Twenty years of cold chain

Since the 1990s, sugar prices have been like a roller coaster. At the end of 1999, a cold wave hit the sugarcane in the south, and sugar prices soared by 50% in a week. After 2001, the sale of national sugar reserves and the increase in imports caused prices to fall by nearly 60% at one point.

This made it difficult for many state-owned sugar enterprises, which had just emerged from the planned economy, to adapt to market changes, resulting in serious losses and bankruptcies one after another. Zhenfang Sugar Factory in Qingyan City was one of them.

The location of Zhenfang Sugar Factory cannot be considered a pure suburb; it is very close to the Northwest Ring Road and surrounded by residential areas. How to use this land has been a subject of debate for a year. Its proximity to the city center makes it unsuitable for a pig farm due to sewage issues. Developing real estate in this area means that high-priced villas cannot be built, while affordable high-rise buildings cannot be too tall. Conversely, building only low-rise buildings would make the land too expensive.

Where should Tiansheng Cold Chain Industry establish its foothold? The old sugar factory was once an option for Chen Zhe, but after several rounds of deliberation, its advantages and disadvantages were very obvious. However, he never expected that Hu Shutong would also mention it after the hearing that day.

Once again, Chen Zhe appeared alone at the old sugar factory. He had been under immense pressure lately, and if he hadn't been handpicked by the higher-ups, he probably would have been swept away by the uproar long ago. Chen Zhe didn't choose to leave voluntarily. This circle wasn't large, and people from top universities were more easily magnified. He had to do something, achieve something, and ultimately put all the rumors to rest on his achievements.

But at this moment, his state of mind was as chaotic as the desolate scene before him. On the dry, withered leaves on the ground, a few old photos of the sugar factory could be vaguely seen, which only deepened his gloom.

The biggest problem with this location for cold chain logistics is its limited space. The site is only half the size of Tongxing Phase I, cramming the warehousing, processing, and trading areas into such a small space, making large-scale cold chain operations impossible. However, its excellent transportation access is both appealing and unattainable. A direct drive out the gate onto the ring road takes fifteen minutes to reach the highway entrance, while a five-minute drive inwards leads to the city's main thoroughfare and a twenty-minute drive to the city center. Its accessibility surpasses even Tongxing's.

Just as he was deep in thought, a pair of leather shoes suddenly caught his eye. As soon as he looked up, the other person spoke.

"So engrossed in your work, what are you thinking about, Mr. Chen?"

"How did you know I was here?" Upon seeing Hu Shutong again, Chen Zhe remained indifferent, cold, and showed no interest in conversation.

"I'm just passing through here on business. You must come here often, right?"

Hu Shutong wiped the leaves off the stone bench and sat down opposite Chen Zhe. "Now that we've met again, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

"Speak."

"Why would Tiansheng's people agree to a hearing? There are many other options available."

"Fight head-on with swords and spears; the winner ascends to the imperial court, the loser is exiled to the frontier. Isn't that how things should be done? Why all the 'whys'!"

These few lines made Hu Shutong smile. They were just like when he lost a game at an internet cafe back in the day, and when he came back, the mop was in the way and the basin was in the way. He sounded like he had been holding back his dissatisfaction for days.

"You're not talking about Tiansheng, are you?"

"Hu Shutong, you've come here to reheat my leftovers?"

"No, no, let's talk about something new. Old Chen, this piece of land isn't actually small. You want to have roads, national highways, and expressways all connected to it, and at the same time, you want hundreds or thousands of acres of land in the city center. There's no such thing as a free lunch. The best use for this land should be a cold chain food industrial park."

"That's right. Tiansheng acquired the land and then attracted investment, mainly targeting large food companies in the surrounding counties of Qingyan. They plan to have a dozen or twenty companies put into production here, making this a centralized production area. Its positioning should be a core cluster area for the food industry."

Chen Zhe's eyes lit up as he pondered. Hu Shutong's approach was something he hadn't considered before: warehousing, processing, and distribution. Before he knew it, he had fallen into this "cold chain trio." But Hu Shutong was talking about a different way of doing cold chain logistics.

"Old Chen, businesses in various counties are eager to expand, but for individual companies, acquiring land and building factories in the city faces significant risks. Their biggest concern is distribution channels. For example, dumpling factories, juice factories, and milk powder factories in the county won't act rashly if they can't establish sales channels. But Tiansheng has the ability to integrate and streamline processes; it can completely transform the cold chain into a comprehensive system at a higher level!"

"Has it reached full production capacity and is it effective?"

"That's exactly the idea. Tiansheng is building a cold chain network, where each resident company can be seen as a piece in the puzzle, and then the entire industrial park will be used to explore distribution channels. At that time, whether the business goes inland or outward, the food industrial park will be able to coordinate and operate in a unified manner, which will not only give full play to the accessibility of this place, but also save costs for each company."

Chen Zhe nodded secretly. This was a booming era for private food enterprises, and the demand was right in front of them. There were many competitors and few outstanding ones. In this era, those who rose to prominence would quickly gain a foothold and might even become well-known trademarks in the future.

Upon closer examination, Hu Shutong's words resonated with Tiansheng's upper management. In the cold chain industry, even the most successful companies could only operate on a model like Tongxing's. However, Tongxing wasn't actually operating at the high end of the industry; they knew exactly how to pull a vegetable from the ground, far inferior to the industry's leaders and integrators.

The true meaning of these words lies with cold chain operators.

Chen Zhe suddenly realized that if this "overriding" cold chain operation were made into a detailed report, it would be like having an army without soldiers, yet still being able to deploy troops, and in terms of overall strategy, it would be invincible.

As for attracting investors, Chen Zhe was not worried at all. Putting aside everything else, with families' lives getting better and better, the competition in the infant formula market in recent years has been fierce, to say the least. Any way to get ahead will definitely attract a huge number of people.

"Your suggestion is certainly insightful, but isn't it too abstract for the higher-ups?"

"How to get them to fill in the gaps is the part of the report that should be studied most carefully."

Chen Zhe smiled and said, "Go ahead and do your thing. I have a general idea."

Hu Shutong stood up and said no more. Leaves flew around his feet as he hurried away. Having resolved the matter that had been weighing on his mind for so long, his steps were quick and agile.

Watching Hu Shutong's retreating figure, and noticing him occasionally glancing at his watch, Chen Zhe sighed with emotion. This was still the same old Hu from back then, always racing against time and not allowing anyone to get ahead of him.

"Shutong, I've landed. Where are you?"

"I'll be there soon!"

"You liar!"

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.