Chapter 22 Hangers
The day after the casing was delivered, the things that Song Yuanchao asked Zhang Jianguo to help make were also finished. Song Yuanchao and Li Daqi rode a tricycle to pull the things back directly, moved them into the air-raid shelter and installed them.
The air-raid shelter at this time was very different from its original appearance. It had been cleaned thoroughly inside. In addition, Gu Jie also specially got a few high-wattage light bulbs and replaced all the originally dim low-wattage light bulbs. After replacing the new light bulbs, the environment seemed much brighter.
In the past two days, Song Yuanchao and his four companions brought a lot of six-millimeter thick iron wire from some places. Most of these things were bought from other people's factories as scraps through connections. Although there were a lot of things, the price was very cheap, only two cents and five cents per meter.
When everything was ready, everyone gathered around Song Yuanchao to watch him fiddle with it.
Song Yuanchao sat in front of the table and first strung the long iron wire into the casing. Then he compared the casing with the iron wire inside on the place where the size was engraved on the table and cut off a one-meter length with pliers.
Next, Song Yuanchao placed the iron wire connected to the sleeve in the slot on the table. He fixed one end of the slot and held the iron wire with one hand at the other end and moved it upward quickly. Then he closed the slot and pressed it directly with force. The whole iron wire became the shape of being sleeved on the slot. After removing it, he fixed one end on the vise at the back and then used a fist-sized steel sleeve on the other end of the iron wire and twisted it hard. After he was done, he took it off and a completely formed wire hanger was completed.
"Look, what do you think?"
It was very easy for Song Yuanchao to make this thing. It took him less than a minute to finish it. Moreover, the finished hanger was of standard shape, symmetrical on both sides and of moderate size. Looking at the finished hanger in Song Yuanchao's hand, Li Daqi and the other four were stunned with their eyes wide open.
No one expected that Song Yuanchao could make the hangers so easily. When they realized that Song Yuanchao was going to use these tubes and wires to make hangers and sell them, everyone was worried that the hangers would not be made well and would not sell.
After all, the shape of the hanger is L-shaped, and the two sides need to be symmetrical. It is impossible to make it with pliers without some professional fitter skills, and it is very time-consuming.
According to Li Daqi and his team, it would take at least ten minutes to make a hanger. Five people working together could only make more than twenty hangers in an hour. Even if they worked faster, they could only make thirty hangers at best. More importantly, they couldn't guarantee whether the hangers would look good. But who would have thought that Song Yuanchao could use this weird-looking equipment to make a standard hanger in the blink of an eye.
This was because Song Yuanchao deliberately slowed down his movements so that they could see the steps clearly, otherwise the speed would have been still fast.
Looking at their stunned expressions, Song Yuanchao felt a little proud. This special table was made by Song Yuanchao to make a clothes hanger. In fact, this thing was not uncommon in later generations. Someone had invented it a long time ago, but in this era it was an absolute first.
Back then, Song Yuanchao had seen people using this thing, and out of curiosity he learned how to use it, so he understood the principles and manufacturing .
Song Yuanchao's hand speed is not that fast. You should know that the skilled workers who often use this equipment to make clothes hangers can complete one in five or six seconds at the fastest, which means about ten in a minute.
The most important thing is that using this equipment to make hangers does not require any skills. The hangers made are of uniform size and beautiful in appearance. They are many times better than those made by ordinary people using pliers.
"Everyone come and try it. Daqi, you go first." Song Yuanchao stood up and greeted them with a smile when he saw that everyone had not yet come to their senses.
Li Daqi walked over to where Song Yuanchao had just sat and sat down, then began to fiddle with it under Song Yuanchao's instruction. Although he was not familiar with it for the first time, the principle of the device was very simple, and Li Daqi quickly figured out the steps. A few minutes later, an equally perfect hanger was born in his hands.
"Let me try it, let me try it too." Zhang Bin had already come back to his senses by now. Looking at the clothes hanger made by Li Daqi, his heart was hot and he couldn't wait to try it.
Song Yuanchao agreed with a smile. Anyway, everyone had to learn this job, so today was a good day to let everyone try it out one by one.
Half an hour later, Li Daqi, Zhang Bin, Wang Jianjun and Gu Jie all learned how to make clothes hangers. Everyone was holding almost identical hangers in their hands and comparing them, with happy smiles on their faces.
