Chapter 375 Flashlight Factory

"If you can build a penicillin factory in Hong Kong, I think everyone will warmly welcome you, including us at Jardine Matheson, Swire, and Hutchison Whampoa." said Charlie, who works at a foreign company.

Penicillin is the most popular drug in the world today. Financial groups in Europe and the United States have made a fortune from it, and even Jardine Matheson is coveting it.

Zhang Guowei shook his head without even thinking, "Your words don't count. Even Sir Herbert can't bear the pressure from London. The benefits of penicillin have already been distributed. There is no chance for him to get on board now."

"I plan to set up a MSG factory. The Lotus MSG produced in Shanghai is very popular among consumers in Southeast Asia. However, the freight cost from Shanghai to Southeast Asia is a bit high. If I can build a factory in Hong Kong, I will definitely make a lot of profit. If I need a ship at that time, I hope you can help." Zhang Guowei gave Charlie a look, indicating that there would be no shortage of benefits.

Charlie was very satisfied. "We were good friends back then. Now that you've come to Hong Kong, I'm definitely willing to help you. Besides, this is my job."

"I am also planning to open a manufacturing plant specializing in the production of flashlights. This product is selling very well right now." Zhang Guowei continued talking about his plan.

The MSG factory was arranged by Zhang Xingjiu. It wouldn't be long before the Japanese invaded China again, and the MSG factory in Shanghai would also be affected, so Zhang Guowei might as well use MSG to gain a foothold in Hong Kong.

As for the flashlight factory, it was a choice made by Zhang Guowei after a careful investigation of the market. He found that the Lingnan Flashlight Factory and the Nanzhen Flashlight Factory, which started in Guangzhou, had set up factories in Hong Kong and their quality was recognized. The Lu Lin Foreign Company, which originally supplied flashlight materials, simply turned its guns around and cooperated with the two factories to export Chinese-made flashlights to Europe and the United States, and quickly opened up sales with extremely high cost-effectiveness.

The scale of these two flashlight factories is not large, and their production capacity cannot meet the needs of the European and American markets at all, so Zhang Guowei feels that if he builds a new flashlight factory, he will definitely make money.

They even earned more than the Lingnan Flashlight Factory and the Nanzhen Flashlight Factory. Because they lacked sales channels in Europe and the United States, they could only sell flashlights to Lu Lin & Co., which simply deprived the company of a layer of profit.

Zhang Guowei can fully utilize the channels of the Hongmen. Situ Xianyi's Anliangtang is spread across major cities in the United States. As long as the factory can produce it and ship it to the United States and hand it over to Anliangtang, they can sell as much as they can.

In fact, his project was indeed a good one. Soon, flashlight factories in Hong Kong would spring up like mushrooms after rain, including the "Shell" brand of the Sunrise Factory in Mong Kok, the "Train" brand of the Chang'an Factory in Wan Chai, the "Butterfly" brand of the Nansheng Factory and the "Camel" brand of the Taishan Factory, the "Parrot" brand of the Chung Nam Factory in Shau Kei Wan, the "Libra" brand of the Ming Wah Hardware Factory and the "Trophy" brand of the Nanjing Factory, and the "Dog Head" brand of the Xingzhou Electrical Factory in Causeway Bay...

So many factories made Hong Kong the global flashlight production center and trained a large number of skilled workers, laying a good foundation for the future development of Hong Kong's electronics industry. Unfortunately, they were eventually blown to pieces by finance and real estate, and the glory of the manufacturing industry became a flash in the pan.

"These are all small matters. We can quickly complete all the formalities for you. Just sit back and wait to make money!" William, Charlie and others agreed readily. The project that Zhang Guowei was going to do had no conflict of interest with the Ocean Bank, so it was a piece of cake for them and they didn't need to worry too much.

"If you are interested, you can also invest. As for whose name to use, it is up to you." Zhang Guowei does not believe in simple friendship. He is prepared to use interests to bind these people more tightly.

William, Charles and the others were all beaming with joy. They had come all the way from England to Hong Kong. Did they really work hard for the British Empire? Wasn't it because they could make a lot of money here? Zhang Guowei was offering them this opportunity now. Who would refuse it?

Now they worked even harder. Zhang Guowei quickly obtained the land and all the documents and certificates needed to build the factory. They also each chose their favorite projects to invest in. Most people invested in the MSG factory because the market for MSG in Southeast Asia is huge and the sales channels are very mature, with lower risks. The flashlight industry has just started, and it is hard to say what the future will be like.

After completing the formalities, Zhang Guowei immediately gathered people to start work. In recent days, he had come into contact with all kinds of people in Hong Kong. Everyone knew that he was the son of a great priest of the Hongmen, and no one dared to harass his factory.

Zhang Guowei also gave them some benefits. He asked them to help recruit workers, gave them a certain reward for each qualified worker, and also gave them some earthwork work. Now they liked Zhang Guowei even more.

The workers worked hard, Zhang Guowei paid them promptly, and all the equipment and materials that needed to be imported were sent to him with the highest priority through the connections with foreign companies. It didn't take much time for the two factories to be built as scheduled.

During this period, Zhang Guowei also visited Hedejie. When he heard that he was also a student at Oxford and the son of Zhang Xingjiu, Hedejie immediately called him to his office and talked for a long time. He also invited him to his home. During the meal, he repeatedly mentioned Zhang Guowei's glorious past when he defeated Cambridge in the rowing competition.

"At that time, I happened to be back in the UK as the Malayan Commissioner, participating in the preparations for the British Empire Exhibition. You know, as a graduate of Oxford, you would definitely go to watch the rowing competition whenever you have time. I witnessed you leading the rowing team to victory! I didn't expect to meet our Oxford hero in Hong Kong today. This is great!"

If Zhang Guowei was not too young, had not been in Hong Kong for long, and really lacked the qualifications, Hedejie would have wanted to make him the Chinese representative in the Executive Council.

As soon as the factory was built, it started producing MSG and flashlights. The former had many years of production experience in Shanghai, and Zhang Xingjiu even sent people to Hong Kong to help manage production. The latter did not require high technical content. The two factories quickly completed the trial production and worked at full capacity to produce boxes of products, which were then shipped to Southeast Asia and the United States for sale.

Even though both factories were already full, Zhang Guowei did not stop recruiting workers. Not only did he keep a recruitment table at the door all the time, but people from all walks of life also kept sending him suitable candidates, and Zhang Guowei accepted all of them.

When shareholder William visited the factory, he raised a question: factories in Hong Kong now work twelve hours a day or more, so it seems unnecessary for the MSG factory to implement eight-hour shifts? This would affect the profit margin.

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Zhang Guowei told him that the current scale was just the beginning, and that they would expand the scale to build new production lines after a while. The workers would be trained first, and then they could start work directly. William immediately expressed his understanding, saying that the expansion of the factory would mean that he would get more dividends.

Little did he know that Zhang Guowei had other plans.

(End of this chapter)