England 1986

Chapter 187 New Thoughts Brought by Old Karl
Things like steel factories are too small, so they are not environmentally friendly.

It's not that Allen pays attention to environmental protection, but because the scale is too small, the government will shut it down in the name of not being environmentally friendly. If the head iron doesn't want to close it, it will pay a fine. If you pay a huge fine, you will go bankrupt within a few days.

However, large-scale iron and steel factories have invested too much, whether it is equipment or personnel, as well as the purchase of corresponding raw materials, they have to invest a lot of money.

Moreover, the products of the steel factory, ordinary primary processed products, are not marketable. If you want to make money, you can only take the special steel route, but whether it is R&D personnel or equipment, you have to invest a lot of money in it. For a mouse, open an Internet cafe. Allen is not interested in this kind of thing.

Seeing Alan's expression of indifference, Old Carl reminded: "Master, didn't you still think about the tinplate factory at home a while ago?"

"Is there any relationship between these two?"

After pouring a cup of tea with his own hands, Allen pushed it to Old Carl, then leaned back on the backrest and sighed.

The family has a lot of business now, no matter what, he has to worry about it.

At the very least, it is necessary to ensure that all factories must continue to operate.

Some of these factories he had heard of or been in contact with before, but some factories he didn't know at all.

He also doesn't have the ability to make any inventions and creations, these things are ready-made, even if he wants to make some changes, either it is out of date, or it is limited by the general environment or technical conditions, and it cannot be changed.

"Master, look, if you buy a few small iron and steel factories and transport the production lines to Australia, don't you have a layout there? Then Australia produces iron ore, and the price of raw materials is also low, and the tinplate factory is also moved there. Others can be produced."

"Ok?"

Allen frowned and motioned for Carl to continue.

"I have been in the United States for the past two years, and found that many of their food packages like to use metal packaging, such as biscuit boxes, candy boxes, etc. When you were on vacation in Australia at the beginning of the year, weren't you still worrying about these? I thought, can Can’t we transform the tinplate factory and produce these packages for the food factory?”

"?"

After listening to Old Carl's words, Allen suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

This thing is a bit of habitual thinking, and he has never paid attention to such trivial things.

The main reason is that he seldom has the opportunity to eat snacks by himself. The servants have packed them up and put them on plates or special small containers for him to eat.

After opening a certain gap with the lives of ordinary people, he has already ignored these small details.

Now that it was suddenly mentioned, it made him think a little bit divergently.

For a long time, the food manufacturing factory at home has been limited by the cost. Basically, all snacks are packaged in plastic bags or cartons. As for metal boxes?

Where can I use that.
In the old earl's mind, using an iron box is not a waste of things.

But Allen doesn't see it that way now. Packaging this kind of thing is a plus to the product!

Good packaging can at least double the price of the product directly.

For example, very common snacks, packed in plastic bags and iron boxes, even if it is the same thing, just change the packaging, the latter will definitely be able to sell at a higher price than the former.

Until now, Allen still remembers that when he was a child in his previous life, he liked to collect such food packaging iron boxes, and used these iron boxes to hold some pictures, aces, small toys and the like.

I am old with feelings, and later this kind of excessive packaging is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It is very common for various candies, chocolates, moon cakes and the like to be packaged in tin boxes.

And the tinplate factory can produce these processed products of thin iron sheets, and not only food packaging, Alan thought instantly that this thing could also be used as clothing packaging.

For example, the wool processing factory at home now sponsors the Manchester United team uniforms.

Produce a batch of white T-shirts, print some fancy patterns on them, pack an awkward brand, and use that kind of thin iron box as the packaging. Wouldn't the price go up all of a sudden?

These are trends!
Fashion is expensive.

In this way, several factories in the family can be regarded as new growth points, and they don't need to be half-dead as they are now.

"Haha, it still has to be you, old Carl, your suggestion is good. Is there enough funds in the account in the United States?"

Although he agreed with the old Carl's proposal, Allen didn't want to build a large-scale steel factory, just enough for his own factory. This is called self-production and self-sale.

"Young master. Enough is enough. I just think the timing is just right to start the acquisition now. Moreover, you forgot one thing."

