1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 665: Spreading to the Wilderness
"Small multifunctional dough pressing machine?"

"Well, the idea is quite clever. It can press out noodles of various shapes, and the operation is also simple... But it's a pity that this thing may not even pass the initial review."

"Why? The reason is very simple... this thing has too few applicable scenarios and lacks sufficient market value."

"People abroad don't have the habit of making their own noodles, so foreign customers basically don't like this thing;"

"As for China, northerners eat noodles by hand, unless they have no other choice. So whether it is for home use or running a restaurant, handmade noodles are the mainstream. "

"As for the south, many places don't care about these things, but noodles are not their staple food, and they basically don't make noodles at home, so the use of noodle presses at home has suddenly decreased;"

"As for the noodles used in restaurants... they are either very sophisticated noodles that must be kneaded manually, or they are directly supplied by local noodle factories. Few restaurants would risk increasing operating costs, land costs, and labor costs by purchasing such a small noodle pressing machine."

“So, do you understand? If you want to be qualified to participate in the German Trade Fair, innovation is important, but commerciality must also be given priority consideration.”

Yang Mo pointed to a small multifunctional machine that was nearly as tall as a person and talked about it for five minutes without getting tired of it. He then spent another ten minutes giving examples and refuting the villagers' views one by one.

If the subordinates from Texas Urban Properties were present, they would probably be shocked. He doesn't have such good patience in the company.

Looking at those pairs of disappointed eyes, Yang Mo smiled helplessly.

Rural areas in the north, especially those in the Central Plains, are quite good at tinkering with small machinery. Therefore, as far as he knows, there are far more village collective enterprises that intend to use small machinery to gain admission to the German Trade Fair than just this one.

Unfortunately, since there is still a long time before we fully enter the information age, the limitations of rural areas are also very obvious in this regard... These villagers capture needs and conceive innovations based on the actual conditions of their own village and several nearby villages, but the needs they see may not be common or urgent in other areas. Therefore, the small machines they tinker with are not commercially viable enough, which is a very common phenomenon.

But there is no way, this kind of thing can only be accumulated slowly after getting on the right track, it can't be rushed.

Thinking of this, Yang Mo glanced unhappily at Tugou, the classmate who was smiling slyly beside him... He didn't believe that this girl would not be able to see such a simple question.

........................

"Sugar painting machine?"

"Can you quickly make sugar paintings based on different templates, and also have a small recorder to play music for added entertainment?"

"Okay, everyone's idea is good, but unfortunately... this thing can only be PASSED!"

"why?"

"Same problem, not commercial enough... Not only is it not commercial enough, there is no technical barrier at all. Anyone can copy it by themselves. Do you understand?"

………………

"A small peanut oil press?"

"Um……"

"It's not that this thing doesn't have application scenarios, but there's no need to send it over for preliminary review. It would be enough to contact the oil supply units in the nearby villages that have a cooperative relationship with Momo Baishou and try to persuade them to buy two."

"why?"

"It's very simple. As far as I know, there are at least 80 small peanut oil presses that have been sent for preliminary examination during this period... So many companies can produce them, and peanut oil is mainly consumed by people in our Qilu region, so the sales radiation range of this small machine cannot go beyond the county and township level."

………………

“Peanut picking machine?”

"It is suitable for separating the peanut vines from the dug peanuts, improving the peanut harvesting efficiency, and can be used for both diesel and electricity?"

"Huh? This thing is quite interesting."

Looking at this crude gadget in front of him that was obviously hand-welded and pieced together, Yang Mo became interested.

The ability to separate vines and fruits is not the biggest highlight, but the dual use of diesel and electricity is... At the very least, this hits the pain point of power shortage in rural areas. The extremely simplified structure and the small general-purpose diesel engine fully take into account the issues of use, production and cost.

