Abandoned mask factory

From March 12th to March 29th, in just seventeen days, under the background of the global outbreak of the epidemic, I experienced the whole process of a mask factory from its birth to its death. From the initial anxiety and nervousness, worrying about not doing well, and studying factory management knowledge all night, to finally sitting in the office and spending a whole day watching dramas, feeling disheartened, it only took 17 days.

I didn't expect that I would make masks. It's not so much that my father asked me to help. It's better to say that my father's friend, Boss Zhang, asked him to partner with him. It's not so much that Boss Zhang wants to make masks. It's like a gust of wind. I don't know it. Get everyone into it.

I was reluctant at first. It was already early March when I planned to set up a mask factory. At that time, the epidemic situation in China was gradually brought under control, and work and production resumed all over the country. The world's epidemic has just begun to break out. If you want to talk about making masks, those who really seize the opportunity will probably start preparations during the Spring Festival. Now that a month or two has passed, don't you think it's too late? My first reaction was that it was unreliable. But according to my father, President Zhang of the Chamber of Commerce can produce mask machines by himself, has tens of millions of mask orders in hand, can rely on the qualifications of friends, use his own empty factory buildings, and Sinopec provides raw material melt blown cloth. With these advantages, it can be put into production very quickly. The price of disposable protective masks was around 2.3 yuan/piece at that time. If we sell it at 1.8 yuan/piece, each mask can earn 1 yuan. If 500,000 masks are produced every day, the daily profit will be 500,000. And the orders are continuous, and customers who do not have tens of millions of demands are embarrassed to open their mouths. This mask machine is really more exaggerated than a money printing machine. As for investment, it is enough for five shareholders to invest hundreds of thousands each. Rich resources, low investment, high returns, even if it is a gamble, you have to try it. I couldn't help being convinced, too.

Just do it, and the next day I was appointed as the administrative head of the office, which was actually just me and one other person. Dad and other bosses are shareholders, mainly to solve problems such as raw materials, construction, equipment, etc., and the two of us are responsible for managing the interior of the factory. I immediately started to make recruitment posters and recruit people for interviews. I am afraid that dozens of production lines will come up at that time without a single worker. At the beginning, everyone’s fighting spirit is very high, thinking that this matter will definitely make a lot of money, so naturally they are very willing to recruit workers. The usual monthly salary of ordinary workers is 3000- About 5,000, and we have a guarantee of 6,000 as soon as we come up. While recruiting, I was also very anxious, because I had no practical experience in company management, and I still didn’t understand a lot of accounting knowledge. I had no concept of purchase, sales and storage, let alone production management. There will be hundreds of employees, so how should I manage them? I need to learn not only finance, but also factory management and personnel management.

While studying, recruiting people and waiting for the completion of the decoration, everything seemed to be going according to plan. Finally, when the workshop was decorated, the non-woven fabrics were in place, the machines were installed properly, and the test machine began! I felt very excited, as if all the stress and anxiety felt worthwhile and motivated the moment I saw the machine running.

However, many problems came one after another: the machine was adjusted again and again, but it was not adjusted properly. After asking, it turned out that the machine was not made by Boss Zhang’s factory itself, but bought from someone else. Boss Zhang just wanted to buy it back to study how to make it. , but when he bought it, he only bought the machine for slicing the first half of the mask, and did not buy the machine for the second half of the ironing tape. The reason was that he felt that the efficiency of ironing the tape was low. Boss Zhang wanted to transform the machine into a punching machine, and then bought silica gel. The straps are used as ear straps, which can be worn by yourself when in use, so that the production efficiency can be greatly improved. But punching the hole requires debugging the mold again and again. Finally, the mold was opened successfully, but the hole of the mask was not pierced, so it was rebuilt again, and a week of back and forth passed like this. During this period, we found that the problem was far more than these: the supply of the most important material, the meltblown cloth, was cut off. Now the sky-high price of 300,000 yuan per ton; the originally agreed order was canceled due to the delay in production; the qualification of the friend factory was not willing to let us be affiliated, fearing that the product would be implicated if it did not comply.. So we went back The starting point has no advantages: the operation of equipment is unsuccessful, there is no qualification, no raw materials, no orders, no business license, and what is more anxious is that production has not yet started. The price of masks has dropped rapidly as the market supply has greatly increased.. From 1.8 to 1.5, and then to 1.3. The epidemic in foreign countries is getting worse, but without CE certification, we cannot export masks even if we produce them.

The masks have not been produced, but there is an endless stream of people who come to see the mask machine, because Boss Zhang claims that this is a mask machine made by himself, our factory is used as a mask machine showroom, and Boss Zhang receives batch after batch of visitors The customers who ordered the mask machine, and we in the factory can only stare at the mask punching machine that is always being debugged and worry. Later, Uncle Zheng, the production supervisor, couldn't stand it anymore. He bought some materials, installed a manual punching machine, and called workers to manually punch holes in the original sliced masks one by one. Regardless of the quality of this punch, we're just getting sales for the first time. One day I received an order for 10,000 masks, and it took five workers 12 hours of overnight work to complete the production. The 500,000-a-day output that I initially envisioned was as absurd as the Great Leap Forward in my opinion.

When I saw the samples of the mask, I felt very irregular. Compared with ordinary masks with ironed straps, our masks can only be used by manually putting the silicone strap in. Even with melt-blown cloth and disinfection, look It still has a shoddy, informal feel to it. In the previous form, customers accepted this kind of perforated masks, but now it is different. No one is willing to accept this kind of masks that seem to be legal. So things took a turn for the worse and we became very passive. Moreover, the original plan to recruit 20 workers could only be based on the reason that the factory could recruit enough people, leaving only five. At this time, I also began to become discouraged. When I went to the factory every day, I only saw the master debugging the machine again and again, as if there was no end in sight.

After a week like this, Dad felt that this situation could not continue, so he immediately asked someone to order two ironing machines, and after a few days of debugging, it began to be considered normal production. It is a pity that the trend of disposable protective masks has passed at this time, and no one cares about them. KN95 masks have begun to be looted by people, and there are countless orders, just like the previous disposable protective masks. And Boss Zhang had already received the news a week ago to find someone to partner with and increase the investment of 10 million in preparations for other factories. The mask factory here is abandoned like an outdated star. In the end, everyone decided to withdraw the investment, and Boss Zhang also took over the entire factory, because he still had to reserve the machinery and equipment for people to see.

The business license has finally come down today, and the mask factory has also collapsed. Tomorrow, my father will go to cancel the business license... I saw in the circle of friends that friends from all walks of life are involved in the mask industry - selling raw materials, selling machines, Those who sell qualifications, export masks, buy and sell masks. "The excitement is theirs, and I have nothing", which can be regarded as a lesson in speculation.