Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Director Lu had a troubled expression on his face, and it was obvious that he had something to hide.

Li Weidong asked directly: "Brother Lu, what happened? Is there a technical problem?"

"Technically speaking, it's easy to talk about. The key is raw materials." Director Lu paused and then said: "We introduced technology from the south for this polyurethane synthetic leather, but we only introduced the production technology of artificial leather, but the key raw material is polyurethane.

We cannot produce leather pulp ourselves, so we still have to buy it from the south.

Not long ago, we purchased a batch of raw materials from the south and successfully produced polyurethane synthetic leather. However, when we calculated the cost, it was not cost-effective at all. We purchased the raw materials from the south, plus freight and various costs.

The price of the final product is more expensive than buying the finished product directly from the south and shipping it here!

You also know that now is not the era when the state issued production tasks. Our factory mainly relies on social orders. The products are expensive and no one wants them. We can only suspend the production of polyurethane synthetic leather or continue to produce ordinary artificial leather."

"So that's it!" Li Weidong nodded with sudden realization.

…

Polyurethane synthetic leather was born in Germany in the 1950s. It only attracted the attention of Western countries in the 1960s. Later, major industrial countries began to get involved in the research of polyurethane synthetic leather. It was not until the 1970s that advanced industrial countries such as the United States, Japan, and Germany began to develop polyurethane synthetic leather.

Only then began large-scale production of polyurethane synthetic leather.

China only introduced the production technology of polyurethane synthetic leather into the country in the early 1980s. At that time, China's technological level lagged far behind that of Western developed countries. The Western polyurethane synthetic leather production technology of the 1970s was definitely considered advanced in China.

Technology.

There are two main methods for industrial production of polyurethane synthetic leather, one is dry production and the other is wet production. The wet production of polyurethane synthetic leather requires the use of vacuum technology, which is definitely not up to the domestic level, so

At that time, China introduced dry-process polyurethane synthetic leather technology.

In the dry production process, a release paper is first used as a carrier, the polyurethane resin slurry is coated on the release paper, then dried and cooled, then bonded to the base fabric, dried and cooled again, and then peeled off

, a piece of artificial leather comes out. If dyeing is needed, the dyeing process will be added in the middle.

Of course, the actual manufacturing process is much more complicated and requires many types of coatings. There are also requirements for release paper and base fabrics. The process also requires extrusion, ironing, solidification, washing, drying, etc. Each process has

Strict process requirements.

With domestic industrial capacity, release paper and base fabric are not difficult to find.

The release paper only needs to be strong enough, have a uniform surface, and have a certain degree of solvent resistance; and there are many types of base fabrics to choose from, including woven fabrics, knitted fabrics, and non-woven fabrics, all of which can be used.

The key is the polyurethane resin slurry, which is the core raw material for producing polyurethane synthetic leather. Without this thing, polyurethane synthetic leather cannot be produced.

In the early 1980s, when polyurethane synthetic leather was first introduced into the country, polyurethane resin slurry was still imported. It was not until the mid-1980s that only a handful of manufacturers were able to produce polyurethane resin slurry.

…

Without polyurethane synthetic leather, Li Weidong would have no way to produce leather jackets.

So Li Weidong asked: "Brother Lu, the raw material you are talking about is polyurethane resin slurry, right?"

Director Lu nodded: "You have to go to Guangdong and Guangzhou to buy that stuff. There is a joint venture with a Singaporean in the Special Administrative Region that can produce this kind of stuff."

"Transporting raw materials from Guangdong and Guangzhou is a journey of more than 2,000 kilometers. One ton of raw materials alone costs more than 300 yuan. This cost is quite high." Li Weidong pondered for a moment and said: "Brother Lu, if I

If we can help you find polyurethane resin slurry from our province, then the cost of your products should be reduced a lot, right?"

"If it's within the province, we can save at least three-quarters of the freight per ton of raw materials." Director Lu calculated in his mind and then said, "In that case, our polyurethane synthetic leather cost will not suffer.

In our province, we still have the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei generation, and we still have price advantages.”

"Okay, leave this matter to me. I'll help you find polyurethane resin slurry in the province." Li Weidong said confidently.

"Brother Li, we are not joking!" Director Lu said seriously.

"Brother Lu, can I still lie to you? I will go find these raw materials for you tomorrow. Just wait for my call!" Li Weidong said.

"Okay, just for saying this to you, I have to toast you!" Director Lu clinked glasses with Li Weidong, and then he did it first as a token of respect, and then continued: "Brother Li, I don't ask the province either.

If you can really find us polyurethane resin slurry within a radius of 500 kilometers, our factory will owe you a favor!"

"Brother Lu, when you produce polyurethane synthetic leather, you will have priority to supply it to my garment factory." Li Weidong said immediately.

Director Lu immediately patted his chest: "Don't worry, I will definitely select the best quality products and deliver them to your garment factory!"

