A few days ago, Ju Daixia sent a message to the United States, Germany, Algeria, etc. Customers from several countries sent apology emails. Several production lines were originally agreed to be output as soon as possible. Now, she is “breaking the contract.”
Ju Daixia is the owner of a machinery and equipment company in Jinhu County, Jiangsu Province. Her company mainly manufactures equipment for the production of disposable tissue such as sanitary napkins, diapers, and masks.
Judaixia Company has always been focused on exporting, and 85% of its customers are from 109 countries including the United States, South Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore.
After the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus in Wuhan, more than 30 domestic mask factories called Ju Daixia for help: “The production lines are not enough, and the production capacity needs to be expanded urgently. ”
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Ju Daixia made a decision. She wants to resume work early, suspend all orders from foreign customers, and only rush to build production lines for Chinese mask factories.
Return to China
1 On March 22, Ju Daixia and her husband Chen Bin flew to Singapore with their children, parents, siblings, and a group of ten people. After a busy year, the couple finally had time to take their family on a vacation abroad.
From the news, Ju Daixia learned that a new type of coronavirus-infected pneumonia broke out in Wuhan. However, there were only a few confirmed cases in Wuhan at that time and did not cause waves in the small town of Jinhu County, Jiangsu Province. “It feels like the epidemic in Wuhan is far away from us.”
In Singapore, Ju Daixia often pays attention to “foreign news.” News related to the Wuhan epidemic will be broadcast on TV every once in a while. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, a Chinese Singaporean who had been to Wuhan was diagnosed. The overwhelming reports from various channels in Singapore made Ju Daixia realize the seriousness of the situation.
In those days, many friends called Ju Daixia and asked her if she could help buy masks abroad. A friend said that it is already “hard to find a single mask” in China.
There were also mask manufacturers from Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places who called Ju Daixia.
During special times, these factories are resuming work urgently. However, the original production capacity cannot meet the needs of major hospitals across the country and ordinary residents.
The owner of a mask factory in Fujian called Ju Daixia. His factory was originally able to produce one million masks per day. Since the government unified the allocation of mask factories, the workload of his factory has increased sharply. In an emergency, he found Ju Daixia on Alibaba International Station and asked if he could order ten production lines.
During those few days abroad, Ju Daixia received calls from more than 30 domestic factories, “all of which wanted to order production lines.” She discussed with her husband whether to rush back to China and resume work early.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the number of domestic infections has exceeded 6,000. At this time, it is safest to stay abroad. “We are taking four elderly people and two children with us. If we rush back, we have to change planes on the way and we will definitely pass through many crowded places.”
Ju Daixia and Chen Bin While discussing resumption of work, we are paying attention to domestic news. The number of infections continues to increase. “The more I read the news, the more anxious I become.”
There is a nationwide shortage of masks, and Ju Daixia is not unaware of the reason. “There are less than 40 domestic factories with the capacity to manufacture mask production lines.” It coincides with the Spring Festival, and many of these factories have shut down. Many mask factories want to increase production capacity, but cannot order production lines.
After discussion, the couple changed their tickets for the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and returned to China before flights were grounded.
Resumption of work
Decision After resuming work, Ju Daixia and Chen Bin held a conference call with several core employees abroad. One was to take stock of the remaining inventory materials in the warehouse, and the other was to discuss the design of the production line.
The first step in producing a mask machine is to draw drawings and design functions and appearance. This is the job of designer Zhang Zheng (pseudonym). “After the drawings are designed, workers can start production.”
Zhang Zheng, who had just returned to his hometown in Hunan for a few days, did not have a moment. Hesitantly, he picked up his luggage and left after the meeting. He bought a return ticket that night. Before going home this time, he had not seen his child for more than half a year. When he left, the child held him and cried for a while before letting go.
Ju Daixia returned to the factory, and the workshop was already busy preparing to resume work.
Most of the workers in Judaixia factory are locals. On the first day, more than 30 workers came to the workshop wearing masks. In factories in Jinhu County, workers have to work shifts of at least 12 hours a day. Workers on the night shift work even harder, with temperatures dropping below freezing at night. There was no heating. On the first night, Ju Daixia, who was with the workers, had cold legs and feet.
The next dayDuring the day, she sent someone to buy a dozen heaters and little suns, and placed them in various corners of the workshop.
In the past few days when work resumed, they did not leave the factory until 3 a.m. every day. After going home and sleeping for three hours, they hurried back to work at around 6 a.m.
From sanitary napkin equipment to mask equipment
In the early 1990s, Chen Bin works as a buyer in a factory in Jinhu County. At that time, Chinese women still used menstrual belts during their menstrual periods. Rural areas with worse conditions could not even afford menstrual belts, so they used rough toilet paper and cotton cloth.
Later, Chen Bin’s factory and Fujian’s Hengan Group introduced two sanitary napkin production lines from abroad, and sanitary napkins truly appeared in the lives of Chinese women.