Thinking of this, Yang Mo nodded: "This thing is not bad. Although if it is submitted for review, it is estimated that it will not survive the final review, and even the re-review has a more than 50% chance of being rejected... After all, foreign peanuts are mainly grown in large farms, and the efficiency of this thing cannot keep up. And this German Trade Fair is mainly for foreign orders, so it is not adaptable enough."

Seeing everyone's eyes dimming again, Yang Mo laughed: "But if this thing is well designed, we can directly contact Dahua Company and use the existing trade channels to promote it to some rural areas in other provinces in China, especially Henan, Hebei and Guizhou... After all, peanuts are an important oil crop and cash crop. Although the areas where peanuts are grown are scattered across the country, there are still quite a few of them. Even if we can eat a tiny part of it, it will be a very good project."

After experiencing seven or eight denials and setbacks, they suddenly received affirmation from this favored child of heaven. A group of villagers began to doubt their lives... Could it be that the sun was too strong today, and they were sunburned and had hallucinations in their ears?
They secretly glanced at the Tugou classmate who had remained silent, and found that the girl nodded with a smile. The group of people then became ecstatic.

………………

"what?"

"What is this?"

After quickly skipping over three or four small machines that obviously lacked application scenarios, Yang Mo stopped at the last one, which had an ordinary appearance but a somewhat weird internal structure.

A villager quickly explained: "This is a washing machine that our village group invented on their own... the kind that doesn't use electricity but is a pity to wash clothes."

Yang Mo was immediately surprised: "No electricity required?"

The villager scratched his head and said, "Washing machines are very fashionable now, but they are too expensive, and the electricity bill is also high, so we worked together to see if we could come up with one that is cheap and does not consume much electricity."

As he spoke, he squatted down, stretched out his hands to the two handles outside the iron box, and turned it easily: "Some time ago, Manager Lu brought a projection team to our village to show movies. We thought the hand-cranked generator was interesting, so we had a flash of inspiration and borrowed it from it."

"You see, with just a little effort, you can drive the shaft at the bottom of the box and the water will start to rotate. It's just like the principle of a washing machine, but the washing power is even stronger... We've tried it before. After adding detergent to an ordinary washing machine, it takes more than ten minutes to completely wash away the dirt on the clothes. But if we shake this thing a little faster, it can wash away the dirt on the clothes in five minutes at most. Even the most difficult to wash motor oil, if you put more detergent, five minutes is enough."

As he spoke, he took out a funnel-shaped thing from the back of the iron box and inserted it into the top corner. "There is a drain plug at the bottom of the box, and it also comes with a hose. When the time comes, you can drain the water by pulling it out. Then put this funnel on top. If you have running water, connect it to the tap. If you don't have running water, just pour the bucket through the funnel. In less than a minute, the water will be full. Then shake it for another half a minute, and the second cleaning process is complete."

After a simple demonstration, the villagers looked at Yang Mo cautiously: "Now the river water in many places is too dirty to wash clothes. It takes a lot of effort to use the old method of hammering to wash clothes, especially in winter, washing thick clothes is really a pain. But we don't have much money to buy an electric washing machine, so we thought of such a lazy way;"

"We think that although this thing is definitely not as convenient to use as an electric washing machine and needs to be shaken by hand, it is cheaper after all, so..."

Before he finished speaking, Yang Mo nodded repeatedly: "This thing has a future. With a little improvement, it will have no problem passing the final review!"

hiss!
Will this thing make it through the final review?
Those foreigners...will they be interested in this thing?
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Could this young man, who was said to be a college student, be kidding us?
Yang Mo laughed: "Don't disbelieve me, everyone... Do you know our energy-saving freezers in Texas?"

The villagers nodded one after another. After more than a year of promotion, this thing was everywhere on the streets, and even in towns, all the convenience stores were now filled with this thing.

Affordable price is one thing, but more importantly, this thing, which is said to be made using the ancient ice-judging principle + new thermal insulation material, can still keep the popsicles inside from melting even after a power outage for ten hours... It can be said to be a great way to save money.

