Sail across the sea

Chapter 553 Haike Company is too wronged
Everyone in this room had an IQ of at least 249. After Zhang Yongming's prompting, they all immediately realized what was going on:
Yes, by cooperating with Haike Company, the design institute doesn't lose anything.

If Haike Company makes money, everyone shares in the profits. As for the portion Haike Company takes, that's what they earned in the first place. If Haike Company didn't exist, that money wouldn't even exist, so why would anyone care about who gets how much?
As for other revenue-generating opportunities, that doesn't conflict with Haike Company. If you have your own connections, go and earn them yourself; the institute hasn't said you can't, has it?

Dai Shenghua naturally understood this principle as well, but he had spoken too confidently before, and now he was too embarrassed to put his sword back in its sheath. He said he reserved his opinion, but when everyone raised their hands to vote, he also raised his hand, on the grounds of avoiding damaging the unity of the team. Naturally, no one said much.

The institute's administrative meeting made a decision, and Cai Muqing reported it to the Party Group of the Ministry of Chemical Industry, which received the approval of the Party Group.

Currently, the government encourages public institutions to generate revenue. The design institute's ability to bring in external assistance to address its shortcomings in revenue generation is an innovation. If this revenue generation proves effective in the future, this experience will be worth promoting.

Subsequently, the Chemical Engineering Design Institute formally signed a cooperation agreement with Haike Technology Trading Company, stipulating that Haike Company would assist the Chemical Engineering Design Institute in the transformation of its scientific and technological achievements. Haike Company would have the right to represent the Chemical Engineering Design Institute in business negotiations with domestic and foreign clients and to develop research projects. Of course, the final service contract still needed to be reviewed by the Chemical Engineering Design Institute.

The agreement stipulates that for research projects approved by the Chemical Engineering Design Institute, Haike Company shall be fully responsible for the research organization work, and the Design Institute shall be obligated to provide research resources, including but not limited to assigning engineers, providing research conditions, and contacting cooperative units.

If the engineer assigned by the design institute is not capable of completing the project, or does not comply with Haike Company's reasonable research requirements, Haike Company has the right to request the design institute to withdraw and replace him with another person.

If engineers work overtime, travel on business, or engage in experimental activities that may affect their health during their work period, Haike Company must pay overtime wages, travel allowances, and health allowances, and the standards must not be lower than the average level of national-level scientific research institutions.

Engineers' salaries during project research are calculated on a daily basis and included in project costs. However, the aforementioned allowances and subsidies should not be included in costs and should be paid by Haike Company from its profits.

The costs incurred in using the design institute's laboratories and research equipment during the research process should also be calculated and included in the project cost.

The last point, of course, was the one debated at the previous institute meeting: all project revenue, after deducting costs, would be split 70/30. After receiving its share, the design institute would need to pay a management fee to the chemical engineering department, which naturally couldn't be included in the costs.

The hospital leaders were quite satisfied with the agreement.

The engineers' salaries and lab usage fees are essentially pocketed by the company. Even when there are no projects, these engineers still receive salaries; the fact that their salaries are included in project costs is tantamount to them taking advantage of Haike Company.

The clause that the engineer allowance must be paid by Haike Company from its 30% share of profits is not well understood by everyone, because it seems a bit unfair.

Don't misunderstand, people don't think the design institute was bullied, but rather that Haike Company was wronged.

In scientific research, overtime is sometimes a necessity. For example, in a heat treatment experiment, the annealing time may last for more than ten hours, and the researchers must stay by the furnace. It is appropriate to include the resulting overtime pay in the project cost, and it is really unreasonable to ask Haike Company to bear it.

In response, Cai Muqing claimed that this was the result of his hours-long debate with Haike Company, aimed at preventing Haike Company from unrestrainedly occupying the engineers' time, and that this was an important clause protecting the engineers' rights.

Everyone praised the dean for his compassion for the people and his uprightness, which enabled him to force private companies to give up profits.

No one knew that this clause was actually the result of a conspiracy between Cai Muqing and Gao Fan, and it was the biggest trap in the agreement. After the agreement was signed, it was publicized throughout the entire institute.

That's right, the public announcement was made after the contract was signed. It was essentially creating the impression that the deal was done before informing all employees.

If employees have some minor opinions that don't affect the overall situation, the institute can claim that the agreement has already been signed and is not easily modified, and then everyone will have nothing to say.

If someone does discover a major flaw that the institute's leadership missed, the design institute will still have the opportunity to back out. They can then claim that the agreement was not approved by the Ministry of Chemical Industry, which would constitute force majeure. It's unlikely that a private company would dare to challenge a national ministry.

The main purpose of publicizing the information is to inform everyone in advance and silence any dissent.

As for why this was done, everyone quickly understood.

"What? You've assigned me to work on a research project for Haike Company? What gives you the right?"

In the process research lab, engineer Jiang Zhiwei protested indignantly to the lab director, Wei Longshun.

“Xiao Jiang, this arrangement was specifically requested by Haike Company. The project they're working on was commissioned to us by the research institute of Canghai Chemical Group in Maolin Province. It's about potassium nitrate cooling crystallization technology. They said they've looked into it, and your doctoral dissertation was in this area, so you have a lot of experience in this field,” Wei Longshun explained.

"But I graduated with my doctorate five years ago. Director Wei, you know best what I did at the chemical engineering design institute during those five years. It had nothing to do with cold crystallization. I had almost forgotten all of that stuff."

“How could I forget the research I did in the past? You have the most experience in this field in the entire design institute. Other colleagues have never even been exposed to this area.”

"But this direction has no future at all. Our country does not have large potash mines, so there is no point in studying the cold crystallization of potassium nitrate. I didn't know this when I was choosing my doctoral dissertation topic. I only realized it was a pitfall after I got into it. Even publishing articles is much more difficult than for others."

"But the client wants this direction. I heard that the first phase of investment is 100 million yuan. After deducting costs, our institute can get a profit of more than 30 yuan. The dean attaches great importance to this project."

"What business is it of mine how much profit the institute makes? Can the institute promise that my participation in this project will be counted as a Class A achievement?"

"As for this issue, the institute is currently formulating relevant regulations. Participation in projects can definitely be counted as an achievement, but it may be a bit difficult to classify it as Category A."

"Or the institute could promise to give me a special bonus later."

"That's for sure, but regarding the credit limit..."

(End of this chapter)