Chapter 376: Holding the Son of Heaven to Command the Vassals

Gu Xiguang looked at Yao Zhengru and the others from Pingyang and the provincial government, nodded, sat down, and first said to everyone.

"These few are comrades from the propaganda section of the Yanjing Economic and Trade Commission. Tomorrow, there may be some media from Yanjing coming over to conduct some interviews and filming of the Torch Group. I hope the Torch Group can cooperate!"

Gu Xiguang spoke vaguely, but how could Yao Zhengru, Li Weimin, and others who were also in the officialdom not hear the hidden meaning in Gu Xiguang's words? How could the background of the media he personally mentioned be small?

"The Torch Group will definitely cooperate!" Zhang Xiaocheng said on behalf of the Torch Group, and then arranged manpower to accompany the propaganda section personnel to film the Torch Group.

After the conference room door closed, Gu Xiguang asked directly, "What is the situation at the Torch Group now?"

"Currently, the Torch Group is fully improving production capacity. The number of personnel recruited by the upstream and downstream industrial chain companies in the Torch Industrial Park has exceeded 15,000. It is expected that by the end of the year, the scale of employees in the Torch Industrial Park will be close to 27,000!"

Zhang Xiaocheng said to the group of people from Yanjing, "Since going on sale until today, the revenue of the entire Torch Group has exceeded 8 million, and the orders for the Torch Group have exceeded 30 million lighters. The lighter advertising business is also increasing rapidly.

The daily production capacity of the Torch Group has currently been increased to 1.2 million lighters. By next month at the latest, the production capacity will be increased to 2 million lighters per day. Next year, the daily production capacity will reach 4 million lighters, and the annual production capacity will reach the expected 1.5 billion lighters. The scale of employees in the entire Torch Industrial Park will also reach the expected full capacity of about 56,000!"

Gu Xiguang, He Heng, and the others heard this, and smiles appeared on their faces, and they took the lead in applauding. According to the current momentum of the Torch Group, it shouldn't be difficult to complete the goals at the time of the Torch Group's establishment.

At this time, Yao Zhengru coughed and said, "When the Torch Group was established, space was reserved for the second phase, the third phase, and even larger production capacity.

If the sales volume of lighters can meet expectations, the Torch Group will also expand as expected. When the production capacity is increased to an annual production capacity of 3 billion lighters, 5 billion, or even larger, the scale of employees in the entire Torch Industrial Park's upstream and downstream companies, as well as lighter retailers and agents, might reach 200,000 to 300,000!

Of course, this is the best expectation, to be able to open up the market in the country and also open up sales channels overseas, so that overseas users can accept the Torch Group's products!"

Yao Zhengru added this sentence at the end, but in the conference room, it was obvious that Gu Xiguang, He Heng, and the others from Yanjing departments were breathing heavily.

What Yao Zhengru said was actually what was written in the plan when Li Dongling proposed the Torch Group project. Being able to take down the entire lighter industrial chain meant it could be used as a pillar industry for a place.

For a city, the revenue brought by this industrial chain might not be too much, but for a district or a county, relying on this industrial chain to support a county is no problem at all.

In fact, in the past life, a certain place relied on the lighter industrial chain, and at its peak, it supported more than 660,000 employees. Even in the automation era, the number of employees was 60,000 to 70,000, supporting the local 70 billion GDP, which was truly the livelihood of millions of workers.

It's just that when the Torch Group was first established, saying it would become an industry with 200,000 employees was a bit of a fantasy. Li Dongling only showed this plan to people who were closely related to the Torch Group, such as Zhang Xiaocheng, Yao Zhengru, and Wu Yaoguo.

And now, the initial goal of the Torch Group is about to be initially completed, so it can naturally take advantage of the situation to propose subsequent projects.

The Torch Group is now one of the national key industrial park projects that the provincial capital and Yanjing are paying attention to. The second phase of expansion also needs to be reported to that side. Even if the above will definitely not block such a project, the necessary procedures still need to be followed. Jianghu rules are sometimes not only to restrain oneself but also to protect oneself!

Moreover, Yao Zhengru saying this now is not shooting without a target, but has long been discussed with Li Dongling, Zhang Xiaocheng, Wu Yaoguo, and others.

Even Gu Xiguang, who has seen the world and doesn't know how many large company reorganizations and mergers he has participated in, couldn't help but take a deep breath when he heard that the Torch Industrial Park was preparing to build an industrial park with 200,000 or even 300,000 employees.

An industrial park with an annual revenue of over 1 billion and 50,000 to 60,000 employees, compared to an industry with revenue of over tens of billions, even having a large amount of foreign exchange income, and being able to accommodate 300,000 employees, these are two completely different concepts!

If it really reaches that step, in a certain sense, the Torch Group can almost dominate the domestic lighter industry.

Even if Yanjing wants to modify some rules of the lighter industry, it needs to communicate with the Torch Group in advance. After all, this is related to the rice bowls of hundreds of thousands of people, and behind them are hundreds of thousands of families and the rice bowls of millions of people. Who dares to ignore it?!

