Chapter 213 Rough
Of course, the washing pool is very useful. It is used to wash jeans.
The denim clothes of this era were a little different from those of later generations, especially since this type of clothing had just become popular in China, so direct denim fabrics were used, and after processing, they were directly put on the market without being washed.
This is mainly due to people's simple ideas. In the eyes of most people, the quality of a piece of clothing depends on its workmanship and fabrics in addition to its design. Brand new fabrics are definitely good, but isn't it second-hand after washing? Only people with bad brains would buy second-hand goods.
So, although most of the clothes and pants in foreign countries are washed twice to reflect the characteristics of denim clothing, there is no market for double washing in China. People prefer unwashed products when buying.
In fact, the second washing of denim clothing is a special processing method, which not only reflects the characteristics of this fabric and clothing, but also makes the unwashed fabric more comfortable and smooth to wear.
Song Yuanchao asked Li Daqi to set up the water washing pool school for this purpose. With the deepening of reform and opening up, some habits will slowly change. Moreover, compared with the extremely popular bell-bottom pants now, denim clothing is the style that will continue to be popular. Its survival and popularity in the clothing industry will be much longer than the former.
The clothing industry was one of the first industries to emerge after the reform and opening up. From the early 1980s to the late 1990s, the clothing industry can be said to have supported a large number of domestic productive enterprises.
The booming clothing industry, or the textile industry, also prompted a boom in China's foreign trade exports. This is also the main reason why China was later called the "world factory".
However, the clothing industry is a labor-intensive enterprise with a low entry threshold. In the early days, the industry developed rapidly due to the low domestic labor costs and the huge domestic and foreign markets. However, as time went by, the clothing industry inevitably went downhill, and the textile industry was the first to bear the brunt.
The textile industry was reshuffled in the mid-to-late 1990s. As domestic textile factories of all sizes went bankrupt one after another, the clothing industry also saw the end of the "era of huge profits", turning to micro-profit operations or even struggling to survive.
Song Yuanchao understood this better than anyone else, so he was well aware that the dividends from Tengfei Garment Factory would only last for about fifteen years at most. Moreover, in the mid-to-late 1980s, with the emergence of a large number of private and foreign-funded garment production factories in the south and other places, the competition required would be quite strong.
In order to plan ahead and gain a foothold in this industry and survive the upcoming competition, Tengfei Garment Factory must consider many issues in advance and make preparations for the future.
Although the washing pool is not needed now, it will be useful in the near future. This is also what Song Yuanchao specifically asked Li Daqi to prepare in advance.
However, advanced special washing equipment is already used abroad, and such equipment is not yet available in China, and it is also very troublesome to import it, so using a pool for manual and semi-mechanized secondary washing is the best option now.
"Is there such a saying?" After hearing what Song Yuanchao said, Li Daqi and Xiaoqi beside him suddenly realized. Although they felt that it was wrong to wear new clothes instead of wearing them, why did they insist on wearing old clothes that had been specially washed twice?
If someone else said this, Li Daqi would probably have sneered at it, but the person who said this was Song Yuanchao. Li Daqi and Xiao Qi both trusted Song Yuanchao unconditionally. Besides, Song Yuanchao was now a college student with broad knowledge and a lot of experience, so what he said must be correct.
"I understand what you mean, but people still like new ones now, so a second wash is not necessary. Isn't it too early to do this thing so early?"
"Is it early?" Song Yuanchao looked at him and asked with a smile, then shook his head and said, "Not early!"
Patting Li Daqi on the shoulder and glancing at Xiaoqi beside him, Song Yuanchao said, "Let's go to your office and sit down. Have a drink of water."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone laughed. The three of them left the workshop and came to the factory office. The conditions of the office here were much better than those of the old factory. Li Daqi's office was about 30 square meters. Although it was not decorated magnificently, it was presentable. There was a circle of large sofas against the wall.
"This sofa is good, much better than the one my master has." Song Yuanchao touched the sofa and sat down to feel its elasticity. The springs under the sofa were very strong and it was very comfortable to sit on.
"Nonsense, I specially asked the furniture factory to make it custom-made and spent more than 400 yuan on it. How can it be bad?" Li Daqi's office did not have air conditioning installed. He turned on the ceiling fan, and the ceiling fan above his head started to turn and brought a cool breeze.
After lighting up a cigarette and taking two puffs, Xiao Qi came in with a bottle of water. He walked to the side familiarly, found a teacup, washed it, then put some tea leaves in it and made a cup of tea for Song Yuanchao.
As for Xiaoqi and Li Daqi, they have their own teacups, a handful of tea leaves and a jar of water, which makes drinking from them much more comfortable than drinking from ordinary teacups.
The tea was good. It should be the good tea that Li Daqi specially prepared to entertain guests. After taking a sip of tea, Song Yuanchao put down the teacup and continued the previous topic.
"Daqi, Xiaoqi, let me ask you, how is the factory's business going now?"
