Chapter 27: Starting a Factory
Xia Jun opened the industry column and selected the papermaking category.
A large number of paper mills appeared in front of Xia Jun.
Roughly divided into two categories, one is special paper and the other is ordinary paper. The factories of special paper and ordinary paper are further divided into five technical levels: 'backward, general, leading, super-epochal, ultimate'.
Apart from the 'Backward' level factory being cheap to build, all levels from Normal to Ultimate are expensive.
For example, an ultimate paper mill can be operated by 10 employees and produce 1 million tons of ordinary paper per year. Building such a paper mill costs 2 million points.
At the same time, paper mills are also divided according to production capacity. The higher the production capacity, the more cost-effective it is. For example, a paper mill with an annual output of 1 million tons is more cost-effective than building 10 paper mills with an annual output of 100,000 tons each.
In addition, the raw material processing link of other paper mills is also divided according to the type of raw materials. The processed raw materials are different, wood, grass plants, bast fiber class, and most of the processing of these materials are similar, but there are still differences.
1 million tons of paper, about 17 million trees are needed. The northwest of Fujian is the area with the most forest land in Fujian, and the economy here is mainly based on economic forests. There's no shortage of trees, they can be replanted after being cut down! The ecological environment in the northwest of Fujian is very strong, cutting down trees doesn't matter much.
It's not just about cutting down trees, but also transporting them over here.
A 100,000-ton paper mill is too much, a 10,000-ton one should be just fine.
A small, ordinary paper mill with an annual output of 10,000 tons requires 'leading' equipment, one of which needs 30,000 points. The raw materials used are coniferous wood, broad-leaved wood, bamboo, and two kinds of grass plants: rice straw and reed. These processing equipment add up to a total of 10,000 points for this paper mill.
In addition to the paper mill having its own sewage treatment plant, this paper mill requires an investment of 15,000 points. The wastewater generated by the paper mill is substantial, and if discharged into the river, it is estimated that a large number of fish and shrimp will die.
Trees can be replanted after being cut down, but once a water source is polluted, it's a big problem.
This paper mill uses roughly 1940s papermaking technology, with costs about 30% lower than the best paper mills in Europe and America, which is enough to lead for a while. After Xia Jun finished considering, he spent 15,000 points of cumulative score to choose to build this paper mill.
The factory site was chosen in a flat paddy field near Long Village, and the paper mill is expected to occupy 30 mu of land. Xia Jun spent money to buy the paddy field.
The next day, a large convoy of vehicles drove into Xixiang one after another.
There are various construction machinery in this fleet, and many things are installed, which look like paper mill equipment. Exchanging these equipment for 15,000 points, and hiring personnel to build the factory will cost another 5,000 points.
20,000 points just flew away like this.
Construction machinery directly rolled into the rice field and started setting up a factory.
These construction machines are very advanced, and the construction speed is unparalleled. In just three days, one-third of the project was completed, and Xia Jun also began to arrange the operation work after the completion of the paper mill.
After the paper mill was built, it must have raw materials. In terms of raw materials, Xia Jun planned to use reeds, straw and Mao bamboo. Reeds are more abundant, and the vitality of these reeds is extremely strong. Except for cows and the largest breed of sheep, other livestock basically do not eat such coarse food, and they grow everywhere. To eradicate them requires a lot of effort to dig up the roots of the reeds, which makes farmers very annoyed.
100,000 tons of paper sounds like a lot, but in reality it's pitifully small; such a paper mill can only process about 30,000 mu of straw, and just in Xixiang there are already 150,000 mu of paddy fields, not to mention the reeds that are everywhere.
Straw and reeds alone are sufficient for papermaking, and wood is not needed at all.
However, raw materials need to be collected, which requires small equipment such as lawn mowers, and also tractors for transportation. With tractors, there must also be roads.
For this, Xia Jun exchanged 20 small excavators in the system, each costing 500 points, spending a total of 10,000 points. Tractors are agricultural machinery and are very cheap to exchange, with each tractor only requiring 20 points. Xia Jun exchanged 100 tractors in one breath, spending only 2,000 points.
Lawn mowers are very cheap, only 5 points per unit, Xia Jun exchanged 200 lawn mowers.
Xia Jun immediately set up an "excavator driving training class" and a "tractor driving training class" in Longcun Village. Excavator drivers need some culture, so those with lower cultural levels were sent by Xia Jun to learn excavator driving. Tractors do not require any technical skills, so Xia Jun recruited two young people from each natural village to learn tractor driving.
The paper mill was completed in just ten days, with a steel structure building and brand new equipment inside. Xia Jun immediately put the prepared workers into production at the paper mill.
This paper mill is semi-automatic, the production technology is not very complicated, but some positions require workers to have a certain level of culture. For this reason, Xia Jun transferred 15 cultured intellectuals to work in the factory.
Xia Jun had no suitable personnel for the factory, so he had to force it. The important positions of factory director and cashier were all appointed by Xia Jun at will.
He demanded only one thing of the factory director and accountant: not to embezzle. Xia Jun did just that, and at the February meeting of the autonomous council, he announced the establishment of an inspection department.
