Chapter 219
What Luo Tao said might seem a little unreasonable, but it was indeed what he really thought.

This year, Luo Tao went to BJ for meetings seven times, and the content of six of the meetings mentioned the issue of reducing orders from third-tier enterprises.

The national policy is to allow domestic third-line enterprises to transform in the direction of military-to-civilian conversion, and at the same time some small third-line factories will be closed. However, when it comes to implementation in the provinces, it becomes fraught with difficulties.

The first is the issue of transformation and closure of small factories. Some third-tier enterprises have only dozens to hundreds of employees. After the enterprise is closed, the placement of these personnel is relatively easy to solve. They only need to be arranged to other factories.

However, for some large factories with thousands of employees or even tens of thousands of employees like Shengli Machinery Factory, it is almost impossible to relocate so many people in a short period of time.

There are now more than 40 third-line arsenals in Jiangxi, with a total workforce of more than 100,000. If orders are drastically reduced and military-to-civilian projects are not followed up well, it will definitely have a very big impact and may even affect local social stability!

Therefore, as the leader of the superior administrative department of these enterprises, Luo Tao has been trying to find ways to solve these problems.

On the one hand, he frequently went to BJ to have face-to-face or private conversations with the leaders of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building, hoping that they could win as many military orders as possible from Jiangxi enterprises. On the other hand, he also paid close attention to the transformation of the third-line enterprises in the province, encouraging them to develop new products and new technologies to adapt to the production and development of civilian products. He took a two-pronged approach and tried to save the current crisis.

In addition to this, there is another way, which is to open up sales channels for international military trade products through corporate innovation and make it a foreign exchange earning enterprise.

However, compared with winning orders from superiors and transforming from military to civilian use, opening up the path of international military trade is obviously much more difficult. In addition to the problem of the state giving preferential treatment to individual third-tier enterprises, there is a big difference between the demand for foreign trade military products and the demand for domestic military products. If the product does not have its own characteristics and technical content, and cannot adapt to the needs of foreign military, it is impossible to sell it.

Not only in Jiangxi, but also across the country, there are very few companies that can develop advanced military products for foreign trade. Moreover, the most advanced things are never exported, which puts the research and development of military products for foreign trade in a very embarrassing position.

Luo Tao directly asked Xu Qiang whether his new product could be sold overseas, which was actually a very layman's statement, but it also showed that he had very high expectations of Xu Qiang, which is why he said such a thing.

"Director Luo, I'm just a technician. I don't know much about foreign trade military products." Xu Qiang paused and continued, "Although the products I develop may not be sold abroad, there must be a need for them in our country..."

Xu Qiang has enough confidence to say this. After all, aramid paper can be used in aerospace, bulletproof vests, bulletproof helmets, military vehicle armor, high-performance parachutes, etc., and it will greatly improve the performance of these products.

"In fact, our country doesn't have much demand for bulletproof vests every year." Luo Tao shook his head slightly, and after a moment he said, "Apart from bulletproof vests, are you developing other products this time?"

"Not yet." Xu Qiang also shook his head and said, "In fact, it is not easy to develop this bulletproof vest. The technical difficulty is very high. Our team has been working overtime every day and repeatedly modifying the design..."

"How difficult can a bulletproof vest be? Isn't it just a piece of iron sheet inside and sewn with cloth?" Luo Tao was a little disapproving. Then he sighed and said, "Anyway, your work attitude is still very good. You have lost so much weight, it seems that you have suffered a lot."

"Director Luo, actually my new product..."

"Okay, no more talking, let's have lunch together at noon, and you can come over too." Luo Tao patted Xu Qiang's shoulder and said.

Although he was not very interested in the bulletproof vest developed by Xu Qiang, and was not even interested in taking a look at it, Luo Tao still believed that Xu Qiang was a rare young technical talent. Besides, Xu Qiang did try his best this time, so Luo Tao would still invite him to have dinner together.

"Okay." Seeing this, Xu Qiang didn't say anything more.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on Luo Tao. Not to mention him, all the cadres in the factory, including Liu Biao, are not optimistic about the products developed by Xu Qiang.

After all, aramid is a high-tech material. In the current domestic situation, most military workers have never heard of it. Only professionals who know the field know the value of this material.

Afterwards, Luo Tao gave him a few simple words of encouragement and let Xu Qiang go back to work first.

After returning to the chemical laboratory, Xu Qiang continued his work today.

There are no new R&D projects for the time being, and Xu Qiang is still designing the equipment drawings for aramid 1313 with He Yonghong.

Compared with aramid 1414, aramid 1313 is much easier to produce.

