Chapter 275 Precious
In the conference room of Yanjing Chinese Medicine Factory No. 3, the factory director Huang Baogui sat in the main seat. On his left was the factory secretary Jiang Guoxun, and on his right was his right-hand man, Deputy Factory Director in charge of production Liu Xinhong. Below them were Deputy Factory Director Niu in charge of logistics, the supply and marketing section chief, the finance section chief, the factory office director, etc.
Compared with Factory 8, Factory 3 has a much longer history. Although it is not as famous as Factory 1 and Factory 2, it can be regarded as the leader of the second echelon in Yanjing Chinese Medicine Factory.
Huang Baogui has been the director of the third factory for nearly twenty years. He enjoys a high prestige in the factory, and the third factory has always performed well under his leadership.
The person making the report now is the head of the supply and marketing section, who was an apprentice of Huang Baogui in his early years. This guy is smart and capable, and he took this position a few years ago with the support of Huang Baogui.
"Wait!" Before the supply and marketing section chief finished his report, Huang Baogui raised his hand to stop him and asked, "What did you just say? It will take another half a month for the warm cup packaging to be available?"
"Yes... yes, Master..." said the head of supply and marketing section feeling somewhat guilty.
"This is the conference room! Today's meeting is held by the factory!" Huang Baogui glared, and the head of the supply and marketing department quickly changed his words: "Yes, the factory director..."
"Another half a month? Tell me, what have you been doing in the past month? You've been fussing around with a few broken cups for so long? By the time you're done, the opportunity will have been cold! You're put in the position of supply and marketing section chief to do work, not to idle away the days! Can you do it? If not, get out! I'll get someone else to do it!" Huang Baogui was furious and scolded unceremoniously.
"Director, please...please listen to my explanation..." The head of the supply and marketing department wiped the sweat from his forehead and said hurriedly, "It should not take so much time, but now there are too many people placing orders, especially the first and second factories, which are said to have placed orders for hundreds of thousands in one go. The other four, five, and even six and seven factories are also busy. The current situation is simply too many wolves and too little meat..."
"Nonsense!" Without waiting for the supply and marketing section chief to finish, Huang Baogui, who was filled with anger slammed the table and said, "Let me ask you, why can Factory 8 get the goods? Go to Factory 8's warehouse and see how many products and raw materials are coming in and out every day. If you say so, Factory 8 would have been cut off from the source long ago, but Factory 8 is still doing fine. How do you explain this?"
"Director, this is different!" The head of the supply and marketing department said anxiously, "I've inquired about it. The warm cups for Factory 8 were not ordered locally at all..."
"Not local? Where did you purchase it from?" Huang Baogui was not clear about this situation and asked after a pause.
"Tianjin!" replied the head of the supply and marketing department.
Who would have thought that it would have been better if he hadn't said this. Huang Baogui got even angrier as soon as he said it.
"You bastard! When did you know about this? Why didn't you report it to me earlier? Since you knew the source of the goods, why didn't you go out of town to order them like Factory 8 did? Why did you have to squeeze in and make trouble locally? Lao Liu, Lao Liu, I think you have lived too well in your daily life and have lost even the slightest sense of crisis. Do you need me, your master, to teach you such a simple truth?"
The head of the supply and marketing department was scolded so harshly by Huang Baogui that he hung his head and didn't even dare to fart.
At this time, Secretary Jiang Guoxun hurriedly tried to smooth things over and said a few good words for the supply and marketing section chief, which calmed Huang Baogui down.
"The warm cup packaging is now the top priority of the factory. Anyone with eyes can see clearly the sales situation of the Eighth Factory. If we don't eat this big piece of fat meat, other factories will. The problem is whoever acts faster will get the meat!" Huang Baogui took a puff of cigarette, exhaled a puff of thick smoke and said, "This matter was arranged a month ago. Now the key is the packaging issue. Without packaging, everything else is empty talk. This is the key."
Huang Baogui swept his eyes over everyone and said solemnly, "Wait another half a month? Do you think this is feasible?"
After that, no one spoke.
"It's a bullshit!" Huang Baogui slammed his hand on the table and started to curse: "You can't even do a shitty thing, you are just a waste! And you're telling me about the situation in other factories, and you're saying there are too many wolves and too little meat? Is this how you shirk your responsibilities when doing revolutionary work?"
"Half a month? Do you know what half a month means? If we wait for other factories to launch their products first, then we will fail! When we made the decision in the meeting, I said that we must hurry up and speed up! If we are slow, we won't be able to eat shit as soon as it is hot. Are you guys turning a deaf ear to my words?"
Although he did not mention anyone by name, every word Huang Baogui said was a reprimand for the Supply and Marketing Department. The head of the Supply and Marketing Department was so red in the face that his head was about to be buried in his crotch.
After scolding the head of the supply and marketing section, Huang Baogui finally did not dismiss him for the sake of their master-apprentice relationship. However, Huang Baogui reiterated the urgency of the task and ordered the supply and marketing department to complete the warm cup packaging within a week no matter what. If he could not do it, he should resign and be sent directly to the workshop as a frontline worker.
