Lin Zhichao came to the wharf of Wharf. This is Hong Kong's deep-water port. Large global shipping ships can unload and load cargo at the deep-water port, and they can only rent the warehouse of Wharf.
Because many goods are registered in advance for transportation, these goods will be put into the warehouse at the terminal, and the shipping company will need to pay rent to the owner of the warehouse, calculated on a daily basis.
Jardine Matheson relies on the Wharf's large number of docks and warehouses to earn a large amount of money every year.
There is a saying: "Whoever owns Wharf controls most of Hong Kong's cargo handling, storage and transportation, and cross-harbour ferries."
This statement is true. Wharf was the largest wharf in Hong Kong at this time, and its industry covered most of the wharves, warehouses, trams, ferries and other high-quality industries in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, the New Territories, and Hong Kong Island.
Wharf Wharf alone has a large ferry terminal, five cargo ship terminals, and a large number of warehouses on the shore.
Lin Zhichao asked: "Has Wharf deliberately targeted the unloading time of our cargo ships?"
The person in charge of the business was Gao Qiqiang. After thinking for a while, he said: "That's not true! The warehouse prices are a little more expensive, but the prices are similar. Everyone is privately saying that Jardine Matheson's charges are too expensive."
This is the tradition of Jardine Matheson, which is to absorb the blood of Hong Kong and then obtain overseas investment. In the future, Jardine Matheson will only become more and more excessive (charges are expensive), until Wharf offends all Hong Kong shipowners, and even the Hong Kong government cannot stand it.
The reason why Lin Zhichao asked the question just now was because he was worried about being deliberately targeted by Wheelock & Company. Although this possibility was very small, he had to be vigilant. Once the unloading time is delayed by the terminal and the warehouse rental price is particularly expensive, it will obviously be very troublesome.
Of course, that's not happening at the moment. And the chance of this happening is not high. First, Madden cannot influence Jardine, and Wheelock is still just a medium-sized foreign company. Second, Jardine will not make a fuss. This is business after all, and it requires money. is the purpose.
After the Jin'an docked, Lin Zhichao also boarded the cargo ship.
"boss"
The sailors greeted each other.
Lin Zhichao smiled and asked: "How is life on this ship?"
A sailor immediately replied: "The environment on board the Jinan is much better than that on the shore of Hong Kong. It has everything you need. This ship built by Americans is rich."
Everyone laughed!
Lin Zhichao said: "Don't be too happy. In the future, the crew of each ship will not be fixed, but will need to be rotated. There are ships with good conditions, and naturally there are ships with poor conditions."
"We are not afraid. We will be ready when we come out to run the boat. Don't worry, boss!"
"That is, no matter how difficult the conditions are, we can do it."
For a moment, these sailors responded easily.
It can be seen from them that they are fundamentally different from employees of other shipping companies.
It's like the difference between one being a regular army and the other being a miscellaneous army.
It seems that the courses of Global Maritime Academy can still change some people.
Later, Lin Zhichao visited the crew's living area, conference room, library, etc. and put forward some suggestions for correction.
"Captain Li, bring the ship's management to the company for a meeting tomorrow!" Lin Zhichao finally said.
Whatever meeting is held, it is naturally a summary meeting.
Li Donglai nodded. He knew that Global Shipping had many rules, but the salary was also a little higher (double pay at the end of the year, and benefits during holidays), and the treatment on board was also better (food).
The seafarers on board are all trained by Global Maritime Academy, and everyone is accustomed to some company rules and regulations.
"Okay, boss!"
After staying on the boat for a long time, Lin Zhichao reluctantly left because he found that standing on the boat felt a bit like standing on a yacht.
If he buys a new boat in the future, he wonders whether he should ride on it once to experience the feeling of sailing on the sea;
Of course, the voyage is only within ten days, such as Japan to Hong Kong.
The direct flight from Japan to Hong Kong to South Africa arrived at the Hong Kong terminal. Tang Zhongyuan had already received the news and drove to pick up the goods in person as soon as possible.
He is the commander-in-chief of this rush. He must complete 700 dozen shirts perfectly within three days.
With the arrival of man-made fiber cloth in Hong Kong, Tang Zhongyuan felt that the first step had been completed.
He believed that if this order did not require fabrics purchased from Japan, there might be garment factories willing to cooperate, and then they would not have anything to worry about.
When the cloth arrives at the Yangtze Garment Factory, the first step is to cut it.
