Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

In the 1990s, cotton harvesters were produced in only two countries, the United States and Russia.

This is not because Germany or Japan does not have the technology to produce cotton harvesters, but because neither Europe nor Japan is the origin of cotton, so European and Japanese agricultural machinery companies will naturally not develop cotton harvesters.

In the world industrial pattern at that time, except for the United States, Europe and Japan, it was difficult to develop an industrial machinery product such as cotton harvester at the industrial level of other regions.

In the agricultural field, there are two kinds of bulk crops, which entered the era of mechanized farming and harvesting relatively late. One is rapeseed and the other is cotton. Because both crops are not well suited for rough harvesting methods.

Cotton was the most important crop in the early days of the United States. The history of the United States in the first 100 years was basically the history of cotton cultivation.

So as early as 1850, when the Industrial Revolution was just beginning, Americans began experimenting with harvesting cotton mechanically.

However, the characteristics of cotton are also destined to be more difficult to harvest mechanically. Americans have studied for more than 70 years, and it was only in the 1920s that commercial cotton-picking machines were invented, but the efficiency is really not flattering.

The work efficiency of the early cotton pickers was not as good as that of manual cotton picking, and the only benefit was probably that it could save manpower.

After 50 years of research, the Americans finally made a high-efficiency mechanical cotton picker. In 1975, the Americans realized the mechanization of cotton harvesting.

At the time of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were competing in various fields. Since the Americans began to use cotton harvesters, the Soviets could not fall behind, so the Soviet Union also accelerated the research and development of cotton harvesters, and in 1980 , and also began to promote and use cotton harvesters on a large scale.

However, the cotton harvesters of that era had two shortcomings. First, the cotton yield was low, which was only about 70%; the second was the high impurity rate, which would reduce the quality of cotton.

Large-scale mechanical agriculture has always had a disadvantage, that is, the post-harvest loss is relatively high.

After all, machines are not human hands. When using large-scale harvesters, some losses will inevitably be lost, the loss of food crops will be less, and the loss of fruits and vegetables will be greater.

In later generations of cotton harvesters, the cotton yield can reach more than 90%, that is, the loss can be controlled within 10%. When cotton harvesters first appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, the loss was still about 30%.

The arable land in the United States and the Soviet Union is relatively large. It is no exaggeration to say that people who have too much land can’t grow it at all, and it doesn’t matter if they lose a little agricultural product.

However, for China, such a loss of more than 10% is absolutely unbearable for the uncle of the farmer.

In addition, the cotton harvested by the machine will cause a lot of boll shells, broken branches and broken leaves to be mixed with it. So at that time, mechanized cotton harvesting had to invest a lot of money in a cotton cleaning plant to remove all kinds of impurities in the cotton.

Americans are rich enough to play like this, while the Chinese can't even afford a cotton harvester, let alone build another cotton cleaning plant.

Therefore, in the 1980s and 1990s, cotton harvesters were not widely used in China.

Of course, the most important reason is that China's labor costs are low.

Since you can spend money to hire someone to pick the cotton, the cotton yield is high, and there is no impurities, why should you buy an expensive cotton harvester!

Whenever the cotton harvest season in September, the trains in front of Xinjiang all over the country will be crowded with colorful cotton troops. After working hard for a month, they can earn half a year's income.

In the future, with the advancement of science and technology, cotton harvesters will become more and more advanced, not only the rate of colored cotton has increased, but the rate of impurities has also been greatly reduced. China has also begun to use cotton harvesters.

In some places even unmanned cotton harvesters,

Once the Beidou satellite is positioned, the cotton farmer can complete the harvest with a few clicks of his mobile phone.

The three countries that will produce cotton harvesters in the future will mainly be the United States, Russia and China.

Among them, the cotton harvester in Russia was inherited from the Soviet Union. During the Soviet period, the territory was vast. The Central Asia controlled by the Soviet Union at that time was an important production area of ​​cotton. The Soviet Union also had the necessity to develop cotton harvesters.

Later, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the production of cotton in Russia alone was relatively small, and the quality of Russian cotton was not high, and it was not as good as petrochemical fibers, so the cotton harvester in Russia fell into a stagnant stage.

In contrast, China's cotton production has increased year by year, and the research and development of cotton harvesters has also been fully developed.

The cotton harvester made in China is different from the cotton harvester in the United States.

Different types of cotton are cultivated around the world. Pima cotton is grown in the United States, African cotton is grown in Africa, and Brazilian cotton is grown in South America. Different types of cotton have different picking characteristics.