Old Karl stretched out his hand and pointed to the east.

"what?"

"Regardless of any changes over there, or changes in the Gulf region we have been observing, in short, as long as there is a fight, their local supplies must be insufficient. We can already produce canned products. Why not dig deeper in Australia and produce Order canned products such as kangaroo meat or rabbit meat, when the price of these materials increases, it will be hard currency!"

Sure enough, he is an old guy, and he is more thoughtful.

Allen has always looked at these things with the mentality of eating melons.

He always has a sense of anticipation and tension that he is about to witness history, but he has never thought about making any money in these regions and countries where major events are about to happen.

Because it's too righteous, he won't either.

Now when Old Carl reminded him, Allen understood instantly.

It is a legal business to sell these canned food or civilian supplies to those chaotic, unstable, or war-torn areas.

And as long as he operates well, he can earn fame, which is good for him.

Thinking of this, Allen narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at Old Carl.

Old Carl looked at Allen with a look of expectation and sincere eyes, not at all as tyrannical as he was to outsiders.

Allen chuckled lightly and said, "You've made up your mind, and the reminder you gave me was very timely. Then after you go back this time, you can start buying a few small steel factories, as long as you have enough, and try to choose newer equipment."

"Okay, I understand, master."

Neither of them mentioned any trace toxins in kangaroo meat or rabbit meat.

Drinking too much water can still make you sick. These toxins are all in trace amounts. As long as they meet the food standards, you can do whatever you want.

As for the problem of bad kangaroo meat, that's easy to handle.

There is Master Zong at home, let him find a few cooks, and everyone can study how to get rid of the fishy smell and firewood to the greatest extent. It is good to eat something like canned food.

"In addition, you rest at home for a few days, and then you go to South Korea to check out the location first. The accommodation has been booked. I will take William to watch the Olympics. This time, you will accompany me."

"Oh? Young master. That place doesn't seem to be safe right now."

When Old Carl heard that he was going to Korea, he frowned instinctively, thought about what he had heard occasionally, and persuaded him.

"It's because you're not safe, that's why I asked you to step on the spot first. In addition, I went with the participating team this time, and the hotels are all together. In addition, you should go to the spot in advance, so it shouldn't be a big problem."

"Okay, then I'll call the American side, and I'll call in some more manpower. Young master, please be busy first, and I'll arrange it right away."

Since Allen insisted on going, Old Carl stood up without hesitation and was ready to make arrangements.

1988年的汉城奥运会，时间是9月17日至10月2日。

The delegation will pass a few days earlier, and Alan does not have to go that early. His chartered flight departs on September 9.

On September 9th, after waking up in the morning to finish his official duties, Allen changed to a car he didn't often take, and came to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, very low-key.

It is about an hour's drive from the manor.

It is said to be the capital of Wales, but every time he comes to Cardiff, Allen always has a sense of déjà vu that the people in the village below are going to the county seat.

Anyway, all the cities in Wales are small in size, even Cardiff, that's it.

In the western suburbs of Cardiff, there is a huge warehouse area, which is where the headquarters of Allen's newly formed Blue Knight Food Delivery Company is located.

Whether it's the office area, the customer service area, or even the parking area, it's all here.

After several months of site decoration and staff training, the Blue Knight Group is finally ready for trial operation.

The entire group currently has only 30 customer service staff, [-] drivers, or takeaway "brothers", and less than [-] support staff and management staff.

This is the current status of the entire group.

The location of the trial operation has also been reduced from the originally expected three places of Carmarthen Town, Manchester City, and Cardiff City to only the pilot city of Cardiff City.

The main reason is that this kind of large-scale take-out model has never been done before, and the stalls are too big hastily, and Allen is afraid that it will not be finished at that time.

After getting out of the car, he nodded to a few managers who came to greet him. Allen put on a mask first. He didn't want to make too much noise when he came today, so he simply checked and accepted the results.

On the huge flat-storey warehouse, the blue door is so huge that even the cartoon panda logo can be seen hundreds of meters away.

A panda wearing a blue vest, with a row of English letters written on it - the Blue Knight.

