Author: Wang Yunbo
With the improvement of the standard of living. Being able to eat canned luncheon meat on a regular basis is no longer difficult for me and ordinary Chinese people. And I also had the opportunity to taste all kinds of canned luncheon meat, but I only have a special love for the "Meilin brand" canned luncheon meat from the Lianyungang Canning Factory. The hometown feelings for "Merlin" canned luncheon meat are also getting stronger and stronger. It seems that there is always a thread between me and the canned "Merlin brand" luncheon meat produced in Lianyungang, and it is always cut.
I don't know when it started, but I feel that the canned "Merlin brand" luncheon meat from Lianyungang is becoming more and more difficult to buy in the market. Once a comrade-in-arms came to play with me. At lunchtime, I went to the military service club at the gate of the regiment headquarters to buy canned luncheon meat of the "Merlin brand" produced by the Lianyungang Canning Factory.
The salesman told me: We don't sell this "Merlin" canned food anymore. I said: Why? She replied: Because it is too difficult to open the lid of this can, everyone thinks it is troublesome, so they don't buy "Merlin" canned luncheon meat. Now everyone buys canned "Great Wall brand" luncheon meat produced in Tianjin.
She took a box and showed it to me, you see this can is boxy, there is a protruding pull thread tongue on the side of the can, you put the buckle that comes with the can, like a key, on top of the little tongue protruding from this can box. Take a turn around the can and open it. It is fast and trouble-free, and the elderly, women, and half-grown children can also easily open the lid. And this box is just the amount of food for one person. Unlike "Merlin" canned food, one box can't be eaten by one person, and two people can't eat, so we basically don't enter this "Merlin" canned food, and improve the "Great Wall" brand luncheon meat canned food produced in Tianjin. Now even if you want to buy this brand of goods, there is nowhere to find it, and the market has been crowded with "Great Wall brand" canned luncheon meat.
Listening to what the salesperson said, I reluctantly bought the "Great Wall brand" canned luncheon meat. I went back to the company to try it, and it was really convenient to open the lid of the can, and the taste was good. Unlike the "Merlin" canned luncheon meat, although it is delicious. But it's too much trouble to open the lid, and without tools, you'll be at a loss, so don't think about eating this can. It takes a resounding man to open a can once. Even if you have the tools, you may not be able to eat the canned food smoothly. Because of the tinplate sheet for packaging cans. It's thin and sharp, and if you don't pay attention, you can cut your hand. In our regiment, there was a soldier who was opening a canned luncheon meat. Accidentally, the canned iron sheet cut the artery on the wrist, and the blood flowed, and he almost lost his life.
After buying canned "Merlin" luncheon meat this time, I began to pay attention to the sales of canned "Merlin" luncheon meat, and found that it was indeed as the salesman of the military service agency of the regiment headquarters said. Especially in 1985. Our regiment went to the Zhurihe training ground in Inner Mongolia for training. The canned luncheon meat purchased by the regimental logistics and various companies was all canned luncheon meat of the "Great Wall" brand produced in Tianjin. As the main non-staple food carried by the troops. I feel that the "Merlin brand" luncheon canned meat produced by Lianyungang Canning Factory is indeed outdated!
Seeing this, I was very anxious. Because this is a commodity produced in my hometown, I feel very uncomfortable in my heart. Because of Lianyungang at that time, its reputation was shocking and well-known at home and abroad. It is one of the 14 coastal open cities in the country. Ranked 7th among the top 10 ports in the country. Lianyungang's "Panda" brand toilet paper, "Lianyungang" brand towels, Lianyungang's "Langhua" brand water meter, and Lianyungang's "Meilin" brand canned luncheon meat sell well all over the country. When chatting with my comrades-in-arms about family life, I am often quite proud to show off the brand of Lianyungang to my comrades.
As a Lianyungang native, I have to do something for my hometown! Out of love for my hometown and concern for the construction of my hometown, I wrote a letter to the Lianyungang Municipal People's Government at the Zhurihe Training Ground in Inner Mongolia to reflect the cold situation of the sales of "Meilin brand" canned luncheon meat. In the letter, I reported to the municipal government what I had learned from market research in Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin and other places. I also sent out the "Great Wall" brand canned luncheon meat trademark and Fujifilm that I bought with special money, and asked the propaganda officer of the regiment to take pictures of the canned food.
