love, they were very distant from each other, instead of being passionate and natural like in later generations.

At that time, forcible hugging was called indecent assault, and dancing between men and women was called hooliganism. There was once a young man who was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for peeping into the women's restroom. Another young man was sentenced to four years in prison for forcibly hugging a young woman.

If it weren't for the fact that cousin Erhu and the young woman were lovers, he would have to sit in jail for at least a few years.

"A high school degree is good. If he wants to come to work in our factory, I will hire him." After a moment, Xu Qiang said, "But let's be clear. Our factory is not like a state-owned enterprise. There is no pension for retirement and no free medical care. The more you work, the more you get. How much money he can make depends entirely on his ability."

In fact, Xu Qiang was indeed short of manpower. Although Xiazhuang Village provided hundreds of laborers, they were not the same kind of people as Xu Qiang. What he needed were trustworthy confidants.

Moreover, Erhu's cousin only has a high school education, which is considered a high level of education these days. If he engages in technical work, he should be much better than Liu Jun and Erhu.

I guess if he hadn't been fired, I wouldn't have been able to recruit someone with such academic qualifications.

However, Xu Qiang has not met this person yet, so he needs to observe for a while before knowing the specific situation.

"Okay, then I'll tell my second aunt and ask my cousin to come over as soon as possible." Erhu said repeatedly.

"Also, let me be frank with you. If your cousin comes here to hang out and doesn't work hard, don't blame me for turning against him." Xu Qiang said with a frown.

"Don't worry, uncle. My cousin is smart and sensible. He is reliable in everything he does and will not do anything reckless." Erhu said confidently.

"Well, that's it, let's eat!"

After Xu Qiang finished speaking, he and Erhu left the cabin and prepared to have dinner...

(End of this chapter)