If para-aramid 1414 is bulletproof aramid, then meta-aramid 1313 is fireproof aramid.

In later generations, aramid 1313 is generally processed into the shape of honeycomb paper, which is mainly used as fireproof, heat-insulating and noise-reducing fillings for automobiles, high-speed railways and rockets. The market demand is quite large.

Before 2015, China still needed to import a large amount of this aramid paper from abroad, which cost several billion dollars every year. However, its actual cost was only one hundred and twentieth of the export price of the United States, Japan and other countries, which really made them lose a lot of money. What Xu Qiang has to do now is to use the equipment and raw materials in the factory to develop this aramid, and then design drawings that can be mass-produced. Xu Qiang will then save these drawings and materials to accumulate technology for his future business.

In fact, with the current domestic material and machining level, many high-end chemical processing equipment cannot be produced at all, so Xu Qiang can only seal up some technologies after verification, and when the time is ripe, release the technology and transform it into productivity.

The last point is that the chemical industry is an extremely asset-intensive industry. If it is produced on a large scale, the initial investment will be quite huge. Therefore, Xu Qiang still has to make more money in the next few years and accumulate enough funds. This is actually a big challenge.

When it was time to get off work at noon, Xu Qiang took He Yonghong to the guesthouse.

"Director Luo, let me introduce you. This is my assistant He Yonghong. We usually eat together, so I asked him to come over for a meal today." After seeing Luo Tao in the private room of the guesthouse, Xu Qiang immediately introduced him.

"Hahaha, it doesn't matter. It's your Director Liu who's treating us anyway, so let him come over and sit down." Luo Tao said with a smile when he heard that.

"Hello, Director Luo!" Seeing this, He Yonghong immediately greeted him respectfully.

Although He Yonghong is usually a bit unruly and never forgets to drink at work, he still appears to be somewhat awed when facing his superiors.

In fact, He Yonghong had a glorious period when he was in the army. At that time, he was often commended by his superiors, and even won the second-class individual merit twice. He also won the championship in the military district competition. But in the end, because of a mistake, he had to retire in disgrace, and the glory has become a thing of the past.

But ever since he saw the aramid paper developed by Xu Qiang, he keenly felt that as long as he continued to work with Xu Qiang, he would definitely have a chance to regain his glory in the future.

"Have a cigarette." Liu Biao also handed He Yonghong a cigarette with a smile on his face.

Liu Biao obviously knew some of He Yonghong's background, but judging from his performance in the two years since he joined the factory, Liu Biao was somewhat disappointed. However, since he had become Xu Qiang's right-hand man, Liu Biao would still give him some face.

At this time, the door of the private room was pushed open again, and Li Cunzhu appeared at the door.

"Old Li is here! Come sit next to me!"

Seeing Li Cunzhu coming, Luo Tao immediately stood up and greeted him.

Compared to seeing Xu Qiang, Luo Tao seemed more enthusiastic at this time, and even took two steps forward and extended his hand.

Leaders can sometimes adopt a humble attitude towards useful people, especially when the two have known each other for a long time.

"You're too polite." Li Cunzhu said this, but he was still smiling and sat down next to Luo Tao.

With Li Cunzhu's arrival, the waiter began to serve the dishes.

"Lao Li, the new product you developed this time is really good. I also heard from experts in our province that the design of the electronic fuse shielding box is very clever. It completely breaks the traditional design of the anti-interference box in the past. It uses a combination of materials, coatings and angular reflection to achieve effective shielding of most signals. This is a remarkable design idea..."

Although Luo Tao didn't know much about bulletproof vest materials, he still had some understanding of some basic military equipment.

After Li Cunzhu's shielding box was sent to the province, after a series of professional tests, the relevant experts reported the test results directly to Luo Tao and gave high praise.

The success of Li Cunzhu's project has undoubtedly once again enhanced the evaluation and attention of the Provincial Defense Science and Technology Office to him. Therefore, Luo Tao's visit to the provincial machinery factory this time was actually to commend and encourage Li Cunzhu in person.

"In fact, the success of this project is inseparable from the cooperation of our department team. They also have certain contributions." At this time, Li Cunzhu said to Luo Tao with a beaming face.

"Old Li, you are too modest. As the saying goes, a voyage on the sea depends on the helmsman. Without a technical leader like you, nothing can be successful." Luo Tao said approvingly.

"Old Li has really made a great contribution this time." Factory Director Liu Biao also interjected at this time, saying: "Their project team has been working overtime during this period, sometimes even working until the night. The efforts of Old Li's team are obvious to all. This spirit should be carried forward..."

(End of this chapter)