Rise of the Argentine Empire

These past few days, Saint Hérse had been leaving early and returning late, handling matters at the General Staff Headquarters with remarkable competence, earning the respect of his colleagues.

In his previous life, Saint Hérse was just a keyboard warrior, but he had been tempered by the information explosion era, studied various fragmented materials from Zhihu, and understood the overall direction of the country's military and economic development for decades to come, allowing him to occasionally express some unique insights.

He also seemed to gradually uncover some unique skills, namely, being able to pinpoint errors and offer insights at crucial moments, which changed his colleagues' attitudes towards him to some extent.

At the General Staff Headquarters, Saint Hérse, with his humble background, had gained the initial recognition of most people. Previously, most of the staff here looked down on others, considering themselves extraordinary.

After all, everyone likes a colleague who is humble, polite, knowledgeable, experienced, and occasionally reduces your workload without taking credit.

......

Being busy day and night, he had to spend much less time on his side business. Consequently, he had less time to inspect work at the cannery and soda factory. To prevent these people from doing things behind his back, Saint Hérse rented an office in the city, requiring their managers to report there after work.

Daily outgoing data, production plans, incoming raw materials, work progress, etc., all needed to be submitted here, and Saint Hérse personally reviewed them before they could be implemented.

Cross, the general manager of Prari Foods Company, would personally come to report for thirty minutes. It turned out that Cross also lived nearby.

Saint Hérse proposed solutions after reviewing the materials, allowing both the cannery and the soda factory to develop rapidly, greatly increasing production. In terms of sales, weekly reports were required, and a nationwide sales network was beginning to take shape.

The plastic bottle factory, supervised by Li Qingyun, was also being built rapidly. The foundation was laid, and the first floor's construction had begun. The progress was considered good, and it was expected that the factory would be completed by February of the coming year and put into production in April.

"What? The glass factory we're cooperating with is going bankrupt? What does this mean?" Saint Hérse stood up abruptly, supporting himself on the table with both hands, his face somewhat unsightly as he looked at Cross.

"Boss, it means exactly what it says. They're planning to close the Sean Glass Factory, which we cooperate with," Cross replied cautiously, seeing his boss looking a bit angry for the first time.

There are only two glass factories in Cordoba City now, and these two are even the only ones in the province. Both are state-owned glass factories. Saint Hérse chose the smaller glass factory for several reasons, including price factors and the fact that the larger San Martin factory didn't value them initially, preferring to make civil building material glass and unwilling to produce food-grade glass. Sean Glass Factory had such a production line and could be directly modified.

Sean Glass Factory initially had a lot of glass bottle inventory due to product backlog. Adding a cap from a hardware factory made them usable. After Saint Hérse gradually cleared the inventory, he increased the order quantity for soda bottles. Logically, it shouldn't be going bankrupt. Saint Hérse's large orders alone should be enough to support these people.

"Yes, boss. I heard that the Sean State-Owned Glass Factory is preparing for bankruptcy liquidation due to poor management and wage arrears. Our glass bottle production has also stopped. The workers are planning to sell the production line or something. The union has also stepped in... Because the soda factory's sales have started to spread nationwide, our current stock of glass bottles and jars is only enough for less than a week's production. If there are no substitutes, the production line will have to stop."

A thousand mythical beasts raced through Saint Hérse's mind. This was troublesome.

"There are only glass bottle factories in the capital now, but it seems that they have gone bankrupt one after another in the past six months. The price of glass bottles from traders is more than three times what we currently pay. We can't afford such costs. We'd lose money on every bottle we sell. Currently, our profit margin has been relatively low due to production reasons." The successive bankruptcies of glass factories finally made Saint Hérse smell a different kind of atmosphere.

To fight a price war, Saint Hérse compressed the soda factory's profit margin, and the economies of scale were not significant at the moment. The main source of revenue was currently the cannery, while the soda factory only had a very low profit margin. A three-fold increase in glass bottle prices would be a loss, and this might not even be the lowest price.

"Do you know why this Sean factory is going bankrupt? Some specifics?"

"This is my investigation report. The main reasons are wage arrears, very low wages, low yield rates, outdated technology, and annual losses. In addition, there are worker protests. The Economic Development Department plans to close the factory and liquidate it." Saint Hérse also picked up the report and carefully flipped through it.

