Gao Yuan opened the forum and was immediately drowned in an overwhelming flood of posts and comments.
The netizens were incredibly enthusiastic. After all, China had seen far too many major events lately. Aside from Kunlun Company launching a massive campaign in the chemical fiber sector, there was another major development: Alibaba's automated Rhino factory.
Originally, these two matters had nothing to do with each other, and Gao Yuan did not even know Boss Ma. But in this world, people loved making connections.
Gao Yuan made fiber yarns, while Boss Ma's factory made clothing. They happened to occupy the upstream and downstream ends of the industrial chain, so meddlesome netizens linked them together.
"Materials genius Gao Yuan and e-commerce titan Jack Ma join forces to challenge the world order!"
"The Gao-Ma duo bursts onto the scene and shocks the world!"
"Come see this! The unspeakable secret between Little Gao and Old Ma!"
Gao Yuan's mouth twitched slightly. An unspeakable secret? What the hell was this supposed to be?
Gao Yuan felt a little depressed. Consumerism and the trend toward shallow entertainment really were beyond saving. Even on a professional forum packed with experts and industry practitioners, the headlines were dominated by baseless speculation.
Simply put, the Rhino factory had the following five characteristics.
First, its automated production lines used many of the world's most advanced intelligent machines. From placing an order to shipment, the longest turnaround time was no more than seven days.
Second, the minimum order quantity was low. Orders could be placed for as few as one hundred pieces. In the future, school basketball teams designing their own uniforms and designers launching independent clothing brands would all become possible.
Third, it was highly efficient. Manufacturing tasks and processes were allocated intelligently, ensuring that production lines operated at full capacity at all times.
Fourth, big-data market forecasting. This was Alibaba's specialty. After all, Daddy Ma held the data on everything people bought. Do not think buying condoms could be kept secret from others—Daddy Ma was watching you.
These days, no one had privacy. Data was wealth. As long as merchants paid, Alibaba would help them perform big-data calculations and build forecasting models.
Fifth, it reduced merchants' inventory. They could place orders whenever demand arose, avoiding stockpiles and cash-flow problems.
Overall, Alibaba Rhino was China's first automated clothing factory that was highly friendly toward small and medium-sized merchants.
This approach suited Taobao's positioning very well. After all, if the small and medium-sized merchants on Taobao were all crushed to death by large corporations, it would actually be very detrimental to the platform.
As for whether Alibaba Rhino was the first automated clothing factory?
The answer was, of course, no.
Chinese manufacturers had never stopped pursuing automation and mechanization. From Ningbo Shenzhou, the world's largest garment contract manufacturer, to lesser-known companies like Shandong Hongling and Jiangxi Yingjia, all of them had automated custom-clothing factories, and they had started earlier than Alibaba.
It was just that Alibaba Group was too famous. Anything it did immediately became the focus of society as a whole.
Current automated clothing factories were not without flaws. Simple garments like jeans and T-shirts could be produced efficiently, but production efficiency dropped dramatically when it came to oddly designed women's clothing and trendy apparel.
No matter what, the clothing industry had reached the eve of transformation. It was no longer the handicraft workshop people remembered from the past, but was rapidly advancing toward technology and intelligence.
The emergence of Alibaba Rhino was an important signal, as well as a sign that the automated clothing industry was gradually maturing.
Perhaps in a few years, manufacturers that had moved to Southeast Asia because of labor issues would regret their original decisions beyond measure.
Whenever he thought of Southeast Asia, Gao Yuan could not help but get a headache. His fourth uncle, who ran a fabric factory in Vietnam, had been asking people everywhere to contact him, hoping to get some work.
Gao Yuan had been avoiding him, but the New Year was approaching. When the whole extended family gathered, they would inevitably meet.
"I'll deal with it when the time comes."
Gao Yuan muttered. It was not that he was afraid of anyone; he simply disliked people clinging to him shamelessly.
Leaving the machinery section, Gao Yuan entered the chemical materials section.
Unlike the jubilant machinery section, the chemical materials section was filled with the atmosphere of war.
"Latest news! Kunlun Company's X3 type elastic fiber has hit the market in force, formally declaring war on DuPont Group!"
"Suspected national-team involvement! The manufacturer producing Kunlun X3 was actually China's Fortune 500 company, Rongsheng Chemical!"
"Taking on DuPont, Teijin, and Dow alone! Kunlun Company has gone completely mad! The world's three major elastic-fiber suppliers have sworn to fight back!"
