Chapter 108 Developing new products

If it only requires tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy coal every year, then the business department in charge of Schneider is confident that it can earn back the money. After all, the coal required by the Cross Group is basically treated as a production cost rather than a living cost.

How much coal is used and consumed will definitely be calculated into the price of the goods sold, so there is no need to worry about making a loss-making transaction.

What the Executive Committee is worried about is not just the huge cost of buying coal, but also the reliability and stability of relying on others to supply coal. Now that the civil war in the mainland is tense, more than half of Yazhou's coal supply has been cut off. Even if it can now be supplied from Guangzhou

Or if you buy coal elsewhere, it may be suddenly interrupted due to force majeure from the outside world.

"You still have to buy a boat and have Hongji pull the coal yourself!" Tao Donglai once again confirmed his idea in his heart. He nodded to Schneider, indicating that Schneider could discuss buying the boat with him.

Schneider understood, cleared his throat and said: "Two shopkeepers, we recently wanted to buy a few larger sea-going ships, but we have been struggling with no way..."

The two shopkeepers Zhang and Li looked at each other, both a little surprised by what Schneider said. Shopkeeper Zhang asked: "Look, there are many large ships parked in the Victory Harbor. Why do you need to buy another ship?"

Schneider responded: "You two don't know. In fact, the lifespan of the ships docked in the harbor has expired. Now there is no way to go out to sea. Moreover, it is very expensive to build such large ships, and our local manpower and material resources cannot support it.

Build this kind of ship. And there is no decent shipyard in Yazhou, so we can only try to buy a ship."

Schneider's statement was quite reasonable, and the two shopkeepers did not have any doubts about it. Then shopkeeper Li asked: "I wonder how big a ship you want to buy, and what is the quantity?"

Schneider also knew that the current legal private commercial ships can only be built with a maximum weight of 400 tons. However, these 400-ton ships actually have a large gap in displacement and tonnage based on different hull structures, shipbuilding processes, and displacement, ranging from over 100 tons to nearly 100 tons.

There are all two-hundred-ton ships, and there is no very unified standard. But now that the Crossing Group is eager to use ships, Schneider can only try his best to go bigger and say: "It is best to have a four-hundred-ton sea-going ship. In terms of quantity, there can be one

A dozen or so ships are probably enough.”

"You can't buy a ship with 400 materials in Yazhou." Shopkeeper Li blocked all the words that Schneider said: "The largest ship in Yazhou does have 400 materials, but that's

It's a warship from Yazhou Water Village. Most of the sea-going ships cost about 200 yuan each, and they are about the same size as the two ships from Bixing and Anfuxing this time."

The two merchant ships coming from the two trading houses this time are both Guangdong ships. They are similar in size to the Guangdong ship that the Crossing Group captured pirates last time. Their displacement is less than 100 tons. Buying such ships is a big deal for the Executive Committee.

It can only be better than nothing, and at most it exists as an alternative.

Just when Tao Donglai and Schneider were disappointed, shopkeeper Zhang said: "There are no ships with four hundred materials in Yazhou, but there are in Danzhou and Qiongzhou in the north. I am not talented, so I am willing to do it for you.

Looking for sellers.”

Shopkeeper Li also rushed to not be outdone and said: "I am going to take a boat back to Guangzhou to handle the accounts this time. I can buy the 400 shipping materials you need in Guangzhou on your behalf."

Tao Donglai said happily: "I'm really grateful to you two! But buying a ship is one thing. You also need to hire a group of sailors on the ship..."

"Of course I'll do it for you too!" Shopkeeper Zhang was never willing to lose out in front of his competitors, so he responded immediately before Tao Donglai could finish his words.

"When the two hired boatmen and sailors on our behalf, they can explain that anyone who is willing to move their whole family to settle here with us will receive settlement allowance," Schneider added with a smile.

As for the standards for payment of resettlement allowance, Schneider did not go into details. Anyway, circulation vouchers are currently being implemented in the control areas of the Crossing Group. Even if the settlement allowance is to be paid, it is just a circulation voucher. For the executive committee, the cost of this resettlement allowance is

In fact, it is extremely low.

After finishing their performance, the shopkeepers showed their true nature as businessmen and expressed the hope that they could buy some products produced by Haihan this time, such as glass products and silver mirrors, which are currently in short supply on the market.

Even if they didn't mention it, Schneider would take the initiative to mention it. Only three or four days after the Cliff Office sent information about the shortage of glass products, the glass kiln built by the Executive Committee in a mountain depression on the west bank of Tiandu River was put into operation.

This place is actually right next to the farmland originally opened by the labor camp. Compared with the location of Victory Port, it is inland and relatively hidden. You have to take a boat from Victory Port to cross the Tiandu River estuary to reach it.

here.