Generally speaking, many garment factories do not have this link. They can only process and cut the goods outside, and then take them back to the factory for sewing.
The Yangtze River Garment Factory has an area of nearly 20,000 yuan, with all equipment and more than 200 workers. It has the conditions to be promoted to a medium-sized garment factory, and it just needs orders.
In Hong Kong, there are no large-scale garment factories. Medium-sized garment factories are already the largest ones at present, and there are still only a handful of them.
Soon, Tang Zhongyuan had begun directing production, and the workers began to concentrate on their work.
Everyone knew beforehand that a batch of goods needed to be rushed, and everyone needed to work all night to complete the task.
As for whether there are rewards, these workers will naturally not ask, and the boss will not give them. This is a habit in the industry.
There is no such thing as overtime pay in Hong Kong, and everyone keeps hearing about it.
Some factories work for 16 hours, and some factories work for 12 hours. If you can't work, just leave.
The fact is that currently, every job out there that pays 50 yuan per month is a hot-selling position in the market.
The salary may not make you full, but it will certainly not make you starve to death.
This is the fighting spirit of this era!
On the afternoon of the third day, Lin Zhichao came to the Yangtze River Garment Factory.
"Zhichao, we have packed it and finished it 20 hours ahead of schedule!" Tang Zhongyuan said happily with dark circles under his eyes.
"Thank you for your hard work, father-in-law! With this experience, you don't need to be nervous next time." Lin Zhichao said with a smile.
Although the two are cooperating in the Yangtze River Garment Factory, their division of labor is very clear. Lin Zhichao only serves as a consultant, while Tang Zhongyuan actually participates in the operation. During these three days, Tang Zhongyuan had to take care of three textile and dyeing factories, so naturally he didn't return home.
Doing business is so hard, and everyone has experienced it this way!
"Yes, the workers have really worked hard this time. Many workers only sleep two or three hours a day." Tang Zhongyuan also sighed.
Capitalists are not all harsh. Lin Zhichao and Tang Zhongyuan are both bosses who attach great importance to employee welfare. Although no overtime pay will be given for this kind of overtime work, Yangtze Garment Factory itself has wages that are 20% higher than those in the industry. Coupled with double pay at the end of the year and holiday benefits, it is already a model of a good boss.
So, what’s the problem if you work overtime occasionally and you don’t work overtime often?
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone, but if the company develops, their salary will naturally increase. We are not stingy bosses." Lin Zhichao said calmly.
Tang Zhongyuan nodded.
Later, Lin Zhishenxiao wanted to go among the masses, after all, he was the boss.
When we walked into the workshop, we saw that the workers were still working on other orders. They had not slept well for two days, but today they could finally get off work early and go home for a good night's sleep.
"Boss Lin" was greeted by a worker.
Lin Zhichao nodded. There were both male and female workers in the factory, with men accounting for almost 70%. To be honest, men can really do any job. Let’s just say sewing machines. Most of them are better than female workers.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone! When we win orders from South Africa in the future, the company will develop even bigger, and the benefits of you old employees will definitely increase."
Painting cakes is a must!
Of course, this is not a cake. The most important thing is that the company developed by Lin Zhichao will definitely become an industry benchmark and will be at the advanced level of the industry in all aspects.
If you do poorly in this industry and struggle for a while, you have to take the initiative to shut down.
"Thank you, Boss Lin!" the workers said in an "innocent and simple" way.
What a great worker!
Seeing these workers, Lin Zhichao couldn't help but think, Hong Kong still has thirty years of "cheap and high-quality labor", and he must do more industries to make full use of these workers.
Otherwise, he will have a bad conscience!
The next day.
700 dozen shirts were loaded onto the freighter heading directly to South Africa on time. Lin Zhichao and Tang Zhongyuan breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was their first time to take an order from South Africa, and they were still unfamiliar with everything.
Now, I can finally have a peaceful sleep.
When the bosses of the garment factories in Sham Shui Po heard that the Yangtze River Garment Factory had taken on Scott's order, they immediately started talking about it.
“This Yangtze River Garment Factory even accepts orders from Africa and is not afraid of not getting paid!”
"Boss Lin is very wealthy, so it doesn't matter if he loses!"
"I heard that there are 700 dozen shirts in this order, which must be at least 100,000 Hong Kong dollars in sales! As far as I know, the Yangtze River Garment Factory only has a scale of more than 100 people (Old Huangli). Can it make 100,000 Hong Kong dollars a year? ? If you lose money all at once, it’s better not to do it.”
