2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 230 An Unignorable History

"Then I'll leave this to you, Engineer Lü. Please feel free to contact me if anything comes up."

"No problem, Mr. Tan, don't worry."

"I'll send someone to manage your logistics later, so you can focus on research and development. Just make do for the next few days."

Lu Ruifeng nodded. That was the right thing to do. The company belonged to President Tan, and even if the R&D team was from his side, he should still listen to President Tan's opinions.

Ever since his conversation with President Tan that day, Lü Ruifeng understood that this young man had great ambitions. He had just invested in the lithium battery project and was already thinking about controlling upstream resources.

Ambitious people who start businesses are not content with mediocrity; they either fail or rise to great heights, there is no middle ground.

Working for a boss like this is actually quite exciting. If it succeeds, everyone gets rich; if it doesn't, you can find another job. For Lü Ruifeng, working for a boss like this only has advantages and no disadvantages.

Firstly, his personnel relationship is still with the research institute. Secondly, Tan Jincheng has given him extremely high compensation, so he has absolutely no worries. Therefore, the better the company develops, the more beneficial it is for him.

After Tan Jincheng demonstrated his strength by directly purchasing office buildings and showing his ambition, it can be said that Lü Ruifeng's expectations for the future development of Hangxin Energy are no less than Tan Jincheng's.

The better the company performs, the higher his status and income will rise.

Without Tan Jincheng's instructions, Lü Ruifeng would take the initiative to handle things that he could manage. For example, when Tan Jincheng mentioned wanting to buy a small apartment near Zhongguan Village for convenience when he came to the capital, Lü Ruifeng offered to help him with that.

Housing purchase policies aren't as difficult as changing one's household registration; for some people, it's really not a big deal.

However, the most important thing right now is not these trivial matters, but to help Mr. Tan collect information on domestic and foreign lithium resources and lithium mining companies, and compile it into a book for Mr. Tan to use when the time comes.

When talking about lithium resources, one must mention its background.

In fact, lithium mining in my country began in the early 1950s, more than half a century ago. Initially, the lime method was used to produce lithium hydroxide. By the 1960s and 1970s, a reasonable industrial process had been established.

During this period, the industry was mainly dominated by the state. After the reform and opening up, the lithium salt market began to shift towards civilian use, and the management model of enterprises also began to be adjusted by the market. In order to adapt to the changes, technological transformation and upgrading were inevitable.

By the mid-90s, my country had built 13 lithium salt plants, with a designed production capacity of 1.8 tons of lithium carbonate per year, ranking third in the world. Significant progress had also been made in the process of extracting lithium from spodumene, and lithium salts were even being exported.

During this stage of development, lithium salts were mainly based on lepidolite, and lithium extraction technology from salt lakes was not given much attention. As a result, more than 90% of the ore supply for lithium salt plants in my country was controlled by companies from Australia, which hampered the rapid development of enterprises.

In 1997, the market price of lithium carbonate, which is made from spodumene, was between $4100 and $4300 per ton. However, when Minsal Company offered a price of $1950 to $2200 per ton FOB for lithium carbonate, the market landscape changed dramatically.

The global lithium mining industry suffered a huge blow, with a large number of lithium mining companies going bankrupt, including our company. By the beginning of 2000, only three of the original 13 lithium salt production companies remained.

From the late 90s to the early 2000s, it was a dark period for lithium mines and lithium salt plants worldwide. Lithium salt plants struggled to survive and underwent a brutal reshuffling.

This major reshuffle is precisely due to the progress in lithium extraction technology from salt lakes, which was previously overlooked, and the expansion of salt lake production.

The market still exists, but the market share has begun to be redistributed, and we have lost our third-largest share in the world.

Learning from the past is essential for the future. Although the major reshuffle happened five or six years ago and we have recovered from it, the costs and the market share we ceded will not change. However, it is still very necessary to learn from these lessons.

Lü Ruifeng felt that compiling the historical development of these lithium mines into materials and handing them over to Tan Jincheng would provide him with some inspiration, given Tan's emphasis on technical talent.

We must never underestimate technology; a single oversight can come at a heavy price.

In Lü Ruifeng's view, Tan Jincheng embodies all the essential qualities of an excellent businessman, whether it is his vision, his overall perspective, or his decisiveness in making decisions, but his knowledge reserves are somewhat weak.

However, there's nothing that can be done about it. His age is what it is, and even if he goes to university, it won't change much. This can only be accumulated slowly over time.

It's quite rare to find someone as outstanding as him among young people.
-
Friday, September 2st.

After spending four days in the capital, Tan Jincheng hurriedly returned to Ningbo.

The affairs in the capital have been temporarily handed over to Lü Ruifeng, but Tan Jincheng hasn't decided yet who to send to assist in management. This person has to be someone he trusts, and Zhang Xuhui is the best candidate in theory.

