Chapter 5 Hot Manufacturing Industry

It has to be said that the 19th century was a paradise for entrepreneurs. In this era of increasing industrialization, the returns from investing in industry were considerable.

Although the risk is high, it is basically nothing for Ernst after a year of tug-of-war.

"Gillette" razors are at least already known to people, and customers who have already purchased them are also firmly grasped, and repeat customers can be expected.

"Gillette" has already embarked on the road to profitability, but of course Ernst will not stop there. In its previous life, "Gillette" really became bigger and stronger by relying on the opportunities of the world wars, and the US military brought Gillette to the world.

Ernst also came at a good time. As the Iron Chancellor, Bismarck paid great attention to the army and proposed the famous "Iron Policy" after taking office.

That is, we must increase industrial construction to serve the army, and at the same time strengthen the unification of the military forces of the states within Germany.

According to the history that Ernst was familiar with, next year would be the precursor to Prussia's war to unify Germany. It would join Austria in declaring war on Denmark and taking back the two northern duchies of Schleswig-Holstein.

So when Prussia was integrating its army, Ernst personally went to the Prussian royal palace to sell Gillette razors to William I.

Ernst mainly focused on the urgency of time if a war broke out. Traditional razors were not only unsafe but also difficult to operate, and the blades required separate time to maintain. Gillette only needed to replace the blades, which saved time.

Of course, in order to dispel William I's concerns, Ernst took the initiative to offer to donate 20,000 sets of "Gillette" razors at a loss to support the construction of the kingdom's army.

It doesn’t matter whether they make a loss or not. What matters is that these Prussian soldiers feel the convenience of “Gillette”.

People are lazy. They would never stand if they can sit, and would never sit if they can lie down. Ernst had a deep understanding of this during his college years. For example, he was too lazy to even go downstairs to buy cigarettes.

…

Thinking of this, Ernst suddenly froze, "smoke". Ernst felt like his brain was going to explode!

But at this moment, still in the palace, Ernst tried to calm down. After negotiating with William I about the military trial of "Gillette", Ernst's mind was no longer just on the order.

After leaving the Prussian Palace, Ernst sat in the carriage and began to wonder why he hadn't thought of a business like cigarettes that had almost no capital. No, he had to squeeze his brain.

If you write down some things from your previous life and produce them in the future, won’t you become rich?

Of course, there were cigarettes in this era, but machines for hand-made, mass-produced cigarettes had not yet developed and become popular.

For Ernst, all he had to do was find some experts to master the technology of mass production of cigarettes, and then he would be the first to try it.

Moreover, cigarettes, which satisfy human needs on a spiritual level, are very popular in the market. Although there are competitors, how can they compete with large-scale machine production relying on relatively expensive and inefficient labor?

Ernst decided to find someone to cooperate with when he returned, and to write down many things that made life easier in his previous life but were low in technical content, and to develop them in advance.

Well, it’s time to set up a new company. Currently, Gillette is actually a single factory that produces razors.

If I make more things in the future, I will definitely need more than one factory. How to control these factories then? I will have to hire some professionals to help manage them.

As the Prussian army began to equip themselves with Gillette razors produced by Ernst's factory, just as Ernst had expected, these soldiers really liked this time-saving and labor-saving razor. As a consumable, the blades had restrictions on use, but the low price and convenience and practicality overshadowed this shortcoming, and orders for blades followed.

In this way, the Prussian army could increase its equipment with new razors and order blades simultaneously, and Ernst would not be idle either.

In addition to Prussia, there are other states in Germany! Ernst naturally would not let it go and began to promote his razors in the armies of various countries.

What do you not need? The Prussian army used it and said it was good, how can you say that? The successful use of the Prussian army also became a classic example of Ernst's product sales.

If you don’t believe it, you can go to the Prussian military camp to see for yourself. Ernst successfully promoted these razors in many small countries.

Good things always come in an endless stream. The razors promoted in the army soon attracted the attention of interested people, and some factory owners producing precision instruments also began to introduce them.

Hair is a big problem for precision instrument factories, and requiring workers to shave is a necessity. Now these factories require workers to use Ernst's "Gillette" razors directly.

The new razor industry has entered the fast lane of rapid development, and the ambitious Ernst began to make bigger plans.

The newly established Hechingen Development Company began to send sales teams to other countries, with the Austrian Empire and Russia being important markets.

In a conservative country like Russia, Ernst stressed that the sales team members should focus on the progressiveness of the new razor, which is the result of industrialization and represents hygiene and safety.

At this moment, Russia was still in the Tsarist era. It is well known that Russians' yearning for the West was at its peak, especially during the Tsarist period.

As for the Austrian Empire, the sales team mainly used the advantages of equipping Prussia with this razor to convince Austrian officials.

At the same time, Ernst is also actively developing markets in other countries. Its main business is throughout Europe, and it is also looking for agents in North America.

North America was the headquarters of Gillette in its previous life, and it was impossible for Ernst to go to the United States in person to direct the construction of the factory.

Patents alone are a big problem. The United States is now a complete copycat country, and Ernst does not want to test the conscience of the Americans.

Why not just set up an office in North America and cooperate with the big capitalists in the United States?

The Hexingen Development Company, which has a European aristocratic background, still has some influence in America. At least no one makes things difficult for this small company with an Old World aristocratic background.

Moreover, Gillette razors have not yet been promoted, and capital will not personally intervene. Through exchanges with an American capital group, Ernst successfully equipped the US military with Gillette razors. Of course, this is a matter for the future.

It was just a licensed patent, but the factory and construction funds were provided by Americans, and Ernst could get 10% of the US dollar share for free every year.

This is already a good result. As for the future when Gillette starts to explode, Ernst will not have to focus on this one seedling. According to Ernst's idea, Hexingen Development Company should have been a large company with diversified operations.

Now Ernst has received good news that his large-scale cigarette production line has been completed.

Before long, the same kind of cigarettes from the past (of course, without filters yet) will appear in convenience stores and factories across Germany, and of course the military will be among the demanding customers.

In this era, no one paid attention to the harm of cigarettes, so Ernst didn't even need to write the words "Smoking is harmful to health" on the packaging.

Of course, industrialization has caused Europe's big cities to be filled with black chimneys, and the thick smoke and dust are not necessarily less harmful to the body than smoking.

While selling Gillette razors, Ernst had already begun to focus on the production of various small commodities.

For example, for flush toilets, which have not yet been widely popularized, Ernst is also planning to set up a separate factory. The UK already has mature products, and Ernst is mainly responsible for increasing the promotion of this product. It is not excessive to set up a OEM factory, and it can also do OEM in the future.

Now that we have cigarettes, we need lighters. Ernst decided to develop the kerosene lighter first, which is also the flagship product of the Hexingen Company.

There are many more ideas that Ernst wants to bring out, but he currently does not have the capability to do so, and the funding alone is risky.

Ernst has passed the start-up phase and now only needs to expand steadily. As the war approaches, good days are yet to come!

(End of this chapter)