Completed

April 19.

Recently, Huang Xiuyuan had been so immersed in coding that he barely looked up. Then Lin Baijie informed him that Phase One of Guizhuling Industrial Park had officially entered the completion and acceptance stage.

After more than ten busy days, the Software Image Conversion System had completed its initial software recognition function. They were now writing its general framework.

He gave a few instructions, then had Huang Weichang drive him to Guizhuling Industrial Park.

The pickup truck headed straight west along Haishan Highway. Lush rice paddies stretched out on both sides, and every so often, they spotted one or two old oxen grazing in the fields.

Guizhuling Industrial Park was not far from Pubian Town; the two were less than three or four kilometers apart.

The three pickup trucks passed through the residential area of Guizhuling Township and drove for about another kilometer before a row of factory buildings, each more than ten meters tall, came into view.

The security guard responsible for the factory buildings saw the vehicles approaching and hurried over. He checked everyone's work ID before quickly letting them through.

Huang Xiuyuan nodded. "The management is good. Don't let your guard down."

"Don't worry, Chairman. I'll keep the company safe." Huang Weichang had also adapted to his new role. When they were out in public, he called Huang Xiuyuan "Chairman"; only in private did he treat him like a brother.

After they parked, Lin Baijie and the others were already waiting outside the factory.

"Mr. Huang, the office building isn't finished yet. Shall we go to the container offices?"

Huang Xiuyuan shook his head. "Let's go straight into the factory. We can talk as we walk."

The group entered the first factory building. It was fully enclosed and divided into several areas.

This building housed the Domestic Waste Integrated Recycling Line. The first section was a temporary waste storage pit eight meters deep, where garbage trucks could dump their loads directly.

Above the pit was a small gantry crane that could use a grab bucket to move the waste to the next area.

Workers from the equipment manufacturer were installing and testing the machinery.

The next area contained a waste conveyor belt. The first sorting stage used an electromagnet to separate metal items.

After that came the manual sorting area. Here, the workers picked out plastic bags, plastic bottles, glass bottles, paper products, batteries, electronic products, and the remaining metal and plastic items.

What remained was leftover food, branches and leaves, melon and fruit peels, some napkins, and soil and sand. Most of this consisted of organic waste discarded by people.

After this initial separation, the easily recyclable materials from the various types of waste were sent to other recycling lines.

According to relevant data, the average person might produce between 0.5 and 2 kilograms of waste a day. Taking the middle value, that came to 1.25 kilograms per person per day.

Shanmei's urban area had around 800,000 permanent residents, including about 500,000 urban residents. The city also had a floating population of around 50,000 on an average day.

550,000 × 1.25 kilograms ≈ 690,000 kilograms, or 690 tons of waste per day. If rural areas were included in the recycling program in the future, household waste production would rise to around 1,000 tons a day.

A single recycling line at the plant could process 500 tons of household waste a day. They had prepared five lines to expand the business in the future and accept waste from the surrounding counties and towns.

Suiren Company had currently ordered two household waste recycling lines, and the equipment had arrived. The manufacturer's employees were installing and testing it on-site.

The equipment for the other lines, including metal, glass, and plastic recycling, had all arrived in Shanmei's urban area.

They were expected to complete installation and testing by early June and begin trial operations.

After inspecting all the recycling lines, Huang Xiuyuan did not leave. Instead, he headed to the area designated for Phase Two.

"Baijie, how long will the construction company need to complete the Phase Two buildings?"

Lin Baijie replied at once. "The groundwork is already done, so Phase Two should be finished by the end of May, along with the renovations to the Phase One office building."

Then he asked, "What did Shengdong say about the gas storage facilities?"

"The gas-fired generator sets have arrived. Since we asked for storage capacity of five million cubic meters, they'll bring a construction team and the relevant equipment over at the end of this month."

Huang Xiuyuan nodded with satisfaction, then asked, "How is recruitment going for transport truck drivers, sorters, and equipment operators?"

"We've hired fifty sorters. We're using a lot of automated equipment, so we don't need many. We've also hired more than thirty equipment operators, and they're undergoing training." Lin Baijie paused for breath before continuing:

"As for the drivers, they need an A-class license to drive the heavy transport trucks, so they're difficult to recruit."

"Mm. Thanks for all your hard work."

"It's part of my job."

He gave them a few more instructions, then returned to the company headquarters.

He also checked on the Materials Laboratory. After more than sixty days of construction, most of the laboratory buildings were nearly complete. Only some equipment remained to be installed and tested.

Jiang Mingzhang from China Inspection told him that the laboratory was expected to enter the completion and acceptance stage in about another week.

Huang Xiuyuan was very satisfied with this progress.

Back in his office, he called in Chang Fuguo, the head of the purchasing team, and asked him to buy a large batch of chemical reagents for experiments, along with any related raw materials they might need.

Then he went to the Engineering Group's office.

The group leader, Du Jinhua, was a bespectacled, middle-aged man with a square face. He looked a little uneasy. "Mr. Huang, please have a seat."

Knowing that Du Jinhua was a pure science-and-engineering type, Huang Xiuyuan skipped the small talk and got straight to the point. "Jinhua, how are the parts and equipment I asked you to design coming along?"

"The ultraviolet irradiator was completed twelve days ago. The various components have been contracted out, and some of the parts have already arrived at the company." As he spoke, Du Jinhua pulled a file from his cluttered desk and handed it over.

"As for the other equipment—the voltage regulator, sealed compression tank, vacuum pump, and so on—we're buying existing models on the market and modifying them."

Huang Xiuyuan looked through the file to get a rough sense of the progress. It was about what he had expected.

"Excellent. Keep up the good work."

"Rest assured, Mr. Huang. I'll get it done." Du Jinhua thumped his chest as he promised to complete the assignment.

The Engineering Group was under the Scientific Research Department. The engineers genuinely liked working at Suiren Company. There was less red tape, and the pay was good, so they naturally worked very hard.

There were two other reasons for their dedication: the employee stock options Huang Xiuyuan had promised and the internal patent profit-sharing program.

Under Suiren Company's internal structure, any research findings produced by employees during their work belonged to the company. However, the company had established an "Internal Patent Law."

The purpose of the Internal Patent Law was to motivate researchers and engineers.

Under its provisions, a fixed 3–8% of the net profits generated by research findings would be distributed among all the researchers involved.

Patent profits were allocated to individuals rather than divided equally among the entire research team. The company had established a patent contribution rate, and the share each person received depended on that rate.

Because these were internal patents, failing to apply for a public patent—or being unable to apply publicly for reasons of confidentiality—would not affect the profit-sharing.

As long as a product that used a patent generated net profits, the relevant researchers had to receive their share under the Internal Patent Law.