As his personal assistant, Zhang Xuhui understands his intentions and knows the company's development trend, and he can be trusted. However, it is still somewhat doubtful whether he can handle this position and deal with these old hands in the system.

Don't assume that technical professionals don't understand social rules, especially those within the system, whose average age is over 40. If you underestimate them in this regard, you'll only end up hurting yourself.

Even Tan Jincheng himself, aside from using money to pave the way, couldn't think of any good way to deal with these seasoned veterans who had both technical skills and work experience. Whether Zhang Xuhui could handle the job was a real question, and as for Sun Yuming, if Zhang Xuhui couldn't do it, then he was even less capable.

Moreover, Sun Yuming's position is quite important; he is a crucial link in my control of the supply chain, and I cannot easily replace him.

On the other hand, if Zhang Xuhui leaves, I will have to find a new assistant, which is also a troublesome matter.

However, this experience made Tan Jincheng realize that he could no longer hire just one assistant. He needed to train more people so that he could send someone he trusted to supervise the company after opening a branch or investing in it.

We're now working on an enterprise management system, and this makeshift team needs to be formalized as soon as possible, otherwise we won't be able to keep up with the pace of the company's development.

"I've gotten off the plane, but leaders from my hometown county are here, so I won't be going to your place today."

After turning on his phone, Tan Jincheng first sent a message to Gu Qingqing, informing her of his schedule.

"Okay, why are you back so early? Didn't you say you were going to stay in the capital for a while?" Gu Qingqing replied quickly.

“The county leaders are coming over because of some urgent business. My dad is also coming. Do you want to see them this weekend? If so, I'll pick you up tomorrow.”

"Oh? Your dad's here too? Then I guess I won't go to Beicang this weekend? I'm a little scared."

"Why don't we meet? I've already met your parents, and you've met my uncle. My dad rarely comes here, and if we don't meet, my mom will probably kill him when he gets home. As for being scared, don't worry, I'm here for you."

"Let me think about it, and I'll give you an answer tonight."

"Okay, I'll head back now. The driver's here."

With a driver, Tan Jincheng no longer had to park his car at the airport and pay expensive parking fees every time he went on a business trip. Zhang Xuhui bought the plane ticket and knew the arrival time at the airport, so he arranged for a driver to pick up Tan Jincheng well in advance.

On the other hand, Gu Qingqing was a little uneasy. Her brother was right. He had already met his family elders, and she had also met his uncle. This time, her brother's father was coming over on the weekend, and it would be bad if they didn't meet.

However, she was really not prepared for meeting the man's parents. Gu Qingqing, who is usually very opinionated, was a little lost at this moment.

"Never mind, let's ask Mom and Dad first and hear their opinions."

Meanwhile, after picking up Tan Jincheng, the driver headed straight to Beicang, where county leaders were waiting for him in the new factory office in the export processing zone.

To be honest, this feels a bit unsettling.

In the past, a leader like this would never have given Tan Jincheng a second glance, but now he was waiting in his office. Even though Tan Jincheng was calm enough, he still felt like he was in a dream when he received the call yesterday.

This is a bit different from what I expected. I originally thought it would be a leader at the next level of the leaf spring factory or the leader of his competent department who would contact me. I didn't expect that such a person would come.

It seems the county leaders are not quite what I imagined; their pragmatic style is somewhat reminiscent of Zhejiang Province.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Shenzhou later located its Anhui factory in Wangjiang? I just don't know if it was the current leader who brought them there. Wenshi Enterprise is too old, so it shouldn't be him.

As a large, labor-intensive enterprise like Foxconn and Shenzhou in the global textile industry, they are always received with high-level hospitality no matter which province they visit. For a poor county to allow them to establish a factory in the county, they must have put in a lot of effort in their investment promotion work.

It is worth noting that since its commissioning, the Shenzhou Wangjiang factory has become the largest textile enterprise in Anhui Province, and the demand for labor and tax revenue have brought Wangjiang many benefits.

After a hurried journey of more than an hour, Tan Jincheng arrived at the new factory area.

"I'm so sorry for neglecting you all and keeping you waiting." As soon as he entered the room, Tan Jincheng put his hands together in apology.

There were six people in the office. Apart from Zhang Xuhui and his father, Tan Jincheng only recognized Xu Xueming among the other four. However, judging from their posture and positions, Tan Jincheng could quickly tell who the main character was today.

The middle-aged man, dressed in a standard jacket and with a tall, upright posture, was seated in the center of the sofa by several people. He must be the second boss of this trip.

Judging from his age, he should be about the same age as his father.

Sure enough, the man stood up and said, "Comrade Xiao Tan is back. We've been waiting for you for so long. You are indeed a handsome man."

(End of this chapter)