In 1983, a small island started from a large farmer

Li Duoyu said, "This car was temporarily lent to me by a boss."

Chen Dongqing couldn't help but roll his eyes at him. What came out of this guy's mouth really couldn't be trusted.

When Brother Ou saw the car, his eyes lit up, and when he got closer to the window, he felt the cool air inside the car.

"Your car has air conditioning."

"That's great, Brother Ou, you even knew about car air conditioning. I just found out about it today."

Ou Wusheng looked envious: "I saw an imported large truck when I was transporting goods before. I got on it once and then I knew there was such a thing."

"This car air conditioner is really good. It's not like my farm car. In such a hot summer, it can burn your butt and give you hemorrhoids."

Seeing that Brother Ou was very interested in the car, Li Duoyu said, "Would you like to come up and drive it for a while?"

Ou Wusheng was really tempted, but after thinking about it, he realized that this small car was very different from his farm vehicle.

Even if he is an experienced driver with many years of experience, he may not be able to drive: "Forget it, just take a look. I really can't drive this car. If it breaks down, I can't afford the compensation."

"Ok."

After parking the car, Li Duoyu followed Brother Ou to his bamboo mat factory. The entire configuration was rather simple, and it was obviously a small workshop.

The factory building is built with bamboo, just like the eel factory built by Li Duoyu two years ago.

Ou Ge's bamboo mat factory does not cover a large area, only about 300 square meters, but there are quite a few employees in the factory, more than 20 in total.

Li Duoyu took a quick glance and knew that what Brother Ou's bamboo mat factory produced was the kind of mahjong mat he had mentioned before.

There are very few mechanical equipment in the factory. The larger one looks like a second-hand hexagonal grinding and deburring machine.

Just put the cut bamboo strips and pebbles in together, and then add some water to it, and you can do a simple water grind.

There is also a drilling machine, which is used to make holes in bamboo strips, and a table saw for bamboo.

Apart from these, the rest of the steps are all done by the workers. Brother Ou introduced them: "These two masters are specialized in splitting bamboo, and this one is responsible for drilling holes."

Brother Ou pointed to a large table not far away and said, "In the end, they were the ones who strung these bamboo strips together."

In this era, most things are produced by hand, which is normal. Many of the fishing nets on their island are also hand-woven.

But Li Duoyu could clearly feel that the efficiency of his bamboo mat factory was very low. Looking at those slow workers, Li Duoyu couldn't help but ask: "How long does it take you to produce a mat?"

"About a week."

Upon hearing this, Li Duoyu's brows instantly furrowed together, that is to say, according to the production speed of this factory.

At most, we can make eighty mahjong mats in a month, but there are more than twenty workers, so we can't make any money at all.

To put it bluntly, Brother Ou is working for these workers. To be honest, the skill of making mahjong mats is definitely not as difficult as weaving fishing nets.

I don’t know if it’s because they haven’t been paid or for some other reason, but these workers are visibly perfunctory and don’t pay attention to some small details at all.

It was impossible for the quality of the mat produced this time to be good. Li Duoyu couldn't help but ask, "Are there any mats produced before? Let me take a look."

Brother Ou scratched his head and smiled, feeling a little embarrassed, but he still took out a mahjong mat that he had produced.

After spreading out the mahjong mat, Li Duoyu's face became serious. At first glance, it seemed that there was nothing wrong.

But if you look carefully, the details are really unbearable. Many of the holes in the small bamboo pieces are crooked, and the needlework for threading the bamboo pieces is very poor, and the hemming is even worse.

Some bamboo strips were even of inconsistent sizes. Li Duoyu didn't know whether others would buy them, but he definitely wouldn't like them.

Just from this mahjong bamboo mat, Li Duoyu can see a lot of things, because producing mahjong bamboo mats is not a one-person job, it requires the cooperation of a group of people.

The first ones are the people who saw and slice the bamboo. If they fail to control the size well at the beginning, it will affect every subsequent link.

However, drilling holes is a delicate job, and this work cannot be ambiguous. If the holes are not drilled well, the whole mahjong mat will inevitably be crooked when strung together.

Finally, the female workers used long needles and nylon thread to string the bamboo pieces together.

In fact, Brother Ou is missing one step here, which is carbonizing the bamboo strips and soaking them in mugwort water for coloring.

If any link fails, it will inevitably affect the final quality of the mahjong mat.

The batch of bamboo products that were shown to Norio Oda earlier were of such good quality that they were probably all made individually, so they could be controlled.

But if he were to enter assembly line production, the disadvantages of Brother Ou, who has no management experience, would become apparent.

To be honest, if the two did not have a good relationship, after seeing the quality of this mahjong mat, Li Duoyu might have canceled the foreign trade order for bamboo products and chose not to cooperate with Brother Ou.

After all, there are only a few experienced craftsmen in the village, but they are required to deliver the goods within half a year due to tens of thousands of orders.

Even if there were 72 hours in a day, these old masters would still not be able to produce enough.

If you want to achieve economic benefits now, mechanization and factory assembly lines are inevitable. Otherwise, it’s okay to make a little money, but don’t even think about foreign trade orders.

