Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 246 Brewery Fire

County Party Secretary Gan Simiao has arrived.

No leader wants to have no achievements during their term.

Attracting investment is an important indicator of political achievements.

In the town government's conference room, Wu Zhiyuan presided over a brief welcoming ceremony.

Shen Yuwei was very pragmatic. Shortly after the welcome meeting, she went to the brewery for an on-site inspection, accompanied by Gan Simiao and Wu Zhiyuan.

At the factory gate, factory leaders including Wang Defa and Zhou Jianming were already waiting.

All they wanted was for the county and town governments to continue investing in the brewery, this bottomless pit, so they could continue as factory leaders.

They don't care too much about whether the factory is doing well or whether the employees can get their wages; what they care about is whether they can continue to profit from the situation.

If the brewery is sold and the factory changes hands, they will most likely not continue to lead the factory, and their good days will be over.

In the early stages, while the county discipline inspection commission was conducting its investigation, the county audit bureau's asset verification team had already been stationed at the factory.

The audits, inventory checks, and interviews have not yet yielded any clear conclusions, but the tense atmosphere has made some people feel extremely uneasy.

"Welcome, Mr. Shen!" Wang Defa extended both hands.

Shen Yuwei politely shook hands with him.

Wu Zhiyuan introduced them from the side: "President Shen, this is Factory Director Wang Defa, this is Secretary Zhou Jianming, and this is Deputy Factory Director Zhang Junhua."

When introducing Zhang Junhua, Wu Zhiyuan added, "Director Zhang is a technical expert. Many of the transformation ideas I mentioned to you before came from his conception."

Shen Yuwei shook hands with Zhang Junhua: "Director Zhang, hello. Secretary Wu has mentioned you many times, saying that you are the core of the factory's technology and have a lot of ideas."

Zhang Junhua replied neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Mr. Shen, you flatter me. I'm just doing my duty. You're welcome to come and inspect our facilities."

Wu Zhiyuan and Shen Yuwei looked at Zhang Junhua with newfound respect, which made Wang Defa, Zhou Jianming, and the others feel quite resentful.

After exchanging pleasantries, Shen Yuwei suggested that they first visit the production area.

Guided by Zhang Junhua, the group entered the brewing workshop.

The huge saccharification pot, boiling pot, and fermentation tank stand silently, the paint on most of the equipment is already peeling.

Shen Yuwei walked slowly and looked very carefully, occasionally reaching out to touch the equipment casing and asking about some technical parameters.

Zhang Junhua gave a detailed introduction to the equipment's age, production capacity, energy consumption, and the main technical bottlenecks it currently faces.

His explanations were professional and objective, neither exaggerating the problems nor avoiding the shortcomings.

"This saccharification equipment was introduced in the late 1990s. It was quite advanced at the time, but its control precision and thermal energy utilization rate are now outdated."

We've calculated that if we replace the equipment with new, high-efficiency equipment, energy consumption can be reduced by about 25%, and the wine yield can also be increased.

Shen Yuwei nodded, then asked, "What kinds of products are you mainly producing now? What's the market feedback like?"

Zhang Junhua replied, "Mainly Qingshan brand regular beer and light beer."

A few years ago, we tried to develop stout and fruit-flavored beer, but due to equipment limitations and marketing issues, we were unable to achieve significant scale.

Market feedback has been lukewarm, and the company is mainly relying on a few long-term local customers and low-end catering channels to stay afloat.

In contrast, Wang Defa and Zhou Jianming could only offer a few perfunctory remarks, clearly lacking sufficient knowledge in their respective fields.

Next, we visited the water treatment workshop, raw material warehouse, and finished product warehouse.

In the water treatment workshop, Shen Yuwei specifically inquired about the water source.

Zhang Junhua explained that the brewery uses high-quality spring water sourced from deep in the mountains, with excellent water quality reports, which is one of the brewery's biggest advantages.

Shen Yuwei had someone collect a water sample to take back for testing.

There were some malt and hops piled up in the raw material warehouse, but not much.

The finished product warehouse is stockpiled with a lot of packaged Qingshan beer, some of which have production dates from several months ago.

"Inventory turnover is very slow," Shen Yuwei said calmly, looking at the pile of boxes.

"Yes, poor market sales have led to a serious backlog of inventory," Zhang Junhua admitted frankly.

Wang Defa couldn't help but interject: "The main problem is that the big brands are having too much of an impact; our small factory can't compete with Google and their distribution channels..."

Shen Yuwei glanced at him but didn't reply. She turned to Wu Zhiyuan and said, "Secretary Wu, let's go take a look at the factory area and the surrounding environment."

The group left the workshop and walked around the factory area.

The brewery does indeed occupy a large area. In addition to the production area, there are large open spaces, and some areas that were planned in the early stages but not yet built have been overgrown with weeds.

Outside the factory's perimeter wall lies the farmland of Xindian Town, with verdant mountains in the distance.

"Land resources are plentiful," Shen Yuwei commented. "There is enough space if new planning and construction are carried out."

Wu Zhiyuan nodded: "This is an important industrial land in the town."

If the cooperation is successful, we can provide maximum support regarding land. This is also an advantage of Aoyama Brewery.

Shen Yuwei pointed to a few newer buildings in a corner of the factory area and asked, "What's that?"