Seeing this, Yang Mo laughed again: "What you may not know is that this energy-saving freezer from Texas is not only very popular in China, but also abroad...especially in India."

"Although India's overall economic level is slightly higher than ours, it is still very limited. Moreover, the situation there is different from that in our country. The upper castes, which only account for 10% of the population, are all well-behaved, but the remaining one billion people are not living well at all."

"In addition, the power supply in India has always been a big problem, and it happens to be very hot there, so this kind of freezer that does not require continuous power supply for refrigeration, and even in some cases does not require power to keep warm, is extremely popular there (not YY, in fact, homemade refrigerators that do not require electricity are very popular in India later)."

"Similarly, I personally think that this kind of manual washing machine, which is both cheap and does not require electricity, will also have a big market in India."

"After all, it's very hot there. Even if people in urban areas don't pay attention to hygiene, they still have a strong need to change clothes... In fact, in many cities in India, laundry has become a huge industry."

"But the problem is that most urban residents in India do not have high incomes, and there are even a large number of slums. Even if it is cheap to wash a piece of clothing locally, it will be a very large expense over time. So for many grassroots urban residents, if there is a convenient laundry tool that is reasonably priced and does not require electricity, it is relatively attractive."

"So, based on this consideration, I personally think that as long as the cost of this kind of manual washing machine is well controlled, it should be no problem to get an exhibition booth at the German Trade Fair... After all, not all foreigners are rich!"

This is not nonsense. Although the Chinese people in later generations were very attentive to orders from India, and some merchants even rolled their eyes when they heard that the purchaser was from India, at present, a series of countries including Africa and India are the targets that China is actively seeking to cooperate with. Therefore, there will definitely be a lot of merchants from Africa and India at this German trade fair.

Besides, according to the original historical line, the economy in most rural areas of China would not improve significantly until after 2008, which is nearly years ago. Before that, even if the per capita income level was on the rise, washing machines were still large items that most rural families needed to purchase with caution. As long as it is promoted effectively, at least in Yang Mo's opinion, the market prospects of this type of manual washing machine in grassroots rural areas in China are still worth looking forward to.

Hearing Yang Mo's well-reasoned words, everyone was immediately ecstatic. They had not thought that such a thing that took the least effort could actually get an admission ticket to the German Trade Fair.

Seeing this, Yang Mo smiled again: "However, although this thing has potential, it still needs some improvements. In addition to optimizing the small details of convenience, the appearance must be greatly changed... After all, humans are visual animals. Even if your principle and structure are simple, it must look advanced and fashionable, so that others are willing to pay for it!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo gave them some suggestions for improvement according to his own ideas.

For example, the crank handle should be equipped with a soft rubber handle with ergonomic design;
The bottom of the box should have an anti-slip design and retractable movable pulleys; the drain plug and hose should have an integrated hanging and collection design;
In addition to the integrated design, the funnel also needs to reselect the materials and structure and make a hidden pull-out design.
The capacity of the water tank should be recalculated according to the characteristics of summer and winter clothes. In addition to dividing it into two different models, we should also seek the optimal balance between water saving and efficiency.
Targeting the three potential markets of India, Africa and Europe, we printed artistically modified Sanskrit, English and Latin stamps on samples with different detailed styles to enhance the quality of the products and arouse the intimacy of customers.
Barabara's.

As for the beautification of the appearance and the related anti-rust and paint design, he directly suggested seeking help from Dahua Company... Dahua Company has professional industrial appearance design companies and commercial packaging design companies under its jurisdiction. Within the framework of the Qiangcun Company Incubation Program, they have great discounts on design fees for qualified companies and products.

Yang Mo even helped them draft the direction of the product concept, which was nothing more than environmental protection, safety, new fashion, and other things that had just emerged in Europe and the United States and sounded very high-end... Maybe if the slogans were louder and the samples were equipped with a few fashionable-looking shells, they could fool some European and American customers at the exhibition.

........................