We chose such a relatively closed location because the glass manufacturing process of this era, especially the manufacturing process of mirrors, was still a very advanced technology. Only Venetian craftsmen in the whole of Europe could create exquisite stained glass and mastered mirrors.

The manufacturing and inlaying technology is unrivaled in the world. It was not until the second half of the 17th century that King Louis XIV of France asked Finance Minister Colbert to send commercial spies and smuggled several craftsmen from Venice to Paris.

Spread around the world.

The Venetian's mirror-making technology is considered by the Executive Committee to be backward and inefficient, and cannot be compared with the craftsmanship mastered by the Travelers. Although it is currently limited by material and process conditions, it is temporarily impossible to produce mirrors according to modern technology.

, but the rise of Time Travel in this industry is only a matter of time. The Executive Committee does not want some commercial spies from certain forces to sneak into the glass workshop and steal the craftsmanship in the future. When the conditions are ripe,

The executive committee also plans to open a flat glass production workshop here. Once this thing becomes popular as a door and window decoration, the market will be astonishingly large, and compared with its low cost, the profits of this business will also be astonishingly high.

.

Of course, before it was put into operation, the investment in this glass workshop was also very large. According to the estimates of the relevant departments, a melting kiln, a calcining kiln, and an annealing kiln need to be built in the factory. If a certain production capacity is to be achieved, then these kilns have different functions.

Multiple construction is required. In addition, in order to use the "flat plate casting method" with relatively high production efficiency to manufacture flat glass, at least one driving system must be installed in the factory to lift and move the crucible containing molten glass. And this is

It will involve the span and clearance of the factory building, and the fire protection function must also be taken into consideration, which puts forward higher requirements for the design and construction of the factory building. As for the most important giant iron workbench for casting flat glass, the executive committee decided to put this trouble

Leave the matter to the metallurgical workshop.

With the current strength of Chuanchuan Group, it is not yet able to carry out such a "large" industrial project, so most of the plans are still on paper. The glass kilns currently in production can produce very limited glass products.

The technical level of the craftsmen is far from the level of craftsmanship of later generations of glass products, and the shapes of the cups and dishes they make are often not regular enough. Therefore, in order to overcome this dilemma, the relevant departments have specially developed some more alternative glass products for

The commercial department sells externally.

"Look, you two, this is our new glass paperweight." Schneider introduced it while secretly cursing the shamelessness of the product development department - this is clearly just a rectangular glass rod, with the corners simply polished.

It won't cut your hands, and it looks crystal clear, but that's just it.

Originally, he thought the idea was good after hearing about it, and even suggested that the production department engrave some poems on the raw materials to increase the added value of the product. However, the production department said that glass engraving must wait until the chemical department produces hydrofluoric acid.

However, the chemical industry department stated that it must first build a special reaction furnace, crude distillation tower and rectification tower. Without a special production line, it is impossible to mass-produce the hydrofluoric acid required for the glass kiln, and this is obviously not possible in the short term.

The project was completed, so Schneider's plan had no choice but to be shelved.

"Here is our newly developed glass-stem brush." ​​The glass-stem brush does not have much technical content. It is just a brush holder cast from a mold. Its shape and size are the same as those of common bamboo pen holders. The production department is obviously more interested in this product.

Be careful, because they actually produced eight different sizes of samples for this display.

"This is a glass inkstone..." Schneider's eyes twitched when he saw this sample - isn't this thing just a shallow, flat-bottomed ashtray? Do you really think that the shopkeepers are poorly educated and use this kind of thing to fool people?

Schneider, who has always been a good talker, felt a little guilty for the first time. Is it really okay to promote this kind of thing? Schneider secretly decided to wait for this matter to be over and talk to the people in the product development department. As long as the other party is willing to admit their mistakes, Schneider guarantees

I won't kill him.

"This thing is very good!" Schneider, who was distracted, heard the praise from shopkeeper Zhang. He turned around and saw that he was holding a glass-stem brush and exclaimed: "I have also seen a jade-carved pen barrel. It's flashy.

More than elegant but lacking in elegance, this glass pen holder is clear and dignified, which is just right for people who read!”

Shopkeeper Li also held the glass inkstone and praised: "In the past, the glass products purchased from Folangjiren were mostly ornaments for playing with. Even cups, dishes and dishes were rarely used and were mostly reduced to decoration.

They are just decorations. These items of yours are quite ingenious and use simplicity to overcome complexity. Very good! Very good!"

Tao Donglai was also stunned. He remained silent the whole time, just thinking about what kind of rhetoric he should make up to persuade the other party if he was not satisfied with these products. He never thought that the two shopkeepers would start talking about it as soon as they came up.

He snatched all the lines. Looking at it this way, it seems that his previous worries were a bit unnecessary.
Chapter completed!