Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 306 Chemical Engineering Planning

“Xiao Hui, I know you have money now, but this Liu Jianlei you found doesn’t have any skills or abilities. Is it a bit too high for you to pay him 2000 yuan a month?” That day, the father happened to run into Yan Hui and brought up this matter.

"What, isn't he working properly?" Yan Hui was a little puzzled. In his opinion, Liu Jianlei was not a lazy person.

“He’s fine with the work, but the average worker earns 800, and he’s getting 2000. I think that’s too much.” The father meant well; he didn’t want his son to spend money recklessly.

"That's a different matter, Dad. Abilities vary, that's normal. But reliability is more important than ability. Liu Jianlei is reliable, but he's only here temporarily. After this transition period, I'll have other uses for him." Yan Hui didn't even tell his father that Liu Jianlei's driving lessons were arranged at the company's expense.

"You have other plans?" the father asked, somewhat surprised.

Timber processing, plywood sales, and steel formwork rental—this whole system went very smoothly, and the father simply couldn't imagine his son having any other ideas.

"I won't go into details about this with you," Yan Hui shook his head. "I'll tell you when it's all done."

"Fine, I don't understand what you're doing anyway," the father muttered, then slowly started to walk away.

"Hey Dad, I just realized, do you not get a salary?" Yan Hui suddenly thought of something.

"Huh? Hahaha, ah, well, this one." The father scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly and stopped in his tracks.

“Then you can have 2000 a month too. I’ll tell Zhou Ping and Dai Zhongwei about it later,” Yan Hui said after thinking for a moment.

"No, no, I don't need that much," the father quickly waved his hand.

"Then it's settled." Yan Hui didn't waste any more words.

The steel formwork rental business stabilized around September. Currently, the company has approximately 2.4 million yuan worth of steel formwork under lease, and Yan Hui personally has only 300,000 to 400,000 yuan in working capital. During this period, the plywood business has also been quite profitable, generating substantial earnings, almost all of which have been invested in this area.

The steel formwork business, after deducting losses, generates approximately 3%-4% profit per month. If all goes well, it can double in two and a half years. The company's operations have become quite simple; there isn't much competition for this type of asset-heavy project, and even if competition does occur, it won't be fierce.

Currently, the steel formwork company still has money in its account, which can be used to continue purchasing steel formwork. This money is mainly a deposit for rental fees and cannot be used entirely.

The plywood business is also stable. Yan Hui has basically completed a monopoly in this area, with monthly turnover approaching 200 million yuan and monthly profit exceeding 15 yuan, making it Yan Hui's most profitable project at present.

Yan Hui was a restless person. He knew that the steel formwork project no longer needed further investment; it could rely on its own profits for compound growth. Plywood sales were also unlikely to grow much further, so he should explore new businesses. Chemicals!

In September of this year, Yan Hui’s old friend, Dr. Chen Jian, completed his graduation thesis and successfully graduated after four years, earning his doctoral degree!

Chen Jian's wife is also a fourth-year doctoral student this year. Her dissertation hasn't yielded results yet, and she needs to continue her research for another year. To ensure his wife can graduate smoothly, Chen Jian applied to stay at the university. This time, he's not staying as a supervisor or for postdoctoral studies; he's staying entirely for love, to help his wife with her experiments. His supervisor was deeply moved and offered considerable support.

Besides this perfect couple, Chen Jian also knows two chemistry luminaries who have completed their postdoctoral exchanges overseas. These two had interned and conducted research at Henkel in Germany and have unique insights into the industrial synthesis of polyurethane.

With such capabilities and background, Yan Hui felt that the prototype of a chemical plant was already in place.

He was fascinated by polyurethane, having studied it countless times, always believing it to be a very promising material. In the current domestic market, polyurethane is in absolute short supply, but there are only a few manufacturers capable of producing it. Even large companies can't easily expand their production lines, because talent is not so readily available. Moreover, talented individuals can hinder each other; if Chen Jian and others went to some large companies, they might not be valued as much.

Yan Hui has already called Chen Jian and others. He plans to build a chemical plant and is prepared to invest more than 10 million yuan over five years.

This investment is inherently risky, so Yan Hui plans to attract investment, but not now. He needs to build an industrial laboratory and successfully mass-produce polyurethane that meets the standards, then use this as the core asset to attract huge investments.

"According to you, my wife's doctoral dissertation can be completed in the lab you mentioned." Chen Jian was somewhat tempted after hearing about Yan Hui's plan.

“I don’t understand this. When you have time, go back to Jinan. I plan to build a simple industrial laboratory first, and then we can calculate the experimental costs and see if I can accept them,” Yan Hui said.

“I don’t know how much it costs to build a factory, but an industrial laboratory for polyurethane would require an investment of at least a million yuan. The cost of one experiment would be no less than 20,000 yuan. Let me make it clear, if you can get it working in 100 tries, you’d be lucky.” Chen Jian had to remind Yan Hui of this.

Industrial experiments and laboratory experiments are vastly different, as mentioned earlier. To put it simply, it's a matter of money.

According to Chen Jian, he and his partner are not capable enough. If Yan Hui wants to set up this lab, it would be best to bring his two postdoctoral friends over to help, which would be very costly.

These two people have worked at Henkel before, and their salaries upon returning to China will not be less than 60 yuan a year. Moreover, this may not be a matter of money; it's unlikely that these two would be willing to stay in a small factory for an extended period.

A postdoctoral fellowship is not a degree; a doctorate is the highest level of degree, but the differences between doctorates are vast. Now that Chen Jian and his wife are here, Yan Hui is giving them 3000 yuan each per month, which is already quite a lot, and they're definitely willing to accept it. But Chen Jian's two friends are different; if they were truly capable, their salaries would be tens of thousands of yuan a month.

Of course, this is not a problem to consider today. The initial construction will take at least a year. Since Yan Hui wants to build a factory, he must first set up the laboratory, and do it well. When the factory is built later, the laboratory must be retained and used. It cannot be closed casually. Yan Hui felt the pressure as he thought about this.

(End of this chapter)