Since I was conscripted by an energetic girl like Tugou, it was obviously not enough to just give some suggestions on a pair of small machines conceived by a village collective enterprise.

So, after a simple "meal" of fish and tofu, Yang Mo was dragged by the girl and hurried to the next village.

So, in just three days, Yang Mo visited eleven villages that he had never heard of before. He even had to travel late at night, which really exhausted him.

The most outrageous thing was that this girl often refused to stay for even a meal. After finishing her work, she would drag Yang Mo away and just buy two steamed buns on the way to eat them in the car. Yang Mo, who had passively learned a new skill of eating steamed buns while driving, had his stomach quickly consumed, and his pillow was wet when he woke up in the morning.

However, along the way, he did discover some small creative ideas that were eye-catching but were likely to be rejected during the initial review and re-review process.

For example, a portable PU leather magnetic cosmetic box that utilizes magnetism + combines folk origami crafts + the structure of a Chinese cosmetic box.

In his previous life, Yang Mo had seen similar gadgets when he was working in foreign trade. Later, after he switched to VC, he found that similar gadgets were still selling well in overseas markets, with the average price of a single one on independent websites being around fifty or sixty US dollars. Therefore, as long as more effort is put into portability, the structure is simplified as much as possible, and the styles are expanded, it will definitely be a long-term source of income.

For example, a cartoon-themed night light humidifier was developed based on the information shared by the Chen Group.

Although humidifiers were invented in the 18th century and are not a new thing, as the climate warms, humidifiers will be a near-necessity for families and office workers in many areas of Europe and the United States in the next 20 years, especially in southern Germany, France, Italy and other regions. Therefore, as long as further adjustments are made to the plastic material, color matching, noise reduction technology, and theme selection, and they are not made into something that only Chinese people have seen, such as Calabash Brothers or Haier Brothers, there will definitely be a market for them.

Moreover, although the core component of the humidifier, the ultrasonic transducer (vibration plate), still needs to rely mainly on imports, Yang Mo vaguely remembers that this long-lasting product could be sold for around US$40 on websites such as AliExpress. Therefore, with sufficient profit guarantee, as long as this seemingly insignificant small track is developed, it can definitely drive the local ultrasonic transducer in Texas and even the localization substitution process of the evaporation medium, the core component of the wet film humidifier.

For example, we borrowed the idea of ​​electric blanket and created an electric sweater that combines an electric blanket and a coat.

This thing looks a bit like nonsense. After all, in the imagination of Chinese people today, foreign countries are very developed and every household has a fireplace heater. In winter, there is no need for this kind of crudely put together thing.

But in fact, power companies in European and American countries are basically privately owned, and electricity bills are extremely expensive. Therefore, as long as the style is designed to be loose and cute, and the function of covering the feet is increased, and the material is changed to more textured cotton and the plush cloth or shearling cloth that has been very popular in the past two years, it will definitely attract the favor of a lot of young European and American women.

Of course, for this kind of functional product, safety is always the first consideration. Therefore, in addition to improvements in the design and materials of the clothes, it is also necessary for electric heating line companies with reliable quality to get involved, and even battery manufacturers will need to get involved in the future... Approaching active heating is only a stopgap measure, and lightweight battery portable heating is the future.

For example, there is a mini waist-hanging fan that is a modification of an electric shaver.

This thing is purely a prank by two villagers. At most, it can be worn around the waist to cool down while working in the fields. But based on Yang Mo's experience, as long as the noise of the motor is reduced through workmanship optimization and the weight of the battery is reduced, it will definitely win the favor of a lot of young people in Europe and the United States who pursue individuality.

Although the sales of this kind of product may not be particularly stable, and it may not sell well once the novelty wears off, there are many products that can be derived from this idea... and batteries are originally an industry that Texas plans to focus on developing. Even if it is for industrial development considerations, this little gadget that was originally just a spoof has a great chance of getting an admission ticket to the German Trade Fair after optimization.

There are many more micro-innovation products like this.