The report showed data from the glass factory over the past five years, including production, yield rate, production costs, operating rate, sales, losses, and a series of other detailed data.

"Where did this data come from?"

"I had someone find it from the factory's warehouse. It cost 1,000 pesos. There's a lot more information, but I didn't bring it over. They sold it as waste paper." This was outrageous. Important data and materials were being treated as waste paper.

"I see that their workers are marching, holding sit-ins, and the like. Production has stopped. Besides the production line, many other things have been sold off. They can't pay wages."

"Didn't we pay a lot of money in advance over the past few months?"

"I heard it was used to repay bank loans, and the workers still didn't get paid, so they feel cheated..." These are some of the drawbacks of small factories. Poor management can easily lead to bankruptcy. Anyway, the management can survive anywhere, but the frontline workers may not be so lucky.

"Activate the emergency plan, start a soda bottle recycling business, and add a glass bottle cleaning line. I'll have the business department coordinate," Saint Hérse originally didn't want to recycle glass bottles, mainly because it wasn't cost-effective. Labor was expensive, and distributors and retailers didn't have a recycling mentality. They sold whole bottles directly. Places like restaurants were okay, but small stores weren't.

Doing recycling himself was too troublesome. The soda factory was still too small. Various reasons caused the cost of recycling glass bottles to exceed the cost of new production. If soda factories were set up locally in the future, it would be better, as the recycling cost would be higher than direct production of new bottles. Recycling glass bottles is actually a basic operation in later generations, because a three-fold increase in the price of glass bottles has far exceeded Saint Hérse's bottom line, and this might not even be the lowest.

"Yes, boss! I'll make a plan right away," Cross said, his previous worries swept away.

"Okay, you can go back now. By the way, bring me those materials you bought. I want to take a look," Saint Hérse waved his hand.

"Okay, boss, the information is on my desk. I'll move it over." After saying that, Cross left the office and laboriously carried over a large cardboard box filled with documents. The paper inside was slightly yellowed.

Recycling glass bottles can only temporarily relieve the immediate crisis. If other competitors strike at this time, our pitiful market share will be quickly swallowed up. If we don't continue to expand the sales market, Saint Hérse's high-debt operation won't be able to hold out until the day the currency devalues.

Taking out the documents from the cardboard box one by one and carefully examining them, Shawn Glass Factory was founded in 1922, mainly producing civilian glass products. The factory area is 2200 square meters. The main products are glass wine glasses, glass bowls, and glass bottles. It was built in Cordoba with production equipment imported from Spain. At its peak, it had more than 800 workers, but now there are only 200 left, more than a hundred of whom are no longer working at the factory and are owed wages.

Shawn Glass Factory is actually not particularly far from the city center, only ten kilometers away from the Pralle factory. Saint Hérse initially set up the Pralle factory at the cattle farm because it was relatively close. Shawn Glass Factory is located in the near suburbs close to the urban area, and the transportation is not bad.

After reading the documents, it was already past eleven o'clock in the evening. Saint Hérse left the office to go home and even met the neighbor from last time, casually greeting him.

The glass bottle problem must be resolved as soon as possible, otherwise, the loss from the shutdown will be unbearable. The current pressure-bearing capacity is not enough. Once production stops, the losses will be unacceptable, and even the plastic bottle factory will be implicated. A debt of 90 million pesos is not manageable, even if it's 90 million pesos after inflation, Saint Hérse can't afford it.

Saint Hérse already had some ideas in mind and must solve this problem as soon as possible.

The reason for the bankruptcy of this glass factory is not insufficient production technology, but poor management during the production process, leading to huge waste. The workers are not a big problem. This glass factory is only "technically" bankrupt.

In later generations, during the wave of liberalization reforms in Argentina, complete and thorough privatization was also a complete failure of state capitalism.

Like Russia and Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they sold off the national state-owned companies and implemented the so-called shock therapy. The most foolish was Ukraine, which not only gained nothing but was also completely brainwashed by the Westerners led by the Americans, and has since become a fourth-rate small country with no hope.

The new idea is to acquire this glass bottle factory, as glass products will always be needed for producing beverages and canned goods in the future.

