I See through Everything

Chapter 242: Chapter 135: Admonishment and the Red Line

After inspecting the smart greenhouse base in Xihai Village, Red Grass Town,

Jiang Miao continued without pause to the strawberry farm in the neighboring Nanfen Village.

He looked over the strawberry farm, then went to the strawberry processing factory next to it.

"Boss, the factory’s equipment has been calibrated and is ready for production at any time." The factory manager was Xie Guangxia, the former deputy manager of the Magong Town port cannery. He was a thirty-six-year-old native of Huangqiang Town in Hai Feng County, wore glasses, and sported an old-fashioned, slicked-back hairstyle.

"Have you done any trial runs?"

"We’ve done three."

Since Jiang Miao himself had planned the strawberry processing factory’s workflow, Xie Guangxia didn’t bother explaining the functions of the equipment in detail.

The strawberry processing factory’s production line was very simple, divided into three main parts.

One part consisted of flash pasteurization equipment, similar to what’s used for fresh milk. A high temperature for a little over ten seconds would instantly destroy a large portion of the strawberry flavor components in the Vanilla Strawberries, effectively removing the strawberry taste.

Another part was standard freeze-drying equipment, used to remove the strawberries’ moisture while preserving the vanilla flavor components within.

The other equipment was quite ordinary: ultrasonic cleaners, color sorters, pulverizers, and packaging machines.

Among this production line, the most expensive piece of equipment was the color sorter, which alone cost 800,000. All the other equipment combined only cost 2.06 million.

In reality, this production line’s capacity was excessive. Even running eight hours a day, twenty days a month, it could process 8,000 tons of fresh strawberries a year.

Meanwhile, the 1,000-acre strawberry greenhouse at the neighboring farm had an annual fresh strawberry yield of only about 3,000 to 4,000 tons.

After processing, this many Vanilla Strawberries could produce roughly 400 to 500 tons of vanilla powder.

After assessing the situation, Jiang Miao pointed out a few minor issues for them to correct. Finally, he brought up a more important matter. "Although we don’t have any Vanilla Strawberries yet, you need to be proactive. Don’t just sit around waiting to follow the company’s plan. For example, this production line is perfectly capable of producing all sorts of freeze-dried fruits. Don’t let that capacity go to waste."

Hearing this, Xie Guangxia looked a little embarrassed. "You’re right, Boss. We’ve been too rigid."

"When the factory’s overall efficiency improves, so does your performance bonus. You need to think more in the future," Jiang Miao advised.

Although these managers had average abilities, human beings were creatures of infinite potential. Mediocrity wasn’t an innate trait; it could be changed through learning and experience.

In Jiang Miao’s view, if a company’s executives were fond of engaging in office politics, that company was likely headed for decline.

That was why he preferred down-to-earth executives.

Executives who enjoyed office politics were often the "all talk, no action" academic types. They could spout theories left and right, but when it came to getting things done, their performance was mediocre, if not a complete disaster.

It was precisely because their practical business skills were lacking that they resorted to office politics to undermine or oust their competitors and any colleagues they saw as a threat.

Xie Guangxia’s management skills were indeed average, but this type of factory didn’t require an exceptionally high level of management. Ensuring product quality and meeting production quotas was the extent of what his management could achieve.

As for increasing the factory’s efficiency through management techniques alone, that was likely just wishful thinking.

Jiang Miao did not like that style of doing things.

Management techniques could only push a factory’s efficiency to the physical limits of its equipment. You couldn’t just manage your way to a production capacity of tens of thousands of tons, could you? That wasn’t realistic.

Instead, thinking more about production and products was what could improve overall efficiency.

For instance, using the strawberry factory’s idle capacity to produce other freeze-dried fruits was one way to increase profitability.

The Lingnan Region had a huge output of fruits and vegetables. Things like bananas, purple sweet potatoes, lychees, okra, radishes, longans, guavas, pineapples, and jackfruit could all be made into freeze-dried products.

After giving Xie Guangxia a few pointers, Jiang Miao didn’t linger on the topic and instead headed towards Meilong Town.

Upon entering Meilong Town, the scenery was different from that of Magong Town and Red Grass Town.

Magong Town was a coastal fishing port.

Red Grass Town was forty percent mountains, twenty percent water, and forty percent fields.

Meilong Town, on the other hand, was ten percent mountains, thirty percent water, and sixty percent fields.

Looking out the car window, he saw endless stretches of flat paddy fields and fish ponds. This town was also the largest plain in Hai Feng County.

In fact, Meilong Town, Ketang Town, and the county seat of Hai Feng County formed a single alluvial plain, a river delta created by the Huang Jianghe, the mother river of the Shanmei Region.

In contrast, Magong Town and Red Grass Town, due to their topography, were mostly mountainous and hilly, except for the floodplain on the side near Cheung Sha Wan.

The convoy didn’t head to the main urban area of Meilong Town, but rather to Xin Cun Village, near Cheung Sha Wan.

Eighty percent of the village area was fish ponds. Most of these ponds were aquaculture farms created by building dikes, where there used to be only tidal flats and shallow sea.

Before long, the convoy stopped on Meichang Road, on the south side of Xin Cun Village in Meilong.

A construction site was active by the roadside.

Seeing him arrive, Li Xinhua and Fang Yi, who had been working out of an office here for the past few days, hurried out to greet him.

"Boss."

"Xinhua, Ah Yi, what’s the status?"

Li Xinhua rubbed his hands together. "Construction on the factory can be finished in May. But with equipment installation and calibration, it will probably be August before it’s all done."

"Same for Feed Mill No. 3," Fang Yi answered crisply.

"Then let’s go in and take a look!"

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