Sail across the sea

Chapter 343: Biting off more than one can chew

"Director Gu, Professor Hai, Chief Engineer Zhou, Director Gao, Director Xu, there are a lot of people, but none of them truly belongs to your Canghua Science and Technology Trade." Zheng Linong took over Gao Fan's words.

Gao Fan was stunned, and his face was a little embarrassed. He argued, "At the very least, Director Gu should be considered a member of our Canghua Science and Trade. I talked to him, and he said that he prefers working in an enterprise and does not plan to return to the Science and Technology Commission."

"The force is still too weak." Zheng Linong shook his head and said, "Your vitamin C project has an annual sales volume of 4000 million US dollars, which is almost million RMB. Most large state-owned enterprises do not have such a large output value, but look at what cadres you have available?

"If you want to expand production to 2 million, 3 million, or even 10 billion in the future, will all the management work still rely on you, an 18-year-old?"

Gao Fan remained silent.

Gao Fan could see the problem that Zheng Linong saw.

In fact, since the vitamin factory went into production at the end of last year, Gao Fan has been like a firefighter for more than half a year, rushing to wherever there is danger and being busy all the time.

The Vitamin Factory was established on the basis of the former Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory, and most of the cadres and workers were veterans of the Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory. The production of vitamins was completely different from the production of fertilizers, and the cadres and workers made countless mistakes during the production process, which made Gao Fan miserable.

When reorganizing Yanxiu Fertilizer Factory, Gao Fan retained the original factory director Yin Baowen and asked him to be responsible for the daily management of the factory. Yin Baowen was diligent and hardworking, but unfortunately he was old and his management methods were somewhat rigid. He was unable to adapt to the new production process and often could not keep up with Gao Fan's pace.

Fortunately, Gao Fan had a strong backer like Gao Yiping. When production was at its peak, Gao Yiping sent a group of capable cadres and technicians from Canghai Fertilizer Factory to assist. Hai Qingwen, Yang Kai and others from Peking University also provided technical support, which ensured that the production of vitamin C went smoothly.

It was precisely because of these problems in the production and operation process that Gao Fan gave up the plan to further expand production capacity. He realized that modern large-scale industry cannot be achieved overnight, and the accumulation of talents is as important as the accumulation of technology. He decided to spend some time to cultivate his own management team in order to cope with future challenges.

"You are too impatient," Zheng Linong said. "Youth should be your advantage, but it turns out to be your disadvantage. As a young person, you should have more patience. But you are too impatient and want to get involved in everything, which ultimately results in biting off more than you can chew."

"I always feel that the gap between us and Western countries is too big, and we need to catch up," Gao Fan explained.

Zheng Linong asked, "How do you understand the term 'catch up'? If we build a factory today, will we catch up tomorrow? If it were that easy, wouldn't we have been number one in the world 35 years after the founding of the country?"

Gao Fan was speechless again.

As a time traveler, Gao Fan naturally knew that China would not be able to catch up with developed countries until 40 years later. Even by 2025, China still had some industrial crown jewels such as nail clippers and ballpoint pen tips to pick, and its industrial added value was only two-thirds of that of "foreign countries", which made countless enthusiastic young people feel very sad.

In this sense, he really didn't need to be too impatient. However, the world without him as a time traveler was like this, and with him as a time traveler, it was still like this. Didn't he travel through time in vain?
"What are your plans for the next step?" Zheng Linong changed the subject and asked Gao Fan.

Gao Fan said: "I haven't thought about it yet. The production of vitamin C still needs further adjustment, but the most difficult stage has passed. It is enough to have Director Yin and General Manager Gu watching over the daily management.

"The business situation of chemical cleaning agents is good. Last year, we exported 100 million bottles to Japan alone, earning nearly 800 million US dollars. This year's sales are expected to be similar to last year, mainly because several Japanese daily chemical manufacturers have also developed similar products, which have become a competition for us."

"Can you compete?" Zheng Linong asked with concern.

Gao Fan nodded: "It's not a big problem. Our products have some unique features and are different from Japanese products. It's no problem to maintain the current sales volume, but it will not be easy to further expand sales.

"I didn't expect such a product to monopolize the Japanese market. After all, Japan is very strong in fine chemicals."

"Well, it's not bad to be able to maintain this scale. With $800 million in export earnings per year, it's considered a star enterprise not only in Maolin Province, but also in several coastal provinces." Zheng Linong commented, "Besides these two products, does your company have any other products?"

"Then there is vitamin E. Previously, we were busy with vitamin C, so the vitamin E project was delayed. Last month, our vitamin E production equipment was put into production and is located in the former Wuyuan Fertilizer Plant. Pang Zhongmin, the former director of the Wuyuan Fertilizer Plant, is now the person in charge of the vitamin E project." Gao Fan reported.

Zheng Linong said, "I heard you talk about this project. It seems that you wanted to start with Vitamin E first, but later you contacted the Hatch Group and temporarily switched to Vitamin C. What is the expected output of the Vitamin E project?"

Gao Fan said: "Our designed production capacity is to produce 100 tons of vitamin E per year, mainly for export, and our target customers are still those feed manufacturers in the United States. According to the current international market price, the sales volume of 100 tons of vitamin E is about 330 million US dollars, and the profit is about 100 million US dollars."

"Does this mean foreign exchange earnings of 330 million US dollars a year?" Zheng Linong asked.

Gao Fan shook his head. "That's not the case. The two main raw materials for producing vitamin E, trimethylhydroquinone and isophytol, need to be imported, and the cost is over 200 million US dollars. The foreign exchange we can get is only 100 million US dollars per year."

"That's all..." Zheng Linong repeated Gao Fan's words and said with a smile, "One million US dollars is not all that. You have to know how much oil and minerals our country needs to export in order to earn one million US dollars in foreign exchange."

Gao Fan also laughed and said, "Minister Zheng is right in his criticism. However, our goal is definitely not to just earn 100 million foreign exchange every year.

"Vitamin E is just a testing ground. I am now arranging for people to develop production processes for other vitamin products. In the future, we will also launch products such as vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin D. We can make a few million dollars from each product, and the final scale will not be smaller than that of the vitamin C project."

(End of this chapter)