Chapter 703 Farewell
Upon learning of this situation, Gu Changjun was worried. He kept sighing that it was a pity that Song Yuanchao failed to take charge of Nandu. Compared with the current Nandu, the development of Si Te Company was really too rapid.
Today, Sit is much stronger than Nandu in terms of corporate scale and market share. You should know that more than two years ago, Sit was just a branch of Nandu. How could it compare with the well-known Nandu in Jinling?
If this continues, the decline of Nandu will be irreversible. This is Gu Changjun's heart knot and a concern that he can never let go of.
This time Song Yuanchao came all the way to see him, which made Gu Changjun very happy. At the same time, he also thought of the problem of Nandu. Not long after Song Yuanchao and his family left yesterday, his eldest son came to the hospital. Gu Changjun specifically asked the eldest son to ask the second son to go to the hotel to express his gratitude to Song Yuanchao and Lu Baogang on his behalf, and asked the eldest son to tell him to ask Song Yuanchao to come to the hospital today. He wanted to talk to him about something.
Song Yun came to aid North Korea today, and Gu Changjun did not beat around the bush and directly raised the issues concerning Nandu.
In fact, Song Yuanchao also knew about this situation. After all, he used to be the deputy director of Nandu. Although he has left Nandu now, Nandu is still a brother unit of Si Te in terms of equity structure. They are also colleagues in the food industry. Although the specific products are slightly different, many things between them are not secrets.
Now Nandu is not only not as good as it was during Jiang Dahai’s time, but it even has a lifeless feeling.
Especially after the National Day last year, the leaders of the Nandu General Factory got crazy and came up with a plan under the guise of cost-saving and formula optimization, and directly adjusted the product formula.
Judging from the data, the adjusted formula has indeed reduced costs a lot, because the new formula greatly reduces the original raw materials such as natural white sugar, condensed milk, milk powder, and butter, and replaces them with substitutes.
On the surface, this method seems to be fine and it also greatly reduces costs. After all, the raw materials described in the previous article are expensive, and butter used to have to be imported, requiring precious foreign exchange to purchase.
The substitutes used now are nothing more than a series of chemicals such as sugar substitutes, margarine, vanillin, etc. Their prices are extremely low, which are only a few or even a few tens of times the cost of the original raw materials.
However, with this adjustment, the taste of the product is very different, especially for some old customers who have been eating Nandu products for many years, who frown as soon as they taste the products after buying them back.
Maybe most people can't tell the difference, but people who eat it often will feel something is wrong as soon as they eat it. The natural sweet taste has become strange, and there is an indescribable bitter aftertaste.
Professionals can tell what this smell is just by tasting it. It is all the smell of chemical ingredients. Can you imagine that there will be a market for such a product?
In the first month after the formula adjustment, Nandu’s overall costs dropped by more than one-third, resulting in a sharp increase in the efficiency ratio.
For this reason, the leaders were complacent and made a big fuss about this achievement, and they were also praised by their superiors.
But the aftereffects soon emerged. Consumers are not fools. They will know whether the product is good or not after eating it. Will they be deceived a second time after being cheated once?
When the end of the year comes and the Spring Festival approaches, it stands to reason that this period is the peak season for Nandu's product sales. However, this year Nandu's products have encountered unprecedented cold reception in the market. The overall sales volume is less than half of that in previous years. A large number of products produced overtime are piling up and cannot be sold. At the same time, dealers in nearby provinces and cities have been returning products.
When Song Yuanchao heard about this matter, it was already after the Spring Festival. At that time, Song Yuanchao was busy with the gold award and market promotion. He just heard Lao Tang mention it to him a few times.
Song Yuanchao remembered that after listening to Lao Tang's story, he cursed a few times and said something like "you're asking for trouble". But later, because he was too busy, and Nandu and Si Te were two different companies after all, he didn't continue to pay attention to it.
Now Gu Changjun mentioned this matter again. According to what Gu Changjun said to Song Yuanchao, the adjustment of product formula had a great negative impact on Nandu. Not only did it lose the favor of many old customers, but it was also excluded by the market.
Employees of Nandu and some workshop cadres were cursing privately, especially because this year's Chinese New Year was a very unsatisfactory one for everyone.
In previous years, the Chinese New Year was something everyone looked forward to. However, due to the sudden slow sales of products this year, the year-end bonus was halved, and the benefits such as meat, rice and eggs were also reduced. Isn't this what ordinary workers want? After working hard for a year, the amount they get is far below their expectations. How could this happen if it wasn't for the boss's meddling? It would be strange if they didn't curse.
"The product formulas of Nandu were developed by our predecessors over many years and have been tested and recognized by the market and the public. It's like a restaurant. A good chef can determine the life and death of a restaurant. If a restaurant that was originally prosperous is replaced by a mediocre chef, can the restaurant continue to operate?"