Two months later, the Lianyungang Municipal People's Government sent me a letter in reply, which basically read, "We have received your letter. Thank you for your concern about the construction of your hometown. The situation reflected in your letter. We have asked the relevant departments to conduct a special study. It is believed that soon the new products of "Meilin" brand canned luncheon meat produced by Lianyungang Canned Food Factory will appear on the market. The big seal is: Lianyungang Municipal People's Government Office, Lianyungang Municipal Economic and Trade Commission. This was a quick wait of six years, not only did I not see a new product, but even the old packaging "Merlin" brand canned luncheon meat was difficult to trace.
In 1990, I was transferred to Lianyungang to work in the garrison area, and my superiors temporarily arranged for me to be in charge of recruit training. A squad leader of the company, his father happened to be the party secretary and director of the Lianyungang Canned Food Factory, after knowing this situation, I would like to know why the Lianyungang Canned Food Factory still developed new products six years later in the letter I wrote to the Lianyungang Municipal People's Government. So I asked the squad leader to introduce me to his father to find out.
Unexpectedly, when I talked about the fact that I wrote this letter, his father actually knew. Tell me: the reply to me back then. It was he who arranged for the staff in the factory office to write it to me. It is stamped with the seal of the Office of the Lianyungang Municipal People's Government and the Lianyungang Municipal Economic and Trade Commission.
He also talked to me about some of the situation in the factory that year: Lianyungang Canned Food Factory was registered in Lianyungang in August 1958 and has more than 1,500 regular employees. It is a state-owned medium-sized enterprise in Lianyungang City. At that time, the sales of canned luncheon meat were particularly hot, and there were more than a dozen trucks waiting to pull the goods every day. Personnel of provincial and municipal foreign trade export enterprises shall be stationed in the factory to urge goods. The products were mainly exported to the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe. The production task is simply not completed. Even during the New Year's holiday, it is not easy for people in Yungang City to eat a canned luncheon meat of the "Merlin" brand. If the unit wants to buy canned food for welfare, it can only be bought by opening the back door and approving it.
Due to the good efficiency of the factory, even the young men and big girls in their factories are very sought-after to find objects. So in this case, the company simply does not have the energy, time and personnel to think about the issue of technological refreshment. In addition, technology updates require a lot of money, and the government can't come up with them. In addition, the old process production process is simple and can be automated; The overall production cost is relatively low. The new process of canned luncheon meat packaging I am talking about has many and complex processes, and the processes such as pulling the wire and tongue are basically single-line production, with a low degree of automation; Each can also needs to be delivered with an opening key and packaged separately, which is costly. In fact, before I reported the problem, the factory had already paid attention to the new process. It was shelved for various reasons.
I didn't expect the economic situation to develop so quickly. The products produced by the factory are crowded out in the domestic market, and the export of foreign markets is blocked. Now the operation of the factory is getting worse and worse, and now I want to update the equipment and launch new products, but I have missed the opportunity. What to do, the city has not come up with a proper plan to solve it.
Many years have passed, and now Lianyungang canned food factory has disappeared and drowned in the tide of history, which is really a pity.
In 1993 I moved to work in the tax system. There are many opportunities to contact with enterprises, and I have more understanding of business development and innovation: I have witnessed many highlight moments like the birth of many masters and capable people. It has also witnessed the meteor-like fall of many people. The ups and downs of business management are the same as managing life. It doesn't matter if you're going well in life; Even if it doesn't go well, you can never rest on your laurels. When things are going well, you can't be complacent and get carried away; Don't lose your self-confidence and sink in times of adversity. We must persist in learning, we must persist in continuous innovation, and we must always maintain a positive and enterprising spirit of struggle, so that we can burst out tenacious vitality and creativity, and our lives can be rich and colorful, so that we will not be eliminated by the trend of history.
A recent photo of the author
About the Author
Wang Yunbo, enlisted in the army in December 1979, went to the military academy in 1981, graduated in 1983, successively served as the platoon commander of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment of the 112th Division of the 38th Group Army, communications staff officer, communications unit chief, transferred to the Yungang garrison area in 1989, transferred to work in 1993. After changing jobs, he worked in Lianyungang Taxation Bureau and is now retired.