Material Empire

Qin Hai's words sounded like he had Lu Dashuang in the army, and it also seemed like a kind of difficulty, but in fact there was an element of temptation. Qin Hai wanted to know whether a company like Tongxin Steel Factory had the ability to improve the quality of steel products. This was related to where he should start in the future.

Hearing Qin Hai's words, Lu Dashuang gave a rare sigh and said, Brother, I don't know what you said. If you can make steel better, who wouldn't be willing to do so? Good steel is better than good steel. A ton of steel can be sold for two or three hundred yuan more, and the cost is basically the same. However, this kind of thing is easy to say, but who can do it?

With all due respect, Boss Lu, the problem with your steel is actually that there are too many impurities. In the scrap steel you received, there is no distinction between carbon steel and alloy steel, and they were all thrown into the electric furnace for smelting. Steel contains manganese, aluminum and other components, which leads to insufficient toughness. If you find a knowledgeable person and distinguish the scrap steel, it is very easy to increase the fracture toughness by half. Qin Hai said.

Lu Dashuang was very surprised: Brother, you are really knowledgeable. I have a master here from Xingchuan No. 1 Steel Factory. He also said this, but he didn't explain it clearly. What, what are you doing? This works?

Xin Jinlong smiled triumphantly: My brother is specially invited by me to appraise steel materials. We are engaged in real estate. If we don't know a little about materials, we will be tricked by you profiteers.

Boss Xin was joking, what kind of profiteers are we? Lu Dashuang accompanied him with a smile, not annoyed because Xin Jinlong called him a profiteer.

Qin Hai followed Xin Jinlong's words and said: Boss Lu, let's be honest, we want to get some cheap goods, but the quality should not be too outrageous. The country requires that the house built can be used for 70 years. We discount it in half, and we must guarantee it for 35 years. Right? With your steel, it might not matter if you build a one-story house, but if you build a six-story building, it will probably collapse, don’t you think?”

What Qin Hai said was brazen, but in Lu Dashuang's ears, it was a heart-to-heart confession. He frowned, and muttered in embarrassment: But... tsk... Where can I find someone who knows how to do it in a short while?

There are so many factories in your village, and none of them have hired skilled technicians? Qin Hai used the aggressive method.

Lu Dashuang clicked his tongue again, then stomped his feet and said:

Let's be honest, in the past, there were factories here that went to the provincial capital to invite experts to give advice, and it cost thousands of dollars to ask each time. At that time, there were few people engaged in steel products, and buyers had high quality requirements for steel products. , If you don’t invite an expert, you really can’t play. Later, there are more steel products, and there are all kinds of buyers. Many people don’t care about the quality at all, and they buy whoever is cheap.

There are a few factories that want to make good steel, but you are making steel in Xingchuan, no matter how good you are, people will not believe it, it just depends on the price, so your efforts are wasted. Once you come and go, everyone doesn't care about the quality or not, and they just fight the price. Anyway... I'm not afraid of your displeasure when I say it, I really want to buy good steel, who would come here?

Boss Lu...you told the truth. Qin Hai smiled wryly and was speechless.

If a market loses supervision, the final result will naturally be that it is inferior to each other until it completely collapses. Just like online shopping in the later generations, merchants are still doing it with care at the beginning, but as more and more merchants sell low-quality goods, no one will believe that good merchants are among them. For consumers, because they cannot identify the quality of the product, they can only choose the cheap one. When businesses cannot use quality as a means of competition, they can only win by lowering costs. The final result is that the prices in the entire market are getting lower and lower, and the quality of products is getting worse.

This situation is actually very common. In 1970, an economist named Akerlof in the United States conducted research on the second-hand car market and pointed out that in the case of asymmetric information between buyers and sellers, low-quality products High-quality products will inevitably be eliminated, eventually leading to the proliferation of inferior products. He dubbed this phenomenon the lemon market phenomenon and published a seminal paper for which he was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics.

Qin Hai had never heard of Akerlov and his lemon market theory, but years of experience in shopping malls told him that what Lu Dashuang said was indeed true. Xingchuan is famous for producing strip steel. People who come here to buy steel are naturally greedy for cheap. If you produce good steel here, people will not believe it. You might as well follow the trend and compare yourself with others.

To reverse this trend, there must be the intervention of the quality supervision department, so that companies that produce low-quality steel products will be punished, and companies that produce high-quality steel products will be recognized. However, since small iron and steel companies are included in the scope of national elimination, it is impossible for the government to come forward to regulate their operations, but to beat them to death indiscriminately.