"Steps still need to be taken one by one, and we cannot be too hasty. Pingyang, the Hanxi provincial capital, and Yanjing's attitudes are the same. They certainly hope that the Torch Group can develop, but we still need to be cautious!"

"Of course, the Economic and Trade Commission and major departments in Yanjing absolutely support the Torch Group!"

Gu Xiguang didn't dare to promise anything randomly at this time. A project with hundreds of thousands of people is not something he can decide directly now. It must be reported to the Economic and Trade Commission and even various ministries in Yanjing.

But Gu Xiguang felt that with the form of these two years, the Economic and Trade Commission and the Development and Reform Commission and other departments would definitely support the expansion of the Torch Group. Even if the situation of state-owned factories were worse, the Economic and Trade Commission and other departments might need the Torch Group to expand more aggressively to recruit more personnel.

Li Dongling was waiting for Gu Xiguang's words. After his voice fell, Li Dongling said, "Director Gu, the Torch Group does have an urgent matter that needs the help of the Economic and Trade Commission and Yanjing to solve!"

Hearing Li Dongling speak, Gu Xiguang's face became serious, and the others who were whispering because of Yao Zhengru's words also looked at Li Dongling.

Why so many of them gathered here today, everyone is clear, it is because of Li Dongling. And the Torch Group can have today, although Li Dongling flattered many people just now, those who can inquire about the internal news of the Torch Group know who is the person who really controls the Torch Group project!

Li Dongling spoke, which made everyone present attach importance to it. Gu Xiguang said directly to Li Dongling, "Chairman Li is the largest shareholder of the Torch Group, just speak directly!"

"The lighter industry is not the first time the Torch Group has done it. Dong'ou and other places have also done it successively, but they all encountered trouble in the end, were targeted by America and old Europe in the name of anti-dumping, were banned from overseas sales, and became OEM factories for Japanese, Korean, and American lighter brands!"

"The lighter manufacturers in these places are mainly family workshops or family companies, fighting price wars with each other, and product quality is uneven."

"As a result, domestic lighter manufacturers are scattered and have no power to block overseas lawsuits, and they let domestic lighters be synonymous with garbage lighters overseas, unable to sell at a price, and can only be forced to work for overseas lighter manufacturers!"

Gu Xiguang frowned, and Gu Heng of the Foreign Exchange Bureau sighed. He knew that what Li Dongling said was the truth. Before, domestic metal lighters were sued by overseas lighter manufacturers every three days, and then there were fines and bans on sales. In the end, they couldn't sell at all and could only be forced to OEM for American and Japanese lighter manufacturers, earning meager OEM fees.

"What does Chairman Li want to do?" Gu Xiguang hesitated but asked.

Li Dongling laughed, "As early as when the Torch Group was established, I already said it."

"In order to avoid the encounter of the lighter industry in the past from happening to the Torch Group, and also to be able to open up the overseas market and let the second and third phases of the Torch Group proceed smoothly, I hope that the Economic and Trade Commission, the Development and Reform Commission, the Foreign Exchange Bureau, the Customs Administration, the Industry and Commerce Department, the Industry Department, and other departments will take the lead to support the Torch Group in forming the Lighter Import and Export Association!"

"In the future, the Lighter Import and Export Association will formulate domestic lighter industry rules, formulate product quality standards, avoid malicious competition, and in addition, the annual export share, export price, and customs settlement of major lighter companies will also be uniformly responsible by the Lighter Import and Export Association!"

Gu Xiguang, He Heng, and the others couldn't help but gasp. Once this Lighter Import and Export Association is established, the Torch Group will almost immediately become the leader of the domestic lighter industry.

This certainly has advantages and disadvantages. In the past, the lighter industry had no leader and fought on its own when facing overseas competition and lawsuits, resulting in a disastrous defeat.

If the Lighter Import and Export Association proposed by the Torch Group is established, then the Torch Group will become the leader of the domestic lighter industry and have the qualifications to deal with overseas lighter manufacturers in places like America and old Europe, and even have the opportunity to suppress and defeat them!

In addition, when the resources of the domestic lighter industry are integrated, the Torch Group can call on old-school lighter manufacturers like BIC with the qualifications of a newcomer, and even suppress and defeat them!

And the era when domestic companies could only OEM for foreign lighter manufacturers and earn meager OEM fees will also be gone forever. What the Torch Group wants to do is not to OEM for those foreign lighter brands, but to snatch their rice bowls, smash their pots, and completely drive them out of this line!

Why, in the place where 70% of the world's lighters are produced, do we still have to follow the rules and standards of a few foreign lighter manufacturers? Why can't the standards of the global lighter industry be formulated by the Torch Group?

The Lighter Import and Export Association is the Torch Group's sword-drawing to the country and the overseas lighter industry. With the Lighter Import and Export Association in the hands of the Torch Group, the Torch Group holds the Son of Heaven to command the vassals and influences the entire domestic lighter industry!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 377 =====