"Latest battle report! LONWAVE fiber sales are sluggish, and Japan's Kuraray Group intends to withdraw from the thermal fiber market!"
"PLA's endorsement power is limitless! Market share has broken fifty percent! The Kunlun X series is surging forward wildly in China's domestic market!"
Posts like these flooded the chemical materials section.
Gao Yuan curled his lips. He actually already knew all of this. His strategic partners sent him the latest updates every day.
Normally, Gao Yuan did not interfere much with the commercial activities of each company. Unless several companies had a conflict and started fighting, in which case Gao Yuan would step in, persuade them to make peace, and turn their guns outward.
In addition, any company that needed resources could ask for help internally. For example, Boss Gao of Bosideng had wanted to buy prime-time slots on Milan TV Station some time ago, and Anta Group had introduced the relevant contacts.
In short, the purpose of strategic partners was to help and coordinate, reducing the drain caused by internal conflict.
So, were there any partners who refused to cooperate?
So far, no such situation had occurred. Everyone had been quite cooperative.
The reason was simple. Once anyone left Gao Yuan's small circle, they would lose Kunlun Company's supply, and that would be a fatal blow to them.
In any event, with Kunlun Company's X3 type fiber hitting the market, the forum was completely set ablaze. After all, this was a three-front campaign, an unprecedented feat for China's chemical fiber companies!
In the quick-drying fiber sector: Kunlun versus DuPont, BASF, and Toray!
In the thermal fiber sector: Kunlun versus Asahi Kasei, Mitsubishi Chemical, Toray, Kanebo, Komatsu, Unichika, Bayer, DuPont, and 3M!
In the elastic fiber sector: Kunlun versus Dow, Teijin, and DuPont!
This was Kunlun Company's current battle line. This bunch of lunatics had gone through nearly every one of the world's most powerful chemical fiber conglomerates!
And this list did not even include Toyobo, which had already been driven into bankruptcy; Kuraray and Fuji, which had been crippled; or France's Arkema, the Netherlands' DSM, Norway's Yara, South Korea's LG, and others, which were not primary targets but had merely been caught in the crossfire.
"Hahahaha, the winds of the world rise again! Just waiting for DuPont to go under! Even if their two major elastic fibers, Lycra and T400, are combined, they are still no match for Kunlun X3!"
"Really?"
"Is it really that exaggerated?"
"Of course it is! Our company's lab results are already out. Kunlun X3 is the first fiber in the world with a stretch index exceeding one thousand! It reached an astonishing sixteen hundred! Yet neither DuPont's Lycra and T400, Japanese Teijin's Polyester Elastic Fiber, nor Dow's Polyolefin Elastic Fiber has ever exceeded a stretch index of five hundred!"
"That is indeed true. Our lab's results were about the same. In any case, Kunlun Company's elastic fiber has absolutely explosive performance. It truly deserves to be called the X series that is sweeping the world."
"Holy shit, a stretch index of sixteen hundred? Kunlun Company is awesome!"
"If this were used to make compression clothing, together with Kunlun X1 quick-drying fiber, would challenging Nike's PRO series not be a piece of cake?"
"It has only been a few days, and the X series has already broken another record!"
"Sigh, the X series is great, but when will we finally see Boss Gao's grand paper? I have been waiting since July. New Year's Day has already passed, yet there has not even been the slightest news."
"Exactly. Our institute discusses this every day. Everyone is anxious. Some people are even planning to mail Boss Gao razor blades."
"Hahahaha! A paper is not a webnovel. Why are you people bringing that urging-for-updates nonsense here?"
Seeing these discussions, Gao Yuan could not help scratching his head. It seemed that his continued failure to publish a paper had made everyone rather impatient.
Mailing razor blades was not very friendly, but Gao Yuan still decided to follow his own plan.
Although his own meager strength might not be enough to change anything about academia's current state, Gao Yuan still wanted to give it a try. In any case, he had never been part of academia, so he did not need to fear losing anything.
I seem to be a little hungry...
Gao Yuan muttered. He looked at the time in the lower-right corner of the screen. Without realizing it, it was already seven-thirty in the evening. The sun set early in winter, and it was already dark outside.
Just as Gao Yuan stood up and prepared to head to the cafeteria, he suddenly caught a flash on the screen. The forum refreshed automatically, pushing a post to the top.
Alibaba's Rhino factory launched today. Not bad. I studied it until midnight. Personally, I support every force developing the real economy, but clothing is truly complicated—thousands of fabrics, tens of thousands of color patterns, and countless styles. It definitely will not be easy. Let's observe it for a few years before drawing conclusions.
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