50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 736 Business Opportunities Discovered in the Ruins

Besides Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Chicago, all cities surrounding the Great Lakes, are located in this Rust Belt.

With the decline of traditional heavy industry and industrial relocation, these old cities are gradually transforming, some of which have succeeded and others are still striving.

For example, Chicago has successfully transformed into a modern financial metropolis;
For example, Pittsburgh, relying on Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, has successfully transformed into a biotechnology and finance sector.
But Detroit, after falling from its position as the Motor City, has never recovered.

Cleveland is on the path of transformation.

For any city to succeed, it must have a pillar industry in its early stages of development.

Once the pillar industry has developed, then expand into related industries around it, eventually developing into a diversified economy.

This way, problems in a particular industry won't lead to the decline of the city.

Previously, the city of Xixi was unable to survive the decline and industrial relocation caused by pollution from the traditional steel industry because of its single industrial chain.

Currently, even Cleveland's mayor, Gerald Spencer, is in a state of confusion, searching for a way out for the city in a haphazard and incoherent manner.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have shown such respect to the newly established Maria Foundation.

Sun Zhiwei acknowledged his efforts; otherwise, he and his wife wouldn't have come.

This "Balloon Festival" charity event in Cleveland is one of Gerrard's attempts.

Only Sun Zhiwei, who possesses the memories of the past, knows that Cleveland's future lies in the medical industry.

Because there is a world-renowned hospital here: the Cleveland Clinic.

The Cleveland Clinic was founded in 1921 and is affiliated with and operated by the Cleveland Clinical Foundation, a non-profit organization in Ohio.

From its inception, the Cleveland Clinic comprised four main areas: clinic, hospital, research, and education.

Two years ago, the Cleveland Clinic launched its own official logo, a square logo composed of four squares.

This emblem represents the clinic's four main areas of expertise, as well as the foundation's four founding PhDs.

Frank E. Buntz, MD; George W. Creel, MD; William E. Lott, MD; and John Phillips, MD.

This symbol later became the clinic's logo.

Using the word 'clinic' does not necessarily mean that the medical institution is small.

Even though it has not yet become a globally renowned medical industry giant, the Cleveland Clinic is still a large hospital with thousands of beds.

What will enable the Cleveland Clinic to rise to future success is the most important part of its four major components: the Lerner Institute.

In the 1940s, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic successfully isolated serotonin.

The first coronary angiography in human history was performed in 1958.

In 1959, Kolff invented the artificial kidney.

In 1967, coronary artery bypass surgery was developed and improved.

Successful medical research has enabled this city-level medical institution to develop rapidly.

However, because he is backed by academic experts who are very good at scientific research, but not so good at business management.

Both Gerald and the Cleveland Clinic are now waiting for an opportunity to connect.

Sun Zhiwei and his family checked into the only five-star hotel in the city center: the Westin Hotel.

Although there were many visitors during this period due to the large event, Sun Zhiwei's family didn't have to worry about not having a room. This is because the Westin Hotel is part of the same hotel group as the Westin Central New York, which is located in the Robert Group headquarters building.

Robert Company has become a VIP client of their group, and Sun Zhiwei, as the chairman of Robert Company, naturally enjoys the benefits he deserves.

Actually, traveling with a 1-year-old is not a good idea.

The couple simply didn't feel comfortable leaving their children alone in New York, which is why they brought them along on the trip.

After finally settling the two children in, Sun Zhiwei decided to take a stroll around the city with Tong Jiajia.

While Cleveland's city center may not look particularly bustling now, maintaining a clean and hygienic environment is the foundation of an excellent city.

What he didn't know was that if he had come a few years earlier, the environment here wouldn't be so good.

Previously, the industrial pollution accumulated from a century of steel industry gave the city a rotten smell from the inside out.

Garbage accumulated in the waterways and along the Great Lakes has driven many people away from the area.

It was only after Gerard Spencer took office that he overcame all opposition and used the limited municipal funds to clean up the polluted river, which gave the city a renewed sense of vitality.

But that's all; tens of thousands of factory ruins, both inside and outside the city, still stand there, rusted and worn.

These steel ruins not only occupy a large amount of urban land, but also permeate the entire city with the smell of rust.

Tong Jiajia had never seen such a massive industrial site before. It was a completely different landscape from the ancient capital of Beijing and the steel forest of New York.

"Were these all factories before?"

“That’s right, this used to be America’s manufacturing center.”

"But they're just going to abandon it here? That's such a waste of steel."

Indeed, our family's total crude steel production last year was only over 4000 million tons.

However, if the entire steel ruins of this city were demolished, at least several billion tons of steel could be extracted.

If this were extended to the entire rust belt, how many steel ruins would there be, and how many tons of steel would be quietly decaying here?

Sun Zhiwei suddenly became interested in the rust. Our country is undergoing a nationwide development and is in dire need of steel.

During World War II, the Little Kingdom successfully assembled an unprecedented combined fleet by importing large quantities of scrap steel from America.

He felt it was time for his "West Point Material Recycling Company" to make a comeback, and this time the goal was to "remove the embroidered ribbons".

Currently, the global price of iron ore is between $25 and $30 per ton, and medium-grade iron ore is halved in weight after refining.

Currently, the price of finished steel products is between $200 and $400 per ton.

But what is the price of Americana scrap metal now? Less than $100 per ton.

However, if one wants to obtain scrap iron from the embroidered belt, one must bear the costs of dismantling and remelting it, and also bear the shipping costs to transport it back to the country.

He needs to have someone calculate the price carefully.

However, he can guarantee he won't lose money because he has storage space. If shipping costs are too high, he'll use his storage space for forwarding, which should cover most of the shipping costs.

Discovering a business opportunity in these ruins piqued Sun Zhiwei's interest, and he began to enthusiastically take Tong Jiajia to wander through the city's steel ruins.

(End of this chapter)