Easy to remember.

Looking carefully at the IC card in his hand, Allen was a little emotional when he saw it.

The current IC card has only been invented not many years ago, and the technology is already very mature, but its most commonly used scenarios are phone cards and the like. Now the company has customized a batch of these cards to be used as membership cards. High end.

If you are not in a hurry to visit first, go to the office first.

"Your Excellency, look, this is our distinguished member service manual."

"Um"

Originally, Allen had formulated that ordinary members had to change their cards once a year, and there was no handling fee for applying for a card, but they had to pay a deposit of [-] pounds, which was the membership fee.

But this membership fee can be returned with the card after the time expires.

It is this interest money that is earned.

And after its plan has been optimized by professionals, on this basis, it has launched a distinguished membership service.

This is a higher-end service than ordinary members.

For ordinary members, the process of ordering takeaway is to take a free monthly "cookbook", that is, the restaurant or supermarket where the member is located and which cooperates with the Blue Knight, and the takeaway products they can provide will be photographed and published. book.

If you want to eat, just call Blue Knight's customer service number to order according to the number and price on the brochure.

And the premium membership service is to pay a membership fee of [-] pounds per year, and the money will not be refunded!
That is to say, there is a difference between the membership card of the distinguished member and the ordinary membership card. It is [-] pounds each, and it is renewed every year. The difference is that if you want to refund the [-] pounds at the end of the year, you can only get half of it. The remaining one hundred pounds is the fee for the distinguished membership.

The honored members will be given a videotape every month. The products that the various merchants that cooperate with the Blue Knight in the city where the customer is located will be photographed and displayed on the TV in real objects like TV shopping. Pictures are more convenient for distinguished members to choose.

And as long as the order is placed by a distinguished member, it will be delivered first!
Although the routine is very simple, it is this extremely obvious difference in treatment that is worth the price.

Anyway, now is the period of trial operation, and all kinds of things have to be explored slowly.

Allen wore a mask and walked around the customer service area. The scene of hundreds of old women standing in front of the phone was still very spectacular.

At the beginning of operation, the number of new customers is about zero. These old ladies are very idle, and a few of them who are close are still chatting quietly.

Seeing Alan's gaze, the younger person in charge looked nervous.

But he can't help it, the main reason is that he is too free, and he is a bunch of old ladies. It's not that they don't work hard, but they don't have a job at the moment, so they can only chat, and they can't just sit around, right?
"Don't be nervous, just started, take your time."

Allen didn't care, but instead comforted the person in charge who was obviously a little nervous after seeing him.

"Come on, let's go to the parking lot."

These days, there are no electric cars, and as for the small tricycle, there is no such thing!

Gasoline is not expensive, and the environment in Wales is not densely populated and relatively sparse, and riding a motorcycle is not safe, so I can only buy a batch of second-hand cars for delivery.

Seeing hundreds of second-hand cars of various brands neatly parked in the parking lot, not to mention, the scene is quite spectacular.

Looking at these cars, Allen sniffed. Now the stalls are still small and not well-known. When they develop slowly in the future, they will be able to choose a few car brands, and they will ask for sponsorship fees in a fair manner.

Not only the sponsorship fee, but also the car!

After looking around at the Blue Knight headquarters, everything was normal. On the way home, Allen sat in the car and looked out the window in a daze.

The reminder given to him by Karl a few days ago gave him a lot of new inspirations, so that some plans had to be changed accordingly.

For example, the Blue Knight Food Delivery Group.

Limited by the current technology and communication conditions, this scale and convenience will definitely not be able to reach the level of ordering takeaway with the touch of a mobile phone in a few decades.

Just buying an ordinary membership card worth [-] pounds will block a large number of customers.

But there is no way, this is a necessary threshold.

Now that the threshold has been established, the number of customers will be in the future. I don’t know yet, but according to the estimates of several consultants, the profit point of the Blue Knight Group will be relatively simple in a short period of time, and it may not even be profitable. It will be a small loss.

In this way, you have to think of other profit points to open up the situation.

PS: My back hurts these two days, I can't sit still, scumbag, wait for me to take it easy.

(End of this chapter)