After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 280 Chief HR
As the year draws to a close, the weather is getting colder and colder.

Zhou Haoran drove a white Xiali sedan to the Changxing Second Printing Factory.

This place received 122 employees from the state-owned printing plant.

I came to check on the situation.

"Huh?" Li Changxing, who was also present, was taken aback. "Your car?"

"This car is good; it's understated."

Zhou Haoran didn't care about any of this.

The main problem is that the car provided by the station has a very low configuration. It doesn't have electronic power steering, which makes the steering wheel very heavy and unsuitable for female drivers.

Coincidentally, Yangyang needed a luxury car to connect with suppliers and traders.

We gave her that silver-gray Mercedes-Benz W14 to drive.

Zhou Haoran usually drives a Xiali car, which allows him to come and go freely at work. This is a legitimate reward from the company for being the top salesperson. Unlike before, he no longer needs to park his car outside and walk to work.

Li Changxing laughed and said, "The great man's level of attainment does not need to be adorned with brand names and luxury cars."

"How are the new guys doing?"

Zhou Haoran was not concerned with the employees who came from state-owned enterprises, but rather with the management ability of Han Hang, the factory director of the second factory.

The workers are all pretty much the same.

Whether a performance is good or bad depends on the leader's management skills.

Li Changxing said, "They are mostly binding workers. I think they are alright. Director Han is eloquent and quick-witted. I think everyone trusts him."

“Then we’ll focus on developing him.” Zhou Haoran understood immediately and said with a smile, “Old Li, it’s a waste of your talent to run a printing factory business.”

The two of them took a walk around the factory.

I'm very satisfied.

Han Hang is the warehouse management supervisor that Yang Jie poached. He's very good at being the factory manager and can rattle off all sorts of data off the top of his head.

Currently, the second factory can ship 1 to 1.2 books per day.

The output is 2-3 times that of the No. 1 factory.

The most important thing is cost control.

If we exclude debt interest, the average cost per book is 25% less than that of the First Film Studio.

For example, the arrangement of personnel structure.

We adopted a mentorship model.

The implementation of an eight-level skilled worker system, where experienced masters mentor apprentices to offset production quotas, has reduced the wastage rate in the offset printing workshop from 7% to 4.2%. The apprenticeship period will also be significantly shortened, expected to be reduced from three years to eighteen months, resulting in a projected 23% decrease in labor costs.

Another aspect is establishing a fixed-point partnership with lead sheet factories.

The printing plant has a lead plate workshop.

In the past, used lead plates were simply thrown into a scrap yard and sold as waste.

At the same time, a large number of new lead plates need to be purchased.

After investigation, Director Han discovered that the discarded lead plates were all collected by the lead plate processing plant. They were then processed in a 120-degree lead melting pot in the remelting workshop and turned into new lead plates for resale.

Changxing Printing Factory is currently the largest private printing factory in the port area, and it uses a large amount of lead plates.

That's enough to support a small lead plate processing plant.

Then why adopt the method of selling scrap and purchasing new products?

Partner with established lead plate processing plants and have them handle the waste lead plates for recycling and reuse!

Han Hang continued, “Mr. Da, Mr. Li, I’ve been working with the designated lead plate processing plant for a month now, and we have more insights to share. I’ve calculated the costs, and if we can acquire or build our own lead plate melting furnace workshop, we can recoup our initial investment within 10-12 months. In the long run, we can further reduce printing costs.”

Zhou Haoran agreed, "Which path do you think is better?"

"I think we can continue working with our current partner factory for a few more months and observe the situation further," Han Hang tentatively suggested. "If everything goes well, I'll talk to them after the Spring Festival and complete the acquisition at a suitable price. If the price isn't right, we'll do it ourselves."

"can!"

Zhou Haoran waved his hand and immediately approved it.

Korean Air smiled and said, "Thank you for your support, sir."

"Director Han, you're not only the director of Factory No. 2, but also the deputy general manager of Changxing Publishing House. You also need to take charge of Factory No. 1!"

Zhou Haoran listened to his demonstration and secretly praised him.

Yangyang is indeed Yangyang!
The future Chief Human Resources Officer of a major internet company!
You have such a good eye for people!
This Factory Director Han is amazing, much better than Li Changxing!

Li Changxing shared this realization, saying, "Yes, yes, Xiao Han, if you have time, you should take charge of everything. I've also figured it out; you understand management better than I do. Young people, you're remarkable!"

Korean Air was anything but modest, nodding and saying, "The first factory can't compare to the second factory, and a major reason is the outdated equipment."

Li Changxing nodded and sighed, "Yes, that's a hard requirement."

Korean Air continued, "Next year, we may have a third, fourth, or even a fifth factory. Printing equipment will always be an unavoidable hurdle. If we rely entirely on imported high-end equipment, we don't have that much financial resources or foreign exchange."

"Hmm?" Zhou Haoran vaguely understood his meaning. "Director Han, what brilliant idea do you have?"

Han Hang laughed and said, "I don't have any great insights, but I've been collecting a lot of news and information about the printing industry lately, and I've actually discovered some clues."