After saying that, Huang Baogui stood up, took his cup of water and left the meeting room. When he returned to the office, he was still very angry.
How could he not be angry? As the director of Factory 3, Huang Baogui had never considered Factory 8 as his rival. In his eyes, only worthy rivals. Huang Baogui had worked so hard over the years, wanting to surpass Factory 1 and Factory 2 and become the leader of the first echelon of Chinese medicine factories in Yanjing and even the whole country.
But in fact, Huang Baogui had not achieved his wish after so many years of hard work, and then suddenly the dying Factory 8 suddenly became strong as if it had taken a powerful pill. Just after the Chinese New Year, the loquat paste and cough syrup of the Factory 8 became the hottest goods in the market, and its sales were incredible.
After hearing the news, Huang Baogui went to find out the details as soon as possible. It was only after he found the products of Factory No. 8 that he suddenly realized the truth.
To be honest, the tactics of Factory 8 are not surprising. Their methods are nothing more than taking advantage of loopholes in the medical reimbursement system, while also taking advantage of the weakness of the general public who like to take advantage.
No one had ever thought of using warm cups to package loquat paste and cough syrup. To use an idiom to describe it, the Eighth Factory's actions were like "buying the casket and returning the pearl". But this idea worked very well. It was precisely because of the exquisite warm cup packaging that the Eighth Factory's products opened up sales channels, squeezing out similar products in the entire Yanjing and even the surrounding areas.
After understanding the methods of Factory 8, Huang Baogui admired the person who came up with this idea. In his opinion, this person was a genius! A small warm cup became the key to victory or defeat. If he had thought of this at the beginning, with the strength of Factory 3 far exceeding that of Factory 8, the products of Factory 3 might be everywhere in the country now, and his wish to surpass Factory 1 and Factory 2 might have been achieved.
But now, one step wrong leads to another. When Factory 3 reacted, the directors of other factories also reacted. These factories, including several factories that had complained privately but to no avail, all thought of the same thing at the same time: such a big piece of meat must not be enjoyed by Factory 8 alone. It is only natural to share the meat. Therefore, everyone is secretly gearing up to negotiate with suppliers, trying to come up with similar products in the shortest time possible to seize the market.
But I didn’t expect that although the idea was good, it would be quite difficult to implement.
A warm cup is not an ordinary item. Although we have the sample from Factory 8 as an example, there is a series of processes including making molds and producing samples, adjusting them, and then producing them. This whole process takes a lot of time.
Moreover, the source of their warm cups was kept very secret by the Eighth Factory. At first, no one could find out where the Eighth Factory got the goods from. In desperation, the several major factories in Yanjing could only contact the local manufacturers as soon as possible to discuss production...
There was a knock on the door, and Huang Baogui said, "Come in." The one who pushed the door open was Secretary Jiang Guoxun and Deputy Factory Director Liu Xinhong.
"Old Jiang, you are here. Please sit down. I won't pour the tea. Come, have a cigarette." Huang Baogui was still angry. He just raised his buttocks slightly in the chair, picked up the cigarette box on the table, took out two cigarettes and threw them over.
"Haha, there's no need to make tea for them since they're not guests. Isn't that a waste?" Jiang Guoxun said with a smile, took the cigarette and sat down in front of Huang Baogui, while Liu Xinhong sat on the other side.
Lighting up a cigarette, Jiang Guoxun glanced at Huang Baogui, who had a dark face, and thought for a moment before saying, "Director, are you still angry? Lao Liu's work is indeed not very good, but then again, he is not really at fault. The fact that the Eighth Factory went to Tianjin to purchase was kept secret, and he just found out about it. It's not just our factory, I'm afraid other factories are the same."
"What? Did he look for you?" Huang Baogui raised his eyelids and asked.
"Haha, I said I couldn't hide it from you, the factory director." Jiang Guoxun glanced at Liu Xinhong beside him and laughed. Liu Xinhong said, "Factory director, we understand your idea and support your judgment, but it is not just our third factory, other factories, including the first and second factories, have not received the packaging. This is also a fact. Now that we know the supply channel of the eighth factory, we can go directly to Tianjin to purchase. Lao Liu just told me that he will leave now. If everything goes well..."
Having said that, Liu Xinhong didn't continue talking, but Huang Baogui already understood the implication of her words.
"Okay, since you guys spoke up for him, I'll let him go this time. But I'll be honest, if he returns from Tianjin empty-handed this time, don't blame me for not respecting the relationship between master and apprentice."
"That's right, that's right..." Liu Xinhong is Huang Baogui's junior, and even more so the uncle of the head of the supply and marketing department. The two have a very good relationship. As for the secretary Jiang Guoxun, it goes without saying that he has been Huang Baogui's die-hard supporter for many years. In the third factory, his daily job as secretary is to cooperate with Huang Baogui. The one who really controls the power of the third factory is not him, the nominal secretary, but Huang Baogui.
