American comic book: Absolute Spider-Man

Only a dim, yellow light was on in Parker's kitchen.

Uncle Ben and Aunt May had just returned from their busy day. None of the ingredients on the table today were purchased; they were all donated food that they had painstakingly collected from the community food bank, church relief centers, and free school meals over the past few days.

Hardened, near-expiry white bread, ready-to-eat plain corn, a small box of applesauce saved up, and instant oatmeal mixed with water were simply placed on the small dining table.

To put it bluntly, in the American welfare system, homeless people can receive hot soup and hot meals.

But impoverished families like the Parker's, barely managing to support themselves and struggling to make ends meet, could only survive on cold, hard relief rations.

People with families eat worse than homeless people.

However, none of the three complained, and they calmly shared the relief food.

"Aunt Mei, how much money is left at home?"

"214.5 yuan, if we spend it sparingly, it's enough for us to keep the workshop running for a week."

Aunt May was somewhat worried about the family's financial situation. The market for hemostatic gel spray had not yet been opened up, so Parker Industries was in a state of loss in the early stages of its business.

After hearing this, Uncle Ben said with some pride, "Mei, don't worry too much, the first order will come soon."

"Oh, you've landed some business?" Aunt Mei asked expectantly.

Peter was also curious about how Uncle Ben had managed to open up the market on his very first day of sales: "Uncle Ben, how did you do it?"

"I volunteer at the community health center."

Upon hearing this, Peter immediately understood Uncle Ben's sales strategy.

"I volunteered at the community health center, following the ambulances to the scene, specifically targeting those with severe injuries and massive bleeding."

"I wasn't there to sell anything. In an emergency, when the ambulance's medical facilities aren't sufficient to stop the bleeding, I simply use the gel to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding stops and the person is saved, the doctors, paramedics, and family members all see it. Whether the product is effective or not, I don't need to say a word. The first order naturally came to me."

"After seeing the effectiveness of our product, an emergency physician immediately contacted their medical director. The director asked me for a business card and a few samples, and the rest is up to time."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Uncle Ben's phone rang.

Uncle Ben answered the phone amidst the expectant gazes of his nephew and wife.

"Hello, this is Benjamin Parker, Executive Director of Parker Industries."

"Okay, how many do you want? 500 cans, sure."

"As for the price, the retail price is $25, and for orders over 20 cans, we'll give you a wholesale price of $20. What do you think?"

"Okay, I'll deliver it to your door tomorrow morning."

Uncle Ben hung up the phone and looked at the two of them excitedly.

The three were overjoyed when Parker Industries received its first order.

Peter asked, "Uncle Ben, do we have enough stock?"

"There are still over five hundred cans left, which is just enough."

"Once we receive payment for this order, we will immediately purchase raw materials and formulate a new batch of stock solution."

Ben Parker is now full of confidence in his family and will work even harder to give Peter and May a life that everyone envies.

That night, Peter received a message on his phone.

He opened it and saw a photo that Gwen had sent him.

In the photo, Gwen is seen sitting alone in the audience of the gymnasium where the school dance is being held, taking a selfie.

Behind Gwen was a makeshift dance floor packed with students from Midtown High School, where young men and women danced closely together.

Alone, Gwen seemed out of place in her surroundings.

Peter unconsciously smiled.

Next, he put on the spider silk launcher, took a picture of his hand with the launcher on, and clicked send.

【? 】

[This is a really interesting little invention; I'll show it to you another day.]

Let's wait and see.

The next day, Uncle Ben drove his beat-up Toyota, which was even older than Peter, to deliver the goods to the community hospital.

After the other party counted the quantity, they transferred the full amount of payment to Uncle Ben. That's how Parker Industries received its first payment.

For the next few workdays this week, Peter will go to school during the day and then go back to the garage to prepare the stock solution after class.

Ben and May demonstrated and promoted their products at police stations, hospitals, construction sites, and even schools (why schools, by the way? Well, America has its own unique circumstances).

Thanks to the hard work of the two and the excellent quality of their products, Parker Industries secured several more orders, both large and small.

With the increase in orders, a question now faces the family of three: whether they need to expand the production line.

Expanding would mean investing all of the $80,000 that had just been received, but if subsequent orders couldn't keep up after the production line expansion, the cash flow would immediately break, and Parker Industries would suffer a major blow in its initial stage.

However, if they don't expand, it means that if orders suddenly increase, the small workshop's production capacity will not be able to keep up, which will also have a negative impact on Parker Industries.

After a brief moment of thought, Peter decided to expand the production line.

On Friday evening, after a busy day, the family got together to discuss expanding production.

Of all the income from these days, two thousand dollars will be set aside as living expenses for the family, and the rest will be used to rent a small factory on the edge of Queens that meets basic medical and hygiene standards.

The interior was redesigned to include a raw material storage area, a batching and mixing area, a filling area, a packaging area, and a finished product warehouse. Then, simple ventilation, lighting, and basic disinfection facilities were built.

They completely shifted the small-scale production that could only be carried out in their own garage to a compliant, clean, and professional production workshop.

Next, a complete set of second-hand but in good condition semi-automatic equipment was purchased—a quantitative spray filling machine, an ultrasonic sealing machine, and a sterile purification worktable.

Peter then used his exceptional hands-on skills to optimize the circuit and fine-tune the process, transforming the previously inefficient manual filling, sealing, and labeling process into a stable and continuous semi-automated production line.

Production capacity will increase directly from dozens of cans per day to thousands of cans per day.

The remaining funds were used to purchase medical-grade raw materials in large quantities, thereby significantly reducing the production cost per can through wholesale.

At the same time, we will unify the packaging design, print formal labels, and complete more formal quality inspection and filing procedures.

This transforms products from handmade trinkets into legitimate goods that can be openly sold in pharmacies, hospitals, emergency stations, and construction site first-aid kits.

Once the expansion plan was finalized, Ben Parker immediately began searching for a suitable factory.

Mepac then began contacting intermediaries, asking them to help find the second-hand production equipment they needed.

Peter was responsible for searching, filtering, comparing, and contacting suppliers online.

He used that old, secondhand computer to find legitimate suppliers of medical raw materials, used production equipment, and packaging materials.

Next, we compared qualifications, prices, delivery times, and reputation to select manufacturers that met FDA standards, supported small-batch purchases, and were located relatively close to New York.

Then, we sent inquiry emails one by one, requesting samples and quotations, to select the most reliable and cost-effective sources of goods for Parker Industrial's expansion.

The next morning, Peter got up early.

After finishing the breakfast prepared by Aunt May, Peter returned to his room.

He packed the sealed breeding box, tweezers, and spider web launcher into his backpack, said goodbye to Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and boarded a bus to Manhattan.