The inspection department will conduct property registration for all personnel working in the autonomous council and security team, including not only personal but also family members' properties. At the same time, family members' work and income must be registered. Once serving in the security team, family members' employment is restricted, first of all, they cannot engage in business, if a family member wants to do business, they must resign.
In this way, those people have a certain amount of income at the bottom. When anti-corruption is carried out, just check if their family property matches the registration. If it doesn't match, it's corruption and bribery, then take them out and shoot them.
As long as there is no corruption in the factory, everything will be easy to handle. In terms of production technology, Xia Jun took out a "Production Link Description Book" and threw it to the factory director for study.
On the other hand, Xia Jun organized personnel, took a lawn mower to harvest reeds, and then transported them back to the paper mill with a tractor.
The paper mill began to try production, due to unfamiliar technology, so the quality of the paper produced in the first few times was very poor. However, the factory director quickly found the reason from the "Production Link Description Book" and solved the problems one by one, and the quality of the paper produced became higher and higher.
The paper mill soon produced paper of various specifications, which was extremely white and smooth to the touch. Given the current environment of the paper mill, it is impossible to export tons of rolls of paper, so it is natural to make them into finished products for sale. Selling cut paper of different sizes seems more appropriate.
Xia Jun calculated the cost and found that the cost of the paper mill was not only 30% lower than that of the best paper mills in Western countries, but also had a demographic dividend due to China's labor force. In terms of raw materials, because it was made from reeds, and with the help of grass cutters and tractors, the efficiency was also very high.
The purpose of setting up a paper mill is mainly to lay the foundation for packaging factories. Xia Jun wants to develop industry, and the first thing to be developed is the basic industry.
Basic industries such as energy, building materials, steel and so on are all indispensable. Xia Jun plans to set up a cigarette factory this year, which naturally requires paper, and the raw materials for papermaking in northern Fujian are not lacking, so the paper mill was put into operation first.
The production capacity of the paper mill is actually calculated based on daily production. If produced in three shifts, the capacity can be expanded to three times the original - 30,000 tons.
The paper mill does not worry about sales, because the quality of the paper produced is good, and the cost has an advantage. Compared to the paper made by foreigners, it also saves on transportation costs, so it must have a market. However, at first, we still need to go find those businessmen to promote it.
The paper mill soon set up a sales department and went to the county town to promote the products of the paper mill.
Those merchants were apparently surprised by the paper produced by the paper mill, and in just a few days, a Huizhou merchant came to Long Village to place an order. The price offered by the paper mill was about 10% lower than the wholesale price of paper on the market.
At this price, the paper mill can earn 20 silver dollars for every ton of paper produced, with a very high profit.
If the paper mill operates at full capacity, it can produce 30,000 tons per year and make a profit of 600,000 silver dollars, which is enough to pay the salaries of 60 battalions (6 silver dollars per month), equivalent to about one division.
This investment is cost-effective.
Of course, the energy supply of paper mills and sewage treatment plants is a problem. The small hydropower station built by itself is not enough. After businessmen rushed to Longcun to place orders, Xia Jun rebuilt two hydropower stations, namely Liming Hydropower Station with an installed capacity of 640 kW and Longteng Hydropower Station with an installed capacity of 800 kW.
The completion of these two hydroelectric power stations will not result in a shortage of energy in the short term.
Xixiang is located in a mountainous area, with a large drop in water flow, and there are 14 locations that can be developed into hydropower stations, with a total installed capacity of 4,500 kilowatts, so energy issues do not need to be worried about for the time being.
The businessman who ran to Longcun Village to place an order came to the paper mill, took a look around and immediately started negotiating with the factory director. This guy actually wanted to reach a long-term agreement with the paper mill, where all the paper sold by the paper mill would be exclusively represented by him for sale.
The factory director couldn't make a decision, so he reported it to Xia Jun.
The merchant was named Liu Jinshan, a small Huishang merchant who had been traveling between Fujian and Jiangsu for a long time. From these materials, it can be seen that his capital is not strong.
"Do you have enough money to afford our security team's goods?" Xia Jun asked him very suspiciously.
"Don't worry, Captain. I alone can't finish it, I can find someone to share with." Liu Jinshan replied, as a traveling merchant from Huizhou, he was quite intimidated by the young captain of this security team, because the strength of this team could be seen from their appearance, which was absolutely not weak.
Moreover, this security team did not develop by burning, killing, looting and plundering, but rather by fighting bandits. It's able to set up such a paper mill, which is indeed not to be underestimated.
"All right, if you can accept it, then you will be the exclusive sales agent of our Xixiang Paper Mill. However, our paper mill does not sell on credit, and payment must be made upon delivery." Xia Jun said to him, after all, this price was very satisfactory to him.
"This is natural, this is natural." Liu Jinshan nodded repeatedly.
"If you can eat it, our security team will also dispatch a squad to escort you, so as not to be robbed by bandits." Xia Jun attaches great importance to this Huizhou merchant, after all, this is an inter-provincial businessman, and the security team is currently relatively isolated from the outside world.
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Thanks to ★, 尐铯锒, and 虚空下的银月 for their rewards! Lately, Xiaocai's condition hasn't been very good, with many trivial matters. Fortunately, there are stored drafts! Currently adjusting state!