Even the same variety of cotton grows differently due to different levels of soil, light and rain.

Therefore, the large cotton harvester in the United States may not be suitable for the picking of Chinese cotton.

China's cotton harvesters are also specially developed for the Chinese market.

The adjustment mechanical blade used by the domestic cotton harvester can completely separate the seed cotton in various bolls, even if the bolls are not fully mature, or the moisture content of the bolls is different, there is no problem.

Moreover, the separated seed cotton will not be broken up and can basically remain in its original state.

In the process of cotton hull separation, the domestic cotton harvester does not use the traditional separation transmission structure of the United States, so the structure should be simpler.

Among the mechanical equipment, the less complex structures are used, the higher the stability of the machinery, and the less likely it is to fail. Therefore, the stability of domestic cotton harvesters is also higher.

The domestic cotton harvester has been a national invention patent in later generations, and the patent right is naturally owned by the national agricultural machinery research institute. Li Weidong is also interested in this set of patented technologies.

In China in the 1990s, cotton harvesters were still a kind of unpopular agricultural machinery. There were no agricultural machinery companies producing them, and there were no agricultural machinery companies researching and developing them. Only a public scientific research institution like the Agricultural Machinery Research Bureau will pay attention to this product.

This also means that if Li Weidong wants to make a cotton harvester, no one will compete with Li Weidong, which can be regarded as a new way to share the pie.

Taking advantage of the fact that other agricultural machinery companies were not aware of the market prospects of cotton harvesters, Li Weidong took down the project first. When other companies discovered that cotton harvesters could make money, Fukang Agricultural Machinery had already mastered the core technology.

At that time, if you apply for a few patents at will, you will be able to form patent barriers and get stuck in the necks of others.

Moreover, Li Weidong is not worried that other agricultural machinery enterprises will make copycats, because this is a project obtained from the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute. If domestic agricultural machinery enterprises dare to copy the scientific research results of the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, it is estimated that even the products will not be able to be listed.

...

When Li Weidong mentioned the cotton harvester, Uncle He on the opposite side frowned slightly.

"Weidong, the cotton harvester you are talking about should be a relatively niche agricultural machine, right?" Uncle He asked.

"It's more than a niche, no one in China is using this thing at all! At present, cotton harvesters are mainly used in the United States, and other major cotton-growing countries basically rely on manpower to pick cotton." Li Weidong replied with a smile.

"Is it because the cost of machine picking is relatively high?" Uncle He asked.

"Foreign machinery and equipment are definitely expensive to sell, but this is only one aspect. Another point is that the cotton yield and quality rate of machine picking are not as good as manual picking." Li Weidong replied.

Uncle He didn't know much about this aspect, but Aunt He next to him said, "When I was young, I went to the countryside to cut the queue. I used to have Chinese cotton. The picking of this cotton is indeed very particular..."

After Aunt He introduced it, Uncle He finally understood the difficulty of picking cotton mechanically.

"So, picking cotton mechanically will waste a lot and reduce the quality. This kind of agricultural machinery product doesn't seem to be suitable for our country's national conditions, right?" Uncle He asked.

"It's not suitable now, it doesn't mean it's not suitable in the future, and cotton picking only takes a month. If there is not so much manpower, you will still have to rely on machines in the end!" Li Weidong replied.

Uncle He responded: "Well, after dinner, I'll ask you first to see if there is any research on cotton harvesters in the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute."

China once had a Ministry of Agricultural Machinery Industry, which was responsible for the development of domestic agricultural machinery, which is enough to prove that the country attaches great importance to the agricultural machinery industry.

Later, the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery Industry was renamed the Eighth Ministry of Machinery Industry, and later merged into the First Ministry of Machinery Industry, which was then the General Administration of Agricultural Machinery.

In the mid-1970s, the state established a new Eighth Ministry of Machinery Industry, responsible for missile engineering. So China actually has two eighth Ministry of Machinery Industry

By the end of the 1970s, the General Administration of Agricultural Machinery was also independent from the First Ministry of Machinery Industry, and the establishment of the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery was restored.

Until the 1980s, the Ministry of Agricultural Machinery merged with the First Ministry of Machinery Industry again to form the Ministry of Machinery Industry.

As the leader of the Ministry of Machinery Industry, Uncle He asked about the research on cotton harvesters with just one phone call.

"Okay, I see." Uncle He put down the phone and said, "There is really a project team at the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute that is doing research and development of cotton harvesters. It is said that the person responsible for this project is still a young postdoctoral fellow."