For a moment, Yang Mo even doubted whether the place where he was standing was the land of Qi and Lu, which was known for its conservatism and dullness.

In later generations, China was able to transform from a world factory to a world manufacturer and gradually gain recognition from the whole world. The rapidly rising national strength and those high-tech equipment certainly contributed to this, but what really played a subtle role were China's seemingly inconspicuous but numerous minimally invasive C-end light industrial products.

In fact, to a large extent, it is the profit-driven effects of these insignificant little creative ideas and manufacturing needs that have reacted and promoted the research and development and iteration of some new technologies, which can be regarded as a model of bottom-up promotion.

It can be said that although the various minimally invasive new products that Yang Mo has seen in the past few days do not have much technological content, they are more like a group of fellow villagers who have combined the good things passed down by their ancestors for thousands of years with the daily technology they have access to and their own imagination.

But this trend surprised him.

Innovation is a vital part of business, even a matter of life and death. Even though there is a certain gap between many domestic technical fields and those abroad, and even though these things are still far from being refined in terms of production technology, as long as this atmosphere is maintained and properly guided and assisted, within five years...

Thinking of this, Yang Mo couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

The wisdom of the masses is endless, the teacher is right!

In this era when information flow at home and abroad is extremely poor, these fellow villagers can unleash their collective creativity and inadvertently come up with so many creative ideas and thoughts that actually have great potential. Then, when information gradually becomes smooth, their horizons gradually broaden, and they gradually open up in overseas markets, who the hell dares to say that they can’t count on the mud-legged commune! ?
While changing gears, Yang Mo rubbed his chin, which was already covered with stubble, and asked, "Girl, have you discovered an interesting phenomenon... In the past few days, the samples that I think have potential, the village collective enterprises that have been developed often have one thing in common."

Tugou patted him lightly, signaling him to concentrate on being a driver, but his face showed a nonchalant expression: "Do I need your reminder? I've already seen that... most of the products that you finally like are made by village groups that have relatively close cooperative relations with other village collective enterprises."

Yang Mo looked at her with some surprise: "Did you figure it out?"

Tugou snorted, "Please, we rural people are just poor, not very knowledgeable, and haven't received much education due to past reasons, but that doesn't mean we are really stupid... These village groups have closer ties with external companies, so they naturally get more information. In addition, these are all villages that don't have any advantageous resources, and can only survive by relying on their own abilities and the resources of other companies. So they will naturally think more deeply and explore more accurate market entry points."

"So, now everyone is increasingly feeling that what you said at the beginning is right. Only by building a comprehensive ecosystem in the form of organic interconnection in rural grassroots areas can qualitative changes gradually take place, and our people can truly have hope."

Yang Mo rolled his eyes: "What do you mean by you country folk? You make it seem like I'm an outsider. I also came from the countryside, okay?"

Lu Yingying looked at him with disdain: "Don't give me that. Since you were transferred to Dahua Company, have you really done any practical things for us rural people in the past few years?"

"Hehe, you'll soon be a department-level leader... We country folk don't have the courage to acknowledge you as a fellow villager."

Yang Mo was completely speechless: "Big sister, if you have something to say, can you please speak nicely... I have already obediently accepted my fate and was dragged here by you to serve as a soldier, why should I be embarrassed to ask for anything... I am afraid of you, if you need my help with anything, just say no directly, as long as you don't force me to sell my body, I will agree to everything, okay!"

The two have been friends for twenty years, plus they have been friends for more than half a century in their previous life. Just like Lu Yingying knows Yang Mo, as soon as this girl sticks her butt out, Yang Mo knows what she is going to do.

When Tugou saw Yang Mo's obedient and cowardly expression, he immediately grinned and said, "You said that. I didn't force you to do that!"

Yang Mo hummed weakly twice: "Yes, yes, I volunteered, no one forced me."

Tugou suddenly perked up, and then he stretched out his hand and said, "I'm out of money, so I need your help, my big boss."

