Chapter 480 - 220: Steady Progress (Part 2)

Chapter 480: Chapter 220: Steady Progress (Part 2)

This consideration was mainly to encourage passengers to spend money on board. If everyone was packed in like sardines in a can, they definitely wouldn’t be in the mood to buy anything.

The two then boarded another bus.

The vending machines inside this one were planned to sell fast food. Although it was called "fast food," it would be anything but perfunctory.

The job of making the fast food was handed over to Jianghai Restaurant.

In addition to sandwiches, hot milk, hot coffee, and hot soy milk, there would also be local Shanmei specialties like large steamed buns, meat dumplings, vegetable dumplings, turnip cakes, and fruit.

In the mornings, these buses were specifically for students, commuters, and tourists. They were dedicated vehicles for a dedicated purpose and did not serve the elderly.

After all, the elderly had problematic spending habits; they wouldn’t buy food on the bus. Plus, they were more prone to falling, which would be even more troublesome.

Therefore, the elderly could only take the regular version of the bus.

They came to the tourist bus.

The interior decoration was completely different. Of the vending machines, one was dedicated to selling drinks, while the other sold local specialties and Hailufeng Company’s products.

For example, items like alfalfa honey, Hero Cheese, dried mantis shrimp, dried shrimp, and dried flounder powder.

To avoid quality issues, Hailufeng Company had specifically contracted many sole proprietors to produce these specialty products.

After all, the production environments for many products sold on the open market were difficult to control. Therefore, for food items, Hailufeng Company avoided sourcing from the market as much as possible. Instead, it guaranteed quality by contracting with sole proprietors, providing them with raw materials, technological upgrades, management training, and constant supervision.

Take dried shrimp, for example. The freshness of the shrimp used, the conditions of the drying environment, and the methods for daily storage could all pose food safety hazards.

When it came to so-called "naturally sun-dried" seafood products, you only had to think about it for a moment to realize how unreliable that production model was.

Things like dust were actually minor issues. The real problem was that it was impossible to keep flies away.

Seafood products dried in small workshops almost universally had this problem.

Hailufeng Company had dispatched a dedicated technical guidance team to provide these sole proprietors with improved processes, helping them adopt modern indoor drying equipment to solve the problem at its root.

Relying on sun-drying took too long, and the weather was unpredictable. These factors not only limited production volume but also led to inconsistent quality.

Stubbornly clinging to traditional techniques and production methods instead of embracing modernization would sooner or later lead to being eliminated by the market.

After all, not many young people were willing to learn these old-fashioned crafts that were exhausting, tedious, and unprofitable.

It was a generational divide.

An invisible barrier.

Many of the sole proprietors who were willing to accept change came from families where the younger generation had taken charge, which was what made this kind of in-depth cooperation on improving processes and production methods possible.

Some small workshops were still run by the older generation, and they became very unhappy the moment they heard Hailufeng Company wanted them to change their production methods and techniques.

They had an attitude of, ’My skills are the best in the world! I’ve been doing this for decades, and you think I need your guidance?’ Or they worried that Hailufeng Company was trying to steal their techniques.

After encountering this a few times, the company’s Agricultural Cooperation Division gained some experience. Before selecting sole proprietors to partner with, their first screening criterion was to look at the age and education level of the person in charge.

Generally, the more educated and younger a person was, the more likely they were to accept new things.

This was especially true for college graduates who had studied engineering or science; they were highly cooperative when it came to improving production processes.

No wonder people say the only way to change society’s overall mindset is to wait for the older generation to die off.

After looking at the specialty-product vending machine, Wang Hanbo thought, ’While there aren’t a huge variety of products, it’s probably enough. After all, it’s just one vending machine, so there isn’t that much space.’

"Director Li, let’s go take a look at the design for the new bus stops."

"Of course, General Manager Wang. This way, please."

The two arrived at an open area where several simple mock-ups of the bus stops had been set up for testing.

These bus stops were all equipped with photovoltaic panels, which replaced the original awnings.

"What’s the surface area of the solar panels?"

"Between 8 and 16 square meters. With sufficient sunlight, they can generate about 12.8 to 25.6 kilowatt-hours per day." Li Yuansheng patted the bus stop’s light box advertisement. "We’ve installed a Sponge Battery inside the light box, and it can store 200 kilowatt-hours."

Wang Hanbo carefully observed the various features of the bus stop.

Besides the usual light box advertisements, bus route maps, and signs, the top was covered by the photovoltaic panels that replaced the awning.

An opening had been cut into the middle of the light box to fit two vertical vending machines. An air conditioning unit was mounted above them, which could blow cool air in the summer and warm air in the winter.

One of the vending machines was for buying bus cards, getting change, and renting power banks. The other was specifically for selling cold or hot drinks.

There were also four security cameras, one on each corner.

"The power from the solar panels won’t be enough, will it?"

Li Yuansheng didn’t deny it. "You’re right, it’s not enough. The cold drink vending machine needs 8 to 12 kilowatt-hours a day, and the other machine needs another 2 to 3. Add in the lights, air conditioning, security cameras, and communications control, and it could require up to 30 kilowatt-hours on a summer day. That’s why we use a battery-swapping system to supplement the power."

"That’s good," Wang Hanbo said with a nod.

’Since the company has efficient, low-cost batteries, we can certainly be a bit more ambitious with our power consumption.’