…

The next day, Li Weidong called the Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory.

There is actually one company in the province that can produce polyurethane resin slurry, and that is Dengzhou Artificial Leather General Factory.

In the early 1980s, Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory introduced polyurethane-related technology from Japan's Kuraray Company, and this project became a key construction project during the "Sixth Five-Year Plan" period.

In the 1990s, Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory was restructured and became the largest polyurethane industrial base in China. After the company was listed, its market value ranked first in the basic chemical industry. Its main product "MDI" is the production capacity of diphenylmethane diisocyanate.

, surpassing the international giant BASF and ranking first in the world.

Dengzhou is less than 400 kilometers away from Qinghe, and the Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory can produce polyurethane resin slurry, but its counterpart Qinghe Artificial Leather Factory does not know this, not to mention that this is a key project of the "Sixth Five-Year Plan"!

In the eyes of future generations, it is simply impossible to happen. If you just search online, you still don't know what products this company produces.

However, in the 1980s, this was a normal situation.

Underdeveloped information is one reason, and another important reason is that companies from the planned economy era don't know how to find sources of raw materials themselves, nor do they know how to find sales for their products.

In the era of planned economy, the source of raw materials and product sales of enterprises are properly arranged by the state, and materials are all operated within the plan. The sources and destinations of all materials have been determined at the beginning of the year, so there is no need for enterprises to do it themselves.

Find raw materials and sales!

State-owned enterprises have become accustomed to this way of operating, and they simply do not look for sources of raw materials and sales of products by themselves. Just like livestock that are fed at fixed points every day, they have lost the ability to forage independently.

So this situation arises. Dengzhou Artificial Leather General Factory can produce polyurethane resin slurry, but it does not sell it. It just waits at home for orders to be delivered to its doorstep;

Qinghe Artificial Leather Factory needs polyurethane resin slurry, but does not know how to find the source of the supply. It just waits at home for sales to come to its door.

The two sides are stuck like this. I have the goods, but I just can't sell them; you are out of stock, but you just can't buy them.

Thinking about China in the future, you will be able to find the product supply chain you need within a hundred kilometers. How happy it is!

As a dispatcher, Li Weidong has a large amount of supply and demand information. When he learned that Qinghe Artificial Leather Factory lacked polyurethane resin slurry, he immediately thought of Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory.

After a phone call, it was confirmed that Dengzhou Artificial Leather Factory indeed produced polyurethane resin slurry. Li Weidong immediately dialed Director Lu's number.

"Hey, Brother Lu, I'm Li Weidong. I found the polyurethane resin slurry your factory wants." Li Weidong said.

"Found it? So quickly?" Director Lu was surprised, and then immediately asked: "Where is the source of the goods?"

"Dengzhou is only about four hundred kilometers away from us. If we leave early in the morning to transport the goods, we can arrive on the same day." Li Weidong replied.

"Where are you? I'm going to find you now!" Director Lu said without hesitation. It can be seen that he is really anxious.

…

Director Lu was naturally grateful to Li Weidong for helping Qinghe Artificial Leather Factory solve the raw material problem. Although Li Weidong did not make any money from it, he also gained personal favor.

When dealing with state-owned enterprises, sometimes earning favors is more important than making money.

With the raw materials available, the artificial leather factory was operating at full capacity, and the first batch of polyurethane synthetic leather was naturally supplied to Li Weidong's clothing factory.

Next, the clothing factory also started production mode.

Although the price of polyurethane synthetic leather is only one-tenth of that of real leather, it is still much more expensive than ordinary fabrics. The raw material cost of a leather jacket produced by a clothing factory was about 40 yuan, which was considered a high price at the time.

In comparison, an ordinary pure cotton white shirt costs only five or six yuan, and a military coat with a fur collar costs about forty yuan.

Military coats at that time still used genuine copper buttons.

Also because the cost of leather jackets was very high, Li Weidong simply invested the other 400,000 in the garment factory to purchase raw materials to maintain normal production.

…

Early in the morning, Li Weidong went around the workshop and found that he had nothing to do. Deputy factory director Wang Jing and the four workshop directors managed the workshop in an orderly manner.

The production work of the workshop has always been in charge of the deputy director Wang Jing. This somewhat naive deputy director has never studied business management. He simply uses the skills of a soldier in the management of workshop production.

middle.

The effect of this method is quite good. Although I cannot say how high the production efficiency is, it can at least ensure the normal and effective operation of the workshop.

If you look at Foxconn in later generations, you will know that paramilitary management is still necessary for labor-intensive industries.

Li Weidong went around the warehouse again. At this time, more than 4,000 leather jackets were piled in the warehouse.

"It's time to find sales." Li Weidong sighed softly.

This poor tertiary industry garment factory does not have a single salesperson, so Li Weidong, the director of the factory, can only do sales in person.