Twenty years of cold chain

Chapter 29 South Suburbs Park

The South Suburbs is a district of Mingyuan City. It used to be three counties, which were later integrated into one district.

Rumors of Mingyuan City's southward expansion plan have been circulating for some time. In the future, there will be a new airport and railway station, as well as a central park and landscape clusters. Its potential should not be underestimated, and some powerful developers from Mingjiang Province have also been acquiring land here.

Hu Shutong is quite familiar with the southern suburbs. The land cost in the southern suburbs is low and it is close to the highway, so it has gradually become the base camp for agricultural products from Mingyuan City to go out of the city. There are many cold storage and distribution centers in the area.

During his university years, he would visit and learn here every one or two months, especially in his freshman year. Because there was less classroom content, the college organized many practical activities. Cold storage, distribution centers, and wholesale markets were important components to make up for class time. He also remembers writing a review about the South Suburb Cold Storage.

Upon arriving at the Huihong Hotel, Hu Shutong had never seen such a grand display. A red carpet stretched for thirty or forty meters, flanked by shoulder-high flower baskets laden with fragrant, fresh blooms. More than twenty security guards stood ramrod straight. A banner at the hotel's main entrance read, "Minghe Group warmly welcomes all experts and scholars to visit and provide guidance."

In Minhjiang Province, the Minghe Group is a household name. It started in the early 1980s and has since developed into a private enterprise giant in Minhjiang Province, encompassing agricultural product processing, frozen food, chain supermarkets, and urban distribution.

Hu Shutong saw cars driving by, some carrying university professors, others appearing to be senior executives of the Minghe Group. He went to a tree not far away and called Xiao Wu. Shortly after, Pang Shiyou came out alone and hailed a car to a place called "Wozhuang Village".

Hu Shutong showed the plan to Pang Shiyou for review. Pang Shiyou looked at it carefully without saying much, nodded and handed it back to Hu Shutong. "This plan is also a special project within Minghe Group. There are technical personnel working on it there. There should be a technical comparison meeting in a few days. You should attend it."

"Okay, Professor."

Pang Shiyou looked extremely tired. He wiped his round-framed glasses with one hand and rubbed and pinched his eyes with the other. Then he took out two pieces of milk candy from his pocket. After eating one, he asked Hu Shutong about the second one, but Hu Shutong waved his hand.

Then Pang Shiyou closed his eyes to rest. About twenty minutes later, the car arrived at the edge of a large field, and Hu Shutong opened the car door and helped Pang Shiyou out of the car.

"The grand scale of the Huihong Hotel you see is all for this land. This place is about to become the first cluster-style cold chain logistics park in Mingjiang Province, covering 350 acres with a total capacity of over 50,000 tons. I plan to have you come with me so we can follow up on this big project together, so I'm showing you this land first."

"Thank you, Professor." Hu Shutong could not hide his excitement. Being able to participate in a project of this scale was invaluable to him.

"With the real estate boom so intense, it wasn't easy for Minghe Group to acquire this land. It took repeated bidding and a joint evaluation by universities to finally win the bid. Shutong, what are your thoughts on this project?"

Hu Shutong was at a loss for words.

Pang Shiyou smiled and said, "Just say whatever comes to mind."

"Professor, there used to be a cold storage facility with a capacity of 1,000 tons about three or four miles north of this land. I came here a few times when I was a freshman. Later, I don't know why, that cold storage facility was abandoned. At that time, I felt that this area was a good place to expand the cold storage industry. It is 15 kilometers away from the city center and 150 kilometers away from the port. There are main urban roads to the north and highways to the south, so there is no bottleneck problem in access."

Pang Shiyou nodded, Hu Shutong's words hit the nail on the head.

Hu Shutong gazed at the vast field, his eyes thoughtful, and then said, "Professor, for a capacity of 50,000 tons, I think we need at least four high- and low-temperature cold storage clusters to handle the capacity. Moreover, as an independent industrial park, supporting facilities are also crucial. Office buildings, exhibition halls, and commodity inspection centers are all indispensable. In addition, we need to establish processing zones and frozen food wholesale markets to serve the needs of Mingyuan City."

Pang Shiyou said, "I basically agree with this framework. It's not much different from what we gave to Minghe before. But for this key provincial project, giving a template isn't enough. We need to provide solutions for the future management of Nanjiao Logistics. We can't delay it; we need to move it forward as much as possible. We need to offer suggestions for the construction of Nanjiao Logistics from a management perspective. This is a requirement for development and also Mingda's responsibility."

"Professor, I understand."

"Stop calling me 'Professor,' just call me 'Teacher,' it sounds better."

"Yes, teacher."

On the way back, Hu Shutong kept thinking about Pang Shiyou's words. From a management perspective, refining and implementing them is extremely difficult and complex, and it requires a great deal of foresight.

Back at the hotel, Hu Shutong listened to the press conference from the back row. First, the chairman of Minghe Group delivered a speech, emphasizing the significant mission and importance of the South Suburb Cold Chain Logistics Park. Then, Pang Shiyou gave an overall speech, expressing the unwavering support of various universities for the construction of the South Suburb Cold Chain Logistics Park.

Next, someone announced the important timeline for the logistics park: the entire project will officially break ground on November 1st, the two major technical teams will officially move in on April 1st next year, the equipment bidding will be completed by August next year, and the project duration is two years.

Huihong Hotel belongs to Minghe Group. It has more than ten meeting rooms of various sizes, where group staff, university-appointed teams, and engineering and technical teams will work.

Hu Shutong soon received answers to the two teams he was very concerned about. One was the "Technical Group" led by Mingjiang University, whose work was extremely complicated. The other was said to be setting up an Equipment Group, which would be mainly responsible for equipment-related work.

Hu Shutong knew that next year would be busy. It was a large-scale project with a highly systematic nature, involving not only numerous aspects such as materials, equipment, management, and operation, but also a wide range of issues.

At the same time, this was also a great opportunity for Hu Shutong, and a huge weight was finally lifted from his heart, because he knew that he would be spending a long time with this mentor.

Pang Shiyou's silence regarding the HACCP plan indicated his satisfaction, which boosted Hu Shutong's confidence and filled him with anticipation for the upcoming technical comparison meeting.

……