Now there is also sufficient funding, and with this glass factory going bankrupt, the Municipal Economic Department may accept Saint Hérse as the white knight.

This problem needs to be solved within five days at the earliest. Recycling glass bottles will take some time, and extraordinary measures are needed. I must seek help from Commander Little Thompson, even if it comes at a certain price.

Normally, for this kind of factory that "appears" to be heavily indebted, the water is very deep, and it is best to let it go bankrupt naturally. Not getting involved is an act of self-preservation. If someone has "reserved" this factory, then it must be snatched.

After analyzing a large amount of information, I realized that the moment of the hunt may have arrived. Saint Hérse's canned goods are fine, after all, it is a small market, but the production expansion of the soda factory has offended some people. Is the worker unrest really as simple as it seems on the surface? It seems that there is an invisible hand behind it. After all, with Saint Hérse's orders, how could this Shawn Glass Factory directly stop production and go bankrupt so quickly? It's no wonder Saint Hérse has a bit of a conspiracy theory.

But this glass bottle problem is holding Saint Hérse's lifeline and directly hitting Saint Hérse's weak spot. What Saint Hérse lacks most is time.

The plastic bottle factory will take several months to start production. The glass bottle problem is a matter of life and death. A threefold increase can be endured in the short term, but the next step may be a fivefold or tenfold increase, which is unacceptable.

Sorting out my thoughts, the recent development in side businesses has indeed been smooth sailing. In secret, I must have offended a large number of people, such as some powerful councilors. The national network development of the soda factory and the low-interest loans obtained by the plastic bottle factory have all been a bit too smooth, which has also made Saint Hérse relax his vigilance.

If we don't consider the transportation price issue, there are very few domestic manufacturers of glass products. Besides Cordoba Province, there are only glass bottle manufacturers in the capital.

Cross also reminded me that many glass factories in the capital are said to have gone bankrupt and closed down, even earlier than the one in Cordoba. They were acquired by foreign capital, or they were poorly managed and had no market. In other words, Saint Hérse can no longer find a source of glass bottles domestically, which is not a good thing.

And glass products are not particularly valuable things for modern industry. Even if they are imported from Uruguay, the tariffs, road costs, and losses are astronomical.

Importing glass is very uneconomical. The production raw materials are not expensive either: silica sand, borax, boric acid, barite, barium carbonate, limestone, feldspar, and soda ash are cheap and readily available.

Most glass product factories are localized production to meet needs. The civilian stuff is too easy to break during transportation, while industrial explosion-proof types are better, but the road losses are also very large.

Cordoba is the domestic center and transportation hub, very suitable for establishing a large rear production base. The capital has a large population, strong consumption, and developed domestic and foreign transportation, which is also suitable for building factories.

The establishment of this cannery in the city also had this consideration, but I never expected that these glass factories and foreign capital would be so shameless, selling a glass bottle for three times the price. You should know that Saint Hérse had to offer a relatively high price in order for Shawn Glass Factory to accept, and the original purchase price was already very expensive. Any more expensive would be quite outrageous.

Capital's monopoly operation, natural demand, and monopoly are the prerequisites for obtaining excess profits. This also reminded Saint Hérse, and I must say that Saint Hérse had good luck in the beginning.

This problem must be solved properly. I can't be held hostage. The production scale is not large now, which is good, but this point in time is relatively fatal. There is a gap between seasons. The plastic bottle factory has not started production, the glass bottle factory is going bankrupt, and other manufacturers want to raise prices. This is planning to drain Saint Hérse's cash flow and then deliver a fatal blow.

After thoroughly thinking through the causes and consequences, even though the quilt was so warm, a layer of fine cold sweat seeped out from the pajamas behind me. I hope I'm not overthinking it. It's always easy to think too much before going to bed. I feel like I'm getting persecution paranoia.

I must quickly hug a big thigh, acquire the glass bottle factory with money, or let someone solve this problem, or even solve the person who caused the problem. Well, let's not think about the third one.

That night, Saint Hérse had some insomnia, thinking wildly. Looking at the high-hanging moon outside the window, he finally fell asleep when he was really sleepy. In his dream, he was in debt of 100 million, which he couldn't pay off in his entire life. He lost his job and even went to jail...