"Those are warehouses and packaging material storage areas that were expanded a few years ago," Wang Defa quickly replied.

"Let's go take a look," Shen Yuwei said, and walked over there.

Those were several rows of brick-and-mortar warehouses, which looked newer than the main workshop.

As the group approached, they discovered that the door to one of the large warehouses was open, and it was filled with boxes of beer bottles, bottle caps, cardboard boxes and other packaging materials, piled up almost to the roof.

Dingyue's purchasing manager walked into the warehouse, picked up a beer bottle and examined it carefully, then looked at the manufacturer information on the packaging box, his brow furrowing.

He walked over to Shen Yuwei and whispered a few words in her ear.

After listening, Shen Yuwei didn't speak, but simply asked Wang Defa, "Director Wang, are the procurement channels for these packaging materials fixed? How is the price and quality control?"

Wang Defa casually said, "The channels are all suppliers we've been cooperating with for many years, so the quality is definitely guaranteed, and the prices are all market prices."

"What's the market price?" Shen Yuwei pressed.

"It's the market price in this province..." Wang Defa stammered.

Shen Yuwei didn't ask any more questions and walked out of the warehouse.

But this little incident made Wu Zhiyuan realize that the procurement process at the brewery was rife with problems.

Putting aside the price, is the mountain of packaging materials really necessary?

After all, the brewery's production and sales figures speak for themselves.

After sitting down, Shen Yuwei didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to the point.

"Secretary Gan, Secretary Wu, Factory Director Wang, Secretary Zhou, and everyone else."

After reviewing it today, it basically matches what I knew before.

The Qingshan Brewery has its historical contributions, existing factory buildings, land, and a group of skilled workers—these are its assets.

However, outdated equipment and technology, weak product competitiveness, heavy historical burdens, and some internal management problems are also objective realities.

"Our Dingyue Group is indeed looking for a suitable production base to expand into the health beverage and specialty food sectors."

Merging with or restructuring existing companies is one of the paths we are considering.

However, the prerequisites are that the enterprise must have value for transformation, the cooperation must achieve a win-win situation, and the process must be standardized and transparent.

Her gaze swept over Wang Defa and Zhou Jianming: "I've read the county's audit report, and some issues need to be thoroughly clarified."

If cooperation is to proceed, it must be based on clear property rights, clear debts, and proper resettlement of personnel.

For historical issues, those that need to be separated should be separated, and those that need to be dealt with should be dealt with.

Dingyue can bear reasonable restructuring costs, but it will not indefinitely bail out unclear accounts and historical burdens.

Wu Zhiyuan replied, "President Shen, please rest assured. The county party committee and government, as well as the town party committee and government, are determined to promote the reform of the brewery."

Problems discovered during the audit should be rectified where necessary, and those responsible should be held accountable.

Regarding personnel resettlement, we will act in accordance with laws and regulations to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees and ensure a smooth transition…

Wu Zhiyuan spoke eloquently and said a lot. Shen Yuwei nodded from time to time and smiled, saying, "With Secretary Wu's words, I feel much more at ease."

Based on today's visit, my initial thought is that if cooperation is reached, it can be done in two steps.

The first step is to upgrade and transform the existing beer production line, retain some of the marketable Qingshan beer products, and at the same time, use our technology and channels to develop new craft beers or specialty beers suitable for young people.

The second, and more important, step is to utilize the high-quality agricultural products of Xindian Town and even Qingshan County, such as high-mountain tea, mushrooms, grains, and spring water, to build new production lines.

Develop healthy beverages such as tea drinks, grain drinks, and functional plant protein drinks.

This aligns with the trend of consumption upgrading and can truly transform local resource advantages into industrial advantages.

She looked at Zhang Junhua: "Director Zhang is a technical expert, don't you think?"

Zhang Junhua nodded and said, "President Shen's thinking is very forward-looking."

Our local spring water is of very good quality, and our crops are green and pollution-free, so there is great potential for developing healthy beverages.

If this can be achieved, it will not only revitalize the brewery but also stimulate upstream agricultural planting, forming an industrial chain.

Wang Defa and Zhou Jianming's expressions grew increasingly grim.

It's clear that once the brewery is sold to Dingyue Group, Zhang Junhua will likely be the only factory leader left to remain.

Wang Defa interjected, "President Shen, this plan is good, but the investment is huge and the risks are also great."

Wang Defa certainly didn't want the brewery to be sold or restructured.

Shen Yuwei smiled slightly: "Director Wang, commercial investment naturally carries risks, but those risks can be assessed and managed."

The key question is whether it's worth taking the risk.

What I value here is the potential of its resources, and also the group of capable and trustworthy cadres who are willing to work hard.

As Shen Yuwei spoke, her gaze naturally fell on Wu Zhiyuan.

The subsequent negotiations mainly focused on cooperation framework, asset valuation, debt settlement, and personnel resettlement principles.

During the negotiations, a series of urgent and terrified shouts suddenly came from the back of the factory area.

"Fire! The warehouse is on fire!"

Immediately afterwards, a pungent, burnt smell drifted in on the wind.

In the distance, a thick plume of smoke rose into the air, quickly thickening and turning black, with faint orange-red flames beginning to flicker.

Judging from the direction of the fire, it appears that the fire started in the raw material warehouse and the adjacent packaging material warehouse.