Colleagues are still not optimistic about orders from Africa. They are very prejudiced and even plan to laugh at the Yangtze River Garment Factory.
As for the ownership of the Yangtze Garment Factory, everyone naturally thinks it is Lin Zhichao's industry.
Of course, this industry was originally Lin Zhichao's industry; in the future, he would be at most 50-50 with the Tang family.
Lin Baixin from Lixin Garment Factory also felt regretful when she heard about the ownership of the South African order. If this order is used as an opportunity to enter South Africa, Lixin Garment Factory will no longer be limited to the Hong Kong and Southeast Asian markets.
At the same time, Lin Baixin hopes that the Yangtze Garment Factory will mess things up so that he can get a chance.
"I want to take the initiative to seek orders from South Africa, I can't just sit back and wait!"
It was spring again (1950), and green was everywhere on Hong Kong Island. Even Central in this era is half green, unlike the concrete forest where buildings are next to each other in later generations.
It turns out that there is still a lot of undeveloped land in Central. No development does not mean there are no owners. For example, the Ho Tung family owns a 16,000-square-foot high-quality land on Des Voeux Road (the former head office of Hang Seng Bank).
And Tsuen Wan is even more so, a green place.
However, as the impact of the 'Hong Kong Island Crisis' weakened, many business owners began to come here looking to open factories.
Naturally, the land here has also begun to rise.
Lin Zhichao was sitting in the office of Cheung Kong Holdings, working.
Cheung Kong Holdings is his biggest cash cow, with monthly profits exceeding HK$400,000, and more and more orders from Europe and the United States.
Last year, after he withdrew 3 million Hong Kong dollars from Cheung Kong Industries, the debt was only 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. This is equivalent to providing Lin Zhichao with a net profit of HK$1.5 million last year.
However, with the investment in Yangtze Plastics and Yangtze Garment Factory, the two transactions totaled HK$700,000, equivalent to the loss of most of the profits in January and February this year.
This year, Lin Zhichao no longer dares to invest arbitrarily the funds of Yangtze River Industries, because Yangtze River Industries has to consider the impact of the 'trade ban crisis'. The most important thing is to purchase a large amount of raw materials in time for the first half of the year.
Although the factory in Singapore has been put into production, who knows whether the Americans will target that factory; fortunately, Lin Zhichao has no intention of doing 'smuggling' business, so theoretically he will not be targeted.
Even in terms of the shipping industry, Lin Zhichao and Dong Shipwang are from the same family, but Dong Shipwang transports military supplies for Taiwan and the United States, while Lin Zhichao at most rents ships to Japanese shipping companies for a long time.
Tao Derong, general manager of Changjiang Plastic Factory, came to Lin Zhichao's office and gave a work report.
"Boss, Yangtze Plastic Factory has now been able to make a small profit, occupy a lot of market share, and has opened up sales channels in Southeast Asia."
Lin Zhichao was quite happy to hear that, as long as Cheung Kong Holdings can make money, it would be fine if he invested a total of 350,000 Hong Kong dollars. It was originally used to accumulate experience; but now that he can make a small profit and repay his capital in one or two years, why not do it.
"What is the wholesale price of plastics in the Hong Kong market now?" Lin Zhichao asked with concern.
As the saying goes, there is no business without treachery, so he naturally desires to be the best and occupy a larger market. However, if normal means are used, it will inevitably be impossible to achieve, or both parties will suffer losses.
At this time, Lin Zhichao thought of two cases for his reference:
1. He once saw a TV series in which the protagonist bought all of Jian Pengcheng's printers during the re-release. Then there was a storm at sea, so he was the only one who had the printers, and he took the opportunity to sell them at a high price.
2. The warlord Ma Bufang, who had been in Qinghai for 40 years, bought all the sewing machines on the market after escaping to Dubai. Therefore, all the expatriates (those with the surname Jiao) could only buy machines from him at high prices.
This case shows that once you achieve a market monopoly, you don’t have the final say on the price.
Tao Derong replied: "One pound (450G) is 1.4~1.5 Hong Kong dollars. In fact, the profit of plastic products is quite high. If it is processed into a ball pen and a refill is added, the wholesale price can be several yuan, and the market price can reach One and twenty-one, although they cannot sell imported ball pens for 100 Hong Kong dollars each, the profit is still very high!"