"Business?" Li Daqi and Xiao Qi looked at each other subconsciously. Li Daqi thought for a moment and said, "Business is very good. The products we produce every day are in short supply."
"Haha, supply exceeds demand? Then what about the customer base? What is the current customer base structure of our factory?" Song Yuanchao smiled and asked directly.
Li Daqi was stunned for a moment, and he seemed to understand the meaning of Song Yuanchao's question.
Currently, the Tengfei Garment Factory has very good performance, but its customer base is very monotonous. To put it bluntly, the two largest customers of the Tengfei Garment Factory are Luo Yang in Yanjing and Zhang Yong in Shanghai. Apart from them, the rest of the customers are just a few small fish and shrimps.
Since Song Yuanchao had negotiated with Luo Yang and Zhang Yong in advance, he would supply the goods, while Luo Yang and Zhang Yong would use channels to build the market. In other words, Tengfei Garment Factory and Luo Yang and Zhang Yong had a cooperative relationship, that is, the garment factory focused on survival, and Luo Yang and Zhang Yong acted as the regional agents of the garment factory to conduct sales.
This method is very simple in structure and has significant effects in the early stage. It is also because of this that when the market channels were opened by Luo Yang and Zhang Yong, Tengfei Garment Factory showed a thriving scene and gained huge profits from it.
On the surface, it looks like a win-win situation. The seller (agent) is only responsible for channels and sales, while the manufacturer (Tengfei Garment Factory) is responsible for production. Both parties get what they need and it is mutually beneficial.
This supply and marketing method is not uncommon in this era. In fact, it still exists after more than ten or even twenty years. However, this method also has great disadvantages. As a manufacturer, Tengfei Garment Factory does not control the sales channels. All sales resources are in the hands of others. When the market and products are hot, there will be no problems. On the contrary, this model can be highly efficient. But once the market and product structure change, this model will be dead.
From the mid-to-late 1980s to the 1990s, many state-owned factories closed down and went bankrupt for many reasons, most of which included triangular debts, obsolete and unsalable products, high costs and declining profits, but also because they did not have their own sales channels.
There is a saying in later generations that aptly reflects this characteristic, which is "channels are king". If you have channels, you have everything. Without channels, no matter how good your product is, you can't sell it, and the result that awaits you is failure.
When Luo Yang, Zhang Yong and Song Yuanchao were discussing cooperation before, they had put forward a requirement, that is, once the supplied products became uncompetitive, they had the right to unilaterally reduce or even terminate cooperation.
This request is legitimate for them. The ultimate goal of any businessman is to make money. When a partner can no longer bring benefits to themselves, even the best relationship will give way to interests, thus ending the cooperation between the two parties.
"Good cooperation now does not mean good cooperation in the future." Song Yuanchao reminded: "Don't forget how the old factory almost collapsed. The lessons from the past are there. We should learn from our mistakes. We can't fall into the same pit again, right?"
"But Brother Yuanchao, they are not you..." Xiao Qi asked subconsciously, but before he could say the word "friend", Li Daqi raised his hand to stop him.
Compared to Xiaoqi, Li Daqi has a broader vision and thinks about problems in a deeper way and from a deeper angle. When Song Yuanchao said this, Li Daqi already understood what Song Yuanchao meant.
Even the best of friends are still friends after all, not to mention friends, even brothers, so what? When the market changes, you can't put all your hopes on others, right? Li Daqi was a successful entrepreneur in later generations. Although he doesn't have as much business experience as later generations, it cannot be denied that he has such talent and judgment.
"I understand what you mean. I will think about it carefully in the next few days. I will start with the supply and marketing department. I understand that eggs should not be put in one basket, but I overlooked this point before."
A loud drum does not need a heavy hammer. Seeing that Li Daqi understood his reminder, Song Yuanchao smiled and then talked about other things, including some production situations.
I took a tour around the factory today. Li Daqi and Xiaoqi have run the factory well, but there are still some problems. The biggest problem is that there is currently no formal process and quality control system in the factory's production.
After all, the factory was just a school-run factory before, with a simple staff structure and straightforward management. But now the Tengfei Factory can be regarded as a formal garment factory in terms of the number of employees, and according to the current development trend, the number of employees in the factory will probably continue to increase before next year.
The clothing industry (textile industry) is originally a labor-intensive enterprise. The so-called labor-intensive enterprises are all about people. The more people there are, the higher the output, and the higher the output, the more profit they earn. Of course, this is the case when the enterprise is in the rising stage. Once a labor-intensive enterprise loses its competitiveness, the first thing it does is lay off employees. This is also a point that has been proven in later generations.
Judging from the original designed capacity of the entire factory, the factory still has great potential to be tapped. If there are no problems with funds and the market, then it would not be difficult to double the existing staff.
Therefore, when an enterprise is developing rapidly, many managements must keep up, and previous inappropriate management methods must also be changed, so as to maintain the vitality and competitiveness of the factory to the greatest extent.
