Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 179 High Technology
Yan Hui has a deep understanding of the climate differences between the two places, and he also believes what Brother Lü said. White pines do have this problem: they become brittle when the humidity is high, and they are prone to breaking during transportation.

Yan Hui thought about it carefully and realized that it wasn't just a problem with Jianye's climate. According to Brother Lü, white pines are prone to breaking during unloading, so the problem actually lies in the transportation process.

Should we transport the logs directly? Yan Hui thought about it and realized that transporting logs was not a problem, but no customers would want them.

White pine has a really bad reputation in the Jianye market, and nobody is willing to take the risk. But white pine itself is cheap, and it's easy to process, with low processing fees and low shipping costs—it has too many advantages.

The same truck can carry more cubic meters of white pine because of its low density, thus reducing the freight cost per cubic meter. Of course, the freight cost by train remains the same.

In the Jianye market, larch lumber generally wholesales for around 900 yuan, while white pine can be found for just over 700 yuan. In some situations, such as load-bearing boards on construction sites, larch must be used, but in many other cases, white pine is sufficient, such as for furniture, cabinets, etc.

Then
Is air-drying in the shade enough?
Last year, when Yan Hui first collaborated with General Manager Teng, he taught General Manager Teng a trick: before splitting logs into planks, cut off the surrounding bark first, so that the saw blade would not easily get stuck during the cutting process after drying in the shade for a few days.

This simple trick increased the processing plant's yield by 3%.

Cut boards can also be air-dried, and the results are even better after air-drying.

If the weather is nice and sunny, you can air dry and then air dry in the shade. However, this technique is difficult to control and can easily cause cracking. Air drying is the simplest method.

Air drying is relatively slow. In addition to air drying, there is another option, which is drying, which has only emerged in the last two years.

Yan Hui had seen specialized wood drying equipment at a processing plant in Northeast China.

Drying wood cannot be done by directly drying logs; only planks and timber can be dried. These materials need to be arranged in a horizontal and vertical "I" shape, ensuring that there are gaps between each piece of wood. In the industry, this is called "stacking".

Drying equipment is generally as big as a house, and can hold dozens of cubic meters of wood at a time. The temperature is set at around 90℃ (the temperature varies depending on the type of wood). Thin veneers and timber squares take about 24 hours to dry, while standard 60mm red pine planks take about a week.

White pine is a very easy-to-dry wood; most pieces can be dried in two or three days, and the price is acceptable.

Anyone familiar with wood drying knows that the cost isn't high; it just adds some time. After drying, the planks will be slightly warped, requiring them to be pressed and stacked for two to three days.

There are many benefits to wood drying.

Kiln-dried wood improves bonding, and white pine is inherently suitable for bonding, which is entirely beneficial for the furniture industry. Furthermore, kiln-dried white pine is shaped directly, preventing expansion and deformation during transportation, thus increasing its durability. As for additional functions like odor removal, those are negligible.

In the processing area of ​​Tangwanghe, Yan Hui saw the drying equipment. At present, most of the drying equipment is sawdust steam drying, and a small amount is coal-fired boiler steam drying. The temperature is not easy to control and there is also a risk of fire, so it needs to be monitored at all times.

If drying is to be implemented, Yan Hui will probably live in the drying workshop.

Having decided on the air-drying and oven-drying methods, Yan Hui visited Mr. Zheng and more than a dozen other clients to discuss the situation of the white pine. Many were skeptical, but given Yan Hui's reputation, several said they would definitely buy his white pine boards if they were truly as good as he claimed.

In this situation, the third brother became indispensable; someone had to handle the goods. In the early stages of Baisong's market expansion, Yan Hui planned to engage in spot trading, which, although it would increase the time it took for funds to turn over, was necessary.

Air-drying and kiln-drying white pine lumber was a completely new business for Jianye, and Yan Hui had no direct competitors. After finishing negotiations with a group of clients, Yan Hui didn't wait any longer. He gave his third brother some more instructions, boarded a plane back to Harbin, and immediately headed to Tangwanghe to begin shipping.

During the Spring Festival, Yan Hui spent more than 4 yuan, but his four car orders earned him a total of 4 yuan, and he had about 36 yuan in cash.

His current orders only require about 200,000 yuan to operate, so he has more than 100,000 yuan to buy white pine for processing into boards, air-drying, and oven-drying.

Wang Hongjun never expected that at the beginning of the year, Yan Hui not only did not reduce demand, but also increased orders for white pine on the original basis!
Wang Hongjun's forest farm has everything: white pine, red pine, larch, and high-end timber such as ash and redwood.

Yan Hui bought more than 200 cubic meters of white pine logs at once and contacted a large processing plant in Yichun for processing.

One train carload of white pine was air-dried, while the other was oven-dried.

Yan Hui no longer needs to oversee other matters. He is a regular customer and a major client, and he is knowledgeable in the industry, so very few people dare to cheat him.

Yan Hui had already told the owner of the larch processing plant that if he discovered any problems, he would terminate the cooperation. The plant owner was well aware of Yan Hui's expertise. Not wanting to lose this major client, he naturally wouldn't dare to deceive him.

For several days in a row, Yan Hui stayed in the drying workshop.

The steam used to dry wood is mainly a heating method, but in order to prevent the wood from cracking, steam is periodically injected into the chamber to regulate humidity.

Once the wood reaches the predetermined moisture content, heating should be stopped, and the airflow should be adjusted slowly to prevent excessive temperature changes from ruining the entire process.

After processing and leaving the warehouse, the product still needs to be shaped.

Each step is very troublesome and easy to make mistakes.

Once a mistake is made, the loss will be far more than just a piece or two of wood.

In 1998, high-frequency drying, microwave drying, vacuum drying and other methods had not yet appeared in China. Steam drying was already a high-tech technology. Except for Northeast China, other regions basically did not have wood drying technology until after 2000.

A week later, Yan Hui saw the dried and shaped white pine boards. He inspected them carefully and was very satisfied.

These white pine boards are of very high quality after drying, and it is almost impossible for them to deform easily. Yan Hui can sell them for 750 yuan per cubic meter, and they will definitely sell like hotcakes in the Jianye Market!
With a price of 750 yuan per cubic meter, Yan Hui's profit is close to 20,000 yuan per train car!
Meanwhile, the air-dried white pine was basically ready. Yan Hui loaded the entire truckload of goods, planning to return to Jianye in 10 days for a final inspection. If everything was in order, he would definitely have a place in Jianye's timber market.

The timber market mentioned here is not just the Zhonghuamen market.

(Sorry for the late update, something small happened~)

(End of this chapter)