Jin Yuanyuan's Top-Tier Life

Chapter 86 Let's Make Money Together

"Before I came here, I had already been to Zhuji and visited many sock factories. For example, there was one like yours, managed by the second generation. But did you know that they upgraded 100 digital integrated sock knitting machines last year? The surprise brought by these 100 digital integrated sock knitting machines and intelligent management system was orders from international brands 'Little Red Man' and Anhuama." Liu Xiangyue was very frank. "Their boss told me that the output value used to be very low, with the ex-factory price of a pair of socks being only 1 yuan or 8 mao. Now the ex-factory price of socks is basically four, five, or six yuan."

"Oh." Jin Yuanyuan suddenly felt a little ashamed. She realized that since she hurriedly took over Jin Yaya, she hadn't even gone to Zhuji to see the situation there, the "world's hosiery manufacturing center." She had just buried herself in her work and searched for information online. If she really wanted to build a business, she had to see how others did it; learning is also a skill.

"Take the seam at the toe as an example. In traditional sock knitting, the seam at the toe is generally divided into machine sewing and hand sewing. Hand sewing is also known as seamless sewing or seamless sewing. Machine-sewn socks have a noticeable horizontal stripe at the seam, and there are thread ends left at both ends. Hand-sewn socks, on the other hand, have no protrusions at the seam and do not rub against the foot. Before integrated sock machines, traditional hand sewing required people to align each stitch on the machine, which was very inefficient. Generally, a person can complete 4000 to 5000 pairs of socks per day with traditional machine sewing, while a person can only complete a maximum of 700 pairs per day with hand sewing. Just one thread at the seam provides comfort to the wearer and means that it can be sold at a premium of 2 to 3 yuan in the wholesale market. After upgrading to a sock machine, the cost of hand sewing has been reduced by at least half..."

Jin Yuanyuan was stunned again, never expecting Liu Xiangyue to know so much. "You, you, you are truly a hidden master."

"I genuinely want to do something, because I..." Liu Xiangyue seemed quite anxious, so Jin Yuanyuan grabbed her hand and asked casually, "Does your family really want you to go back to mining?"

"...No, they want my brother and me to separate from the family, give me ten million, and tell me not to care about anything at the mine anymore."

"What?!" Jin Yuanyuan exclaimed excitedly, breaking out in a sweat. "So many!"

"How much? My brother has two hundred million." Liu Xiangyue frowned. "They're biased."

"..." Jin Yuanyuan desperately wanted to find a chair to sit down and calm down. It was truly terrifying. It turned out that Liu Xiangyue was the most hidden, wealthy, and idle person in the "Colorful World" WeChat group. She wanted to send a WeChat message to Zhao Zhuoran to ask how he had added Liu Xiangyue to the group, but Liu Xiangyue started talking on her own: "I was added to the group by my younger brother. I think my brother and Zhao Zhuoran know each other. I saw everyone in the group was very lively, and I thought I should do something too. Otherwise, just living off bank interest and investment products isn't very interesting."

"Yes, yes, yes." Jin Yuanyuan smiled broadly.

Liu Xiangyue sat down in Jin Yuanyuan's large office, looked at the sock-making workshop outside the large glass window, and sighed again. "Yuanyuan, let's arrange to go to Zhuji together as soon as possible. You really need to go and learn from them. There's a sock factory there, I saw it. On that intelligent system, the efficiency of the sock-making machines is quantified and displayed on a large screen, it's very clear at a glance. There's even a digital sock-making workshop where each sock-making machine is numbered and equipped with 22 infrared sensors. As soon as a thread on any sock-making machine comes loose or breaks, the workshop data display screen will show that the sock-making machine is in a 'fault' state, and the operator will deal with it immediately, so that defective socks won't be produced and wasted like before."

"Oh, oh, oh." That was all Jin Yuanyuan could say.

"And also, I saw that the people at Jin Yaya's restaurant are all retired employees from the sock factory, right? You want them to retire there, right? And then you hire some new workers? Actually, that's not the right idea. You know, the cost of workers is very high these days, it's not worth it." Liu Xiangyue really came prepared, and Jin Yuanyuan was completely unaware.

Is she currently assessing Jin Yaya? If so, what is she going to do?

"For labor-intensive enterprises like sock manufacturers, the most direct change brought about by digitalization is a significant reduction in labor costs and increased per capita production efficiency. The traditional sock-knitting process includes raw material intake, knitting, sewing, turning, shaping, and packaging. The new integrated machine combines these three processes: knitting, sewing, and turning, allowing socks to be directly shaped and packaged after knitting. This not only greatly shortens the overall knitting time but also reduces the company's workforce by approximately 45%. Before the digital workshop transformation, a single operator could manage a maximum of 12 ordinary sock machines; now, they can manage at least 20 integrated sock machines. A workshop with 100 sock machines only..." Five workers are needed, each responsible for 20 sock machines, producing 21000 pairs of socks per day. In the workshop where hundreds of machines are humming away, only a handful of workers can be seen. Yas's company finance department calculated that this change alone could save 1 million yuan in salary expenses annually. Based on current production capacity, what used to require 100 workers now only needs 60. Liu Xiangyue even found a news report on her phone and read it to Jin Yuanyuan, then earnestly added, "Therefore, buying new equipment doesn't necessarily mean hiring more people; on the contrary, it can simplify personnel and reduce management complexity."

"That's what I think, but the problem remains the same: we don't have the money to buy new equipment."

"I'll give it to you," Liu Xiangyue said readily. "I'll sponsor you five million."

"Huh?" Jin Yuanyuan felt like her jaw joint was broken all day, and she hadn't been able to close her mouth at all.

"Yuanyuan, this might seem a bit sudden to you, but I've really thought about it for a long time. And I'm going on this adventure with you. I'm sponsoring you with five million, but after a year, I want one million in interest... Of course, that's on the condition that I make ten million for you with that five million. Of course, I'll work hard with you... How should I put it? I also want to prove whether I'm really capable of doing something well. I want to show my parents that I'm not just a useless person who can only draw; I have vision and ability to do more."

"Do you still want to go back to mining?" Jin Yuanyuan asked cautiously.

"No," Liu Xiangyue sighed. "Even if it's just my obsession, I just want to prove myself and see if I'm really capable. Jin Yuanyuan, I believe in you. Anyway, I don't have much to do right now, so we can really work together. Let's agree on a one-year contract. If we make money, great; if not, I won't blame you at all. I can write it down, or you can consult a lawyer. I just want to make money! Let's make money together!"

(End of this chapter)