"Yuan Chao, how much do you think this clothes hanger should be sold for?" Although Li Daqi was happy, he did not forget that no matter how well it was made, it had to be sold.
"Nowadays, wooden clothes hangers in stores are 50 cents each, and bamboo ones are 45 cents each. Ours are iron clothes hangers, which are not only sturdy but also colorful. What do you think about selling them for 35 cents?" Song Yuanchao asked. He had already calculated the price issue a long time ago, but still wanted to seek everyone's opinions.
"35 cents?" Everyone looked at each other and nodded, "This price should be fine. Besides, our hangers are beautiful and sturdy, so they will definitely sell."
"Okay, let's set the price. Please work hard these few days. For the first time, we will make all the products at once before selling them."
"okay!"
"no problem!"
"Listen to your aid..."
Everyone was full of fighting spirit and excitedly ready to try.
On that day, everyone was busy in the air-raid shelter. In order to increase efficiency, Song Yuanchao divided the work among everyone. Two of them were responsible for threading the wire through the tube, one was responsible for cutting the wire according to the size of one meter, and another was responsible for completing the operation of making the hangers. Finally, the remaining person checked the finished hangers to see if there were any quality problems, and then used an alcohol lamp to bake the openings of the hanger wire and the tube to seal them, and then tied them into bundles of twenty and put them into a large sack beside.
Everyone takes a break for about ten minutes after working for an hour, and then rotates their positions to avoid excessive fatigue from single work.
On this day, everyone including Song Yuanchao was working with great enthusiasm. They even forgot the time because they were in the air-raid shelter and had no idea what the weather was like outside.
When the excitement gradually faded and hunger and fatigue set in, Song Yuanchao and his team realized that they had been busy for a full twelve hours.
By this time, it was already dark outside and everyone was hungry and exhausted.
It was impossible to go home now. Being caught by the patrolling joint defense in the middle of the night was no small matter. After discussion, Li Daqi and Gu Jie went back to get some food and drink for Song Yuanchao and the other two. As for sleeping, it was easy. They spread sackcloth on the ground, covered themselves with coats and slept directly in the air-raid shelter. This air-raid shelter was warm in winter and cool in summer. Now the temperature inside was much warmer than at home.
While Li Daqi and Gu Jie went home to get them food, Song Yuanchao took Zhang Bin and Wang Jianjun to count today's results.
You won’t know until you count. You’ll be shocked when you do. On the first day, they made 618 hangers, 600 of which filled six large sacks, and there were 18 left over.
According to the number of casing, Song Yuanchao had a total of 90 rolls of casing, each roll of casing was 100 meters. Theoretically, one roll of casing plus iron wire can make 100 hangers, which means a total of 9,000 hangers can be produced.
Of course, theory is just theory. In reality, we have to take into account the losses, so according to Song Yuanchao's estimate, about 8,950 can be produced in the end.
According to the investment, the total cost is 160 yuan for the casing plus 230 yuan for the wire, which together is 390 yuan, which is almost all of Song Yuanchao's current assets.
If all of them can be sold, the profit margin is quite large. At 3.5 cents per hanger, 8,950 hangers would be worth 3,132.5 yuan, which is almost ten times the profit.
Song Yuanchao bought the sleeves from Jiang Dongliang at almost a bargain price, but even if he purchased them at the cost price of eight yuan a roll, it would still be profitable for Song Yuanchao. Adding wire to each clothes hanger would only cost a dime, and the profit could still reach 350%.
As for sales, Song Yuanchao was not worried. You should know that in 1978, the population of Shanghai exceeded 11 million, not including more than 60,000 immigrants. It can be said that Shanghai is worthy of being called the largest city in China.
Although clothes hangers are inconspicuous, they are used in all households in Shanghai. Is there any household that doesn't have a few or even a dozen clothes hangers?
It is not that there are wire hangers out there, but they are made by very few people. All of them are "bare hangers" without outer casings. Wire is easy to rust, and when it gets rusty due to water, it will stain clothes. However, Song Yuanchao's hangers are different. They have colorful casings on the outside, which are thick enough. Not only will they not rust, but they also look much thicker.