"Oh?" Zhou Haoran was very interested, feeling that this 27-year-old was exactly the kind of talent he needed.

Han Hang said seriously, "I also saw it in the newspaper. It said that a state-owned printing plant in Jiangcheng was undergoing renovation and upgrading, but it was also limited by the high cost of the equipment. Later, their engineers came up with a way to effectively reduce costs in upgrading the offset printing machine."

"any solution?"

Heart transplant.

"How to say?"

Zhou Haoran smiled broadly, admiring the viewer more and more.

Han Hangdao said, "The core equipment of an offset printing machine is the cylinder assembly. The printing plant in Jiangcheng only spent more than $3 to purchase the core cylinder assembly of a German Deburg offset printing machine, and then grafted it onto the old equipment, and it can still operate perfectly. It is equivalent to spending $3 on modification to replace the import of the whole machine, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign exchange."

"Ah."

Zhou Haoran nodded.

This is indeed a core concept that has enabled China's manufacturing industry to grow from nothing to something and from weak to strong.

We replaced foreign equipment with domestically produced alternatives... Initially, we lacked the capability, so we started by replacing scraps, while using foreign core components. We traded market access for technology, simultaneously procuring, researching, and learning.

With the advancement and development of domestic technology, more and more substitutes are being made, gradually shifting from scrap materials to core components, and ultimately achieving complete localization.

It's like boiling a frog in warm water.

By the time foreigners realized what was happening, domestic substitution had already been completed, and the historical process of "teaching the apprentice only to starve the master" had begun.

Li Changxing said, "Lead printing is of higher quality, mainly for some fine books. The lead printing machines are enough at the No. 2 factory. Other printing plants mainly use offset printing and mimeographing to print a large number of general reading materials."

"If you have good technical experience, you should learn it."

Zhou Haoran wasn't very familiar with the various printing styles, but there must be many talented people who had explored cost-effective and efficient methods for upgrading the technology of the domestic printing industry.

Han Hang smiled and said, "If everything goes smoothly, I plan to lead a team to Jiangcheng in the second half of next year to learn from them. Grafting technology can reduce the cost of equipment upgrades by 90%. Even if it means sacrificing some printing quality and increasing the wear and tear on core components, it will be crucial for the early development of Zhongbo Bookstore."

Then, he mentioned several cost-saving measures that he planned to implement.

The printing press generates a lot of heat after it is started.

This can lead to a hot workshop and make it uncomfortable for workers.

A waste heat boiler can be installed to drive a 50kW steam turbine to generate electricity, which is sufficient to meet 30% of the electricity demand of the typesetting workshop.

This design is not an original creation of Korean Air.

He also saw it in the information; it was a design from a printing factory in Guangzhou.

It not only saves on electricity costs but also improves the workshop environment to some extent.

You have to learn this!

Li Changxing listened to him speak eloquently.

The mood is very complicated.

Why didn't you think of that?
For so many years, he ran a printing factory, keeping to himself and never thinking of collecting information from news, documents, and media reports to learn from the progressive strategies of his peers.

No wonder Mr. Zhou always says that the management of private enterprises in China is too extensive!

This shows a lack of learning spirit!
All the good methods have been published, but nobody is willing to learn them.

Running a business really requires a persistent spirit of learning.

……

Zhou Haoran was very satisfied with Korean Air.

I'm even more satisfied with Yangyang!
That evening, he invited his two apprentices, Hu Xiaochen and Qiao Nuo, to join him.

Then they called Yangyang out again.

Let's go eat hot pot together.

"Sister Yangyang, you need to do me a favor."

Zhou Haoran decided to appoint her as the chief HR.

Ji Yingyang naturally followed his instructions, lightly tossing her hair, "What is it?"

Zhou Haoran said, "Zhongbo Bookstore is developing very well now, but the sales of books are still too extensive. I need to recruit a vice president of sales to build a strong sales system that covers the whole country."

"Huh?" Ji Yingyang's office was right next to Zhongbo Bookstore, so she knew a lot about it. "Isn't Zhongbo Bookstore's sales structure pretty good right now? I even heard them talking about it today!"

Zhou Haoran asked, "What did you say?"

“It’s just a bandwagon effect of educational supplementary books. There are already more than a dozen sets in the Haigang book market.” Ji Yingyang shook his head slightly. “However, most of the educational supplementary books published by those booksellers can only be promoted locally in Haigang because they lack channels outside the area.”

Zhou Haoran smiled and said, "Therefore, to help our fellow booksellers in the harbor develop, Zhongbo Bookstore must first establish a strong sales network to help them promote their products nationwide."

"Really helping?"

Ji Yingyang looked completely bewildered.

Zhou Haoran nodded. "Really."

"Then you have to give me an explanation." Ji Yingyang was very individualistic, unlike Jiang Xiong and Li Changxing who were obedient to orders. "If you ask me to do something I don't understand, I won't do it well."

Zhou Haoran tried asking, "Sister Yangyang, I'm saying that 'self-operated + third-party' is the reasonable platform structure. Do you understand what I mean?"

(End of this chapter)