Gu Changjun was very angry. Although he was not a professional and the work he did at Nandu had little to do with production, he had been at Nandu for so long that he had long since learned to be an expert.
This kind of nonsense is simply incomprehensible and is simply something that was thought up on the spur of the moment.
If they continue to do this, how much energy will Nandu have left to support them?
Song Yuanchao told Gu Changjun that he had also heard about this matter, but this was Nandu's own business after all. Although he was the chairman of Si Te, he had nothing to do with Nandu anymore, and he couldn't interfere in this matter.
"I understand, I understand everything." Gu Changjun nodded and sighed, "Xiao Song, I'm not telling you this to ask you to think of a solution for Nandu. Even if you have a solution, it won't help. After all, you are in Sit and Nandu is Nandu. They are two companies now. Moreover, as the chairman of a joint venture company, it is not appropriate for you to interfere in the daily work of a state-owned enterprise."
"I think that if Nandu continues like this, the future situation will be worrying. After all, you are also from Nandu, and Nandu is also your old company. No matter what, there must be some feelings for it, right?"
"If a company fails, the leaders can be transferred or go to work in another company. But what about the employees? Many of them have worked in this company for their whole lives. Some of them not only work in Nandu themselves, but their parents are also Nandu employees."
"For them, Nandu is like their home. If Nandu really collapses in the future, where can they go?"
Gu Changjun sighed, his face full of pain and worry. He reached out and held Song Yuanchao's hand tightly, and said sincerely: "Xiao Song, I know you are a nostalgic person, otherwise you wouldn't have come to see me on purpose. I don't have much time left, and the only thing that I can't let go of is this matter. I don't have too many requests, but I just hope that in the future, when Nandu really can't hold on one day, you can help Nandu and those colleagues who used to work with you..."
Due to his serious illness, Gu Changjun had lost a lot of weight. His hands were cold and full of bones, but when he held Song Yuanchao's hands, he could feel the strength and the expectations in his heart.
Holding back tears, Song Yuanchao nodded heavily. He promised Gu Changjun that he would remember this incident. No matter what the future holds for Nandu, if what Gu Changjun said really happened, then he, Song Yuanchao, would definitely lend a hand to save Nandu and its employees.
"Thank you, Xiao Song. Please..."
Gu Changjun seemed to have used up his last bit of strength to say this sentence. After he finished speaking, his breathing suddenly became rapid and his eyes suddenly widened. Song Yuanchao was so scared that he hurried to find a doctor. After the doctor and nurse arrived, they took a look at Gu Changjun's condition and immediately performed first aid.
After struggling for a while, Gu Changjun gradually recovered and his breathing temporarily eased.
"Comrade, the patient is not in good health to see guests now. You should come back in a few days." The doctor left the ward, and Song Yuanchao, who was waiting in the corridor, hurriedly went up to ask about Gu Changjun's condition. The doctor briefly spoke to Song Yuanchao, and then reminded Song Yuanchao of this.
After taking a look at the closed ward door, Song Yuanchao did not continue to enter. He stood at the door for a long time. Finally, he bowed deeply towards the inside of the door before leaving.
In the next few days, Gu Changjun's condition was sometimes better and sometimes worse. Song Yuanchao and Lu Baogang could only see him briefly for the last time. They were kicked out by the nurse without even saying a word.
After staying in the mountain city for a few days, there were still many things waiting for Song Yuanchao to deal with at the company, so Song Yuanchao and Lu Baogang had to return first. When they left, they went to see Gu Changjun again, but at that time Gu Changjun was lying on the partition and sleeping. They did not enter the ward, but just stood outside the ward and took a look.
After saying goodbye to the eldest and second sons of the Gu family and leaving them his contact information, Song Yuanchao and Lu Baogang returned first.
After returning to Jinling, Song Yuanchao threw himself into his busy work, which lasted for half a month.
One morning in early April, Song Yuanchao, who had not yet gotten up, suddenly received a long-distance call.
The call was from the eldest son of the Gu family. He told Song Yuanchao sadly on the phone that his father Gu Changjun had just passed away an hour ago. When he heard the news, Song Yuanchao could not believe his ears. Although he had expected it in his heart, such a result still came too suddenly. Song Yuanchao didn't know how he hung up the phone. When he came to his senses, he found himself standing blankly by the bed, with bare feet and no shoes on.
He lit a cigarette, walked to the window, and looked through the glass at the still dark night sky outside. Song Yuanchao stood there blankly for an unknown amount of time before the sky gradually became brighter from darkness. When the red sun rose from the horizon again, a new day came again as usual.