Yang Mo glanced at her unhappily and said, "The wallet is in the Jiefang bag in the back seat. Take as much as you want."

This girl obviously earns a lot of money, but she lives in poverty all day long, and no one knows where the money goes, so Yang Mo has long been accustomed to this girl asking for money from time to time.

When Lu Yingying heard this, she glared at him and said, "Stop looking down on me. Who cares about the money in your pocket?"

Yang Mo smacked his lips with some toothache: "I find that your appetite is getting bigger and bigger now... Tell me how much you want. I'll bring the passbook and go to a bank to withdraw it later."

Lu Yingying looked at him with a smile: "At least 20 million!"

Yang Mo lost his balance and the car almost fell into the ditch: "What!? Twenty million!?"

Seeing his wide eyes, Lv Yingying pouted and then revealed a pitiful expression: "But I have already used up the more than 200 million you asked Section Chief He to squeeze out for me. The German Trade Fair will be held at the end of the year. There are so many companies and villages that need help, and there are countless places to spend money... Can you help us get another 20 million!"

Yang Mo's scalp tingled: "Big sister, please understand, this is 20 million, not 2,000 yuan, where can I get it for you now!?"

"Also... I asked Lao He to squeeze out more than 200 million for you. It's only been a short time and you've already spent it all!?"

As mentioned above, at the end of the year before the establishment of Dezhou City Real Estate Company, Zhuo Mali, who wanted to please Yang Mo and strive for the position of general assistant, obtained the tacit approval of her boss and teamed up with He Yongyi of Momo Baitou to move more than 200 million yuan through various means and dispersed it among the various sub-project accounts of Momo Baishou.
Although the apparent purpose was to allow Momo Baishou to continue to develop as planned without constraints after the merger of Dahua and Dezhou Urban Development Company, in fact, this large amount of money that could actually be freely disposed of by Lu Yingying was also to allow her to let go and do what she wanted to do.

God have mercy on me, this is a full 2.34 million yuan, which was definitely an astronomical figure in the early s!
Lu Yingying looked aggrieved: "Who knew that the money would be so hard to spend? We are increasing capital and expanding shares, and supporting incubation. Look, it's only been a little over a year and a half, and all our money is gone!"

Yang Mo couldn't help but twitch his lips: "Sister, even if you have dozens of companies under your name now, even if these companies need to increase capital and expand shares after they develop, you just need to take some shares, there is no need to invest so much money in it!"

"There is also the white-label plan of Mo Mo Baishou. I know that you have privately helped many projects, including lending money and helping to buy equipment. But as far as I know, the projects you helped were basically all small and micro projects. One hundred of them combined would not cost 30 million... Tell me how you spent the more than 200 million that Lao He and Sister Zhuo helped you to withdraw!"

Lv Yingying smiled timidly: "Well, I said I only helped, but I didn't say that we only helped the small businesses in the village... Lao Yan, Lao Sun and I found in our work that if we really want to develop the big guys, it is far from enough to just invest some money in those village collective enterprises."

As he spoke, he shrank his neck and glanced at Yang Mo: "Didn't you always say that you planned to build a complete ecosystem in rural areas... So, so, since we were still relatively wealthy, we helped out with other things... Although more than 200 million is a lot, how can such a small amount of money be enough for a place as big as Lanling, Dezhou?"

A complete ecosystem?
Helped with something else?
Yang Mo had a bad feeling in his heart. He stopped the car and turned his head suspiciously to look at the girl: "You damned girl, what the hell are those other things you mentioned?"

Seeing Yang Mo staring at her fiercely, Lu Yingying shrank back behind her seat with a guilty conscience, then stretched out a small finger and poked forward: "Well, Huagang Village is not far ahead, how about... I take you for a walk?"

"You'll know if you go and take a look around."

The usually brave and brave student Lu Yingying now looked like a young wife who had made a mistake, her tone and expression were full of caution...

(End of this chapter)