Chapter 680
The chirping of cicadas in early August seeped into the office through the glass windows. Manager Xie's desk was piled high with product brochures brought back from the Canton Fair, and flyers for various mechanical equipment covered the entire desk.
Su Miao and Manager Xie sat face to face, carefully flipping through each page.
"Manager Xie, what I need most urgently is two pieces of equipment, one cold and one hot. The hot one is a drying equipment. To dry konjac slices, it needs to be able to control the temperature and prevent sticking.
The cold part is the quick-freezing equipment, which shortens the freezing time."
Manager Xie nodded randomly, rummaging through the pile of documents with his fingers, searching intently.
"Hey! Blender! Xiao Su, don't you guys need to mix ingredients for Konjac? This is good!"
"Yeah, that's good. I'll write it down and keep looking."
"Hey! Steamer! Xiao Su! Do you want to cook the konjac? This is good!"
"Yeah, that's not bad. Write it down first and we'll continue looking."
…
For the next half hour, the only sounds in the office were the shuffling of papers and Manager Xie's occasional mutterings.
The two most important devices were not found, but a lot of small machines in other links were found.
Manager Xie wiped the sweat from his forehead and said disappointedly, "That's strange. Logically, this kind of basic equipment should have... Sorry, Xiao Su, it seems that the information we collected is still incomplete."
Su Miao said sincerely, "Thank you, Manager. Thank you so much for troubling you for so long."
Manager Xie waved his hand and replied, "We have been working together for such a long time, there is no need for such polite words.
There definitely are devices with these two functions. I seemed to have heard about it from a food factory when I went there for communication before.
It seems to be a small factory that processes sugar palm powder. They have a complete set of tunnel drying machines. I'll ask for you."
Su Miao nodded and said, "If I can't find it, I'll just make a simple box dryer and try it out.
This is what the factory uses now. It is much faster than natural air drying and the heat is more evenly distributed. However, it would be best if more advanced and efficient equipment could be used.”
Manager Xie added new tea to Su Miao's empty cup and said:
"As your production increases, you'll place more orders for packaging from me, which will benefit both of us. Have a sip of tea first, don't rush, and take your time."
He patted Su Miao for the three boxes of Konjac Noodles she had just brought and said, "I'll share the Konjac Noodles with everyone later to promote you."
Su Miao lowered his head to pick up the cup, and suddenly saw a document under Manager Xie's chair.
"Manager Xie, is the chair you're sitting on unstable? It looks like it's holding a brochure down on it."
"Yeah, this chair is older than I've been working here... Ouch! I still have one here. Now I remember, they buy all the large machines here. I used it as a stool leg because it didn't seem to be of much use to me."
Manager Xie quickly bent down, took out the brochure and placed it on the table.
The brochure was not thick, only about five or six pages in total, but it was on these few pages that there was the drying and freezing equipment that Su Miao needed.
Manager Xie said in surprise: "Yes, yes, yes! This is the tunnel dryer."
This unexpected turn of events made Su Miao's heart pound. The factory now processes papaya shreds using natural pre-drying and a dryer.
After the papaya is cut, let it sunbathe for a day and then put it into the dryer. This way the papaya shreds will retain their original aroma.
The machine used is a simple box-type dryer made by a master craftsman, which has a metal box and a coal-fired hot air furnace, and the batch processing capacity is about 50kg.
A simple temperature control instrument is installed on it, and the temperature can reach 60-80℃.
The tunnel dryer on the flyer in front of me is a 10-meter-long metal tunnel with chain conveyor and continuous operation. It can process 200kg/h of fresh konjac. It turns out that large size has its advantages.
This machine consists of three layers of mesh belts. Although it has not yet switched from coal-fired power to electric heating and has a lower level of automation, requiring manual turning every hour, it is already much more advanced than previous machines.
Manager Xie said happily, "That's the one! I heard the manager of that sugar palm powder factory talk about this type of dryer. Compared to traditional drying methods, it's so much more efficient! And it's not affected by the weather."
However, after taking a closer look, he said hesitantly, "Xiao Su, this machine is really good. It can process 400 kilograms in an hour, but the price of 38,000... isn't it too expensive?
Although the previous packaging machine was more expensive than this, it was highly automated and used advanced vacuum technology. This one... I don't think it's worth it.
Besides, your Konjac Soup business has just started, why don’t you wait and see how the sales go before making a decision?”
Su Miao thought for a moment and said firmly: "I think this investment is still necessary. This dryer is not only for making konjac noodles, but also for making papaya shreds.
Now the demand for our shredded papaya is increasing day by day, and the goods from Beijing are always not enough to sell, so we must increase our production capacity.
Drying is a crucial link for both products and must be overcome.
After the dryer is upgraded, we can cross-process the two products. Even if the demand for konjac jelly doesn't increase in the future, using it to increase the production capacity of shredded papaya will be a sure win."
After listening to her idea, Manager Xie nodded and said:
"You've really thought it through. Your shredded papaya is now a representative specialty of Nancheng. If you want to expand outside, you have to increase production.
I'll help you negotiate a price. What about the freezing equipment? It's not cheap either. I don't think it would be useful for making shredded papaya."
Su Miao looked at the refrigeration equipment on the flyer that was more expensive than the dryer and said:
"I want to buy drying equipment first, and then learn more about freezing equipment. I'll decide whether to purchase more based on subsequent sales. For now... I'll just add a large freezer to support the situation."
"Okay! Just think it through. Opportunities are indeed reserved for those who are well prepared. I'll help you bargain, but we've only worked with this factory once, so I can't say how much discount I can offer."
"That's okay, Manager Xie. I'm already very grateful for your help in finding the right machine. Next, I'd like to ask you to make some more packaging materials for me."
When you ask someone for help, you have to show your appreciation, otherwise the favor will gradually be consumed. You need to give and take to maintain a healthy relationship.
Su Miao and Manager Xie placed an additional order for packaging supplies, which were divided into two styles.
One has an orange base, and the other has a yellowish base.
The two packages correspond to spicy and slightly spicy flavors respectively, and the different colors make it easier to distinguish them.
This slightly spicy flavor is specially designed for people who cannot eat spicy food and younger students. Everyone can choose according to their own taste, and it will reach a wider range of people.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