"How is the research and development process?" Li Weidong asked.

"I don't know much about this, after all, I don't know much about cotton harvesters." Uncle He paused, then said, "But I don't think the research and development progress will be too smooth.

As I said just now, the person in charge of this project is a young postdoctoral fellow. The research funding applied for by the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute will be based on seniority. Young people should not receive too much funding.

In addition, the waste generated by the cotton harvester is relatively large, which is not suitable for our current national conditions. I estimate that the research and development of this project should not receive much support. "

Li Weidong nodded: "This is understandable. After all, the country has limited resources, and good steel must be used on the blade!"

"So Weidong, if you want to do this project of a cotton harvester, you have to think twice! Although no one is competing with you for this project, this project is not very profitable." Uncle He said and picked up a piece of fruit , put it in the mouth and tasted it.

"I think the prospects of cotton harvesters are very broad. As long as the cotton yield can be increased and the problem of excessive impurities can be solved, it can replace manual harvesting." Li Weidong replied.

"But it requires a lot of follow-up research and development and investment." Uncle He continued with a serious look; "You have produced a lot of new products over the years, and you know that research and development is not accurate, and it is very likely that you will invest a lot of money. time and money, with no results.”

"I understand that if I do this project, I will have to post a lot of money myself." Li Weidong replied.

"Then are you still willing to take over this project? Don't forget, you are here to share the cake this time, to put it bluntly, to get benefits, you have to pay for it after a long time of trouble, and the result may not be successful. This is a loss-making business. When did you capitalists change to a loss-making business?" Uncle He said with a little teasing.

Li Weidong replied with a stern face: "Our country cannot be poor forever, and it is impossible to use manpower to pick cotton all the time. The use of large-scale mechanical picking of cotton is the trend of future development.

If we don't do it ourselves, we will be robbed by foreigners in the future, and then the market will become foreigners again! It is about the clothing of the billions of people in our country, but we cannot rely on foreigners! "

...

China's Agricultural Machinery Research Institute was established in 1956, and at that time, there was also an Agricultural Machinery Research Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Later, the two academies merged to form China's Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute.

At the end of the 1980s, the national team's scientific research system was reformed, and the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute was a pilot unit, which began to transform from a pure scientific research institute to a scientific research and management institute.

Given the national conditions at the time, it was impossible to make money doing scientific research, and a scientific research institute would not be able to survive without financial funding.

Fortunately, the state has placed the Quality Inspection Center of the Agricultural Machinery Bureau in the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, which means that if the agricultural machinery of each manufacturer wants to be put on the market, it must pass the inspection of the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, which also makes the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute have source of funding.

It's just that scientific research has never been too expensive. The funds obtained through the quality inspection of agricultural machinery obviously cannot meet the needs of various scientific research projects. Therefore, the shortage of scientific research funds has become the norm.

In the future, the country will carry out a series of reforms. The Agricultural Machinery Research Institute will have 7 wholly-owned subsidiaries, 12 holding subsidiaries and 5 directly affiliated units, plus 12 bases and an agricultural machinery logistics park, with annual revenue. Nearly 10 billion.

This has also enriched the research funds of the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, and the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute has also become an enterprise integrating scientific research and development and equipment manufacturing.

In the 1990s, the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute was obviously not so rich. After several rounds of funding cuts, various projects were short of money.

As a postdoctoral fellow at the Agricultural Machinery Research Institute, Ni Guilin was standing in front of the dean's office nervously.

At this time, Ni Guilin had a feeling that something was wrong. He could guess that the project he was responsible for was about to be cut off.

Ni Guilin is responsible for the research and development of cotton picking equipment.

When this project was first proposed, it was not widely recognized, because in the opinion of the leaders, the cotton harvester was not suitable for China's national conditions. There are so many people in China that there is no need for machines to pick cotton.

With the technology at that time, although the cotton harvesting rate of American cotton harvesters can reach about 90%, the impurity rate is too high, but it cannot be solved. Even if Ni Guilinyan issued the same cotton harvester as the United States, it has to be rebuilt A cotton washing factory will do.

It is precisely because this project is not optimistic that the funds received by the project are very limited, the less money is given, the slower the research and development progress, the slower the research and development progress, the less money is given, thus forming a vicious circle.

Recently, the research institute has begun to reduce funds again. Ni Guilin feels that this project of his own is doomed!

Not long ago, Ni Guilin received a call from the dean and asked him to go to the dean's office.

Ni Guilin realized in an instant that the death sentence was finally here!