After a brief communication with Brother Ou, Li Duoyu learned that after Brother Ou opened the bamboo mat factory, he not only did not make any money, but lost a lot of money.

A previous order was returned by the supply and marketing cooperative due to poor quality, so we had to sell it at a low price in the town.

Brother Ou had to be a salesman and manage a factory at the same time, so he couldn't take care of both and a lot of unexpected things happened.

In short, he felt quite frustrated as a boss. He was forced to live the life of a boss and become a subordinate, and he had to beg the workers to work hard.

When Li Duoyu just started his visit, he discovered that the most skilled person in the factory was the piercing master, but he was smoking and doing his job carelessly.

When the boss, Brother Ou, brought guests here, he showed no respect at all and still acted condescending.

The female employees who were threading bamboo strips with long needles were also cursing while they were working.

"The hole is so crooked, how can I wear it?"

The drilling master retorted: "I'm already very accurate. I have to drill so many holes every day. How can every hole be so straight? If you are so good at talking, then you should be the ones to drill the holes."

Several female workers were not to be outdone.

So the two sides started arguing.

Seeing that they were arguing again, Ou Wusheng quickly took Li Duoyu and Chen Dongqing away from the factory.

"Duoyu, I'm so sorry for making a fool of myself. This is my first time running a factory and I don't have much experience. It's very chaotic."

"It's okay. This is normal."

In fact, many small business owners have come this way.

Things are difficult to do and people are difficult to manage.

When Li Duoyu was working illegally in a Japanese restaurant, he was particularly aware that many local chefs always thought they were very awesome and even ignored the bosses.

Later, the boss couldn't stand it anymore and fired the chef. Only then did he find out that these illegal workers were much better than the so-called chef, and business became even better.

then

Their store was reported and the police started chasing after these illegal workers.

"Ugh"

In a situation like the one at Ou Ge Bamboo Mat Factory, there is only one way to deal with it at the moment, and that is to cut the Gordian knot. It is better to lose money and replace the uncooperative person than to let him lead the pace in the factory, because the atmosphere is contagious.

When you see one person slacking off, it means there are more people slacking off, but you just don't see it.

In short

Being a boss and managing is not an easy thing. If someone like Brother Ou continues to do this without changing his situation, losing money is inevitable.

Li Duoyu drove and brought Brother Ou to their home, only to find that the old house where he and Xiaochao lived in the past has now become a series of small houses on the first floor.

The car just stopped.

A little girl in a dress with long hair immediately rushed out from the yard. She was quite cute.

He looked at the car in front of him with his big round eyes, his face full of curiosity, and saw Ou Wusheng getting out of the car.

The little face was full of smiles: "Dad, why did you come back so early today?"

When Ou Wusheng saw the little girl, he immediately picked her up and said, "Miaomiao, do you still remember Uncle Li?"

The little girl looked at the uncle in front of her with her big black eyes and grinned.

"I seem to have forgotten."

"Uncle Li from Dandan Island, how could you have forgotten? When you were a child, you lived on the island for a period of time. Your name was given to you by Uncle Li."

The little girl pouted her lips and her face was round. She looked very cute, making people want to pinch her.

"You and my mother have always told me that I lived on Dandan Island for a period of time when I was a child, but I really can't remember it."

Seeing this lovely little girl, Li Duoyu couldn't help but smile. He remembered that at that time, she was still drinking milk and needed someone to hold her when she went out. How could she remember these things?

In addition, she had been coughing during that period, and her mother Chen Huiying refused to let her have contact with Xiao Tutu.

During that period, Mrs. Ou hardly ever went to their house. She lived a secluded life and didn't want anyone to know that they came to the island to recuperate.

Later, Miaomiao's condition stabilized and her cough was not as severe. They simply said hello and went back to Dazhu Village.

After all, in this era, people are quite afraid of coughing, and many people died of tuberculosis.

Li Duoyu looked at the little girl in front of him. When he first saw her, she was about one year old and very weak. He didn't expect that she is now a head taller than Xiao Tutu.

It seems that the root of the disease should have been eradicated, otherwise if the cough had always been there, Miaomiao would not have grown so plump.

Ou Wusheng said with a hint of anger: "Have you any manners? Hurry up and say hello to Uncle Li and Uncle Chen."

The little girl said quickly:

"Hello, Uncle Li and Uncle Chen."

Li Duoyu smiled and replied: "Miaomiao, you are good too, do you want to come to our island to play when you have time?"

Ou Miaomiao jumped up excitedly: "Okay, I love the sea the most, I want to go to the beach to catch fish."

At this time, Mrs. Ou, who heard the voice, also came out. When she saw that it was Li Duoyu, she was also surprised.

He said to Ou Wusheng with disdain: "Hurry up and ask someone to go to the living room to make tea. What are you doing standing there in the sun like an idiot?"

"Yeah."

Mrs. Ou said, "You guys chat first. I'll go prepare dinner. There's lots of fish. You can eat here tonight."