In 1996, Chen Bin, who was interested in mechanical products, had the idea of resigning and starting a business. At that time, sanitary napkins were only in their infancy in China and had promising prospects. He wants to open an equipment factory that specializes in manufacturing machines for producing sanitary napkins.
Chen Bin was born in the countryside of Jinhu County. His parents were ordinary farmers. In order to support their son’s business, his parents sold three tile-roofed houses in the countryside. Chen Bin took the money and rented a workshop in the county. He took two designers with him and drew the drawings by himself. Then we went all over the country to promote sanitary napkin equipment.
In the first two years, Chen Bin’s business was not good. Most of the promotions were rejected. “When others saw me, a grown man, promoting sanitary napkin equipment, they looked down upon me.”
In 1998, a customer from Tianjin, I tried to set up a production line here with Chen Bin, and the sanitary napkins produced were very popular. Later, he placed several orders in a row. Soon after, people in Hebei and Shandong, which are close to Tianjin, kept coming to him and wanted to order production lines.
In 2003, when SARS broke out, Ju Daixia, already Chen Bin’s wife, was attending the Canton Fair in Guangzhou. Guangzhou was an epidemic area at the time. Ju Daixia went to several pharmacies but could not buy masks. After returning to Jinhu County from Guangzhou, Ju Daixia developed a fever and was quarantined for more than ten days. The final diagnosis was that she just had a common cold and was not infected with SARS.
But this incident alerted Ju Daixia. During SARS, it was difficult for ordinary people to buy masks because there were not many domestic factories producing masks and they could not meet the huge demand caused by the outbreak. Temporarily importing masks from abroad, due to qualifications and customs declaration procedures, is also “a fire far away cannot save a fire nearby.”
If we encounter another epidemic like SARS in the future, we can’t always rely on foreign factories, right?
Ju Daixia and her husband discussed and decided to build a mask production line. Later, they added production lines for diapers and other household paper. In order to expand her customers, Ju Daixia opened a store on Alibaba International Station and began to receive orders from abroad.
Up to now, 85% of the machinery produced by their factory has been exported to the United States, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries.
Call to stop foreign orders
Concerns during the SARS period, 2017 Finally, it really happened.
At that time, she still owed more than 6 million US dollars in orders for diapers and sanitary napkin production lines, which needed to be completed in the past three months.
But for now, she must put off processing those orders.
A few days ago, Ju Daixia sent emails to customers in the United States, Germany and other countries. In the email, she mentioned the epidemic in China and the shortage of mask stocks across the country, hoping to delay delivery by at least a month.
Foreigners attach great importance to contracts. Ju Daixia even thought that maybe some customers would be angry and sue her for breach of contract. “In that case, I admit it. The top priority is that I can only consider our domestic needs.”
What she didn’t expect was that not a single customer complained about this. They all responded to the email to express their understanding and reminded Ju Daixia to pay attention to safety.
Now, Ju Daixia’s factory has stopped the production of all other equipment except mask equipment. In fact, mask equipment is a very niche category among many production lines.
“The shipping price of a mask production line does not exceed 450,000 yuan, but the price of a diaper production line reaches about 7 million yuan.” Ju Daixia said that on weekdays, customers When buying a diaper production line, a mask production line is also included. “It’s as casual as bringing a pack of chewing gum when buying food in the supermarket.”
With the current epidemic, Ju Daixia can no longer take care of this. During the Spring Festival, the materials stored in the warehouse were only enough to produce 70 mask production lines. She must immediately purchase materials and increase production capacity.
The materials needed for the mask production line are concentrated in Shandong, Zhejiang and other places. Recently, highways in many cities have been closed. In order to allow Ju Daixia to smoothly purchase materials, the Jinhu County Government She was also given a document, and the factory buyer took the pass document. She had a smooth journey and could return on the same day. Today, the materials she has now can produce 120-130 mask production lines.
Under continuous rush, Ju Daixia’s workers only need 5 days to build 15-20 A mask production line. It is reported that a production line can produce 80-100 medical masks per minute. “This first batch of production lines can produce 1.2-1.4 million masks every day.”
In Ju Daixia’s mind, she has been calculating an account: if those 120-130 production lines are started at the same time, the production The masks that come out can meet the demand for masks in a city or even a province.
The first batch of 15-20 production lines is about to be completed. Ju Daixia will evenly distribute the masks to mask factories in several provinces. In a few days, her mask equipment will continue to produce medical masks. These masks will be sent to hospitals and ordinary people.
It only takes 5 days to build 15-20 mask production lines. It is reported that a production line can produce 80-100 medical masks per minute. “This first batch of production lines can produce 1.2-1.4 million masks every day.”
In Ju Daixia’s mind, she has been calculating an account: if those 120-130 production lines are started at the same time, the production The masks that come out can meet the demand for masks in a city or even a province.
The first batch of 15-20 production lines is about to be completed. Ju Daixia will evenly distribute the masks to mask factories in several provinces. In a few days, her mask equipment will continue to produce medical masks. These masks will be sent to hospitals and ordinary people.
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