If it is really possible to ban all small steel mills, that's all right. The small steel mills that produce high-quality steel are also small steel mills, and it would not be a pity to be banned. But the problem is that due to local protectionism, and because small steel is related to the people's livelihood and employment in a region, the governance of small steel has become a mere theory.

It is impossible to shut down all the small steel mills, and because the small steel mills are not legal, they are unwilling to carry out quality supervision. It is no wonder that the market is not rotten.

Brother Zong, do you think we can use Boss Lu's steel? Xin Jinlong looked at Qin Hai and asked. In order to deceive others, Qin Hai temporarily used his mother Zong Huiying's surname, so Xin Jinlong called him Brother Zong in front of people.

Boss Xin, I'm afraid it may be risky to use such steel. Qin Hai replied.

Xin Jinlong turned to Lu Dashuang and said, I'm sorry, brother Lu, we really dare not use your steel. I don't know if other factories in your village have better steel. We want to go to other factories to see. Don't you have an opinion?

Now that people have mentioned this level, what else can Lu Dashuang have to say? Xin Jinlong is the big boss, and Lu Dashuang thought to himself that he would not be able to wrestle with the other party. Such things as buying and selling by force can only be aimed at weak buyers. Who dares to deal with a buyer who is ten times or even a hundred times bigger than himself? play this kind of game?

Actually, if you pay more attention to the quality of steel, I'm afraid that there is no one in Dongdaogou Village that can meet your requirements. I'm afraid you will have to make a trip for nothing. Lu Dashuang said.

Qin Hai chuckled and said, Let's see the situation first. Boss Lu, if you really want to take this order, I'll introduce you to a steel-making technician some other day to help you improve the process and double the quality. It’s not a problem either. And a good process is more energy-efficient than your current process, your power consumption will definitely drop a lot, and the cost may be even lower.”

What brother Zong said is true? Lu Da's eyes lit up, no doubt he was moved by Qin Hai's proposal.

Qin Haidao: Let's discuss this matter later. Boss Lu has remembered that there are more and more small iron and steel companies now, and we have to pick and choose. Rebar like yours that breaks when you hit it, Unless it is a desperate buyer, who else would dare to take it?

Brother Zong is right. I have to discuss this matter with other bosses. Lu Dashuang felt enlightened. If it wasn't for Xin Jinlong's presence, he would have dragged Qin Hai to become a brother. .

With the mentality that business is not human, Lu Dashuang accompanied Xin Jinlong, Qin Hai and his party to visit other small steel factories in the village. The layout of each steel factory is similar to that of Tongxin Steel Factory, and the quality of the strip steel produced is also unbearable. Qin Hai told the same rhetoric to Lu Dashuang to the bosses of other steel mills, and the reactions of the bosses were mixed. Some took it seriously, expressing that they wanted to ponder over the issue of improving technology, while others cast displeased glances at Qin Hai, obviously disliking Qin Hai for meddling in other people's business.

The purpose of Qin Hai's trip is not only to grasp the current situation of floor steel production, but also to understand the psychology of floor steel producers. Human nature is inherently good or inherently evil, which determines different coping methods. For profiteers who have blackened their conscience, no matter how severe the punishment is, it is impossible to try to influence them. But if the other party just follows the trend and still has the desire to get rich through honest management, then give them some opportunities, and they will be able to abandon evil and do good, which is much better than blindly suppressing them.

A great man once said: Who are our friends and who are our enemies? This question is the primary question of the revolution. The reason why many officials do not do well is that they are isolated from the people and cannot distinguish between friends and enemies among the people. Since Qin Hai has taken on this important task, he naturally has to go deep into the front line to contact his opponents and find a way to turn enemies into friends. The chief personally ordered Qin Hai to handle this matter, and it was because of his pragmatism.

In a calm atmosphere, Qin Hai visited various small steel factories in Dongdaogou Village. At noon, he even had a drink with several small bosses in the village, and had a pleasant chat about steelmaking and The experience of doing business. Qin Hai claimed that he was a technician who graduated from an engineering college. He worked in a state-owned steel factory in his early years and participated in a project to import steel equipment from abroad. Speaking of the experience of fighting wits and bravery with Osso Metallurgical Technology Company in Madrid, Lu Dashuang and other farmers and entrepreneurs were mesmerized, and the admiration data bars above their heads were immediately full.

Boss Xin, brother Zong, don't worry, I'll find a way to find someone to help improve the process, and try to refine the rebar that meets your requirements. Come back in a month or so. When the time comes, inspect the goods first and then negotiate the price. how?

After the inspection, Lu Dashuang sent Xin Jinlong and his party out of the village, and promised them with a vow.

Qin Hai smiled and said: It's good that Boss Lu has this determination. Don't worry, I will definitely come again in a month or so. Boss Lu will keep his word.