Li Duoyu nodded, then handed the two bags of dried shrimps he brought to Mrs. Ou.

"Sister-in-law, these dried shrimps produced in our factory taste pretty good. You can try them."

Looking at the fist-sized dried shrimps in the packaging bag, Mrs. Ou was a little afraid to reach out to take them: "These dried shrimps must be very expensive, how can I accept them?"

"I still have a lot in my factory. If you feel embarrassed, you can exchange the dried bamboo shoots with me later."

"Well, I'll get you some of the best dried bamboo shoots in our village later."

If things had gone smoothly, Li Duoyu would have only needed to give the drawings to Brother Ou and let him start production, but now he sees the current situation at the bamboo mat factory.

Li Duoyu really had no confidence. If he handed such a foreign trade order to Brother Ou, he felt that the probability of failure was quite high.

Ou Wusheng put Miaomiao down and said, "Go and play by yourself first. I have something to discuss with Uncle Li."

After the three of them sat down in the hall.

Ou Wusheng sighed as he made tea.

"Last time I heard you talk about mahjong mats, I went to a bamboo mat factory in the next city to learn the technology. I thought it would be easy, but I didn't expect the factory to be so difficult to manage.

I have talked to them and scolded them before, but they have a bad temper and simply quit the job, which delayed the construction period and made me lose a lot of money. "

Li Duoyu asked: "Brother Ou, how much do you pay these workers?"

"The women who thread the bamboo mats are paid piecework, four yuan for each set of bamboo mats, while the ones who are responsible for sawing the bamboos are paid more than thirty yuan, and the one who drills the holes is paid more than forty yuan."

Li Duoyu felt that the wages were not high for Dazhu Village, but not low either: "But I feel like these workers in the factory are not very obedient."

Brother Ou said helplessly: "In fact, many of the people here are my relatives. My aunts and uncles are all here. It's useless to scold them. Instead, they often quarrel with each other."

After hearing this, Li Duoyu finally understood that Brother Ou had violated all the taboos that a small workshop must not violate.

For this kind of small factory where all the employees are relatives, there are generally only two extreme situations. If the leader is the most prestigious one in the family, then everyone will be of one mind and get twice the result with half the effort. For example, most of the clans in southern Fujian Province are family businesses.

Therefore, the competitiveness of their small workshops is extremely fierce.

But there is another situation.

People like Brother Ou, who do not have the highest status among relatives, not only have to listen to the elders, but also have to take care of their face.

It would be very bad if this happened. I guess the person who drilled the hole was also Brother Ou’s elder.

Li Duoyu also realized that Brother Ou’s character was not very tough. To put it bluntly, he was not strong enough and he thought too much.

I guess Brother Ou doesn’t understand now that if you want to make money, don’t think too much, because when you really make a lot of money, no matter what you do, others will think you are right.

Just like Li Duoyu now, even if he just points to a star in the sky and says, "That's Macabaka Star," there will probably be a lot of people who believe it.

Li Duoyu suddenly said seriously:

"Brother Ou, we are doing business, not charity. You can't do this."

Brother Ou nodded and humbly accepted Li Duoyu's criticism: "I also know that this won't work, but now, I don't seem to have any choice. They are holding me back. I have invested all my money. If I don't continue to do it, it will all go down the drain."

Li Duoyu naturally knew that this was the sunk cost that small bosses were most likely to encounter, but sometimes, some costs were meant to be sunk.

Referred to as paying tuition.

For many things, if you don't pay tuition, you won't be able to learn and grow. Li Duoyu's own tuition was the most expensive, and it took him his entire lifetime.

After taking a sip of tea, Li Duoyu said coldly, "But do you think that your factory can make money if it continues like this?"

Ou Wusheng was silent. He naturally knew the answer. In fact, he still didn't dare tell his wife that he had lost nearly ten thousand yuan in the past two months.

Ou Wusheng gritted his teeth and shook his head: "I definitely won't make any money."

Li Duoyu said seriously: "It's not that we can't make money, but we will lose more money. With the quality of summer mats like this, there is no need to keep this factory open. It's better to close it directly and lose less money."

After Li Duoyu said this.

Brother Ou was immediately poured with a bucket of cold water. He naturally understood very well: "Duoyu, besides closing the factory, is there really no other way?"

Li Duoyu affirmed: "No."

Brother Ou sighed, and his whole body was like a deflated ball.

Chen Dongqing standing by also frowned. Although he had never been in management, as long as Brother Ou’s bamboo mat factory strengthened its management, it would not have to be closed down yet.

Why does Duoyu speak so seriously? If it is closed, all the previous investment will be wasted.

But when it comes to management, Li Duoyu is much better than him, so Chen Dongqing didn't say anything. After all, this bastard always likes to speak half the truth.

really

Li Duoyu went on to say: "You can't be a boss like this. Some things should be cut right away. If you don't make a decision right away, you will suffer the consequences."

"Now this bamboo mat factory is closed, and then a brand new one will be opened."

After hearing this, Ou Wusheng's eyes lit up: "Duoyu, what do you mean?"