Wasteland Border Inspector - Chapter 858

Chapter 858: Chapter 281: Dabo Canned Food Factory, Yu Yong’s Misery

In the early stages of the construction of the Satellite City, both resources and personnel had to be slowly cycled into place over time, necessitating trade-offs and making it impossible to address everything comprehensively.

In terms of industrial direction, right from the beginning in Dapo Town, Cheng Ye decisively set the tone:

Focusing on the fishery as the main industry, supplemented by cheap handicrafts, directly abandoning high-threshold, resource-intensive light industries.

Leaving the storage area, under the guidance of Hou Genbao, Liu Bi and Niu Fu became the first external visitors to the industrial zone of Dapo Town.

Even though the power lines from the hydroelectric plant had yet to be connected, the first factory building was already set up properly.

A thick iron plaque stands at the entrance of the factory, its corners polished smooth and rounded, clearly engraved with five large characters:

[Dabo Canned Food Factory]

Liu Bi paused, his fingertips subconsciously brushing over the embossed characters on the plaque; he could recognize Cheng Ye’s handwriting.

This kid, he really has got something going on!

Liu Bi sighed inwardly, then stepped into the factory building.

The moment the door was pushed open, a faintly fragrant aroma of lubricating oil mixed with the cool metallic smell hit his face, exceptionally distinct.

The production line inside the factory looked somewhat familiar, having been modified after taking over from Dongping Town.

These pieces of equipment no longer competed with fully automated production lines to produce inferior tools but instead temporarily suspended related capacities, waiting for technology to mature before reformulating them into new tools for re-entry into the market.

Apart from this, Dapo Town also added a lot of new equipment according to the needs of can manufacturing, making the whole production line more targeted.

Currently, the factory building is clearly divided into eastern and western zones.

The eastern side is the raw material storage area, with bundles of cold-rolled steel sheets neatly stacked, with tidy and sharp edges, evidently high-quality goods allocated from the industrial area.

The western side is the can manufacturing area, with rows of equipment neatly arranged, emitting a cold metallic sheen, with each machine marked with a prominent label for easy identification of its purpose.

The cutting area is next to the eastern raw material area, where two hydraulic shearing machines and a precision circular cutting machine are lined up against the wall. The floor is clearly marked with the words “Can Body Blanks” in paint, and the workflow is very clear:

The cutting machine will cut whole pieces of steel into uniformly sized circular blanks, while the shearing machines are specially responsible for trimming the burrs on the edges of the blanks, ensuring each blank has uniform thickness without protruding defects on the edges.

The formed blanks will be sent to the adjacent can body forming area, where four stretch forming machines are lined up, each equipped with different-sized stretch molds.

Hou Genbao explained on the side that once powered up, the circular blanks are fed into the forming machine, where they undergo an initial stretch to press out a hemispherical base and then a secondary stretch to directly form a cylindrical structure with the can body and can bottom integrated, eliminating the hassle of subsequent assembly.

The lid processing area is separately set to the north of the forming area, using relatively simple stamping machines and grooving machines.

The stamping machine first cuts special steel sheets into circular lids slightly larger than the can opening, then sends them into the grooving machine to press a sealing groove on the inside of the lid, used later to embed a sealing ring, ensuring the sealing of the can after packaging.

After circling around the factory, by the time Liu Bi reached the final packaging area, he couldn’t help but frown and ask, “Does this place only produce can bodies?”

“Yes, our canning factory is specialized in the mass production of can bodies, and once the finished products are ready, they will be transported to the Buffer Zone where the subsequent can filling and production will take place,” Hou Genbao nodded in response.

“Transport to the Buffer Zone?” Liu Bi furrowed his brows tighter, filled with curiosity.

Before he could continue asking, Hou Genbao, as if anticipating his question, proactively explained: “Inspector Cheng has mentioned this arrangement has three benefits.”

He articulated clearly: “The first is to address employment issues. The industry in Dapo Town is certainly enough for everyone in our town to have work, but very few factories are hiring over there in the Buffer Zone. Providing jobs to the residents there not only helps increase their income but also greatly enhances the importance of our can factory there.”

“The second is safety concern. If we directly transported the loaded cans to be sold in the Buffer Zone, it would be impossible to check the internal condition at the checkpoint; no one could guarantee the sealed cans haven’t been contaminated or developed issues. Even when transporting to other Satellite Cities, doubts are inevitable. However, raw materials are an entirely different matter; they’re much simpler to inspect. Completing filling and sealing in the Buffer Zone effectively eliminates this layer of safety concern right from the source.”

“The third is promotion. With the layout of the Satellite City gradually stabilizing, the position of the Buffer Zone is also steadily established. Setting the can filling segment in the Buffer Zone allows us to display our brand for passive promotion and invites local residents to tour the factory. This achieves a far better promotional effect than hiding a complete factory in Dapo Town, secretly producing like a shady workshop!”

These were all Cheng Ye’s original words, and Hou Genbao thought they were useful at the time, memorizing them word for word.

Now, he recounted them intact.

Seeing Liu Bi and Niu Fu’s expressions shift from surprise to admiration, he felt a thrill of joy, and continued adding: “Not just for now, but even in the future, the final processing steps for all terminal products will be placed in the Buffer Zone. Only when Dapo Town has the confidence to allow external visitors to tour as they please, and when external trade caravans set their destination at our location independently, only then will a truly complete system factory of Dapo Town be built.”

From a modern perspective, the current strategy is not difficult to understand; it’s essentially about “rebranding” the goods of Dapo Town.