Pen refills are imported, and Hong Kong can only produce pen cases.
Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "Although ball pens are highly profitable, we still mainly sell toys and daily necessities."
"OK!"
In fact, Lin Zhichao’s purpose in asking this question is that he plans to purchase plastics in large quantities before the United States blocks Hong Kong trade; and the cost price of imported plastics from the Yangtze River trade is only 1.2 Hong Kong dollars per pound, or even lower.
In the second half of the year, Yangtze Plastics Factory was able to purchase large quantities of plastic raw materials from the market, resulting in a scarcity of raw materials in the market, in order to achieve control over the raw materials in the market. By then, Yangtze Plastics Factory will be able to 'advance and retreat freely' and become the overlord of the industry in one fell swoop.
After Tao Derong left, Lin Zhichao leaned on his chair and thought.
The next three years will be both opportunities and troubles for him. The trouble is that the zipper industry is unknown, and there are more opportunities. Shipping and real estate are all opportunities.
As for trouble, he has already prepared for a rainy day and just hopes to minimize the loss.
Right now, we are trying to collect HKD 3 million around mid-April to purchase aluminum alloys, copper, and plastics from the United States to avoid the embarrassment of not having raw materials by then. Of course, I have the best hope for the Singapore factory, but it is not the only hope.
"Dong dong"
"Come in"
Wang Dongshan raised his head and saw that it was Li Jiacheng. His face was a little unhappy, because the performance of Wanhe Plastic Factory had declined rapidly recently, and the general manager had an unshirkable responsibility.
Li Jiacheng also understands what his boss thinks of him, but no matter how smart he is, there is nothing he can do in the face of the impact of "high quality and low price" from Yangtze Plastic Factory.
What worries him even more is that he is about to resign and start a business, and the market is now so competitive, how he will survive.
However, he must resign. One cannot work all his life. He has been in society for six years, and now it is time to start a business. He seriously thought about it. If he opened a plastic factory, he must make full use of workers and produce around the clock to reduce costs, so as to survive first.
As for these workers, he can recruit them from those who have just come out of the farmland (Cantonese who have taken refuge), and in this way he can save a lot of salary.
Saving is the most important thing!
As for which workers have been wronged, he doesn't think there is anything wrong. How many people are unemployed now, and they need to queue up to apply for even a job worth 30 or 40 Hong Kong dollars.
At worst, when I make money in the future, I will increase wages and benefits for everyone.
"Manager Li, the recent decline in performance has been serious! Why don't you think of more solutions?" Wang Dongshan asked.
He always felt that something was not quite right with this number one general recently, and he needed to take a crack at it today. After all, the salary of this general manager is not low.
Li Jiacheng was suddenly embarrassed and knew he was in the wrong.
However, he quickly adjusted his mood and said: "Boss, I'm sorry, the market competition is really fierce now. And... I'm actually here to resign to you!"
Wang Dongshan was immediately surprised and said with some excitement: "Manager Li, I know you are under a lot of pressure, but there is no need to resign! There were so many big storms in the past, but we have all overcome it, and now there is one more big player!"
He still attaches great importance to the talent of Li Jiacheng, and it is even difficult to find such an excellent general manager.
Li Jiacheng gritted his teeth and said: "That's not the reason! At the end of last year, I had already considered quitting my job and starting a business. I can't work for others all my life. I also have the ideal to become an entrepreneur like you."
Wang Dongshan suddenly turned pale and said unhappily: "Manager Li, if you want to raise your salary, I will agree without saying a word. You are our general manager of Wanhe. How many customers will you take with you when you leave?"
Li Jiacheng waved his hand quickly and said: "Don't worry, Boss Wang, I will never poach any of the company's customers. Even if they come to me, I will not do business with them. This is moral."
Wang Dongshan immediately understood that Li Jiacheng had already decided to leave, and no further persuasion would help.
He still said unwillingly: "It's really not a wise decision for you to choose to resign and start a business despite knowing that competition is fierce now."
Li Jiacheng could only say: "My factory is small, I can hold multiple jobs by myself, and the expenses are much smaller. So it is easier to survive!"
Wang Dongshan had no choice but to keep Li Jiacheng for a month, waiting for him to handle the company's affairs before leaving; Li Jiacheng wanted to have a beginning and an end, so he agreed.
Little did he know that a towering hand had already come under dark clouds. It was mainly targeting him, and the opponent was a person he had never met before.
(End of chapter)
