Twenty years of cold chain

Under the streetlights, the golden streets were deserted, with only a few wonton stall owners chatting loudly without a care in the world. They huddled together in the cold wind, talking about everything under the sun, from family matters to everyday life, saying whatever came to mind. Although they didn't know if they could sell another bowl tonight, they would stay up until four in the morning.

Foreigners say that Chinese people are particularly hardworking.

They only think about making and saving money, and don't know how to pass the time. In reality, they are afraid of living in poverty. People all over the world greet each other by saying "hello," but only Chinese people ask "Have you eaten?" Why? Because in the past, being full was a particularly important issue.

and so,

From a cold chain perspective, we are different from those in North America and Western Europe. Farmers there are business owners; their goal in reducing waste isn't to feed more people, but to maximize product profits. Technology is often used to serve high-end and sophisticated products, thereby generating greater profit margins.

In North American bakeries, food that cannot be sold within six hours is thrown into the trash. "You can hold a food exhibition by rummaging through the trash cans" is not just a joke.

In the past, it was said that facing the gap head-on was a form of progress. But as the cold chain industry has come to this point, realizing that we are fundamentally different, and avoiding blindly following or mindlessly worshipping others, is actually more important.

This is the pattern, this is how it works, and this is also the technology.

The deep night made the sound of the ocarina seem even more ethereal.

At the Qingyan City Convention and Exhibition Center, Hu Shutong, carrying two servings of wontons, quickly found Li Zhou by following the sound of the flute.

Li Zhou sat cross-legged in front of a large window, a safety helmet beside him, from the moment the construction began.

He then personally came to oversee the scene.

The site's infrastructure is now complete; the next step is for the equipment to be installed.

However, Li Zhou's face was full of melancholy, revealing an unresolved sense of unease, which could be discerned from the sound of his flute.

The Qingning Cold Chain Exhibition, scheduled for mid-February, has garnered unprecedented attention from the industry. The reasons are not complicated: firstly, it is an exceptional industry exhibition, truly deserving the title of "Cold Chain Technology and Equipment Exhibition"; secondly, it boasts extremely high standards and scale, receiving strong support from various parties.

For Daye Group, let alone the Qingyan branch, even the headquarters had never participated in such a grand event. Li Zhou received technical support from the headquarters that could be described as unreserved, and Hu Shutong finally understood why he needed such a large venue.

However, Hu Shutong wasn't very interested in the technical support from Daye headquarters. Like Li Zhou, he placed his expectations on the latest technologies from the Qingyan branch.

These technologies and equipment involve multiple aspects.

However, during the research and development process, it was named by Li Zhou under the same project code name.

It's called "the other shore".

In Li Zhou's view,

Visualized cold storage simulation systems are a powerful asset to this industry. In this vast country, the collection of environmental information and a wide variety of controlled atmosphere systems are especially important. In other words, DAYE can see a virtual, fully modular cold storage model before the client's cold storage is even built, and adjust it from multiple dimensions.

This technology is extremely promising. Its spatial architecture, which is independent of blueprints, not only means more efficient cold storage construction but also boosts the confidence of cold storage owners.

The development of urban delivery services was arguably the most eye-opening technology for Hu Shutong. Currently, cold chain logistics parks' delivery to urban stores consistently suffers from high complaint rates. Strict urban traffic regulations mean that brand stores are often located in congested areas like commercial centers or remote locations like airports and high-speed rail stations.

Customized and optimized routes, along with multi-point delivery tracking, are Li Zhou's efficiency solutions. While this seemingly simple optimization method might be difficult for the average technologist to implement, Li Zhou has nearly a decade of research experience in vehicle technology. If this approach gains corporate approval, it will be a huge boon for third-party logistics providers in urban delivery.

Hu Shutong could sense that the closer the deadline approached, the greater the pressure on Li Zhou became. In fact, it wasn't just these two; as the event intensified, the thoughts of all the participating parties changed from the beginning. Initially, everyone thought that something was better than nothing, and having more exposure was better than nothing. But as things progressed, the impact became increasingly unpredictable, and the exhibition vaguely turned into a competition arena, offering an opportunity for instant fame.

Including Chunrong, although it stood proudly in the central hall and had previously released a lot of information about advanced North American technologies, its momentum has been diluted without anyone noticing. The Qingning Cold Chain Exhibition is moving towards becoming a more balanced industry marketplace. Under these circumstances, the astute Chunrong has already begun to take action.

"Old Hu, have you heard what's been going on lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"Some say this is an opportunity for foreign technology to dominate the market; others say the more aggressive the domestic response, the more we're just benefiting others; still others are more direct, saying this is like letting a wolf into the house. Every single thing seems aimed at attacking domestic technology companies, which is utter nonsense. Why has the narrative turned out this way? How did we end up becoming the target?"

Technically, Dr. Li is highly skilled, but he is also a very sensitive person, and in terms of composure, he is far inferior to Hu Shutong. As this process drags on, even he himself is unaware of where the time has gradually slipped away; not everything can be patiently deduced as it is in the laboratory.

Li Zhou became uneasy and hesitant, as if he had the kind of fastidiousness that comes with being a tech person, unable to let go of the various gazes around him. Li Zhou's mind was mostly on technical issues, and he never expected such a media storm to arise, forcing him to make a statement to headquarters, otherwise it seemed that things would get out of control, which was not his forte.

Hu Shutong understood the trickery involved. As Daye Pavilion's scale was established, some people were deliberately attacking Daye, and some were even studying Li Zhou.

The other shore is the destination. This wonderful longing, no matter what, Hu Shutong will go together with us and protect us!

……

I've loved cold chain logistics for twenty years.